The dry tea smells like a strong earl grey. While brewing, I still only get the earl grey smell. On first taste it is a strong bergamot earl grey but with quite an artificial raspberry flavour. I liken it to cough syrup taste but without the punch that you get with cough syrup. As the tea cools the raspberry becomes less artificial and there is less cough syrup taste. It is not really what I expected from this tea. The black base is only slightly astringent. I brewed for my usual 2 min. I am going to bring the brewing time down. And see if that makes a difference in the flavour.
Edit: after the tea cooled to almost room temp the raspberry was quite prominent and nicely flavoured. Still artificial but it worked well with the earl grey.
A 1 min steep tasted mostly like a very mild earl grey. No raspberry or fruitiness
I have had this tea numerous times today and am finding a 1 min 30 second steep is giving me a nice smooth earl grey with a raspberry flavour. Again the raspberry is a bit artificial tasting, but still good. The two flavours blend well together. Not astringent at this steep time.
