August is winding down, and I’m looking forward to some cooler temperatures and chai flavors, which are perfect for the change of season. For now, though, I want to share four more sets of tasting notes, including one tea that was blended with summer in mind. And while Earl Grey brings associations of spring and summer for me with its light sense of citrus, I know I’ll still be enjoying this blend into the fall.
Classics
Earl Grey, Tea and Whisk
I was surprised to find Earl Grey for sale at Tea and Whisk. Their specialty is primarily straight teas, largely from East Asia. However, while Earl Grey seems anachronistic in the Tea and Whisk catalog, their products are excellent, so I had to give this one a try. The website indicates they use Sri Lankan tea and bergamot from Southern Italy.
The dry leaves smell amazing, with an excellent balance of bergamot and tea. The steeped liquid has the same fragrance levels of each ingredient. This tea is medium-bodied, and would make a fantastic cold-brew blend in addition to being delicious as a hot beverage.
I know I’ve already referred to the word balanced above, but that is the singular word I would use to describe this particular Earl Grey. I’ve written many reviews in this series in which blends don’t quite get the ingredient proportions right, with either the tea or the bergamot overwhelming the other ingredient. With special blends that have further additions, balance gets even more complicated. Tea and Whisk did an excellent job of keeping the blend simple and getting things just right.
Earl Grey, Soulard Spice Shop
I can’t believe I got so far into this project before I remembered that I have a source for tea practically in my own back yard! Soulard Spice Shop, one of the inner stores in the historic Soulard Market, and they have a long list of tea, including Earl Grey. One Saturday, I happened to be at the market shopping for dinner ingredients, and when I passed the Spice Shop, I realized I had an easy opportunity to add some tea to my tasting queue!
The Soulard Spice Shop isn’t focused just on tea, and I’m guessing that’s part of the reason they don’t put detailed ingredient or tasting notes on their site. The dry cup smells more strongly of tea than bergamot; that’s true in the steeped liquid as well. The cup has a dark, full body.
Unfortunately, the tea-heavy balance carries over into the taste. The bergamot is there, but easily overwhelmed by the tea. This won’t put me off from buying more tea at Soulard Spice Shop, but I will probably stick to straight teas rather than blends.
Special Variations
Lady Grey, Sybillan’s
The Lady Grey blend by Sybillan’s is visually stunning. Dried flowers and citrus rind contrast beautifully with the black tea leaves. Per the website, this blend contains lemon and black currant in addition to bergamot.
The steeped liquid has a light mahogany color. The aroma features tea and citrus, but I didn’t detect much black currant. I admit that I was reticent about this blend after reading the ingredient list, because while I don’t hate currant, I wasn’t sure it would really pair well with citrus.
The flavor of this tea is light and refreshing, something that I could drink all day. Ultimately, my worries about the currant were unfounded. The flavor is subtle, acting more as a silent partner to balance the double-dose of citrus with a hint of sweetness. If you have access to this Swedish company, I recommend this tea!
Summertime Earl Grey, Simpson & Vail
With summer coming to an end, I wanted to make sure I tasted the Simpson & Vail Summertime Earl Grey. You could certainly wait and drink this in winter to savor a taste of summer, but given the way bergamot can break down, I just didn’t want to leave the blend in my tea cupboard for too long.
In addition to black tea and bergamot, this blend includes peach flavor and marigold petals. The dry scent has a progression of peach, then bergamot, then tea. The steeped tea, on the other hand, smells almost aggressively of peach, then tea, then bergamot.
I was nervous about the flavor based on the intensity of the peach scent, but fortunately, the peach flavor was not at all aggressive. The tea, bergamot, and peach flavoring were well-balanced, though ultimately, I didn’t love this blend. There’s nothing wrong with it, but peach feels out of place in an Earl Grey blend. But if you’re a peach lover, you might want to give this a try.
By the Numbers
I’m comfortably on track with the remainder of this project. I still have to add three teas to my tasting queue for September, but I’m not in a huge rush. I’ve grabbed a few things from my wish list, but I also like to wait and see if any teas I hadn’t thought of come my way. I found one surprising and unique blend early in August, which I plan to review next month. I don’t want to ossify my tasting queue too early and rule out the surprises that chance brings my way.
The Tisane and Green categories have grown slightly due to seeking out some of these blends more deliberately. One thing that I thought was most interesting, though, was how Special Variations and Florals have stalled out. I haven’t added a Floral blend to my queue in nearly two months, and there haven’t been many special variations, either. While I haven’t been explicitly seeking out these blends, I haven’t been avoiding them, either. The data breakdown continues to surprise me as the project goes on.
I have to my 81st tea in September to stay on track, meaning that at the end of next month, I will be more than 20% done with my Earl Grey tastings. I admit that there have been times when I got a little tired of drinking so much Earl Grey, but the solution to that has been to take breaks and not push myself. I don’t need to be ahead of schedule. I just need to enjoy my tea.
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
Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share!
You can also connect with me at the MyTeaPal app, where I’m posting under the username @haikuallyson.
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
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
Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot
