Grapefruit Grey

I don’t think I’ve written a note on this yet, but I really like this tea! I usually reserve this tea for miserable weather days, rainy, gross..today it is kind of sunny and windy and somewhat warm, but the clouds made it seem appropriate. A lovely EG with a bite of fresh grapefruit, that’s what this is like. Yum!

I am not a huge fan of black tea (unless it’s mixed with various fruits, flower petals, other teas, flavoring, etc… therefore making it pretty much unrecognizeable as a black tea, haha.) At first glance Grapefruit Grey looked like one of the teas I would normally avoid – plain, dark thin leaves, boring but with just a hint of grapefruit scent. I was curious and had to investigate further. As I don’t like strong bitter tea I only steeped it for about 2 minutes, the lovely grapefruit smell was wafting out and the tea was already a dark golden brown so I gave it a try. YUM! So tasty, this has become my favorite Sunday morning lounging in my PJs tea… You could definitely steep it for another minute or so if you like strong bracing teas and it can be resteeped at least once.

I am not a huge fan of earl grey tea (unless it’s a latte) or unless it has other flavourings (lavender, lemon) but was intriguied to try this one. It’s beautiful! It’s quite astringent without being flat, which I like in an earl grey. The grapefruit comes forward right away, then there’s the bergamot flavour, but then there’s a subtle sweetness that I think is mandarin after that.

So it’s quite layered! I drink it black but I’m not sure how it would do in a latte, but I would be curious. A welcome edition to my cupboard and something I would love to share with my mum, who loves an earl grey and who often complains you can only smell tea flavours, not actually taste them.

Easily one of my favourite black teas, and a lovely twist on the standard Earl Grey. The tartness of the grapefruit is more forward than the usual bergamot, and the scent divine. When steeping a second time, I reduce the steep time to 2 minutes or less. I often add just a pinch of extra tea to my second steep just for that fresh burst of grapefruit.

Sip down! Kind of glad it’s out of the way. Tastes almost as fresh as it was on the day I bought it over half a year ago but I was getting a little tired of the favour profile. Never tried Bayswater’s so I wonder how the two compare, or if they come from the same source.

This tea was the perfect pick me up I needed this morning. I ventured out and picked up my first CSA box of the summer. The leaves of this tea has an intense grapefruit smell that I love. After steeping it mellows out, I unfortunately don’t get a lot of earl grey out of this but otherwise it’s very tasty.

I’m going to hazard that this is the same blend that Bayswater here in Vancouver, BC sells, and that both companies grabbed it from Simpson & Vail (but they call it Citrus Paradisi Tea). Ah, I wish this process were easier. :) Maybe a name, supplier and where purchased needs to be added?

Anyway. This is a lovely tea, and I’m super happy that I grabbed it. A tiny bit tart like grapefruit, juicy and sweet, with zero flowery blergamot that I can detect. It smells amazing too!