"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
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 95cThis 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.
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.
