This afternoon, I tasted my 100th cup of Earl Grey for 2024. I actually completed the tasting portion of the challenge well ahead of schedule. Honestly, I’m a bit surprised. I got behind in September, but then somehow finished early.
When looking at my spreadsheet, I only had two floral blends and two special variations left to review, so I grouped them here. Unfortunately these are overall not the best reviews, even though most of them come from major tea brands. Honestly, the strongest tea this time around was a private label blend from a grocery chain. It just goes to show that not all fancy brands are winners 100% of the time, and the less reputable teas can pleasantly surprise you.
Floral Blends
Lavender Earl Grey, David’s Tea
I’ve been a huge fan of David’s Tea for a few years now, and I had high hopes for the final floral blend of this challenge. Unfortunately, there is one ingredient in here that I really don’t care for, and while I went in with the best of intentions, I couldn’t bring myself to love this one.
The dry aroma is lovely; the lavender and the bergamot sing. It wasn’t until the tea was steeping that I actually read the ingredients. In addition to black tea, bergamot, and lavender, this blend contains lemon peel, calendula, and ashwagandha. It’s that final ingredient that ruins it for me. I honestly wish I’d paid attention / bothered to read the ingredient list before ordering, because I would have skipped this one. On the other hand, it’s not an ingredient someone would expect to see in an Earl Grey, so it’s not as though I should have thought to look.
While the ashwagandha aroma didn’t come through in the dry cup, I could smell it in the steeped liquid. However, I didn’t want to give up on this tea. I figured there was a good chance that all the other ingredients in this blend might cancel it out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for me. As much as I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t escape the bitterness of ashwagandha. It also seemed to clash with the lavender and bergamot. Ultimately, I just couldn’t quite understand the purpose of including it.
Victorian Earl Grey, Simpson & Vail
This is the final Simpson & Vail review of this challenge! Their Victorian Earl Grey is an elaborate blend. They use their rose congou black tea as the base, and then add rose petals, lavender, rosemary, and bergamot flavor.
The dry aroma is intensely floral, verging on the scent of potpourri, which I admittedly found worrisome. The rose and rosemary were the strongest scents, followed by lavender and bergamot, with tea in the background. The steeped aroma is rosemary-forward, with the potpourri scent diminishing. While the steeped liquid had an overall similar aroma profile to the dry cup, everything seemed better melded together.
I believe this is the only Earl Grey I’ve tasted which contained rosemary. I did enjoy this blend, but I admit that as I was drinking it, I struggled to think of this as an Earl Grey. The rosemary taste is so strong that it comes across more as an herbal tea than a black tea. The flavors all play well together, but the rosemary and flowers overpower the bergamot and the tea. I would consider ordering this again, but while it’s delicious, I wouldn’t really think of it as an Earl Grey. It’s truly a special variation, but there’s been too much emphasis placed on the variation rather than the classic flavor profile.
Special Variations
Pumpkin Earl Grey, David’s Tea
I was so excited to try this tea. First, I love novelty blends in general. Even if they aren’t as good as I hoped they’d be, I’m always excited to give them a shot. And I love pumpkin-based flavors. I don’t even mean just pumpkin pie spice. Pumpkin muffins, cookies, fudge, anything. So a novelty Pumpkin Earl Grey seemed right up my alley. Alas, things did not work out.
This blend contains black tea, pumpkin,carrot, cinnamon, cardamom pods, clove, marigold petals, bergamot oil, and natural flavoring. And from the first whiff of the dry blend, I had a feeling that things were not going to go well. I wrote in my notebook, “This smells like Earl Grey Chai. Except there’s a reason you don’t usually see Earl Grey Chai.” The bergamot was completely overwhelmed by everything else. One of my notes indicates that this smells like bourbon that had gone rancid.
Nonetheless, I brewed the tea according to the suggested instructions. I wanted the opportunity to be surprised. Maybe the dry aroma wasn’t great, but when infused, everything would be fine. The steeped aroma smelled slightly better, but not great. I wrote in my journal, “I really do not want to drink this.”
However, I’d paid good money for this tea, and I wasn’t about to just give up on it. So I did my best to get through a full cup. Unfortunately, the bergamot was completely overpowered and the various pumpkin components were overwhelming. I wrote in my notes, “Actually, this tastes like bad Fireball.” I did not manage to get through a full cup. It’s a shame, because I’ve been a fan of David’s Tea for years; I’ve had one of their advent calendars every year since 2020. But unless I get comments from genuinely curious people who want to take this off my hands and give it a try, this is sadly going the way of the Arabica Earl Grey from Adagio: into the compost bin for my garden.
