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I think this may be one of those teas where I just got an unusual sampling from the batch, or my tastebuds are going haywire today. Usually my tasting notes fall into line with some/most others, but not this time.

My first smell of the dry tea was an abundance of bergamot. It was so strong, it was almost overwhelmingly floral/medicinal. This will probably lessen over time, as the volatile compounds leave the opened bag. But it was so strong this time, it was almost enough to put me off the tea.

After steeping, a lot of the smell remained, but it was not as overwhelming. I did not pick up any cream, coconut, or anything else much other than the bergamot. It may have been there, but just not able to sneak past the overwhelming bergamot.

Please note that as of this tasting, I have not tried many Earl Grey cremes. I would expect that after tasting some others, my palate would be somewhat better defined, and perhaps better able to pick up on the more subtle notes. The black tea base did seem pretty nice.

Update, after second steeping: This has at least turned out to be a very good Earl Grey, especially if I let it air out a little before steeping :) I still do not pick up on any “Cream” aspects in the second brew, which I was hoping would happen when some of the bergamot gone. But it is still a nice tea.

Love this tea. It does not disappoint.

1st steep: I used the recommended 3-4tsp/ 8oz, but only steeped for about 1-1.5 minutes. It had plenty of flavor. Stopped the steep short because the color was so intense. Taste: lots of grape and black currant, a little less blueberry. Just a tiny bit of tartness- perfect. I too was expecting it to be a lot more tart (and I generally do not like very tart tastes).

Second steep: went a bit longer (maybe 3 minutes), and added a lot more water. Still had a lot of flavor. Slightly less grape, blueberry coming through more. Still really good.

I think I could have easily gone for a 3rd steep, as there was still a lot of flavor in there. I may try to do so tomorrow.

Without having tried it yet, I do think this would taste good either hot or iced. Also, due to its fruitiness, I think this would be an excellent introduction to tea/tisanes for the younger crowd.

I was surprised that the grape and blueberry worked so well together. Grapes are such a strong flavor, I expected them to be overwhelming. But they were not. Perhaps it was the addition of the black currant?

If I has any kind of skill in the kitchen, I would probably try to incorporate this into baking somehow. We are so used to the same old regular flavors like blueberry, and this is definitely different, in a good way :)

This is one of my all-time favorite teas. The jasmine does come through well, but it is equally matched by a fruity essence (no single fruit dominates). Having read the list of ingredients, I never would have thought it would all blend together so very nicely, but it does :)

This is very similar to Cancer Fighting Tea by the Georgia Tea Company (maybe identical?)

I am attempting to clear out my cupboard, and I know this tea is at least 5-7 years old. Living on the edge here :)

So I used 2.5tsp/10oz water, in case it has lost flavor to age. 1st steep came out very dark (as expected), but I think I made the right choice in doubling up on the tea. It is a lot less tart than I remember it when I first got it. Tart is about all I can taste until I add a small amount of sugar. After that, the raspberry comes through. Very nice.

2nd steep- starting to wonder the difference between this and Celestial Seasoning’s Raspberry Zinger. If Teavana still sold this one, I might try to do a side-by-side comparison. But moot point now :)

Overall, very nice.

The “almond” flavor is more of a sweet/slightly cherry/amaretto flavoring, not a natural nutty almond flavor. The scent of the tea in the bag is strongly dominated by this sweet component.

The steeped tea is not as intensely flavored as expected, given the strong scent. The coconut seemed to dominate, followed by the almond/amaretto, and vanilla was a distant third. But it has a really nice black tea base that never got bitter, and never overwhelmed the other flavors.

The second steep had even less almond/coconut flavoring, and the black tea base came through more. Still very nice cup due to the quality of the black tea.

Very nice. I think people who favor green tea, but want to venture out to more black teas would really like this one.

1st steep- very mild, vegetal like green tea.
2ns steep- more of the maltiness of traditional blacks.
3rd steep- still very dark, a slight astringency coming through this time. But still getting a bit of the vegetal.