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The Earl's Garden from DAVIDsTEA
59

This is another tea from my swap with DaisyChubb! Be prepared to see a bunch of notes on teas from that swap, heh.

I wanted to try this one because of the Earl Grey + red fruits (basically) flavoring, which would be similar to the bergamot, red fruits and jasmine tea I brought back from Argentina (minus the jasmine, of course). I read some reviews so I’m not expecting much bergamot flavor, but I did get a bright hit of it in the scent of the dried leaf along with a decent amount of berries. Right after brewing the tea smelled like black tea, berries and bergamot in that order, but after cooling a bit the berries take over. A lot of strawberry, a hint of raspberry and black currant.

The first sip on this was incredibly bitter! So disappointing. Remember that I’m very sensative to bitterness in teas, and someone else had problems with bitterness, so I should have known better than to brew it at boiling, I guess. Beyond the bitterness I can taste that it is very, powerfully fruity. Even without the bitterness this doesn’t seem like quite the right flavoring for me. The black tea base also errs on that side of whatever black that I really don’t like the taste of (and often that’s where the bitterness is coming from).

People who liked this

ashmanra
Mercuryhime
Devilish
Angrboda
LiberTEAS
Uniquity
RachanaC (Rachel)-iHeartTeas
K S
TeaEqualsBliss

Comments

Uniquity
Uniquity 2011-11-09 12:14:24 -0500

I haven’t had this in a while, but I remember loving it – Mostly because I enver got any bergamot taste. Must re-visit. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it though! : (

Dinosara
Dinosara 2011-11-09 14:12:26 -0500

Yeah, I think it mostly has to do with my bad reaction to whatever that particular type of black tea is. I only encounter it occasionally, but when I do, uck!

DaisyChubb
DaisyChubb 2011-11-09 16:27:56 -0500

Dont worry, I find this one bitter no matter how short a steep, so its not all of davids black teas, but def this one!!

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Profile

Bio

I am tea obsessed, with the stash to match. I tend to really enjoy green oolongs, Chinese blacks, and flavored teas with high quality bases, especially florals, bergamot-based teas, and chocolate teas.

I’m a grad student and in my free time I am a birder, baker, and music/movie/tv addict.

I have an Adagio Teas UtiliTEA kettle and a Tea Forté Kati cup for brewing. I also have a Chinese Ru Kiln tea set for gongfu brewing.

Here are my rating categories, FYI:
100-90: These teas are mind-blowingly good to me.
89-80: I really really like these teas and will keep most of them in the permanent collection, but they’re not quite as spectacular as the top category
79-70: Tasty teas that I enjoy, but definitely won’t rebuy when I run out.
69-65: Teas that I would probably drink again, but wouldn’t seek out. They don’t quite do it for me in one aspect or another; often just not quite my style
64-60: Teas that I don’t really enjoy all that much and wouldn’t drink another cup of.
59-50: Bleh. I usually choose not to finish the cup because life’s too short to drink tea I dislike.
49 and below: Mega yuck. This tea is just disgusting to me.

Location

Ohio, US

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