Thanks to Alphakitty for a ‘surprise’ sample of this blend in a recent swap we did. It was one that she snuck in there on my and I think I might be quite happy she did.
So I guess, Dorian Grey is Earl Grey’s second cousin twice removed from his mothers side or something like that!
Dry it has a very appealing and exotic fruity/floral smell with a touch of creaminess to it. I immediately liked the smell of it so I scooped out a portion to brew for after I had finished my cup of freshly brewed Citron Oolong. I was so happy about a totally new tea I almost wanted to pour my cup out and brew it immediately, but that would have been sacrilegious!
Steeped it takes on your classic Earl Gray aroma, but with a bit more…I still get a faint presence of that fruity/floral aroma and the creaminess seems a touch more pronounced. It brews into a nice clean and clear dark brown tea.
I really enjoy the flavor profile of this tea, but nowhere in the mix do I taste caramel which is a slight shame I was really looking forward to that, I naturally always add a tsp of sugar into my tea’s this one seems overly sweet now making me think it probably didn’t need any, which is honestly rare for me.
Overall this tea is awesome, only problem is now I have yet another company to look at for tea’s. I am going to have to liquidate some of the DAVIDsTEA I have in order to make room! This is certainly one of the best or possibly the best black tea based Earl Gray I have has so far, I will have to compare against Cream of Earl Gray from Davids which has been holding my #1 spot for Black Earl Gray’s.