Earl Grey

This is listed under Tazo and Tazo Tea. I just grabbed one.

A coworker went to a fancy smancy dinner party held by the company his wife works for, and Tazo is the tea they served. He grabbed some for me – I have a bit of a tea reputation at work :) I have tried this Earl Grey a half dozen times in the past, always to poor results. Apparently, our local Starbucks and The Wal-Mart (according to Larry the cable guy you must add the “The” to Wal-Mart)… look a squirrel… anyway our local stores don’t sell enough for it to be fresh as I have never, ever, and I mean never, smelled or tasted bergamot in this stuff. So, I open the envelope. It smells a bit peppery and of lavenderish bergamot. Hey, so far so good. I steep three minutes and added my sweetener (why put it off, I know I am going to do it eventually). Wait for it to cool. Waiting, Waiting. Take a sip and… flowery, lavender tasting bergamot! Hallelujah! Except, wait a minute… have I just crossed the line into tea snobbery? This tastes kind of like the paper bag. I mean it isn’t horrible, and its Earl Grey – with freakin’ bergamot flavor, but the tea base is paper flavored. It’s muffled like someone talking with their hand over their mouth. As the cup cools the bergamot pops even more but the base just never develops. This is the best cup of Tazo I have ever had, but sadly (or happily), I know this is just ok tea. I did like the bergamot. Glad I could finally taste it. Next.

Backlog from last night – sample sipdown from kittylovestea I had a couple bagged teas to try last night. early grey and i? we don’t get along because of that bergamot stuff :P While it wasn’t anything delicious, there was a small part of me that can see how this might be pretty tasty as a latte. still though? not a winner simply because it’s not my kinda tea :) nice to cross it off my list though!

The steep time is more or less correct. I didn’t actually time it as I was at work, but I think 5 minutes is a safe bet. Also, this is the bagged version.

I thought I had tried this before, but I can’t seem to locate a tasting note on it. The dry leaf aroma was very strong and heavily laced with bergamot. It definitley conjured up an image of Paris, which I always reminisce about when drinking Earl Greys.

The taste is okay. As others have mentioned, it’s definitely not the best Earl Grey I’ve ever had. But it’s probably not the worst either. Or come to think of it, maybe it is the worst simply because I haven’t had much to complain about in prior Earl Grey experiences. (EDIT: I take that back. Samovar’s Earl Grey was disgusting and definitely the worst by far!)

Nonetheless, this is still very drinkable. I added a little bit of sweetener to try and cut the bitterness. It helped a bit, but the bitterness is still there. It’s an interesting bitterness because it’s clearly not coming from the tea, but from the bergamot itself. How strange.

Anyway, I probably wouldn’t be inclined to stock up on this stuff. The bergamot flavoring is a little flaky and bitter, but overall it’s not a bad tea. I’d rather have this than no tea at all. :)

Backlogging from last night:
This came in an assortment box that I purchased a while back, when I first began exploring teas. Not realizing I liked Earl Greys back then, it went untested. Having tested Stash’s Earl Grey and Double Bergamot Earl Grey recently, I found Tazo’s to be more “substantial” … meaning, I could taste the tea over the bergamot, and it was a strong cup of Earl Grey. No bitterness, nice balance.

My mom is turning fifty on Friday, but she had her birthday party last night. Because she is the mature woman, aging gracefully, she rented most of a pub, hired a musician, and dragged half of her friends up on stage at various times to sing or play ukelele with her. There was singing. There were thundermugs. There was the YMCA. There was a conga line while an Indian man sang ‘Guantanamera’.

I don’t drink (mostly) and I had to drive home, so I contented myself with diet Coke until I was on my way to the bathroom and spotted, beside the cupcakes that my sister had rearranged from “HAPPY BIRTHDAY THERESA” into “IT’S A TRAP”, a small tin of this tea and a hot water dispenser! Yes, at the bar, surrounded by loudly carolling drunks, I found tea!

The tin turned out to actually be a repository for a motley collection of tea bags, mostly Red Rose, some Bigelow, some Tim Horton’s. But there was one bag of the Tazo left, so I snagged it and brewed up a cup. My cousin Jo kept stealing sips until she asked, “Why does this taste weird?” “Because it’s Earl Grey.” “Ohhh!”

