diff --git a/mailpoet/tests/acceptance/EmailEditor/EmailTemplatesCest.php b/mailpoet/tests/acceptance/EmailEditor/EmailTemplatesCest.php
index 6d93895662..ae17562002 100644
--- a/mailpoet/tests/acceptance/EmailEditor/EmailTemplatesCest.php
+++ b/mailpoet/tests/acceptance/EmailEditor/EmailTemplatesCest.php
@@ -98,8 +98,8 @@ class EmailTemplatesCest {
     $i->waitForElementClickable('.email-editor-start_from_scratch_button');
     $i->click('[aria-label="Basic"]');
     $i->waitForElement('.block-editor-block-patterns-list__item-title');
-    $i->waitForText($template);
-    $i->click("//div[@class='block-editor-block-patterns-list__item-title' and text()='$template']");
+    $i->waitForText($template, 5);
+    $i->click("//h4[@class='block-editor-block-patterns-list__item-title' and text()='$template']");
   }
 
   private function checkTextIsInEmail(\AcceptanceTester $i, string $text): void {
diff --git a/packages/js/email-editor/src/components/template-select/select-modal.tsx b/packages/js/email-editor/src/components/template-select/select-modal.tsx
index 6d32083c7d..c3e091a1e0 100644
--- a/packages/js/email-editor/src/components/template-select/select-modal.tsx
+++ b/packages/js/email-editor/src/components/template-select/select-modal.tsx
@@ -32,13 +32,15 @@ function SelectTemplateBody( {
 	handleTemplateSelection,
 } ) {
 	const [ selectedCategory, setSelectedCategory ] = useState(
-		TemplateCategories[ 0 ].name // Show the “Recent” category by default
+		TemplateCategories[ 1 ].name // Show the “Basic” category by default
 	);
 
 	useEffect( () => {
-		if ( ! hasEmailPosts ) {
-			setSelectedCategory( TemplateCategories[ 1 ].name );
-		}
+		setTimeout( () => {
+			if ( hasEmailPosts ) {
+				setSelectedCategory( TemplateCategories[ 0 ].name );
+			}
+		}, 1000 ); // using setTimeout to ensure the template styles are available before block preview
 	}, [ hasEmailPosts ] );
 
 	return (
diff --git a/packages/js/email-editor/src/store/selectors.ts b/packages/js/email-editor/src/store/selectors.ts
index c2a1f1bfc0..0bef3acac5 100644
--- a/packages/js/email-editor/src/store/selectors.ts
+++ b/packages/js/email-editor/src/store/selectors.ts
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ export const getSentEmailEditorPosts = createRegistrySelector(
 			} )
 			?.filter(
 				( post: EmailEditorPostType ) => post?.content?.raw !== '' // filter out empty content
-			)
+			) || []
 );
 
 /**