The demon bergamot

When I was young, I talked my mom into buying a box of Bigelow Earl Grey. This was quite exotic back then as Lipton Brisk was about the only tea on the shelves. Bigelow use to come in heavy cardboard canisters with a metal top and bottom. You had to pry the oval shaped top off with a spoon to get inside. I was instantly hooked. Through the years the packaging changed. My addiction for bergamot did not.

Before Bigelow downsized to the tiny little present day 1.6g bags I was drinking this stuff by the pitcherful. I got a coffee drinking co-worker to join me on the light side. (OK, last night I sat with a bowl of homemade salsa, a icy cold glass of Earl and watched Star Wars – dark side reference couldn’t be helped).

I drank so much of the Bigelow back then it gave me acid reflux and the oil seemed to be affecting my kidneys. So I switched to Twinings. This is an bergamot flavored tea. This eased the kidney issue. I have never heard anyone else complain about this. I later switched to Twinings Earl Green and the reflux stopped. O happy day. Then Twinings reformulated and I do not like the ‘brighter’ flavoring change.

So I searched and found Ahmad Earl Green which I love and I still drink too much of it. Some days I get the eye twitches. I use to attribute this to caffeine but recently read bergamot affects some folks this way. I try to balance things out with a Darjeeling, Oolong, or an occasional afternoon tea but man I love bergamot done right.

I don’t have a question really just wondered if any of you had a tea that adversely affected you but you couldn’t leave alone.