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Sample stashbusting! The first time I had this tea I was not really impressed with it, which was disappointing because a lot of people really like it. I thought it was decently tasty but not enough of an Earl Grey to me… i.e., not enough bergamot. What is also interesting though is that this tea has a Fujianese base, and I tried it a while ago before I discovered that I really like plain Fujianese blacks. So I am wondering why I didn’t care for this one as much? Well luckily I get to try this one again.

I am also hoping this wakes me up a bit because I got up way too early this morning and I am already exhausted. I just read my past tasting note and apparently I wanted to steep it longer this time… oops. Hmm, the steeped tea doesn’t smell the best to me. I’m wondering if there is something about the combination of the base and bergamot that doesn’t work with my palate. I think I can smell a bit of the base that I recognize now, but they just don’t seem to work well here. Also the bergamot smells kind of like cleaning solution, which is not something I ever experience with bergamot. It’s got a weird high note that gives it a chemical aroma.

Surprisingly, it tastes better than it smells at this point. The flavor seems to be primarily the weakish base, which I do get some nice malty, grainy, honey notes from, though it pales in comparison to some of the other fujian blacks I’ve tried recently. Then this sharp, almost metallic bright note comes winging in from nowhere. It is definitely from the bergamot, but I don’t get a very much of the citrusy, slightly floral flavors I love about bergamot. Yeah, this definitely isn’t the Earl for me, and I think it has everything to do with the bergamot they use… for whatever reason, it just doesn’t taste right to me. Not to mention there’s not enough of it! And now I am reminded of that joke from Annie Hall… “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” “Yeah, I know. And such small portions!”

But seriously, I can see how this might really appeal to some, but it’s just not to my tastes. I actually don’t think it’s a base-bergamot thing that I dislike, but maybe it is. I won’t know unless I find another fujian-base Earl, and they’re not super common.