Royal Albert

Absolutely superb – how can I buy it?

1 teabag for 400mL water, bare, two-minute steep.

Got a box of 50 foil-sealed bags for Christmas, as a loving gift, so I feel a bit guilty giving this tea an honest review, but here goes …

The Royal Albert crowd put out some lively china. I own a Royal ALbert “Regency” tea cup and saucer (http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Albert-1900-Regency-Tea-Saucer/dp/B001RIYRW6) and several Royal Albert mugs. Beautiful pieces.

But when the Royal Albert people urge me to “enjoy this superior [green] tea at its best” by steeping the green tea in freshly boiled water for 3-5 minutes, and then gently squeezing the teabag, I, uh, get suspicious. And I did no such thing when brewing a cuppa of Royal Albert Green.

The bags are thick and cloudy gauze with about 1.5 tsp of teeny weeny leaves — almost crumbs — imprisoned within. The tea smells stale. Or is that the gauze, which is almost thick enough to dress a wound? Steeped two minutes at off-the-boil water, the leaves release an attractively pale green liquour. However, this tea tastes about as good as it smells: stale. Stale lawn clippings. A very grassy green tea, and tending towards bitterness. Last year’s grass that dried and fell off the mower blades onto the basement floor. (Yes, there’s an unpleasant metallic tinge, too — faint, but undeniable.

Maybe it would taste better if made according to directions, but I doubt it.

I can’t even finish the cup.