Okay, the tea: I don’t know what I was expecting from a black from a Tazo, since I’ve only had their herbal blends before. The first thing I noticed was that it brewed up very dark, very quickly, but wasn’t bitter when I finally snagged the bag. The flavour was mild and pleasant, certainly not the best but not the worst. There wasn’t much of an Earl flavour, more like an OP with a back-hint of bergamot. What flavour it did have had good staying power, though; I resteeped the bag three or four times through the night. As an alternative to beer it was just what I wanted, but I won’t seek it out again.

There seems to be a lot of hate for this tea, but I’m not sure why?

I happen to find it a fairly decent Earl Grey compared to Twinnings (cardboard-tasting) or Second Cup (too much orange) or Stash (licorice?! how’d that get in there??), yet not quite up to par with Numi’s aged Earl Grey. Still, if I’m craving a London Fog I keep a stash of these teabags in my purse and head down to the local cafe to order an extra hot vanilla steamer. Then, I just add my own teabag. Easy-peasy-bergamot-squeasy.

I find that on it’s own it can be rather overpowering with bergamot. However, steep this baby in extra hot milk and it really holds its own. There’s nothing more disappointing than ordering a London Fog only to be underwhelmed by the Earl Grey. Me, I’ve solved that problem.

Still on the road, this time for another conference, which means a lot of tea slim pickings at the hotels. This morning I had a bag of this and it really wasn’t half bad. Sure, I wasn’t really paying close attention to it much, but I remember being pleasantly surprised. I like very bergamotty Earl as long as it doesn’t get super astringent and bitter, and this tea fits that profile. I guess the tea bag was pretty fresh, too, because I didn’t have problems with it being really weak like some people, nor did I have it get bitter on me. Yeah it wasn’t super exciting, but I’ve had way worse.

I am obsessed with recreating the Starbucks Earl Grey latte, which I think is all about their vanilla syrup, and not really about the tea. But here I am with my vanilla-soy milk and earl grey tea, trying my best. I oversteeped the tea on purpose, and I am still suffering from the weak-flavor problem. I know this isn’t the more expensive Starbucks’ Tazo Earl Grey in nicer bags. but I am not going to bother to pay extra just to drown the thing in vanilla soy milk. These are very strongly flavored, but hmmmmm…. might have to just try leaving the tea bag in. I mean, I chose Tazo because Sbucks uses it, but also because if these things don’t deliver the strength I need in the drink, nothing will. Seriously, like bergamot before buying a box of this stuff.

I am only drinking teas that I am very low on at the moment, in an effort to declutter my physical cupboard (or rather, “shelf”).

I can’t remember the last time I tasted this in front of Steepster (although I remember having a few bags of this on campus with me), and the teabags themselves are obscenely old.

The smell of the dry teabag reminded me very strongly of the earl grey shortbread cookies I purchased one time. A sort of gritty bergamot and cookie smell. Those things were delicious. The steep loses that smell a bit, the bergamot becoming much brighter and citrusy, although pleasant and light.

Aaaaaug it tastes gross. I think these teabags are TOO old. Or at the very least, I seriously oversteeped it. The tea is very bitter, and the bitterness of the bergomat is reaching out too. I also keep thinking I either taste or smell lavender somewhere in there. I think I’m just going to dump this. It was the very last teabag anyways, which is sad because I remember having a good reaction to it when I made it to bring to class with me.

It doesn’t look like I ever gave it a rating previously, and I don’t think I will now. Not until I get a proper cup of this to try.

Had a bag of this lying around since March and finally got around to brewing it. It reminded me that even though this is a mainstream, grocery store bagged brand, it’s still a solid Earl Grey. Especially sweetened.

One of those elaborate flaboyantly aromasized teas that are just over the top with perfumation! However it’s really how bad do you want the caffeine. I was pretty out of it this morning, a cup of this woke me up and got me ready to conquor a day. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll be having this one again, after two sips I was ready to put it down. It has some enjoyable moments, but earl grey in general isnt my cup of tea. I enjoy heavily aroma teas, but as long as its an aroma that I enjoy. DIdn’t enjoy this one at all…. Smelled like an evil concoction of bergamot. Just saying. Time to enjoy the beautiful florida sunshine while Im here :D

Surprise! I finally found out the perfect way for me to have Earl Grey. It is now the only tea that I take with additives. It needs milk and sugar or else this is a very unpleasant tea for me; I don’t know why that is. This blend is actually pretty nice when brewed correctly. Maybe this flavor is just growing on me.
I’m actually surprised at one aspect of this tea: it keeps me awake; wired even. This and matcha are the only teas that I drink that I can tell is having some effect on my awake-ness. I actually needed that tonight so I’m pretty glad I have this on hand!

