I found the smell of this stuff amazing. It wasn’t Bergamot Citrus And Tea, no. It was BERGAMOT. Not bergamoty citrus, but a FULL, rounded bergamot smell; I am unsure how to describe it, actually. Just… the fruit, instead of the essence.
Anyways, I picked this up at Winners of all places. I went in looking to buy a new teapot—if everyone missed my sap story of how my old one died in my hands (and gave me a nasty cut while doing so)—specifically one for loose leaf with a basket infuser. I found one! Although it is a little BIG for me. But I also discovered that Winners has a whole selection of teas. Specifically loose leaf, and many from very “British” brands (“True London Tea” “British Teas”, all sporting pictures of Big Ben and red phone boxes on them), and directly beside them in the same aisle? The preserves selection. I dubbed it “The British Aisle”. I was so amused I took out my phone and told Luke (who also has a Steepster!) he was also amused.
Anyways! The tea. The full bergamot smell was lost in the tea itself (although the wet leaves still smelt strongly of it), returning to the much more normal bergamot oil and tea smell. Probably a good thing because I couldn’t smell any tea in the dry stuff, really. I can’t give too apt a description of the colour because I made it in my cafe cream-brown mug, but it does look a good shade of amber. Slightly reddish.
Waiting for it to cool a bit. Hot it doesn’t taste too strong. I haven’t added any honey yet, I’m waiting for it to cool first to decide. Although I’m liking it already! And I’m afraid that if I love it, that Winners won’t stock any more of this mysterious “Hazo” brand (I had to look it up online, it’s very new and mysterious). Winners is the kind of shop that just Gets Random Stuff In (I found gauntlets in there once!), so I’m sure that once they sell off Hazo (there was only Hazo Earl Grey in there—three tins, two after I purchased one), that I will never see it again and will have to attempt to buy it from the website I found.
The taste isn’t very strong, hmm. It’s quite weak, but that’s probably just me figuring out my tea-water proportions still. The taste was pleasant, though, the bergamot isn’t anywhere near as strong as in the smell; good ratio to the tea. It’s not bitter at all, which I like. Earl grey isn’t my morning tea choice—it’s not strong enough—but it is my lunch time and between classes choice, so I think I will be drinking this one a lot more. I might have to start bringing the tin, a mug and my teaball to class.
Hrm. I should invest in one of those travel loose leaf mugs…
