Review #35 - Postcard Teas Gianfranco's Earl Grey (loose)

With the holiday season behind us it's time to get back to work. This week I review another tea from the Whittington's Tea Emporium (http://wtea-emporium.co.uk/) Earl Grey sampler pack. How will this sample compare to the last? Will it fall short or will it shine? Either way I get to drink Earl Grey so this year is starting out on the right foot. On to the review.  

Aroma

The sample package, as seen in the picture is quite different then most foil bags in that it's horizontally aligned. Most bags are presented in a portrait style with labeling going across the bag. In this case their label goes the length of the bag. With all this talk of label alignment out of the way I opened the bag and started the process of reviewing the aroma. I would describe it as mellow and/or light. It comes across as very natural with absolutely no perfume smell to it which is a good start. As I have said many times, the amount of aroma seldom equates to the eventual flavor. Some teas are light but have plenty of flavor and we've also seen the reverse. So what is helping to create this aroma? Given how little info is listed on their label I headed off to their site and was blow away with the amount of detail given for this Earl Grey.

     The finest bergamots in the world come from Calabria in Southern Italy where every year Gianfranco Todisco selects fruit grown naturally without chemicals and cold presses them for our Earl Grey. Then here in London we blend black tea from small tea farms – Mineral Springs and Potong in Darjeeling and Sahyadri in Kerala – to compliment his fragrant bergamot oil.

         <snip>

ORIGIN:
60% Darjeeling 2nd Flush EX20 (Mineral Spring Tea Farm (av. 1.5-2 acres), Darjeeling, India)
20% Family Tea (Sahyadri Co-operative (av. 1.5-3 acres), Peermade, Kerala, India)
20% Darjeeling 1st Flush (Potong Tea Farm (av. 1 acre), Darjeeling, India)
Blend of two Essential Oils Of Bergamot (Calabria, prod. Gianfranco Todisco, 2013)
PLANTS AND PROCESSING: Blend of Camellia Sinensis Sinensis and Camellia Sinensis Assamica

This may just be the most detailed explanation of any tea I have reviewed so far. But Postcard wasn't done with providing information. If you head to their site, and if I read the caption correctly, you can actually see a photo of Gianfranco Todisco next to a bergamot tree. Fellow tea drinkers, if all food companies were this open and honest, there would be zero need for any labeling laws. Postcard should be commended.

To be fair, I should point out that the sample bag cannot be resealed unless you tape it closed or something similar. For me it's not an issue because I typically go through all the tea from each sample pack. Because of this the lack of re-sealing wasn't an issue for me but it may be for you. Like I said, I need to be fair an point that out. Lets move on to the brewing section.

Steeping Method

Given the small size of their label there is no steeping instructions so off to their site again. Here is what I found. 

This special Earl Grey should be brewed with water just off the boil and a teaspoon of tea per cup to best enjoy it’s bright, citrus flavours. It can be taken with or without milk.

BREWING GUIDELINE: 95-100°C, 3-4g per cup, with or without milk. 2 infusions.

 As you can see no time was given so I did my typical 3, 4, and 5 minute brewing times.

The Results

If I were some beyond gifted writer I would weave a story that leads the reader on a wonderfully complex plot ending with my final thoughts on this tea. But that's not me. So instead of dragging this out, lets get right to the point. This might just be one of the best Earl Grey teas I have reviewed. Seriously, I enjoyed this tea that much. How and Why? Let me explain.

Given my tendency to steep Earl Grey at 4 minutes that's where I started and boy was I rewarded. The color

was dark and the aroma that came from the tea was ( and I don't normally use this term but here goes) earthy. It was as if I were working in my garden and getting nose fulls of fresh dirt. But at the same time I could pick out the tea. To say I was both surprised and excited would be telling a lie. With such a balanced aroma could the flavor match that balance? Getting that perfect balance is for me, the Holy Grail of Earl Grey.

