Earl Grey Choice

Tea of the afternoon………

I have decided that this is the opportune time to start drinking the teas that aren’t my first choice for a certain type. I usually think this one is a little strong due to the lavendar. It is about perfect for me right now….. I can actually taste this one even with my cold and it is good. The base is smooth and the bergamot and lavendar are definitely present. I guess this one will be held in reserve for the days I need Earl Grey with a punch. You know…Sup-er Earl!

I have decided the tins are a pain because the lids don’t fit well (I have 4 teas in this type of tin, so it is not just one that I am using for my observations). They are pretty, but give me functionality first any day. I say skip them and buy a bag…..

Steeped by the usual parameters.

(Got the sliders sort of working this time…. Don’t you love a browser upgrade that really isn’t one?)

Another round two tea from the Earl Grey side-by-side tasting. I’m doing 5 at a time, each tea brewed under the same parameters: in a tea filter bag, for 3 minutes with 205°F water. I dunked the tea filters around to make sure they were getting enough water flow since I don’t usually use them.

This one is another that probably doesn’t really belong here, but I forgot that it had lavender in it until I had already portioned it out. Oh well! The lavender really makes this one stick out here, and it is, like I tasted before, very strongly lavendery, which gives the tea an herby character. As far as lavender Earls go I think this is a little too much lavender.

Ok, I hate doing this. I really do. But here goes…

Opening a tin of this Earl Grey Choice by Zhi Tea can be best described as being totally steamrolled by lavender! Overwhelming lavender. I get nothing that would suggest an earl grey in the scent, no bergamot, nothing. Just lavender! Reading the list of ingredients on the tin, it does not mention any lavender at all. Odd, I would say. So I brew this tea, and surprise, surprise, the liquor has an extreme lavender smell as well. Upon sipping, I can barely muster the energy to send it down my throat. It tastes soapy. But, in truth, describing it as soap-like is way too kind. I would find difficulty serving this tea to my most villainous enemies. Just having it in my mouth, I almost want to gag. This is not earl grey. Frankly, I don’t know what sort of monster this is.

So, I emailed Zhi Tea and asked them if maybe I recieved the wrong tea, or if potentially it’s a bad batch. Let me first say, the customer service at Zhi Tea is top-notch. I was responded to quickly and politely. They get an ‘A’ for customer service. I was told that they use an organic bergamot oil in this tea that has a lavender-like scent. I was also told that I can leave the tin open to air-out and maybe it will help lower the lavender-like intensity.

Let me say this, as a frequent earl grey drinker, I love trying interesting and creative versions of earl grey. This is not an interesting or creative version. This is a mistake. Zhi Tea needs to go back and reassess this one. It’s very possible that I just got a bad batch of it, a batch with an unfathomable amount of this organic bergamot oil. I’ve had an otherwise positive experience drinking Zhi’s teas, but this one is simply undrinkable.

This one gets a big ’ol nope from me.

Similar to their Green Earl Grace tea I recently tried, the bergamot here is just so overwhelmingly perfumey and almost chemical in taste. I see other reviewers assuming this tea has lavender in it, which it does not. But even for lavender, which I admit isn’t my favorite, this is quite soapy. It’s like a bergamot and lavender scented soap.

I’m not sure anyone would enjoy this, but into the rehoming box it goes. And Violet Femme is going with it, as I see that it has this bergamot and lavender. I can’t imagine.