Irish Afternoon

A lover of Irish Breakfast and English Afternoon, it was a no brainer that I would purchase this when I found it - very surprisingly - at a Walmart.  It was such a rare finding for a place like that since their tea selection is usually just all about the purge of society: Lipton.  It was pricier than Lipton, but it's also an imported tea, and those are usually pricier at any grocery/specialty stores.  You do get 80 tea bags int his box, so it evens things out a bit.

I'm a firm believer that the more North you go in the UK, the stronger the black teas get.  And this is no different.  English Breakfast is the weakest of all the UK teas in my opinion.  Irish Breakfast is stronger, and Scottish Breakfast is even stronger than that.  Afternoon teas are typically weaker than their Breakfast counterparts.  English Afternoon is weaker than English Breakfast, and Irish Afternoon is weaker than Irish Breakfast.  That being said, Irish Afternoon is much stronger than English Breakfast.  I'm not sure if the Irish teas are so much stronger because you're expected to add whiskey to them or if it just balances well with potatoes.*

It is an excellent cuppa, and if you find it too strong, just steep it less the next time around.  I have one tea that is so strong, that I just hold the bag near the rim of the mug with my tea tongs, poor the hot water directly on the bag, and then throw the tea bag away and it's STILL strong as hell.  As long as it suits your taste then that's all the matters.  Cheers!

*I'm allowed to make these jokes, I'm Irish/English decent and as pale as snow just as my Anglo-Saxon ancestors.

English Afternoon

Where English breakfast is a body builder, this tea would be it's cousin that does the elegant equestrian competition of show hacking.  You know they do hard work, but they're not in your face about it like the flexing English breakfast.  It's subtlety is not to be mistaken with weakness.  And just as the name implies, it's best for winding down in the afternoon.  A perfect tea for your Afternoon Tea layout... not to be mistaken for High Tea.  Originally, the only place besides the internet I was able to find this tea was Walt Disney's Epcot in Orlando.  You see, within Epcot's World Showcase, tucked away in the United Kingdom is a quaint little shop that tea lovers will notice straight away.  This little Tea Caddy (pictured below) is a Twinings shop.  And the last time I was at Epcot I spent about $60 here.  I'll pass on the Mickey ears, I already have two pair at home.  What I don't have is a selection of Twining this vast.  Say what you will about Twinings, to me they never disappoint in a decent cuppa at a very reasonable price.  An added bonus of this little shop is that during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival they offer a Tea Garden tour.  How mouth watering does that sound?  Cheers!