Earl Grey

How i got it: Bought it (Twinings’ Classics Collection Pack)

Experience: Maybe the first Earl Grey I tasted, I think I can appreciate it better after some years, hehe. It has a well-balanced aroma, to the point that the tea is equally present than (and not overriden by) the bergamot scent. However, its smell isn’t very intense or vibrant. I can sense some orange-candy hints too. In the flavor side, this tea has very evident, mild-intensity lemon notes, although you still can taste the base tea. I’d liked a bit more of duration. Very good tea, but needs a bit more to be among the greatest.

Would i buy it again?: There are better options out there, but this is still a valid one.

All and all, this is a very consistent tasting Earl Grey. It’s not the best, but I know what I’m getting from it, and it always delivers. It’s fairly tolerant to me screwing up the brewing too by walking away and letting it steep too long.

This isn’t my favorite Earl Grey, but it’s a bit cheaper than the others I drink, I can find it at a Mariano’s close to home, and I can re-use the tins of the loose leaf version for my other teas that don’t come in tins.

Being the enduring brand for Earl Greys, this is a must-try product for me during my transition from green to black tea.

I was lucky enough to snatch up two boxes from Shoppers for $3 apiece (bargain!) Strangely enough, Canadian shelves only carry the Earl Grey, Lady Grey and Chamomile from Twinings.

A delicious citrus scent met me when I tore open the package – a subject of much online griping after Twinings changed their formula. 3-4 minutes of steeping yielded a slightly murky shade, still with that overpowering citrus scent. I had a plain cup, and made my mom a cup with copious amounts of milk. One sip brought me back to the European tea salons (okay, they really do know their tea better across the pond). This is definitely one of the better bagged teas out there.

This will probably become my go-to Earl Grey, but I’m also itching to see what Harney and Sons has to offer.

This EG is like a friend from childhood whom you contact every few years, and it’s like no time has passed at all between the two of you. Steady, reliable, tangy, and balanced beautifully. Nothing revolutionary or particularly unique here, but it’s a safe bet when you aren’t in the mood to experiment.

Lemon bars with earl grey infused into the shortbread layer…Mmmmm. Now this is the way to have bergamot

Sipdown!

This was an extra on top of the Stash bagged teas I so generously was given by Kat_Maria from the Take It Away thread, and I sipped this one down before it even entered my cupboard. Go me! I was not going to let my tea number increase.

I’ve only tried a few Twinings teas, and that was a fair while ago. Stash is definitely my tea bag company of choice. Overall, this was pretty decent but a little bitter and harsh on the end sip. For a bagged Earl Grey, I’ve had much worse though.

This is my pantry back-up daily tea, for when I run out of my favorite and don’t have time to make loose leaf. It tastes good, but occasionally makes me a little nauseous feeling, no idea why.

Nice, light citrus-y tasting black tea. For a bagged tea (as well as the price), it’s not bad.

Nice enough. Nothing special, but quite pleasant, as Twinings teas normally are. A bit too bitter, but that could easily be solved by adding either milk or cream.

Earl Grey was my introduction to tea. I started drinking it because of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Captain Picard’s oft repeated “Tea, Earl Grey, hot.” line. As soon as I tasted it I fell in love. That was many years ago, far from where I live now and I got my first taste of it bagged from Taylors of Harrogate as a gift from my father when he came to visit me while I lived in San Antonio, Texas.

Now it is many years later and I still have a strong love for Earl Grey, but I have no easy access to the brand that started my love affair with this tea. But then I discovered Twinings and fell in love all over again. While I realize that as a bagged version of the famous tea it will never live up to loose leaf I also realize that sometimes you gotta go with what you got. I have a whole box of this stuff up in my pantry and I never allow myself to run out. Sometimes you really just don’t have time for a cup of freshly brewed loose leaf and it’s nice to know that I have an old standby that I can fall back on in such times.