Looking for THE perfect earl grey! What's your favorite?

I’ve had a russian early grey that I loved. It has a strong smokey flavour

Hm, though I too am a total bergamot addict, the Earl Greys I’ve been loving lately tend to be on the creamy or floral side (Zen Tea Earl Grey Cream is wonderfully balanced and rich, Upton Imports Lavender Earl Grey has that dimension with a completely overwhelming floral aroma, Della Terra Earl Grey Creme is so creamy it’s almost like a hot vanilla milkshake)…that said, Mariage Freres Earl Grey French Blue is pretty heady with the bergamot as I recall.

If you like bergamot a lot you may not dig Harney and Sons Earl Grey Supreme despite its popularity here; it appears to focus more on a sophisticated and somewhat unusual black tea base blend than piling on the bergamot according to everything I’ve read (both on Steepster and H&S’ own copy in their book and in the catalog) though for some weird reason I thought it was pretty strong (and somehow I didn’t care for it that much TBH).

Upton has an Extra Bergamot EG but frankly I didn’t like it at all (I also didn’t like their EG Blue Flower and the common element is they both have artificial flavors listed—the Lavender EG, the only one from them I’ve tried that I love, is natural flavors only so apparently that’s what I need to look for).

Someone on Steepster in one of the older EG threads (there are a lot, in case you haven’t searched the boards it may help you get more leads) mentioned Todd and Holland Double Bergamot is great if you love over-the-top bergamot. Apparently they even offer a TRIPLE Bergamot!

EDIT: Whoops, I now see Dinosara is the one I was thinking of as she smartly mentioned Todd and Holland in-thread.

My favorite EG is #49 from Steven Smith TeaMaker.

I rather like Teajo’s silky earl grey.