Well I am happy to report this tea nails it perfectly. At the freshly poured point, where the tea is still very warm, the bergamot is earthy and deep tasting while not overpowering the black tea. For people who have tried Earl Grey's and complain of their overly sweet taste this is the tea you should be drinking. But the tea wasn't done. As it cooled the bergamot changed ever so slightly providing a touch of citrus and slightly less earth all while not over powering the black tea. Complexity and Balance. Quite simply this tea was a pleasure to drink from the freshly boiled start to the cooled yet still balanced finish. In my opinion, this is what Earl Grey should taste like.

As for the 3 and 5 minute steep times, personal preference. Still good in their own way but for me 4 minutes is pure Earl Grey Nirvana. But how would it re-steep? Did this tea have a weak spot that was about to be exposed?

Re-Steeping    

For those of you who noticed their brewing guidelines would have also noticed those wonderful words: "2 infusions".  Once again this tea comes through and again it surprised me. Yes the flavor was lighter then it's 1st steep but that's not what surprised me. What got me was just how much flavor remained for the second steep. I've reviewed teas that had their first step less balanced, less complex and less flavorful then this tea's second steep. Really goes to show you what happens when you use quality ingredients. So what time do I suggest? 4 for the first, and 4 for the second.

Final Thoughts

Other then the lack of steeping instructions on the sample pack, I really have nothing negative to say about this tea. Simply put, I thoroughly enjoyed this tea. Reviewing, we have ingredients which are all known and from small farmers. We have a balanced tea that has an immense amount of flavor without being overly sweet. The tea has all the complexity you would expect from quality black tea. And you can re-steep the tea and actually get a tea worth drinking.  My suggestion is very simple, contact Whittington's or Postcard Tea directly and try it yourself. I'm sure you will enjoy this tea as much as I did.

Review #34 - Tea Studio Earl Grey (loose)

To begin I would like to express a big thank you to @WTE_Kyle of Whittington's Tea Emporium. (http://wtea-emporium.co.uk/) for sending me his Earl Grey sampler pack. When I am done with all the samples contained within, I plan to review the sample pack as a whole. There is alot of documentation inside and the container itself is completely re-usable and believe it deserves it own entry. As you can see from the title I selected the sample from Tea Studio for my first review so lets jump in.

Aroma

The sample came in a resealable (zip-lock type closure) with the same Earl Grey photo on the front as it appears on their site. On the back all the expected information about history, ingredients, steeping, etc, etc.  Upon opening the bag you are greeted with tons and tons of enjoyable scents and smells. With some teas you have to either take a deep breath or have to really get in close to pick up everything. That is not the case with this tea. This tea is full of aroma with only a slight/mild hint of perfume at the end. If you linger long enough you can just about pick it up so I would describe this tea as mostly natural. Curious as to why I picked up that slight difference I flipped the bag over and read the ingredients which were a bit different on their site:

Bag-> Ingredients: Loose-leaf black tea, natural bergamot flavouring 

   

Site-> A premium loose-leaf tea, it combines the wiry, regular leaf of spicy Ceylon with the elegance of Yunnan and natural bergamot from France. - 

As we have discussed before the words "natural" mean pretty much nothing in the US. Hopefully they hold some value in the UK and France and it doesn't mean chemicals have been added. Given the hint of perfume that may or may not be the case. I'm hoping it's not.

Steeping Method

We return to both the bag and the site to get our steeping instructions.

Site-> Temperature100 degrees celcius
Steep Time3 to 5 minutes

Bag-> Preparation: Use fresh water heated to 100C. Pour the water onto the leaves and allow to steep for 3-5 minutes. Use 1-2 teaspoons per cup.

 Keep and eye on that last sentence because I will be talking about it a bit later. But as you can see I tried 3, 4 and 5 minute steep times.

The Results

Let's start at the 3 minute mark. The color was on the light side and the taste was about the same. At this

steeping time this is a very, very light Earl Grey. The flavor has no perfume flavors at all so that was a welcome experience. But for someone like me who likes a bit more balance this time definitely had me wanting more bergamot influence. I let it sit for a while and in this case the bergamot did not come forward at all. In fact I think it faded a bit.

Moving onto the 4 minute mark things improved a bit but still the result was kinda the same; a very light tea. The color did darkened up a bit and the bergamot part of the tea increased but still not balanced where I like it. By allowing the tea to cool a bit the bergamot did increase flavor wise, but only a little.

I thought the 5 minute mark would be my final testing point but I tried something else and obtained some unexpected results. But first, what happen at the 5 minute mark. The flavor improved a bit more and the color got darker but overall this tea remained in the light arena. That's when I got the idea to go for two teaspoons. Why? Because if you recall the preparation instructions on the bag, it said, "Use 1-2 teaspoons per cup".

So with nothing to loose I went for my fourth sample using 2 tsp of tea and I steeped it for 4 minutes. And you know what? I really liked it. The color of the tea got darker, the bergamot played a much bigger role in the flavor giving me a much more balanced cup of Earl Grey. I was pretty surprised to taste the difference. It was as if I was reviewing a different tea. But how did this effect the re-steep?

Re-Steeping

Before I begin this section I guess it only fair to Tea Studio to present their opinion on re-steeping.

Number of infusions  one

Seriously, I am not making it up and to be perfectly honest, I have never seen this before. I've seen re-steeping and I've seen no instructions but never a statement from the creator to say you'll only get one steep. So the following re-steep info is not inline with the Tea Studio's instructions. Re-steep at your own risk.

If you wish to live on the wild side, here is what I suggest. Go with the 2 tsp version at a 4 minute steep time followed by a second steep at 4 minutes as well. The second steep will mimic the 3 and/or 4 minute single steep and it will be light. But you can get 2 steeps out of this tea if you don't mind a thin second steep.

Final Thoughts.

Lets start with the negative, the ingredients. Or should I say the unknowns contained in the ingredients. If the bergamot used in this tea is actually the real oils and such from the fruit, I say good. If not, then it comes down to a personal preference on what you choose or don't choose to have in your diet. As for the flavor, this tea can be many things to many people. Want a light tea where the black tea is the main flavor point, this tea can pull it off in three different "colors". Want a more balanced tea where the bergamot is more involved, this tea can do it but at a price. Because you'll be going through the tea twice as fast in essence doubling the price of this tea. To end, this is a tea I would definitely have people try to see if it matches their personal tastes.   

Review #33 - Harney & Sons Viennese Earl Grey (loose)

It has been a while since my last post so 2 quick updates are in order. The first being things got a bit crazy around here and I needed to take care of things. Thankfully everyone is back to being happy so I can get back to reviewing Earl Grey tea. The second little update is this, today's review will see me review my last sample from Harney & Sons. If you are a big fan of their teas, and I know you are out there, you should now be able to see reviews on all of their "pure" Earl Grey teas. Unless of course they added one since I purchased my current samples... then it's all just a moot point. So lets get right to it.

Aroma

The packaging for this sample came in the same "bag" as all the others. I won't bore you with the details but suggest you read my past H & S reviews if you are curious. When I opened up the bag I was met with a wonderfully full yet balanced tea. I could pick up both the tea and the bergamot which is always a great sign of things to come. While enjoying the aroma I thought there was something different about it. So I decided to check their site early into this review and found this:

his blend is perhaps the most famous tea in the world, it was inspired by the British Prime Minister, Earl Grey. There are as many different versions of this as there are tea companies. Viennese Earl Grey inspired by our friend's tea shop in Vienna. It has a Darjeeling tea base, so it is lighter than others.

As someone who very much enjoys a good afternoon Darjeeling I was very surprised and happy to see this blend contain it. Having reviewed some Darjeeling Earl Grey's before I wondered where this variety would go. So far, it was headed in the balanced direction.

 Steeping Method

Directly from the H & S site:

Brewing Time	4 to 5 minutes
Brewing Temperature	212° F

 Which means I also tried 3 minutes just to see how it would turn out.

