Taylors of Harrogate

Really good, especially for a decaf tea. Usually I don’t even bother with decaf black teas because they’re usually either bland and devoid of flavor or strange and chemical in taste. But this is the one exception.

It packs a huge punch and is just as hearty and satisfying as the caffeinated Yorkshire/Yorkshire Gold teas. Milk is pretty much a necessity with this one, as I’m pretty sure that drinking it plain would probably cause my jaw to lock up for about a month or so :P

Couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting as good of a cup out of the loose leaf as I was from the bags. I think it just boils down to (see what I did there?) the bags being really strong. I usually put one tsp of tea, plus one for the pot with loose leaf, but I think I just need an extra teaspoon or two. This tea is cut very fine, which is what allows it to steep so quickly, but that is a problem with the loose leaf as more of it gets through my strainer. Still, this is the quintessential English tea for milk and sugar.

Great morning cuppa. Milk necessary, sugar optional.

Good morning tea.

This is a solid Earl Grey. The bergamot is strong, which is no problem as far as I’m concerned, and more orange-tasting than most. It pretty much overshadows the base—I can tell it’s strong, and it feels like it’s packing a nice caffeine punch, but it’s hard to discern any particular flavors. Lupicia’s EG is still my favorite, but I find it convenient to have a bagged variety around as well and this fits that slot nicely.

Dry. I don’t really understand how a tea can leave your mouth feeling dry but this one is good at doing that. The taste overall isn’t anything special. But then again as you all know, I’m not especially fond of English Breakfast Tea. But I will still keep drinking it in hopes of one day finding one that I don’t think is bland.

very solid british black tea

use milk and sugar. or not. whatever is good

This tea is simply gorgeous.

Great tasting tea, on its own or combined with rose petals. The bergamot flavour is strong and delicious.

i have enjoyed this tea quite a bit. cannot say i enjoy the super small pieces that seep through the infuser, but i do enjoy the tea. edit: unfortunately, the product i received seems to be going stale a little faster than i am happy with so i may not buy this one again.

today, i brewed this leaf blend as well as a bagged EB blend from another company. this tea is not for me. this blend was not very malty, seemed to have very weak caffeine content and was also much lighter in color. it might be ok for an evening cup though. it did taste nice with milk and sugar.
i will use up what i have and perhaps try it iced to make it go faster, but it just is not enough to get me going in the morning.

to be honest, i did not like this tea the first few tries and it is probably better by the cup than by the pot because over brewing this tea is a not good thing. however, as i have tried several more blends during the last 7 weeks, i have come back to this at least once a week and will continue to do so if for nothing other than value. it is not the most flavorful tea blend around, but it does taste pretty darn good with sugar and milk. plus, it is definitely strong enough to start the engines.

my first steepster tasting note. after more than a decade of marriage and bagged twinings EB by the cup, i am branching out and it turns out that with tea, i really am easy to please. cannot claim a favorite tea blend just yet, but i am convinced this will remain high on my list. the flavors in this tea are elusive; or i am just not very discerning. in any event, my first cup this morning was just about perfect and the second cup, still steeping in the pot was also pretty good. yes, there is an aftertaste with this tea, but that flavor is what keeps me reaching for my cup. there was a less flavorful aftertaste with the third cup, but you would be less so too after 30 minutes in boiling water. this is probably important: i always drink with whole milk and 2 spoons of sugar and i also keep my steeping teapot covered while drinking.

I have always disliked this tea when brewed hot. It seems no matter how short the steep time, it always comes out bitter and tannic. This time, I tried a cold steep. I steeped it in the fridge for 23 hours, and it came out very pleasant. There was a very slight tannic aftertaste at the bottom of the glass, but overall no bitterness in the cup. I won’t be buying this tea again, but I think I can be happy using up the rest this way, especially come summer.

I’m not always in the mood for Earl Grey but I buy this tea loose and keep it on hand for Grey cravings. Earl Grey was my favorite starter tea, and the loose variety tastes what I think proper loose leaf earl should taste like. It’s a bit bitter… but I like the bite. It’s a bit oily, but it gives it character. It’s a good mid priced loose leaf to keep on hand (mine was only 7.99). I recommend!

maybe could do with a bit less of a steep. i usually steep the loose leaf lapsang souchong for 6 minutes, but this bag version seems to have just a bit of a bitter aftertaste. i haven’t tried the loose leaf variety of ToH’s LS; however this comes across as a bit gentler, less smoky than over leafed versions of said tea. still, it’s very tasty & on a cold end of january morning like this one, it’s a good pick me up. i can imagine the crackling fire.

Sipdown!

So excited to have finished this one off! I’ve had it for two years and it was such a large quantity of tea it feels like quite the accomplishment.

Plus, drinking this everyday for a couple weeks has caused it to grow on me. You’ll be missed, rose tea.

(But probably not replaced in such a large quantity.)

My new job doesn’t offer free coffee and tea like my last one.This has been good in two ways: 1) I’m no longer anxiety-riddled to a non-functional state by coffee and 2) I’m bringing in lots of tea to drink up. I’m loving fillable tea bags because then I can package up a week’s worth of tea for work all at once and prepare it with no mess. Win win win.

Because this one has been hanging around forever, I packed up the rest of it as a work tea. Shamelessly gunning for a sipdown. It’s way more tea than I expected (and I gave so much away!) and it’s … well, let’s just say I’ve got a bad habit of oversteeping my work teas and this one does not go gently into the night.

When I oversteep, it tastes like old lady perfume. Literally, like drinking a bottle of perfume. The floral from the rose is gross and overwhelming. Steeped for two minutes (and when there’s fewer chunks of flower in the tea), it’s smooth and has a tolerable background of rose.

I know I liked this one originally, but I’m not really enjoying it. I don’t think floral is for me and I can’t wait to be done with this one. Dropping my rating accordingly. :-/