Review #74 - High Teas - Breakfast Earl Grey

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. "

On Sunday Oct 21, 2012 my first Earl Grey addict review went live. I was clearly not qualified to review tea, (still not) but the internet is a big place so fear went out the window and I went for it. It turned out to be the right thing to do. I got to meet alot of fellow Earl Grey-ers and had fun along the way. Well given I'm an engineer and not some great poetic writer lets just get right to the point. After this review I will do one more to end on a nice clean number (i.e.75) and then I will retire. Simply put, no more reviews. 

1. Yes I know I didn't try all of them. Now that I know I'm a traditionalist who enjoys a certain kind of Earl Grey the world got awfully small. 

2. I now have this great list of teas that I can always reference when out and about which was my goal from the beginning. 

3. I'm not one to follow stats but numbers don't lie.  My peak saw over 5000 views for just one review. My last review has yet to reach 65. 

So with enough teas to pick from that I like, and with readers losing interest it's the perfect time to pull the plug. With that out of the way, onto the review. 

Aroma

As you know I really enjoy reviewing teas I've never heard about. So when Donovan contacted me and offered to send over some Earl Grey I obviously said yes. When the package arrived I found a black zip lock type sample pouch. On one side, black with a label telling me what it was and on the back side clear plastic. Seeing the tea before you ever open it is kinda cool. Points should be given to any company that sends out sample size bags with zip locks and High Teas gets one there. 

Once I opened the bag I was met with a very black tea aroma. I really couldn't pick up on the citrus at all and that's fine. We've seen before how some blends come alive once steeping occurs so what made this tea smell the way it did? From their site:

  A sturdy blend of strong black china and ceylon teas together with the unmistakable scent of bergamot. Ideal morning tea. An improved base enhances the generous Bergamot flavours.

After some checking on their website I got my answer to the aroma.

Breakfast tea predominantly is a robust, full-bodied beverage with light floral undertones, which can sometimes be referred to as "coppery".

Needless to say a rather unique way of describing tea. Lets now see how they want it prepared. 

Steeping Method

I understand keeping a website up to date is no small task but when I see generic steep times that only refer to "general" tea groups I think it misses something. I personally like to know what the person(s) who created this tea thinks is the best steeping method. With that said this is what their site said: 

4-6mins at 95c

This meant it was time to dig out the thermometer and do some science-y stuff.

The Results 

At the 4 min time the aroma really didn't change all that much but I was met with a nice

cup of Earl Grey. It definitely had that strong full bodied flavor they spoke of which kinda left me wanting a bit more citrus. Their coppery flavor was nice but that brisk citrus flavor would have really added to the whole balance. The color was on par with most other teas at this time. Cooling gave it a bit more mellow which I liked. 

For the 5min time the aroma changed a bit but again the strong tea really came through. The color got a bit darker but you really had to look for it. At just steeped, I didn't really like the overwhelming flavor but after letting it cool a bit this tea smoothed out very nicely. A very nice surprise. 

At the 6 min time the aroma was even more intense black tea with even less balance in the citrus area. The color really got darker and the flavor was pretty much all black tea. Cooling brought some balance and soothing but not like what happened at the 5min steep time.


Re-Steeping 

If you are looking to get very similar teas then I would go with a 4 minute first steep with a slightly over 5 minute 2nd steep.


Final Thoughts

We never really touched on Organic, where the bergamot comes from, fair trade and all the rest because their site didn't mention it. If they did then I missed it. But for my long term readers I look for balance and this variety is weighted more towards the bold tea used in this blend. I would have liked more citrus but it is what they said it was going to be. So if you like a bolder more black tea based Earl Grey I'd say give it a try and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below to help others. 