The Results

I started with the 3 minutes just as a point of reference knowing it was not part of the suggested range. As expected it was on the lite side but still quite balanced. The color was also a bit lighter then I'm use to seeing but H & S cannot be held responsible for this test. Like I said, I tried this steeping time just because.

This tea really woke up at the 4 minute mark and provided much to enjoy. The color was much darker and the flavors became more pronounced. Again all the tea and the bergamot were balanced allowing me to enjoy both aspects of this blend. For me this is critical to a good Earl Grey. I then allowed the tea to cool a bit and only gained a bit of extra flavor. Then it was off to try the 5 minute steeping time.

At 5 minutes I was expecting a more intense flavor but will admit, there really wasn't much difference compared to the 4 minute steep time. Yes there was more flavor but it was clearly not linear in its increase. As to the color, again very little difference. I actually had to employ my wife to help pick out and difference in shade which she informed me, "Not much". To be honest I would just stick with the 4 minutes because as we'll see in the Re-Steep section, it matters what your choice in steeping time is.

Re-Steeping

"So you wanna re-steep? Well it's gonna cost ya."

So here is the deal, if you want to re-steep, go with the 4 minute steep time and then go 4 minutes again. The second steep will be even lighter but, it will be a good lite. If you go 5 minutes on the first steep there won't be much left for the second steep. So if you want a slightly bolder flavor, go 5 and forget the re-steep. If you want the re-steep, go 4 twice. Got it? Good.

Final thoughts

To put it in simple terms, out of all the Harney & Sons Earl Grey I tried, this is by far my favorite. It may not be the most intense flavor of the lot, but it has the best balance and scope of flavor. The Darjeeling really adds a nice touch to this variety without taking over. Conversely, the bergamot is used just enough to allow the subtle differences in the Darjeeling to be enjoyed. Like I said before, this tea is nicely balanced. Is it perfect? No, personally I like a bit more flavor but for a Darjeeling based Earl Grey this is my new current favorite. With that said I strongly suggest you give this variety of Earl Grey tea a try.

Review #32 - Monkey Char Earl Grey Royal Blue (loose)

Ah the internet and all it's cool tea people. So I'm talking about teas and Earl Grey's and such on Twitter, when the good folks at Monkey Char jump into the open discussion with an offer of tea. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to try/sample/review another Earl Grey. A few more messages were exchanged and before I knew it there was tea, coming from the UK, addressed to me. Like I said, the internet and it's tea people are pretty darn cool.

Aroma

Here is what arrived at my house. A padded jiffy bag with all the mailing information showing how the Royal Mail was used. Contained within was a card with Daniel Craig drinking tea on it and a nice note inside with all their contact info. There was two plastic bags each holding 10g of tea. Except for the official Monkey Char sticker, everything was hand written. The ingredients listed on the sticker:

Keemun, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Assam, Bergamot Oil, Blue Cornflower Petals. 

The plastic bags were used to allow me a sample, so no testing was done. Needless to say any company that is willing to put together a special order just for me automatically gets a pass.

I did perform an aroma test on the actual tea after opening one of the plastic baggies and got a very lite response but one that really had a nice black tea smell. Very little bergamot but nice with black tea.


Steeping Method

Referring back to the plastic baggies, this is what was written on them:

Boiling water (100deg c) Brew for 3-5 mins or according to taste.

...And that is exactly what I tried, 3, 4, and 5 minute brewing times.

The Results

At three minutes the Earl Grey was very lite and the cornflower seem to overwhelm it. The tea came through nicely but this was still a lite brew. The color was on the lighter side but that's to be expected at this steeping time. At the four minute mark the cornflower came to the fore front but now it had the bergamot to mix with it. I'm normally a 4 minute Earl Grey guy and this tea seemed to favor that, at least for my tastes. I then let the cup cool a bit and it did allow more of the bergamot to present itself but the cornflower was still there, adding it's unique flavor.

