Earl Grey

I have had this tea for a while but I wasn’t impressed at first. I think my tastebuds were baked by too much strong coffee and nicotine. Since I’ve given up those vices I am enjoying my tea much more. I am not in love with Taylor’s and Harrogate Earl Grey but I do like it very much. The tea base has always seemed a little light to me but the bergamot has a good amount of intensity. Over all the tea has a wonderful floral nose and a light citrus after taste. This tea also holds up well to a second steeping. The second steeping is lighter on the citrus of course but hints of vanilla and actual tea taste come through. Both the first and second steeping are good hot or cold but room temp might be the best of all.

Still my favourite Earl Grey, made even better by a splash of oat milk – and a digestive biscuit.

So, this is the last of the bagged Taylors of Harrogate teas I subsisted on in Lexington. Of the bunch, this was far and away my favorite. As a matter of fact, I plan on trying the loose leaf version just to compare the two.

I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion process I tend to favor for non-Chinese black teas and many black tea blends. I steeped the tea bag in approximately 8 ounces of adequately hot water for 5 minutes. Again, I have no clue what the water temperature was, and I did not attempt additional infusions as I never reinfuse bagged teas.

After infusion, the dark mahogany tea liquor produced integrated aromas of bergamot, cream, honey, toast, caramel, and wood. In the mouth, I picked up on smoothly integrated notes of bergamot, wood, brown toast, honey, cream, malt, caramel, butterscotch, and cocoa. The finish was mild and slightly citrusy. The bergamot presence continued to shine, underscored by fleeting impressions of wood, caramel, cream, malt, and butterscotch.

I found this to be significantly better and more sophisticated than many of the bagged teas I have tried in the past. Unlike at least one previous reviewer, I did not note anything that seemed overtly artificial about this tea. For a bagged Earl Grey, it certainly was not bad. I could see myself reaching for this again in similar circumstances in the future. I am definitely planning on trying the loose leaf version soon.

FYI…This tasting note refers to the loose leaf version of this tea.

This is the third and last of the Taylors teas that I picked up last weekend. I hope it will be the best. So far, I haven’t been thrilled by their offerings. The first two I reviewed here weren’t very exciting. Oh well, I’m putting on my open-minded pants now.

Let’s cut right to the chase. This tea was packaged like the two Taylors teas I already tried: metal container, inner foil wrapper. The unbrewed tea leaves were short and dark brown. However, they didn’t have the through-the-grinder appearance of the others. This might be attributed to the fact that this is black China tea versus orange pekoe.

I’ve imbibed a lot of black Earl Grey teas lately so the smell of bergamot is acutely registered in my nostrils. The unbrewed leaves of this blend, though, had a bergamot-like aroma that my nose hadn’t encountered before. The smell was definitely bergamot but it had additional flowery attributes. At first, I wondered if there were chemical or other additives, but the container label clearly stated that, other than black China tea, the only other ingredient was NATURAL oil of bergamot.

As usual, I followed the company’s brewing instructions for the initial trial. I set the Breville tea maker on 212 degrees for five minutes. The brewed blend was dark amber in color. The aroma was faintly syrupy.

The taste of this tea was fruity and sweet. I don’t know if I could pick this flavor out of a lineup as bergamot, but I did like it. It was mellow, smooth, and slightly honeyed. What’s not to like?

There was no astringency (unlike the other two Taylors teas) and the entire cup (minus the vessel) went down very smoothly and easily. The aftertaste was affable with only a brief hang time.

My hopes were realized this morning. This is definitely my favorite of the three Taylors teas. I will drink all of the contents of the other two Taylors containers, but I will be smiling while I finish this one.

There isn’t too much bergamot, but I don’t care for strong bergamot so yay! I think this is going to end up being my go to Earl Grey :)

It is morning and I just finished my first cup of tea for the day, Earl Grey by Taylors of Harrogate. A decent black China tea with a noticeable shot of bergamot. Out of the many Earl Grey teas out there, while this is not my absolute favorite it is one that I would probably purchase twice. I am drinking it from the beautiful Anne of Green Gables cup that my friend Bonnie brought back for me earlier this summer from Prince Edward Island. Does a beautiful cup, given with love by a friend make the tea taste better? In a way it does. At least it definitely adds a positive touch to the experience.

Paid HK$88 (roughly GBP7.5, USD11.5) for 125g loose leaf.
I will choose Twinings’ classic Earl Grey over Taylors’ any day.
Taylors’ Earl Grey tasted flat, the bergamot flavour tasted artificial, at least to me. I had to take this tea with sugar, couldn’t finish the cup plain black.

I will not re-purchase this tea. Actually it may take me a while just to finish this tin.

Note: I always make my tea in teapot. I put 240ml water at first steep, another 240ml second steep.

I made this one like an English person— brewed Western style, milk in first, no sweetener.

It was HEAVENLY. I have never drunk Earl Grey with milk before, but oh my God, I’m never drinking this one without it again! It gave it like this creamy, fruity, tannic, chocolatey, scrumptious dimension that has been previously untapped by me (I almost always take my tea black).

Bumping up the rating.

[Rating the bagged version…] It was okay. I’ve been shoving it around in my tea cupboard. It tastes burnt, or smoky, or whatever you want to call it (and, yes, I tried steeping it for a lot less time, same result), and the bergamot is just not the flavor I’d like it to be. It’s there, mind you, and in force, but it’s more flagrant and floral than a deep delicious bergamot. I might just have a unique idea of the perfect Earl Grey. :)

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.