Earl Grey

This is a strong earl grey. It requires a short steep time. The tea base was nothing to write home about. It made an okay breakfast tea but I wasn’t too disappointed at sip down. If you are fairly new to tea or prefer bagged teas then I would recommend the Twinnings over the Tazo brand.

I used 2 bags of this tea in 24 oz of boiling water with a steep time of 2 minutes.

I do love bergamot, but the bergamot flavor in this tea is very strong, overpowering the tea. It almost tastes more like an herbal tea than a black! Not “bad,” but for a subtler taste in a similar price range, try Twinings.

Among the Tazo varieties this one is just a mystery to me. So much as touch this to your water and you have a bitter steep. Maybe it’s the fannings in there. I don’t know, but this is a pretty astringent Earl Gray without a lot of complexity (dull and muted, in terms of flavor).

The best thing about this is the strong floral bergamot scent after brewing, but by the time I finish the tea I always regret those first few sips—it gets increasingly bitter, not more flavorful, as you drink.

The perfume taste of this drink is overwhelming at times, even with milk to cut it down. I’ve definitely had way better Earl Grey, and would recommend skipping this one.

I’ve tried this in the old packaging and I did not like this, but I recently try this in the new packaging and it tasted better in my opinion. I’m not sure if it was the tea or just my tastes have change. I would reccommend trying at least once.

So, I found myself at work without my usual tea. Being that I was in a tight spot, I thought I might just grab some tea bags from the cafeteria at the hospital I work at. What did I pick up? You guessed it: Tazo Earl Grey. I don’t want to say that it was terrible. “Some tea” is better than “no tea,” but I would never go out of my way to pick this stuff up at the market. It brews up quite dark, which isn’t a problem, but it is overwhelmingly perfumey, and there seems to be some sort of chemical aftertaste. Not good. Do not buy! Hopefully the Tazo English Breakfast tea that I bought for later in the day is considerably better. We shall see!

I love Earl Grey, but this one really wasn’t my favorite. It was surprisingly bitter and the bergamot flavor was too heavy for my liking. I drank the entire box of this, but won’t be re-purchasing because there are so many better versions of this tea out there.

I’m slowly working my way through all the earl grey bags my grocery store has to offer, because I like to take a few with me whenever I travel and I want to figure out what I like best. I think it’s safe to say that this is not it. The bergamot is way too floral for me and the tea itself gets bitter fast. It’s really hard not to oversteep this one, which is a shame because it’s not too bad when it’s done right. I can only seem to get a good cup out of it about 1/3 of the time, though, usually because I’m distracted. Since it’s so sensitive I might try brewing it at a lower temperature next time.

This is my go-to EG. I drink a cup of this every morning. It’s easy to find, easy to drink, and not so expensive that I can’t go through a couple boxes a month.

I’m new at tea and got this as part of a sampler, so you can go wrong with free! This was good for one of those days when you just need a cup of tea.