Review #73 - Stash Tea - Organic Earl Grey Black & Green (bagged)

The references I could make about the next three reviews are beyond numerous. I could reference a certain frog who sang about it's not easy, I could reference a certain well known UK metal band with the song title of "Can I play with madness", and finally I could pull out a certain series of books by a certain author who lives in Maine but I won't. I will just explain what is going on. For a time, I had today's reviewed tea staring me in the face. It came with a gift 3-pack box that someone gave to me. 1 Earl Grey, 1 Green and this one. Both Black and Green tea. Then two other companies sent me Green Only Earl Grey and asked that I review them. Needless to say I put them off for a while because this is all new territory for me. So this review will start me on my Green adventure by going easy on me because it has both Black and Green tea but the next two are full on Green tea based. Can I test them the same way? Will my tea background (cough) help me do a good job? But most importantly will I like them? Well fellow EGA'ers, lets find out.

Aroma

Since you know where I got the tea lets get straight to the box. It's your typical TBDB with alot of information on it. It says organic but also has the round USDA green organic symbol and the Fair Trade logo as well. On the back some information about ecological harmony with regards to farming and on the final side, ingredients, brewing info and another certification for organics this time by QAI. So what is in this tea?

Blend of organic black and organic green teas with organic oil of bergamot

There was one...ok we'll call it weird....thing about the box, it only had 18 bags in it and not the typical 20. If anyone from Stash or anyone else out there knows why they went with 18 instead of 20 let me know. Once you open the box you will find all the bags and each one looks just like the cover of the box with one exception. The bags have both English and French on them. The title, the ingredients and the brewing all have both. Only one language on the box but two for the bags. In my typical engineering thinking I'm going to say that given how close they are to the Canadian boarder (Stash is in Oregon) they put French on the bags to support those across the boarder.  So what aroma does it give off? Not much. It has a bit of black tea to it but not much else. Lets move to the brewing.

Steeping Instructions

To savor the full flavor of our teas, bring fresh water to a rolling boil. Pour hot water directly over the tea bags in a pre-heated pot or cup. Brew 3-5 minutes or to desired taste. 

Not going to lie I wasn't expecting to see the use of boiling water since there is green tea present. I'm guessing this tea is weighted more towards the black.

The Results

 Starting with the 3 minute steep time I found a lightly colored tea with a nice aroma. The citrus was

starting to come out and the two different teas started to give off their own aroma. The flavor was very different then I am use to. I wanna say the green tea was holding it's own against the black but nothing was distinct. Even the bergamot wasn't easily picked out. After the letting the tea cool a bit I noticed the black took over a bit. My initial reaction was kinda neutral. It wasn't Earl Grey as I know it but I couldn't really knock it for it's differences.  It just wasn't winning me over.

Moving onto the 4 minute time had the tea grow darker, and the aroma change. There was definitely more citrus coming through and now the tea had this wonderful sweetness to it. The mix of flavors was really nice.  I would say this tea had some complexity. When you drank it you could pick out the different flavors. I must admit, I very much enjoyed this time.

Ending with the 5 minute time brought more changes. The tea grew darker again but the aroma faded a bit. The sweetness was not as prominent and now the black tea had come forward. The mix of flavors I enjoyed at 4 wasn't there. It was now more of a traditional Earl Grey but not really. If I had to guess I would say the green had either burned off or had become overwhelmed by the black. 

Re-Steeping

I tried but the flavors were completely different from the ones that I enjoyed at the 4 minute time. For me personally, I wouldn't do it.

Final Thoughts

I am totally surprised by what I drank at the 4 minute time. The sweetness, the complexity and all the rest made this tea something I would definitely enjoy again. Is this a traditional Earl Grey? No way, but if you would like to try something based upon Earl Grey that has a bit more sweetness while not being overpowered then stick with the 4 minute time. Also if you are concerned with what is in your food/drink then this tea ticks all the right organic boxes. As always, if you try this tea please leave a comment so others can learn from your experience. 


