Adventaggedon Day 5 – Tea 4/6
I think this is my first Earl Grey out of advents!? Honestly, for such a classic profile, I’m surprised that I’m only just now getting one between the six that I’m doing.
It’s not a bad Earl Grey – very intense and heavy handed bergamot with that crisp, tannic and brisk black tea base that Vahdam seems to use in their flavoured non-Chai black tea blends quite frequently. I’m not the customer for this tea, but I think if you like a really robust and classic Earl Grey that this would likely perfectly hit the spot. Here’s what I don’t get though – and I mean this in general and not just for Vahdam…
Why does there seem to be a resurgence of “Citrus Earl Grey” blends!? I mean, bergamot is a citrus fruit – arguably closest to what most people envision in their heads as a “classic orange”. So, when you “add citrus” to an Earl Grey you’re really only beefing up a flavour that’s already there, and in most cases the citrus added seems to be lemon/orange so it… doesn’t really add anything? Like, when I drank this tea today I didn’t go “Ooh, extra citrus! How delightful!”. Instead, it just felt like someone upped the percentage of bergamot – and, in that case, doesn’t it seem like better marketing to promote the blend as an “Earl Grey Bold” or something like that!? In my head, it’s sort of like if someone was selling a “Masala Chai Cinnamon” – redundant, because Masala Chai already includes cinnamon.
I don’t know – I’m not an Earl Grey customer generally so maybe I just don’t get it, but I don’t understand where this angle is coming from!?
Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIbj3zAAE0C/
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From what I could tell, this doesn’t even have extra citrus other than the bergamot so I was really flummoxed by the name, LOL!
But I actually do enjoy additional citrus in my Earl Grey just because bergamot really tastes quite different (IMO) from other citrus and it can get rather perfumey to me. So adding some lemon or orange can help steer it in the citrus direction versus the more floral one.
From what I could tell, this doesn’t even have extra citrus other than the bergamot so I was really flummoxed by the name, LOL!
But I actually do enjoy additional citrus in my Earl Grey just because bergamot really tastes quite different (IMO) from other citrus and it can get rather perfumey to me. So adding some lemon or orange can help steer it in the citrus direction versus the more floral one.