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.

Earl Grey Supreme

My go-to tea is Earl Grey.  Most places that serve hot tea have it and it is my favorite type.  Captain Picard isn't a fool for loving this so much.  I've been told by my husband that this tea is gross because of the "citrus" taste (which is actually the bergamont) but he doesn't captain the USS Enterprise so I just ignore his insults of this beautiful drink.  The first time I ever had this particular tea was at a movie theater called iPic.  You sit in reclining seats and press a button to order food and drinks.  When I ordered an Earl Grey tea, this is what they brought me.  I order it every time I go to that theater.  When I stumbled upon it at the local Fresh Market I was extremely excited.  I have it every day now in one of my huge mugs that hold 3 cups of water.

So far, this is my favorite Earl Grey I have ever tried.  The bergamot is really well balanced.  I've come across some Earl Grey teas that have a very over powering bergamot taste and others that barely have any.  You should be able to taste both the black tea and the bergamot equally in my opinion.  I know there are some bergamot lovers out there which is why there's a tea out there with double bergamot added.  You wild tea drinkers.  If you want to sample different black teas including Earl Grey, Twinings makes a great little sampler box for cheap that they sell at most grocery stores like Publix.  It includes English breakfast, Irish breakfast, Earl Grey, and Lady Grey (which is like a more subtle Earl Grey).

 Star Trek even made a tea to pay homage to Captain Picard always ordering it.  You can purchase it on their website.  I haven't tried it yet, but I plan on putting it on my list for Santa. :)