   

Review #72 - Grey's Teas - Earl Grey Tea Blend (loose)

We are back with another review and for this one I tried something different for the photos. Since the beginning I was using plain ol' point and shot cameras. I know, I know but aren't you an engineering and know all that F-stop stuff. Honestly, I've just never got into the whole photography thing. You are going to cringe but when I wanted a certain shot I would just go into manual mode and start changing settings until I get what I want. For those of you who are legitimate picture takers, please forgive me. The most recent camera was my Canon PowerShot ELPH 130 IS. It served its purpose for a long time but now I think it's time to let my phone take over the job. Yeah that's right I took this reviews shots with my trusty Lenovo/Motorola Moto something something something. I used Open Camera and one of those cheapo phone stands that allow you to take pictures with. Feedback on the pictures is always welcome but I think they look a bit better. Onto the review.


Aroma

This review originated via social media when the fine folks at Grey's Teas contacted me and asked that I review not just one but two of their Earl Grey teas. Needless to say I said yes and here we are with the first. The package arrived from across the pond in jolly ol' England in a nice re-seal-able zip lock bag. 

 

It clearly states "Sample only" so I will not review the bag only to say, I like that I could reseal it. When you open the bag you get alot of black tea. I could not make out any citrus at all. We've seen this before when the blender follows a certain process and all the aroma is released once brewing begins. So what is in this tea? The bag and their site pretty much say the same thing so here it is:

"A traditional large leaf blend of China Keemun and Indian Darjeeling with oil of bergamot: an Italian citrus fruit. " 

I did a bit of looking around their site to make sure I wasn't missing anything since I was sent a sample packet. Sure enough, there was more.

"Many of our teas are sourced through members of the Ethical Tea Partnership..."


If you continue reading you'll find our this partnership works to insure all people who produce tea are treated fairly with regards to employment. On one hand this is very cool to see, on the other hand it's sad we need something like this to prevent large companies from taking advantage of those doing the actual work.

To end this section another thing I noticed was this.

"Our Earl Grey light bodied due to the teas used, together with the right proportion of bergamot oil giving a refreshing, but not overpowing taste"

And

"Tags: Afternoon, Light-bodied, no milk."

So there will be no guessing on this tea which is very nice. This is a lighter tea and that's the way they intended.

Steeping Instructions

So I'm going to fess us to not following the directions clearly stated on their site. And I quote:

"Use one teaspoon per person and infuse for three minutes. Drink without milk"

Seriously they couldn't be any more clear yet I did what I always did and started with 4 minutes and then 5. I then contacted Grey's and they gave me the steep time I should have just seen on their site.

The Results

I'm going to start with the wrong steep times and state clearly, this is not what Grey's suggested and

any result I got is not their fault.  So we'll start with 5, then goto 4, and end with the 3 minute time.

Starting with the 5 minute time I got a nice dark color with pretty much no citrus aroma. The flavor was pretty much all black tea. For my regular readers they know I enjoy Darjeeling and have reviewed Darjeeling based Earl Grey's before. But since this tea is a blend of two teas the flavor is different but I liked it. Even though I burned off all of the Earl Grey flavor I really liked their choice in black tea. Letting it cool did nothing to change the flavor.

Moving on to 4 minutes and there was a touch more aroma but still, this tea is clearly not meant to be steeped for this long. The color was pretty much the same as the 5 minute time but the flavor was more distinct Darjeeling. So with my standard 4 and 5 minute steep times being wrong, I moved onto the steep time Grey's suggested. I even contacted them via Twitter to make sure I wasn't messing up even more. They graciously put up with my questions and confirmed the 3 minute time.

At the 3 minute time the aroma gained a bit more but the flavor was definitely different.  No longer was this a black tea only cup. This tea had a third flavor coming through. The color was obviously much lighter and cooling only brought out the tea more and not the added bergamot. For the record, this is probably the lightest Earl Grey I have probably ever tested. But that's exactly what Grey's said they were creating.  "light bodied (snip) but not overpowing taste".

Re-Steeping

Grey's blended this to be a light bodied tea to start with so a second steep is not suggested. Going for a second cup only provided a light Black tea with no citrus flavor at all. 

