Here we are at the end of the Earl Grey Year. I’ve tasted all 100 teas, and this is the final blog post of reviews. I end as I began, reviewing four classic blends. These were all enjoyable teas, and the final tea was especially unique.
I feel like I need to say something profound, as this is the final post. But I suppose I should simply take the pressure off of myself, and simply go into the reviews. I do plan to do a wrap-up post in early December, so maybe I will find an opportunity for profundity there.
Organic Earl Grey, Brw Society
I received this Brw Society blend from my friend thattealover, and at first I struggled with how to classify it, because it’s not strictly tea and bergamot; there are also cornflower petals. This was my 94th tea, and for all 93 teas before it, I’d stuck to my guns that a classic blend was just tea and bergamot. However, cornflower petals have minimal impact on flavor; they mostly serve an aesthetic purpose. After thinking it over through the tasting process, I decided to put this on the Classic list, because the cornflowers didn’t do enough flavor-wise to make this a true Floral Grey.
This tea came in a lovely sachet, but the opaque fabric meant I didn’t get a great look at the dry cup. However, it had a good balance of both tea and bergamo in the dry and steeped aromas equally. The tea itself smells slightly spicy.
I found the taste to be slightly tea-forward, and overall enjoyable. While the bergamot is less predominant, it still holds its own. It truly has a classic vibe in every sip, and for people who prefer a moderate amount of bergamot flavor, this tea is an excellent choice.
Blue Earl Grey, Finest Organic Tea Co.
This was my 95th tea, and also one that I received from thattealover. Like the tea before it, this one threw me into a categorical conundrum. Like the tea before it, this blend contains black tea, bergamot, and cornflower petals. Not only that, but the word “Blue” appears in the name, suggesting it’s something other than a classic blend. However, since I considered blend 94 a classic blend, it only made sense to be consistent.
The aroma of this blend is tea-forward for both the dry and steeped cups. The bergamot is there, but it’s faint. On taste, though, the bergamot is much stronger. While it’s not bergamot-forward, there’s a nice sense of balance between the two flavors.
As I tasted this nearly at the end of the challenge, it came at a point when it was especially difficult for a classic blend to blow my mind. While this wasn’t a game-changing tea for me, I did enjoy it, and while I wouldn’t go out of my way to ship this all the way from the UK, I wouldn’t turn it down if someone brewed me a cup!
Ceylon Earl Grey, Jacksons of Picadilly
Here’s one more tea that I received from thattealover. Unlike the previous two teas, there was no question about how to classify this one: it only contains Sri Lankan tea and bergamot. This one came in a bag, so I couldn’t really look at the leaves, but the bergamot aroma shines through.
The steeped aroma smells more complex than the dry cup. There’s a nice balance of bergamot and tea, and I’m getting a hint of stone fruit as well. The taste is light and refreshing, with the bergamot and tea once again well-balanced.
In this tea, I would describe the bergamot as gentle yet bright. The taste has a light finish and a nice astringency. It has a floral undertone as well. Doing some research, I found that while Jacksons of Picadilly was once a company unto itself, it’s now a sub-brand of Twinings. It doesn’t appear to be readily available in the United States, and while it’s not something I want to invest shipping across the Atlantic, I would certainly enjoy some the next time I’m in the UK!
Earl Grey Nouvelle, Tea for All Tea Shoppe
Tea for All Tea Shoppe sent me a generous portion of this blend to review. And although it’s a classic blend, it’s truly the most unique tea I’ve tasted as part of this challenge, which is why I saved it for the final spot. What makes this tea so special is that it’s the only blend that doesn’t contain bergamot oil. Instead, it has black tea and bergamot peel. Of 100 teas, this was truly the only one that took a different approach to bergamot, and I was grateful to get to try it.
I was actually so excited by the prospect of this blend that I recorded the only tasting video of this project. I only posted it to Instagram and TikTok, and it’s difficult to pull individual videos up on both of those sites. But as of this writing, the tasting video is the first one on my Reels page. And of course, I will write about my tasting experience here.
This tea has one of the most incredible aromas of any of the blends on my tasting list. The citrus aroma is intense, but the tea is there as well. The steeped cup aroma, however, is more tea-forward. The taste is also tea-forward, with the bergamot less prominent than it was in the dry cup. And yes, I prefer more aggressive bergamot, but this is still an excellent blend. The tea is clearly high quality, with a slightly spicy undertone to it. I would absolutely love to order more tea from this company again.
(I also broke with tradition and added a bit of honey to this tea after the initial tasting. It was lovely, and made the bergamot shine a little more.)
By the Numbers
As promised, I’m revisiting the very first bar chart I created. I had tasted only eight teas when I wrote my first post. At the time, I only had four categories, and one of them wasn’t even accurate!
It wasn’t long before the Lady Grey category became Floral Grey; in fact, I’d resolved that by the second blog post. It also wasn’t long before some green teas and tisanes made their way into the mix, though they remained a small proportion throughout the entire project. Below is the pie chart at the halfway point, with all categories represented.
Below is the pie chart breaking down the categories of all 100 tastings. Classic blends still made up the majority of teas, but still only made up about ⅔ of my tasting queue. Special Variations were just over ¼ of the blends I tried. The one thing that surprised me was how much the proportion of green-based blends increased by the end of the challenge. Long the smallest category, during the last quarter of the project, it increased to becoming the second-smallest. The green tea increase is probably why the Floral Grey category fell below 20%, another thing that surprised me. Ultimately, the final proportions looked a little different from what I’d predicted, but not much.
I genuinely can’t believe that the project is not just complete, but done a little early. While there were times when it felt like a slog, I’m glad I followed through. I learned a great deal about what I like, discovered some new favorite blends, and connected with fellow tea lovers across the internet. While I don’t plan on taking on another big tea challenge for 2025, I would like to do another version of this project in the future. (Assuming potential tariffs don’t make tea cost-prohibitive in the future.) I would love to do a Chai Year. And who knows? Maybe someday there will be a Matcha Year in which I really learn to be a matcha person . . .
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
The Earl Grey Year Part 23: Final Florals and Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 24: Greens and Classics
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