I then moved onto the 5 minute mark and found the cornflower started to fade but I also think I may have burnt the tea a bit. It was a touch bitter so I tried again and this time stopped short of the 5 minute mark and that seemed to eliminate the bitterness. The color was obviously the darkest out of the three and when allowed to cool in the cup the tea really came through.

Re-Steeping

Once again Earl Grey with cornflower petals was for me, more enjoyable once the flower influence was removed. After a bit of testing and trying, I found that 4 minutes on the first steep followed by the exact same 4 minutes on the second steep gave me what I was looking for. Try some different combos to see where your tastes land you.

Final thoughts

To be perfectly honest I feel really bad because I feel like I have let Monkey Char down. But at the same time, I need to clear the air and be completely honest and upfront. This is the third Earl Grey with cornflower I have reviewed and I think it's safe to say, I'm not a fan of cornflower in my Earl Grey. Meaning Lady Grey is not for me. In all three cases I like the re-steep better then the first because the cornflower taste has "burned off" leaving only the black tea and bergamot. Since I'm not a fan of Lady Grey it will be better for all parties involved that I no longer review this version. I understand people are trying to create new and better formula's but I think I'm just going to stick with the original when it comes to my reviews.

To end a big Thank You to Monkey Char and the huge effort they put into getting me the tea to try. If you are a fan of Lady Grey, by all means please give them a try.  

Review #31 - Paisley Tea Co. Organic Double Earl Grey (bagged)

With 2 birthday parties, a Baptism, the start of school and my yearly bike century, things have been quite busy. Thankfully things have calmed a bit and we have a review this week. This weeks tea was found in an out of state shopping mart with an interesting name more associated with a clothing pattern then tea. But enough of this chatter, on to the review.

Aroma

Before opening anything you are greeted with a box filled with information except for one very important piece. I'll hold off on that one piece and focus on the given info. To begin, this tea is Organic and it's Fair Trade. They dedicate an entire side to how they support the farmers who produce their tea and consider it their social responsibility to do so.  They then encourage you to visit their website to learn more which I did which turned out to be (as of Sat Sept 21, 2013) nothing but a welcome page. What made it strange was not the welcome page but rather the "coming soon" part. Upon further investigation you'll see that Paisley Tea is actually a sort of off shoot from Two Leafs Tea Co. Or as they put it...

"Meet two leaves’ “slightly hipper, younger sister.” Paisley Brand Tea is hotter than the average teabag!"

To help understand where and how this new brand fits in I did a quick price comparison. Two Leaves Earl Grey: 15 Tea Sachets @ $7.95.... Paisley Earl Grey 20 Tea bags @ $5.95. Make of that what you will but it appears that Paisley was created to "appeal" to a broader market??

With that out of the way I opened the box and found a white bag inside that contained all the tea bags. My initial reaction was to ask a question....how do you keep the bags fresh once you open the white bag? I guess you could tape it shut or twist tie it but it didn't seem the best way to handle that. Which brings us to the actual aroma and there wasn't any. Even with 20 tea bags filling the white plastic bag I still couldn't pick up any bergamot aroma. And when I mean there was nothing I mean nothing. I twisted the bag to make a small opening and pushed all the air out toward my face and still, there was no bergamot aroma. That made me wonder about the ingredients:

High-quality, organic black tea gets the royal treatment with citrusy bergamot oil in this classic tea.  

It's not like I've never experienced a low aroma tea bag before just not so many at one time providing no aroma. Which brings us to our last and final piece and in this case the missing piece. I could not find any steeping instructions. Seriously, there were no instructions on the box nor could I find any on the Two Leaves site. The only thing I could find was to use boiling water but no mention as to steeping times. Needless to say that makes my next section rather empty.

Steeping Method

Since none were given I did 4, 5 and 6 minutes.