Final Thoughts

When people/companies send me tea I strive to be as honest as I can because I think everyone wins. My readers win, I win, and to some extent the people sending the tea win because they get an honest review. So when I say this tea was not blended for my preferences I mean it. As you know I prefer a more balanced tea where the bergamot and the tea share in the flavor. But at the same time, Grey's set out to create a certain type of Earl Grey and given how light a blend this is I think they have succeeded. Going back to my wine analogy you can't complain about a Pinot Noir being on the light side because that's what a Pinot Noir is. Is this a good tea? Absolutely yes, I really enjoyed the tea because I already enjoy Darjeeling. Is this to my taste? Nope but I can appreciate what they were going for so if you like a very light bodied Earl Grey then give this tea a try and leave your comments below.

Review #71 - Newman's Own Organics Earl Grey Black Tea (bagged)

One of the nice things about reviewing this tea is not having to worry about the brand name. I think I can safely say that everyone reading this review, no matter what country they are reading from, has heard of Paul Newman. Either by his work as an actor, director, Indy Car owner and of course his "All profits to Charity" food brand. My kids love his cheese pizza, I enjoy his salsa,  so without making any Failure to Communicate references, on with the review.

Aroma

The Newman box is not your typical TBDB since it has no retail opening tab. You pull off a strip from the side, open the box and find 20 individually wrapped bags inside. The statement about Newman's Own Foundation and royalties found right next to where the strip is pulled off is the same on the tea bag. I personally like when the steeping instructions are on the bag and on the box but it's hard to complain when the foundation has donated (from the box) over $450 millions dollars to charity. Once you rip one of the bags open you are greeted with a very mild hint of citrus but very little tea aroma. When you take the bags out you will not find any staples which is a good thing. This tea is listed as organic so there will be no metal in this drink. So what is creating such a mild aroma, from the box:

Organic Black Tea, Organic Oil of Bergamot. 

Needless to say this is like my ultimate ingredients list. Two items, both organic. And not just organic but USDA organic and again from the box:

"Certified by QAI" 

To end, and to complete this section, the only thing holding the bag and tabs together are knots of string. In my opinion, this should be SOP for all tea houses by now.

Steeping Instructions

From the hot tea section, on the side of the box:

1. Bring Fresh water to a rolling boil.
2. Pour water over a tea bag and brew for 3 - 5 minutes.
3. Remove tea bag.

Good range of times but I will of course stress test this tea.

The Results

Starting with the 3 minute steep time, I got a very light aroma along with a very light colored tea. The

flavor was pretty much what you expect when everything else is so light. Very thin, very bland and no finishing complexity at all. I let the cup cool a bit but nothing changed.

The 4 minute steep time really didn't improve much. I took pictures of both 3 and 4 and quite honestly couldn't see a difference. The aroma and flavor again matched the color. Very thin, very bland with no finishing changes. Letting the cup cool again did not change anything.

The final time from the box, 5 minutes, did provide some darkening of the tea but it didn't really improve the flavor. This tea is very thin and very light. It might be one of the lightest teas I've reviewed in a while. Whether that is by design or not I don't know. The only mention of how this tea is supposed to taste is this statement from the box, "This blend offers a crisp refreshing taste sensation [sic]".

With the above results in mind, I was very curious to see how this tea reacted to my stress testing. The results proved both interesting and surprising. At the 10 minute mark, yes I said 10 minutes, I finally got a tea where there was some balance, an acceptable amount of flavor and a decent color. Mind you this is still a lighter tea but at least at this time it had some Earl Grey flavors. Letting it cool did not improve it.


Re-Steeping 

Given how thin this tea is on the first steep I can't suggest it, even those who like a very lite re-steep.


Final Thoughts

Given the brand name I will admit I was expecting a good quality tea. Unfortunately that's not what I got. What I got was an extremely light tea that did not have the flavors I look for in a good Earl Grey. To be honest, I cannot suggest this tea to anyone except those who want an organic tea from a respected company and enjoy very light teas. As always if you have tried this tea please share your thoughts in the comment section below. 

