The Earl Grey Year Part 7: Classics and Special Variations

March has been a great month for tastings and blogging. After a few fits and starts, the project has hit its stride. One of the things I’ve been doing behind the scenes is keeping a Best-Of list, which I’m using not just for my own recordkeeping/personal interest, but also as a fun way to wrap this project up. 

The master list includes my favorite tea from each blog post. Ultimately, I’ll pare it down to my top 5 favorites, and run a giveaway where a lucky reader will win one of those teas! I’ve been wanting to host a tea giveaway this year, especially since I’ve had some good luck recently. I need to share the wealth! I was having trouble coming up with a concept, but I think that by waiting until the end of the project, sending my top 5 favorites will be a nice finishing touch.
Okay, onto the blends! This time I have two classics (both sent to me by @royal_teacups), and two special variations.

Two Classics

Earl Grey, Adventure Tea House

This tea is an example of the dry leaf presentation not matching the experience of the steeped liquor. The teabag smelled gorgeous when I pulled it out of the packaging, and the brewed liquid was dark and looked quite strong. However, I got almost no bergamot taste on the first sip. And even though the brew looked dark, the tea taste wasn’t especially strong, either.

Since I had a few teabags containing this blend, I deliberately experimented with oversteeping to see if I could coax more flavor out of it. Not all black teas are created equal, and some might actually require a longer than usual steep time. (While this has been rare in my experience, I’ve encountered it once or twice.) I found that steeping it for 7 minutes helped a little bit, but not much. Ultimately, the brew was just sort of bland.  

Earl Grey, Cocoon Tea Artisans

I found this to be a perfectly enjoyable standard Earl Grey. While nothing about the blend was particularly awe-inspiring, it made for a pleasant cup. While I was starting to get concerned about how many middle-of-the-road reviews I was making in my notebooks, I ultimately realized that was bound to happen. I’m not likely to taste many truly bad teas. Likewise, just because something isn’t bad doesn’t mean it’s going to be fantastic. Those extra-special cups of tea simply can’t happen all the time. If they did, there wouldn’t be anything memorable about them. A nice, drinkable tea isn’t bad. Ideally, that should be the default! 

The one aspect of this blend I found to be particularly notable was that it somehow managed to maintain a consistent flavor profile even as it cooled. Often, as the tea loses heat, a blend that was pitch-perfect when it was piping hot becomes unbalanced as it cools. Either the tea becomes overwhelming, the bergamot steals the show, or an add-in takes over. But in my tasting journal, I noted how impressive it was that this tea remained at a perfect flavor ratio through the entire drinking experience.

Two Special Variations

Earl Grey Bravo, Adagio

I admit that I was torn about how to categorize this blend. The ingredient list reads as follows: “black tea, orange peel, natural Earl Grey flavor” (I assume the final item is bergamot flavoring). On the one hand, the inclusion of orange peel makes it a Lady Grey, which is a special variation. Even though many tea blenders add orange peel, it’s not part of the true classic blend, so it should automatically fall under the special category. On the other hand, Adagio has a number of Earl Grey blends, but does not appear to have one that is straight black tea and bergamot. It seems like everything they do is a variation, and the Bravo blend is as close to a classic as they get. Ultimately, though, the categories aren’t useful if I don’t follow them, so even though this variation is simple, it nonetheless meets the requirement.

I do find myself quite fond of this blend. It’s very smooth, the kind of tea that you can drink all day. While I enjoyed it straight, I think it’s also strong enough to hold up to milk or sweetener if you prefer your tea that way. This would make an excellent tea latte! 

Like many of the teas I’ve tasted during this project, while it’s enjoyable, it doesn’t necessarily stand out or have a particular wow factor. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it for yourself. Every palate and preference is different; what is simply an enjoyable tea for me might be truly special for you. While I’m not adding this blend to the Best-Of list I’ve been maintaining, I also have no complaints about it.  

Mint Earl Grey, The Cove Tea Company

This is a truly fantastic blend that you will want to add to your tea cabinet. Blenders at The Cove Tea Company combine black tea, peppermint, spearmint, bergamot oil, and French vanilla extract to create a rich and complex tea. It is smooth, sippable, and is definitely the kind of thing you could drink all day.