The Results

Starting with my typical default steeping time of 4 minutes, I was met with a very thin tasting tea. Yes it tasted like Earl Grey and yes it has some citrus flavor to it but, it was very thin. By comparison, this tea was as strong at this steep time as other teas are for their second steep. If you let the tea cool a bit you really don't gain much in the flavor department. The color was quite good and alot more aroma came out once the brewing process began but like I said, flavor wise this is a very light tea.

At the 5 minute mark the color got a touch darker and the tea did gain some flavor. Instead of this being a

very light tea it took a step up the flavor chart. Not a big step but one that could be tasted. The aroma stayed pretty much the same and letting this tea cool at after 5 minutes of steeping allowed the flavors to blend a bit more but nothing that really grabbed my attention.

At the 6 minute mark I was honestly expecting this tea to taste totally burnt but it didn't. To be honest I think the tea starts to burn at this point because the tea flavor came forward flavor wise while the bergamot faded into the background almost to the point of this just being a black tea.

To conclude this section, all three steeping times produced a very light Earl Grey, some were just lighter then others.

Re-Steep

When a tea starts out as light as this one did, guessing this tea would be even thinner the second time around was not exactly sticking my neck out. Unfortunately, I was correct. I tried re-steeping after each of the above times and was treated to Earl Grey water each time. To end, I don't suggest re-steeping this tea at all.

 Final Thoughts

If you picked up on the overall tone of this review then you can probably guess this is not my kind of Earl Grey tea. I like a more balanced, and yes bolder tea in the flavor category. If you like a lighter tea then by all means give this one a try but as for me, this one is not for me.

Review #30 - Teapigs Darjeeling Earl Grey (bagged)

We returned from our family vacation and are ready to jump back into reviewing more tea. This weeks tea was found at an out of state Mom & Pop mini mart. This place was definitely going for the "we only carry items that no one else does" because once again I had never heard of this Earl Grey blend. So lets just right in.

Aroma

LtoR Box, then plastic bag

The Teapigs packaging is an interesting mix of materials. The outer box appears to be recycled hard paper (thin cardboard??) and the tea bags themselves, referred to "Tea Temples", are biodegradable. But the temples themselves come in a sealed plastic bag which needs to be opened to get to all the bags. Like I said, interesting mix. This means when you open the plastic bag all the aroma is ready and waiting for you. Strangely, and much to my surprise, there wasn't much. In fact this tea smelled like a completely different tea altogether. So I checked their ingredients.

Black Tea, Flavoring, Cornflower Petals.

A quick trip to their website provided plenty of additional details:

Most of the Earl Greys you find use a poor quality tea black base from China, which is like palming yourself off as landed gentry when all you own is a Barbour jacket. In this blend we use a Darjeeling tea – the best of the best from the foothills of the Himalayas.  These whole Darjeeling leaves are blended with the finest bergamot citrus from the south of Italy and pretty little cornflowers to create something altogether more gentrified. 

Before we go any further I'd like to remind our audience Lady Grey is a Twinnings blend that contains black tea, oranges, lemon, bergamot and cornflower. That's when I noticed their tagline: "The new grey" and wondered if this was a whole new blend I had never tried before. I would soon find out.

Steeping Method

According to their box:

One tea temple per person, infused in boiling water for least 3 minutes.

This means I was going to do 3,4,5 minutes and on, for steeping times.


The Results


Before I present my opinion let me first state a few things.

1. I really enjoy Darjeeling. Currently drinking Makaibari Estate 2nd Flush Darjeeling so I'm not someone who's never had it.

2. I'm starting to see that my journey to taste every Earl Grey may have exposed me as a "traditionalist" when it comes to Earl Grey. Meaning, Black tea, Bergamot and nothing else.

Now that I've fessed up, the results in the most honest way I can do this. I kinda liked the flavor of this tea.... but it's not Earl Grey as I envision/look for/like.

At 3min there is barely any bergamot flavor coming through. I got black tea and the cornflower.
I let it cool but no additional flavors came forward.

At 4mins things improved but again, the bergamot got lost in the mix. When I let the tea cool a bit the bergamot came through a bit more but just like 3 minutes, all the other flavors just ran over it.