While I was out last night with friends at a restaurant, I asked for tea and they only had tea bags. So, I went with this Earl Grey. Really weak. Now, I am biased when it comes to tea bags. I think they are a waste of space on your store’s shelves – only loose tea for me, BUT I do occassionally use them. And I have to say I have had better Earl Grey in a bag.

We went through several pitchers of this iced this evening at a family gathering. Seemed like the pitchers were empty just as soon as we could make another. With so many people and so much commotion, it is a good thing that it was very forgiving with steep time. We all got busy and forgot it was steeping at one point. Later the gang just couldn’t wait and we rushed one pot. It was a great tea for the crowd!

Apparently I’m in an earl grey mood lately. I had a pot of decaf (without a brand name, otherwise I would have logged it!) at an Asian restaurant last night. I know… earl grey at an Asian restaurant? It was the only decaf they had.

So today I went to Starbucks because I needed a venti size drink but didn’t have a large mug in my office, and I was hoping for large quantities of green tea. Well, it’s exams, and the students (rightfully) have been buying up everything in our Starbucks, so they were out of it. I figured that of the in-stock options, this one would probably fair best, so here we go…

Now, off to 3 consecutive hours of presentations/meetings!

Currently drinking an Earl Grey latte from Starbucks. A relatives school sells gift cards as a fundraiser (the school keeps a certain percentage of money for every gift card they sell). So my mom is constantly buying me Starbucks gifts cards, which I love, but I currently have 4 of them.

Back to the latte, it is delicious. Starbucks is one of my favorites places to get an Earl Grey latte. The plain Tazo Earl Grey tea is not my favorite, but it makes a great latte. It is creamy, sweet, with a strong bergamot flavour, just heavenly. I wish there was a company that would sell a bergamot flavour syrup – if anyone knows of one, let me know – I would put it in everything.

Had this cup of Earl Grey away from home, from the hotel breakfast in San Diego, CA.

A great bagged Earl Grey, striking a good balance between quality and utility. This was a quick, efficient infusion resulting in immediate bergamot comfort. There’s just two layers of character here at most, from the solid base and the nice flavoring, but that’s good enough for me from a teabag and standing, sort-of-hot water. This still produced a full-bodied, bordering on strong, and with consistent presence, without getting bitter or dry. Count me impressed, Tazo! Not quite Twinings’ Earl Grey, but still an unexpectedly good performance.

Ordered myself a cup of this after work today. I needed a pick me up. They used 1 large full leaf bag for 16oz water, I steeped 2-2 1/2 minutes and added a splash of half and half and a packet of sugar in the raw. I enjoyed the first few sips of this the most, while it was scalding hot, but it was decent as it cooled down, just a bit perfumey. Not really floraly, but tasted like I was drinking perfume after awhile. I think it was just the way they used the bergamot. I’ve had better Earls, and worse Earls, this is a middle of the road Earl. I’d order again, but probably won’t buy a tin.

I had this when I went to see Skyfall the other night. I was in the mood for tea, (When am I not?) and the movie theatre sold Tazo teas. Luckily, we also ordered food, which allowed the ridiculously hot water to cool before I steeped it.

I really enjoyed this! Thankfully, the guy behind the counter gave me an extra bag. I can try it again while not watching an action flick, so as to do a better review. This tea stood up well to the half and half and packet of raw sugar I added. (Too embarrassed by my earlier stuttering episode to ask for something different, so I just threw in whatever was on the counter.)

Strong flavors, but not overpowering. I have plenty of Earl Grey in my tea cabinet right now, but I think I would consider purchasing this one. I don’t normally like Tazo, so that surprised me.

Another tea I had during vacation, this one at a hotel. It was a disappointment. I usually enjoy Earl Grey but this one was all smell and no flavor. Drinkable, but that is about all.