Earl Grey

Sometimes you just want a plain tea with breakfast. This is great for that. Strong, full-flavoured, great with a pinch of sugar and the barest splash of milk. The only criticism I can really make is that I’d have loved to have more bergamot in it, but still. This makes a nice morning cuppa.

I had this over at my parents’ house for a big family X-mas party. My mother broke out a pot of this tea for dessert. To me it tastes as bland as ever (is there actually any bergamot in this?!) but it went fine with the sweet desserts, which were the focus anyway, so the quality didn’t matter so much, if that makes any sense.

The other tea I grew up on, also a Comfort Tea.

Good ol’ earl grey. I bought this in honour of my British friend who favours earl grey above the rest. And it’s Tetley; how can I not like it.

Earl Grey is my failsafe tea. I have to have one cup day; sweet with soy milk. I get adventurous and try other teas but I always come back to this one.

Last week I stayed a couple of nights in a hotel in Basingstoke. While the teabags offered in the tea tray in the room seemed a supermarket´s house brand (I need to look it up, but the labelling is very discrete indeed), the tea at the breakfast buffet was Tetley´s. The only black tea was this EG.
On the individually wrapped teabag it says “delicate and refreshing with a citrus hint of bergamot flavour”. Although it´s certainly not offensive in any way, it´s surely “delicate” ;-) and the “hint” of bergamot is extremely subtle. A shame, as it seems to be tea for those who don´t like tea.

This is my go-to tea for after a workout. Actually, it’s one of my go-to teas at any time, for good reason. Not only was Tetley’s Earl Grey one of the first teas I really enjoyed drinking. The tea is slightly bitter and has a warm bergamot taste – more subtle than a lot of other Earl Grey teas I’ve tried – but is still unmistakably black tea. If you can find the loose leaf in stores, it’s well worth the extra couple dollars, but a pack of tea bags works (for this) in a pinch.

It was okay. Nothing special. Made a foam-less London Fog with it. I would have preferred a stronger bergamot flavour. Would likely have been better with a premium brand of tea but since I was at someone else’s house, this had to do.

I didn’t really enjoy this because it tasted bitter and a bit sour. I have tasted much better Earl Grey teas.

Astringent, bitter and bland. I cannot taste the bergamot at all. Not undrinkable should I politely accept tea from someone as their guest, but not at all pleasant.