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Oh. My. What a nightmare! Ugh! After the disappointment of Celestial Seasonings’ Gingerbread Spice this afternoon, I decided to brew up a cup of something different and decaf. What a disappointment.

This one smells overwhelmingly of cloves. I can’t smell much of anything else. Like liquid clove. The color is gorgeous, though. But the taste? It doesn’t really taste like much of anything! There’s really no black tea taste, and I couldn’t even taste the orange peel in there. It was just cloves, cloves, cloves. I’m not the hugest fan of that particular spice, so it was very off-putting. Almost all of this cup went down the drain. Blech. My face looked exactly like the first one on steepster’s slider. Except not as red.

I will not be drinking this again.

I really cannot bring myself to drink this. My friend gave me an entire box of this tea a while ago. The blend smells delicious both wet and dry, and the murky orangey cup it creates smells like liquid gingerbread. But the taste just isn’t there! This doesn’t really taste like gingerbread; just a muddle of spices without any real direction. Surprisingly enough, even when I steep this for a long time, it still has a watery taste. Not a favorite at all.

Do NOT add sugar to this. It makes it taste ridiculously awful. I couldn’t even down most of my cup today as a result.

Boy is this tea a kick in the pants! This is my first Irish Breakfast, so I’m not going to pretend I know what I’m talking about. But this is a lot stronger and heartier than the English variety. This one brews up dark and rich. It’s not a taste that’s subtle. It’s pure tea flavor, punching through your tastebuds and into your nose, clearing out those sinuses.

The flavor almost has a spiciness and a bitterness. It’s a bit astringent too. I’m drinking it neat, without any sugar and milk, because that’s how I roll (and I’m lactose intolerant). I don’t think I could have tolerated this one when I first started drinking tea. It’s a very aggressive blend. But now? I’m really enjoying it. I don’t know if I could drink it every single day, but I could see this coming in handy, especially as it gets colder outside.

I tried to prepare this as one would traditionally prepare a loose leaf green, and I ended up with something that tastes like the definition of average. Definitely easy to drink, but lacking in a lot of flavor. It doesn’t taste particularly “green” to me. Then again, I’m not the biggest expert on green teas at all (I’m barely a novice in that regard).

Next time I think I’ll steep this a bit longer, but I really didn’t want it to get bitter, and I didn’t want to “cook” the tea in super-hot water. I guess it doesn’t matter with a cheaper, bagged variety like this.

My second real attempt with Earl Grey after a horrific Tazo cup a few months back.

Since my Tazo hot cup was so bitter and oversteeped when I followed the instructions on the packaging, I might have understeeped this cup. The teabag smelled very fragrant and quite delicious, with the bergamot a subtly sweetening the blend.

The bergamot in this isn’t the strongest, which is what I like. However, the taste was overwhelmingly floral, which was quite odd. Almost potpourri-like. There isn’t a real strong taste of bergamot; it’s more of an aftertaste that lingers on the tongue and in the back of the throat after each sip. A pleasant aftertaste that was altogether welcome. But the black tea itself didn’t have any real presence at all, which surprised me. I wanted it to be a better balance of the two, and I didn’t expect the bergamot to taste so cloying and floral.

I’m going to try to brew my second cup a bit stronger next time, in hopes that the black tea taste will rise to match the flavoring in this package. It was a very drinkable cup, with no bitterness whatsoever, but I’m not sure if this is going to be the perfect blend of Earl Grey for me yet. More tinkering needed!

I had this at Starbucks today. I wasn’t completely impressed. This is the second time I’ve tried Earl Grey, and the second time it’s been the Tazo blend. The first time I tried Tazo’s blend, I probably oversteeped it (although I followed the instructions on the package). The resulting brew was so bitter that I needed to throw away my cup.

It’s a bit annoying that they put the tea bag in there and leave it in. It means that you need to open your cup after a certain steepage (and how can you figure this out?) and throw away the teabag before your brew becomes bitter. I had this particular latte with soymilk, since I’m lactose intolerant.

While it was enjoyable, I didn’t think it was anything particularly special, and I still don’t think I’m a fan of Earl Grey. Maybe it’s Tazo’s blend that’s not spectacular. The soy didn’t really work with this; the nuttiness of its flavor pretty much completely masked the taste of the tea, and I instead was left with bergamot-nut. It was pretty odd. Easy to drink, but not compulsively sippable. I didn’t finish the entire thing.

This is probably the true beginning of my tea education.

Before I move on to loose leaf tea, I wanted to try some of the best, traditionally bagged variety. My friends kept bringing up Twinings, and I bought myself the black tea variety pack.

This is my first English Breakfast, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I probably could have steeped this a bit longer, but the taste of this is what I think of when I think of the word “tea.” I knew I was missing something with all of those Lipton-dishwasher-hot-water tasting teas I disliked as a child. A basic black, smooth with a very slight, bitter aftertaste.

I really liked the strength of this just plain, without any added milk and sugar. I’m a purist, what can I say. I can’t wait to try even higher quality loose leaf English Breakfast blends, because I feel like this could be a favorite morning drink.

Just another cup at night before going to bed. I don’t think I steeped this long enough; it’s not as strong as I usually like it. I wasn’t really paying attention, which was probably the problem.

I steeped this this morning for breakfast. It steeps to a rich brown color, a hue very similar to coffee without any milk in it. It’s so dark that I can barely see my spoon at the bottom of the cup! The aroma and taste of this tea is decidedly smokey. It isn’t bitter at all, but the flavor isn’t really pronounced. This black tea by Prince of Peace pretty much tastes like a slightly stronger, more breakfast-y version of the tea served in Chinese restaurants throughout the country. Nothing special.

I’m drinking a cup of this right now to wind down from a long day… This tea has a very pleasing aroma, a spicy lemon quality that smells altogether delicious. I really like the subtlety of the spice and lemon flavor. It’s not overpowering, but it’s soothing in a nice way. The black tea underneath isn’t the strongest; the tea overall is quite mild. Lemon with a black tea base is infinitely better than lemon tisane (like the awful Lemon Zinger that Celestial Seasonings puts out!).

I can definitely see myself drinking more of this!