I started the month slightly behind schedule, and today I tasted my 87th tea, meaning I only have three more to taste in October in order to stay on track! Even with two busy weekends ahead, I see myself easily completing this month’s tastings ahead of schedule!
Today I’m featuring two classic blends and two green blends. Both categories have a tea I found disappointing, and one I absolutely loved. We’re really hitting the full spectrum here.
Meanwhile, I only have 10 teas left to add to my tasting queue. What Earl Grey blend should I try next? Let me know in the comments!
Classic Earl Greys
Earl Grey Black Tea Rods, AMBA Estate
I was so excited to order these AMBA Estate Earl Grey Black Tea Rods from The Steeping Room. I had never seen anything like them before! So I was beyond disappointed when I ended up not being able to give this tea a ringing endorsement.
I didn’t detect much bergamot scent on the dry rods, though that’s not always a meaningful metric. I mostly evaluate the dry rods to track the sensory experience across the brewing process. I also want to note that the smell of the black tea rods was lovely! The leaves themselves have a fantastic aroma. After steeping the tea, though, I didn’t detect much bergamot scent in the infused liquid, either. I did get more of that lovely tea leaf aroma, though.
When drinking the tea, I did finally taste the bergamot, but there was just a whisper of it. I followed the steeping instructions the first time, and on subsequent tastings experimented with longer steeping times in hopes of bringing out the bergamot, but it just didn’t work. The taste of the tea is fantastic, but it just doesn’t taste like Earl Grey.
(Note: While the Earl Grey rods didn’t work for me, the tea rods infused with Sri Lankan vanilla were fantastic, and I will definitely be making those a regular part of my tea pantry.)
Earl Grey Extra Aromatic, Simpson & Vail
Simpson & Vail’s Earl Grey Extra Aromatic is a classic Earl Grey with double bergamot. As expected, the bergamot is strong in the dry leaf aroma; I smelled it even before I opened the package. In fact, it was difficult to detect the aroma of tea underneath all the bergamot.
I followed the suggested instructions to steep for four minutes, and was pleased to find that the aroma was perfectly balanced between bergamot and tea. While bergamot is the star of the show in Earl Grey, I always want to be able to detect the tea as well.
It should come as no surprise that, as a bergamot fan, I thought the taste of this tea was fantastic. While the bergamot was strong, it wasn’t overpowering; I still got to enjoy the taste of the tea leaves themselves. If you’re not a bergamot fan, you’re not going to enjoy this one, but for those of you who want a big punch of citrus, I recommend it.
Green Earl Greys
Sencha Earl Grey, Palais des Thés
I’ll say right off the bat that this blend did not work for me. From the moment I sniffed the dry leaves, something felt off. I don’t think the tea was bad. It’s simply that from the get-go, this was never going to be a tea that I loved. (Unfortunately, Palais des Thés does not sell sample sizes, so now I have quite a lot of this tea and no desire to drink it. If you’re interested in this blend, let me know. I’d be happy to set up some tea mail to offload this one from my stash!)
This tea has a medium-light body. It’s not the lightest green tea I’ve ever seen, but also not the darkest. It has a nice gold hue; if only I enjoyed the taste as much as I enjoyed the look of it. The steeped liquid did smell better than the dry leaf, but it still didn’t quite agree with my nose.
When I tasted the tea, I understood what my problem was: the grassiness of the sencha simply did not work in combination with the bergamot. I’m not saying it’s an inherently bad tea. I just felt the grassiness and the citrus did not work well together. But for you hardcore sencha fans, this might be enjoyable. I’d certainly be happy to send you a sample of mine if you wanted to try it!
Green of London, Palais des Thés
By contrast, I found this tea to be completely delightful. I ended up drinking this all day long the first time I tried it! This is another blend in which the bergamot wafted up before I’d even finished opening up the package.
The tea brewed to a golden, medium body. I followed the suggestion for a three-minute steep, and I think that was perfect. When I smelled the steeped liquid, the green tea aroma was heavier than the bergamot, but didn’t mask it.
The green tea that Palais des Thés selected for this blend is slightly bitter, but that is not a complaint. I loved the way the brightness of the bergamot played with the bitterness of the tea. I found the two flavors equally balanced. The only complaint is that the bergamot flavor was greatly diminished when I went for a second infusion. However, that’s been true of almost every Green Earl I’ve tried, so I’m not going to single them out. This blend still gets a place on the best-of long list.
By the Numbers
Last month I was in a funk, and this month I can’t believe I only have 13 teas left to go! My tasting queue is short at the moment; since I started the month behind schedule, I didn’t anticipate getting this far this fast. So now it’s time to think hard about what the last 10 teas will be.
I like how I went out of my way to add more green blends to the queue, and yet again, the proportions remain roughly the same. This is just how it seems to shake out over and over again. There are still some differences from my very first pie chart, and I look forward to comparing the first and the final.
There are lots of tea companies out there, so I can’t help but wonder what comes next. I’ve already tasted every Earl Grey from most of the companies on my list. A few are too expensive for me to order from again, and some others are not easily accessible in the United States. So I don’t see myself buying much, if anything, from familiar retailers. It looks like the last 10 teas will be mostly new.
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
This month I’m taking part in the #OctoberTeas2024 challenge on Instagram. If you’re a tea drinker on the ‘gram, follow the hashtag and play along with us!
Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share!
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