Earl Grey Russian Style, Lord Nelson
I received a sample of this Lord Nelson blend from my Instagram friend thattealover, after I won a prize in her July challenge. The Lord Nelson label is owned by the Lidl chain of supermarkets, and shows that store brand tea can still be quality tea! I had never heard of Russian Style Earl Grey before receiving this sample, which is why I immediately put it on the tasting list. I did some digging, and apparently Russian Earl Grey contains added lemon, though it may also contain lemongrass, cornflowers, and orange peel. Ironically, this blend is apparently not actually Russian.
This Earl Grey blend has a dry aroma that is both flowery and citrusy. The tea aroma is faint. That scent profile is the same for the steeped liquid as well. A remarkably consistent formulation, the bergamot and lemon were also the most prominent in the actual taste, with tea definitely playing second fiddle.
I enjoyed this blend; it’s one that I think would do quiet well when served as an iced tea. While the citrus is bright, on the whole it’s fairly mild and smooth. This is an all-day sipper.
By the Numbers
Although I’ve tasted all 100 teas, I have two more posts to write after this one. With that in mind, I’m going to hold off on sharing the final percentage breakdown until the final post.
Support the Project
Read previous installments here:
The Earl Grey Year Part 1: Four Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 2: Four Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 3: Four More Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 4: Greens and Tisanes
The Earl Grey Year Part 5: Cremes and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 6: Classics and Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 7: Classics and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 8: Cremes and Variations Part 2
The Earl Grey Year Part 9 : Four More Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 10: Halfway Point
The Earl Grey Year Part 11: Kusmi Tea
The Earl Grey Year Part 12: Cremes and Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 13: Four More Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 14: Tisanes and Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 15: European Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 16: Even More Classics and Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 17: Creams and Greens
The Earl Grey Year Part 18: Florals and a Classics Challenge
The Earl Grey Year Part 19: Even More Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 20: Classics and Greens
The Earl Grey Year Part 21: Four by the London Tea Merchant
The Earl Grey Year Part 22: Four by Simpson & Vail
Project References
Note: This is an ongoing list of all the reading I have done so far for this project. The bibliographic entries here are not necessarily cited in this specific post.
American Chemical Society. (1965). “Bergamot Joins Lineup Of Synthetic Oils: Glidden process breaks down ß-pinene, back-blends components.” Chemical & Engineering News Archive 43 (33), 24-25. DOI: 10.1021/cen-v043n033.p024a
Avila-Sosa, Raúl et. al. “Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) Oils.” Essential Oils in Food Preservation, Flavor and Safety. Ed. Preedy, V.R. (2015). Elsevier Science & Technology. pp. 247-252. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-416641-7.00027-4
Di Giacomi, Angelo and Giovanni Dugo. “Origin, History, and Diffusion.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. “Composition of Leaf Oils.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 227-236. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Galper, Amy. (December 14, 2022.) “Shelf Life of Essential Oils.” Cliganic. https://www.cliganic.com/blogs/the-essentials/essential-oils-shelf-life
Heale, Christopher. (n.d.) “A Guide to the Tea Grading System.” Herbs & Kettles. https://www.herbsandkettles.com/blogs/blog/a-guide-to-the-tea-grading-system
Lo Curto, Rosario. “Uses of Juice and By-Products.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 531-542. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
My Earl Grey. (n.d.) “What is Russian Earl Grey?” https://www.myearlgrey.com/articles/what-is-russian-earl-grey-tea/
Nishida, Kei. “What Does Astringency Mean for Tea Drinking?” (n.d.) Japanese GreenTea Co. https://www.japanesegreentea.in/blogs/japanese-green-tea-lovers-in-india/what-does-astringency-mean-for-tea-drinking
Petite Histoire. (July 7, 2023). “The [Complete & Complex] Guide to Natural vs. Synthetic Fragrance: What’s the Difference?” https://nyc.ph/blogs/inspiration/the-complete-guide-to-natural-vs-synthetic-fragrance
Rosen, Diana. (November 3, 2020). “New – Coffee Leaf Arabica tea.” TeaSmart. https://www.teasmart.com/article_201106.html
Sorokina, Anna. (April 25, 2020). “‘Russian Teas’ that Russians Know Nothing About.” Russia Beyond. https://www.rbth.com/russian-kitchen/332070-rusian-tea-abroad
Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot