Second of the two earl greys I’m comparing today. This one I’m sure I’ve had before in my Starbucks days, I just hadn’t drank it since I joined Steepster I suppose. It’s very similar to Teavana’s earl grey tea, which replaced the Tazo version once SBUX bought Teavana and merged their product.
It’s too astrignent for me. I only steeped it for about a minute and already it’s rather bitter and drying, with a heavy hand of bergamont. It came in a teabag of a pale green colour – wasn’t sure what to make of this. Recycled paper? Old? Expiry date said July 2017 so it must have been just the type of paper they used.
Overall, I much preferred the Twinings Earl Grey I had this morning. It was definitely a lot smoother, not bitter or astringent, and had a more varied flavour profile with the citrus, lemon, and bergamont notes.