Review #70 - Trader Joe's Specialty Teas Earl Grey (bagged)

I'll let you in on a little secret, for a while now I've been wondering (incorrectly) if people were giving me #faketeas to "find" and then laughing about it. Well I am here to tell you that -Margarita- was not lying. I actually found the tea in the store and bought it.  With my phobia of #faketea now washed away lets get on with the review. A real review, not a fake one. Ok I'll stop with the fake jokes now.

Aroma 

 The tea comes in a TBDB box with a pull off opening strip that reveals a closing tab. Inside are individually wrapped bags in a brown color that matches the boarder around the text boxes. Once you open one up you are met by a mostly tea aroma. If you really hang in there you will eventually pick up some very slight citrus smells but as you can tell from my description, it's not much at all. So what is making this aroma? To the box we go:

"Ingredients: Black tea with Oil of Bergamot"

That's not alot to go on but if you take the next few sentences:

"The oil of Bergamot is derived from the rind of the Bergamot orange. There are no flavors used."

And add that to Trader Joe's reputation for carrying alot of organic products we can hope this tea is a natural one.

As for the bag, it's your typical tea bag with no staples found on the bag or tag. It should also be noted that I will not be linking directly to this tea on the TJ's site because even after using their search engine I couldn't find it's location. Moving on.


Steeping Method

Directly from their box:

"Place one tea bag in an 8oz cup. Add Boiling water and steep 3-5 minutes"

So that means I will follow their directions and add the typical stress test times.


The Results

At the 3 minute mark the tea kinda surprised me. Normally this steep time doesn't really give me

much to talk about but this one had a bit of flavor. It was alot darker then I would normally see at this time, the aroma started to get cranked up and the flavor wasn't bad. I personally like a more balanced tea but for 3 minutes, not bad at all.

The 4 minute mark showed additional improvements but not much. The color change for me was hard to tell so I had my kids (ah to have young eyes again) compare the 3 and 4 times and they agreed there was a slight darkening. The aroma kinda stayed the same and the taste only improved a bit. I let it cool and it gained a touch of citrus but nothing great.

At 5 minutes things improved even more. It was noticeably darker, the flavor had more to it but the aroma remained the same.  I'm normally a 4 minute guy but so far this tea was at it's best for me at this time. After I let it cool it smoothed out a bit and again added a bit more citrus.

That brings us to the stress test...... and it passed with flying colors. I made it all the way to 8 minutes without a hint of burning. I also gained some extra flavors and the aroma improved. The tea still could have used a bit more citrus to balance the tea out but at this steep time I think it's safe to say I was getting everything out of this tea.

Re-Steeping 

It depends who you are and how you like your tea. If you are me, then forget getting a second steep. Just let the bag sit for the stress test time and if you want another cup, get another bag. If you prefer a lighter tea then I would go with 5 for the first steep and 5 for the second.

Final Thoughts

If this tea is created following the Trader Joe way of selling healthy organic food to people at a reasonable price then I would have no problems telling everyone to try this tea. For the price it has a decent range of flavors that should suit many drinkers. As I have said many times, not the balance I personally look for but everyone likes what they like. Also, if we later find out it's being created by some "third" party who doesn't share Trader Joe's healthy views then I would have to reconsider my suggestion. Either way leave a comment if you have tried it.

Review #69 - Suttons of London Earl Grey (bagged)

As I started uploading everything for this review I had a look at my stats. I do this because I really enjoy seeing all the different places where my visitors are coming from. But then I noticed this number and I did a double take. I convinced myself the number was wrong because I never thought when I started this whole Earl Grey Review thing it would ever get past being my personal log. But oh how wrong I was, I mean are, is....oh never mind. Either way, I have officially past the 200K hits point and I have have all my readers to thank. So everyone in unison raise your cup of Earl Grey and to you I say....Well Done and Thank You!!!!