At 5 mins the tea gained a bit of citrus which gave me hope that maybe the 6 minute mark would really bring out the bergamot. Instead I started to pick up on the tea being burnt. As before, cooling helped alittle but not enough.

Because the flavor was so different I brewed up some Earl Grey from another vendor to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Sure enough the second blend let the citrus flavors come through while letting you enjoy the black tea. With the tea I'm reviewing the flavor is just so different from any Earl Grey I've ever had (good and bad) I find myself questioning if this is really an Earl Grey or another variant like Lady Grey.

Re-Steeping

As you might has expected, when you start with a tea that has such a different flavor from your "typical" Earl Grey, your re-steeping efforts will be impacted. So for me, I wouldn't re-steep this tea because the initial flavor is not what I'm looking for. But if you like it, then I would go just under 4 minutes on your 1st steep and 5+ minutes on your second to extract the most from it. 

Final Thoughts

On one hand I love when people are constantly looking to improve things. That mentality really speaks to my Engineering side. But then my traditional side kicks in and wants to enjoy an Earl Grey as most people understand it. So I'm going to say for me personally, I enjoyed this tea as it's own thing but I didn't enjoy it as an Earl Grey. If you are looking to try something different then by all means go for it but understand, "this may not be the tea you are looking for." 

Review #29 - Harney & Sons Organic Earl Grey (loose)

Our last two reviews have covered bagged tea so it's time to return to loose and that means we are giving Harney & Sons another go. I will say up front that during this review I will be leaving out as much of the redundant information as possible. We know about their bags, labels and steeping times so I will briefly mentioned them but will not dwell on them since they have been covered in previous reviews. With that bit of info out of the way lets begin.

Aroma



The Organic sample came in the same bag as the previous two. As for the aroma once you open the bag it came across as rather subdued. If you stick with it, you end up saying the tea comes through more then the bergamot. But as we have seen before initial aroma testing sometimes doesn't tell the whole story.

The ingredients from their site:

A traditional blend of hand-picked black teas from India and natural Oil of Bergamot. The Assam is mellowed a bit with a smooth south Indian Tea. 

Steeping Method

Just like before, and again from their site:

4 to 5 minutes 

The Results

Starting with 4 minutes the color was good but not as dark as others. The aroma definitely improved releasing a lot more citrus which is what I look for in a good Earl Grey.  On the flavor side the tea came across as light. We've touched on this topic many times so I won't bore you with a repeat explanation. As the tea cooled it improved a little but still very light.

I then moved onto the 5 minutes steep time and things improved a bit. The color got a touch darker and the flavor improved because the tea became better balanced. At the 4 minute mark the tea was still overpowering the bergamot while at 5 things were a bit more even. Again I would still call this tea light and it appears that Harney and & Sons intended that.

Since these are organic teas, the aroma is light and subtle. This allows the lemony Bergamot to come through loud and clear.
(snip)
This is a medium bodied black tea. It is not as full bodied as other Earl Greys. 

So I'm kinda at a loss as to why the reason for the teas lightness was attributed to it being organic.  I

understand my formal education in tea and tea blending is not to the level of the folks running Harney & Sons but I've had organic Earl Greys that are not this light. If someone from H&S would be so kind to either leave a comment or contact me via twitter I'd love to learn.

Re-Steeping

I will be honest here, teas that start out light typically are not your best re-steepers. But surprise, surprise I was wrong with this tea. If you brew the first steep at 4 minutes and the second at 5mins you will actually get a decent cup of Earl Grey. Will it over power you? No, because you started light to begin with. But this tea holds a lot of it's flavor which comes out when it cools after the second steep.


Final Thoughts

If you are like me and are concerned about what's being put into your food, having an organic option solves this problem. Thankfully H&S has an entire organic section so they should be commended. As for their blend of Earl Grey, it's good just not the type I like the best. I was hoping for a bit more body. To end, do yourself a favor and try it for yourself especially if you are a fan of lighter Earl Grey.