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:
"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.
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.
"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
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.