Aroma

The tea comes in a rectangular box minus the dispenser opening wrapped in plastic. When I ripped open the plastic I was met with a huge wave of tea. It appears the plastic was doing it's job of keeping the box all nice and sealed up.  From there I took another good breath from one of the bags. The aroma had both citrus and tea but for me it was the citrus that really came through. One of the first interesting things I'll point out, there are no steeping instructions anywhere on the box. I've seen this before so I checked the bags and found nothing. I'll get back to that weird omission and bring you to the bad news. While looking around for the steeping instructions I found a staple on the top of the bag just under the flap. Not good I thought, but at least they don't use staples for the part that goes in the water. Sadly I was wrong.  There was a staple keeping the bag closed up and attaching the string to the tag. I've been reviewing teas since 2012 and still find it a bit disappointing when I see staples. Ok, very disappointing. 

So what's inside? From the bottom of their box: 

"Finest quality blend of teas with Bergamot flavour" 

That doesn't tell us much so next stop, the side with the nutritional facts.

"Pure Ceylon tea 

Packed in Sri Lanka (Ceylon)"

Needless to say, not an encouraging start to this review. Lets move on.

Steeping Method

To be fair I headed off to their website in search of steeping instruction and found...confusion.

The website they give on the box doesn't take you to the Suttons home page. You have to search for their site to find it. Once there I couldn't find any steeping instructions so like I said earlier, not something you see very often with tea companies. I'd also also like to point this out:

Suttons of London can produce any own label packaging that you may require and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your requirements. We can supply all the necessary ingredients needed for you to produce your own successful brand, starting at the initial design stage, right through to the finished product.

So Sutton's is one of those companies that makes tea for others so that means I'm making up my own steeping times.

3 - 4 - 5 and stress testing.

The Results

At three minutes this is a very light tea with a light color and a light flavor. The aroma keeps coming

and it does smell really nice but since we don't know anything about the ingredients, it's hard to get excited. I let the tea cool a bit and instead of gaining some extras this tea lost some fast.

At four minutes the flavor started to improve while the color got darker. The aroma continued on but it was less citrus and more tea. As stated the color did get darker so we were definitely getting more out of the bag.  Again I let the tea cool and again it lost more then it gained.

At the five minute time, this tea really stepped up in all categories. The color got darker, the flavor improved and the aroma went back to more citrus and less tea. I said it had more flavor but I will point out it didn't gain any complexity, it was just more of the same. Once again I tried cooling and once again the flavor just fell apart.

Which brings us to stress testing times. The tea made it to about 7 minutes before starting to become bitter. To be perfectly honest, at around the 5.5 to 6 minute mark I found what I considered to be the best this tea could offer. To end, cooling did nothing for this tea except loose all it's flavor.

Re-Steeping

If you like light tea, then maybe you can get two cups out of this but for me once you go past the 5 minute mark you leave little to no flavor left for a second steep. My best attempt, and result, was 4 minutes then 6 minutes but that was really pushing it past where this tea can go.

Final Thoughts

Yes loyal readers you know what I am going to say. If you are like me and are concerned about where you food is sourced I cannot suggest this tea. You have very little info on both the tea and flavors and you have metal for your steeping pleasure. If you are less concerned with such things, then for the price and the flavor, I would say give it a try and see if you like it. If you do be sure to leave a comment so others can learn from your experience.

Review #68 - Zest Tea Earl Grey (bagged)

For today's tea review it looks like I need to add a few things to my typical protocol. Normally caffeine level is not something I discuss for a whole host of reasons. I don't have any way to test it, no one really talks about it, etc, etc. But this tea uses their caffeine level as part of it's marketing approach. On the front of their bag they have "As much caffeine as coffee*" statement so for me that means I need to cover it.

The other addition is price. Again most tea boxes come in around the same price give or take a dollar. This tea is almost twice as much as other teas I have reviewed and will review. For this tea I paid 7.99 plus tax for 15 pyramid bags. Because of this I will add my opinion into the Final Thoughts section on value. Onto the review.

Aroma 

The tea comes in a zip lock bag where you rip off the top section in order to use the zip lock feature. Once through, you will be greeted by 15 pyramids. Because this type of bag is really flexible I was able to size up about how much tea is inside. I then verified what I found by ripping one open and actually measuring it. I found about 2 grams of tea.  This turns out to be a pretty standard weight because nearly every green tea I have has 2 grams as it's typical serving size. The aroma when you first open the packaging is big on citrus and very small on tea. As you take more in the tea starts to come through. 

So what is in this tea that gives it the aroma it has? From the bag:

Flowery orange pekoe black tea, tea extract, natural begamot flavor

If I were a betting man I would guess that the tea extract part is where the extra caffeine comes from. Which brings us to the next quote from the bag:

L-Theanine, a rare amino acid found in Zest Tea helps prolong the energy and alertness while reducing the jitters and crash associated with most caffeinated products. 

 Again if I were a betting man I would double down on their tea extract as the source of the caffeine and the amino. Now to be fair, it's been a long time since I took my last chemistry class so I did some research:

Tea is known to be a rich source of flavonoid antioxidants. However tea also contains a unique amino acid, L-theanine that may modulate aspects of brain function in humans.

       source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Needless to say I read the entire article and a few others but this falls way outside my engineering background so I will just say, this is one of the more unique teas I've tried ingredient wise.

Steeping Method

Directly from their bag:

Use boiling water and steep for 4-5 minutes

Given the level of caffeine I only added a 6 minute stress test to their times.

The Results

For this section please be aware that I did not perform this review in one sitting

like most other teas. Given the level of caffeine in this tea I didn't think that was a wise move. Also I don't drink coffee but I love a good espresso so I will use that as my caffeine comparison.

At the 4 minute steep time I found a lightly colored tea with a nice citrus aroma. The flavor was more citrus and less tea leaving me wanting a more balanced Earl Grey. I was looking to see if the flavor changed at all but there were no changes during the cooling. What you started with flavor wise was what you kept which means no complexity. As for the caffeine, it felt like an average shot of espresso.

At the 5 minute steep time the color didn't really change all that much, the aroma continued to be enjoyable but the flavor was about the same. What wasn't the same was the caffeine level. This time had me feeling a bit jittery but no worse then a double shot of espresso during a ride or before a workout.

At the 6 minute steep time the color did get a bit darker, there was about the same citrus aroma and the caffeine again went to the next level. The flavor was very citrus driven, still not balanced, but better. Cooling didn't change anything and there was no complexity. I was unwilling to finish the cup in one sitting and really had to take my time with this one. Obviously this is not what Zest suggested but as you know, we always stress test so there it is. 

Re-Steeping

Given how the level of caffeine is a selling point for this tea I can understand if Zest doesn't suggest it. It's not listed on their bag but that is my guess. I tried the 4 minute bag and got a very thin tea when I went 5 minutes for the second steep. I personally wouldn't do it but it is possible. 

Final Thoughts

This tea clearly has it sights set on getting people who drink tea for one reason (calm, zen, etc) and coffee (energy, zing, etc) for another to reconsider that choice. With catch phrases like "The rush without the grind" and "Not your grandma's tea" they are really going after the coffee drinkers.  It's funny because back in the day, before espresso, I use to drink a Celestial Seasonings tea that was highly caffeinated before my workouts. This tea reminds me of that except in Earl Grey flavoring. So what are my final thoughts?  As for the caffeine it's nice having an Earl Grey flavored pre-workout option if you don't mind a thin tea. My big concern is the price. At over 8 dollars for 15 servings it's not the cheapest tea out there but it's a heck of alot better for you then one of those canned energy drinks with all their sugar and chemicals. (Whether it's cheaper then homemade espresso is unknown) So I will leave this one up to you and end by saying, if you don't want/like coffee but want the caffeine boost, I'd check it out. If nothing else I know one thing, following this review I know my workout will go longer.