When I taste this tea, the vanilla hits my palate first, then the mint, then bergamot, then black tea. There’s a great deal of depth, and these strong flavors are combined in a way that allows them to harmonize rather than dominate each other. 

If you’re okay drinking your tea straight, I do recommend omitting milk or sweetener from this blend. There is a great deal of nuance here that could potentially be lost with add-ons. While the flavors in here are probably all strong enough to handle milk or sweetener, I think you’ll have the richest, most robust experience if you take this straight up.

By the Numbers

As of today, I’ve tasted 31 teas, which puts me comfortably ahead of schedule. That’s a nice buffer to have, as the first week of April will be devoted to passing my Tea 102 coursework, and I’ll be traveling the second week of the month. That should give me the opportunity to buy some new blends to add to my tasting roster! However, for this project, I prefer to taste at home, where I know I have the proper setup to ensure that I’m getting the best possible experience with the tea. So I’ll be on a mini-break until life settles down a bit.

Once again, not much has changed since my last post, as I’ve only tasted two additional teas. Now that I’m picking up speed, I’m wondering if this graphic is still useful in every single post. I might switch things up, and start including it only when I hit a milestone, such as meeting my monthly quota or hitting a certain completion percentage. (If you have specific feelings one way or the other, please let me know in the comments!

I’m well caught up on blogging at this point, so I have no clue what the focus of my next post will be. Certainly I’ll discuss a few classics; I have 21 untasted teas in the queue right now, and most of them are traditional. But I’m sure with my upcoming travels as well as some planned tea orders, there will be exciting new additions as well!

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

Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share! 

For more tea content, check out my tea pairings playlist on YouTube.

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.

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

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 
Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot

The Best of It: Mexican Food in the Midwest Edition

  1. The breakfast options at Mariachi’s II (St. Louis City)
  2. The fish tacos at Taco Buddha (University City, MO)
  3. The tortas at Chava’s (St. Louis, MO and Edwardsville, IL)
  4. The sheer variety of classic and novelty items at Sol de Mexico (Carlinville, IL)
  5. The carnitas at Cuatros Amigos (New Berlin, IL)

A Quick Note About Site Maintenance

One of the projects I chose for 2024 was to simplify my digital life. I simply don’t enjoy trying to keep up with multiple websites or social media accounts.

If you subscribe to this blog, you probably noticed a few weeks ago that your inbox got flooded with a series of Pilates-related posts. That was the result of me consolidating my Pilates site with this regular site, and merging blog posts. I had no idea that you were going to get notified of all of these posts en masse. That was not my intention.

This week, I began the process of consolidating The Culinary Saijiki with this site. I’ve imported the podcast archive over here with minimal issues. Before this content goes fully live, however, I need to migrate the blog posts as well.

I am going to do my level best to prevent you from getting notified of several dozen Culinary Saijiki blog posts that now live on this site. I’ve been reading up on how to avoid this issue, but it’s trial by fire on this one. However, this is the last round of blog imports I have to do! So I apologize in advance if I screw up and you get a big blog notification. If it does happen, it will be the last time. And thanks for your patience as I solidify my vision for this website.

The Earl Grey Year Part 6: Classics and Florals

This week, I return to both Classic Earls and Floral Grey blends. I believe this is also the first post in which every tea is international (to me, at least). Two of the blends are from The Cove Tea Company in Canada, and the other two come from Emeyu Tea and Chaplon Tea, which are both Danish. The latter two teas were part of the lovely tea package that came from my Instagram friend @royal_teacups.

This post is also one where I unconsciously started incorporating the knowledge I was getting from my tea sommelier training into my tasting evaluations. The information is starting to really settle in my brain to the part where I can now apply it outside of structured assignments. While I am only on the second course of the program, I can see how consistent engagement with the course material is helping me as I continue with this project.  

Two Classics

This week, I found myself wondering whether I could continue finding interesting things to say about classic blends. I feel like many of the standard Earl Grey teas I’ve tasted lately are good. However, it’s difficult to write about things that are simply good. Even when it comes to excellent blends, I was beginning to think I was reaching to find more to say about tea and bergamot oil.

Fortunately, my in-progress tea sommelier training came to the rescue! Now that I’m learning more about the components of tea and the experience of tea tasting, I’m developing a new vocabulary to augment these reviews. 

Earl Grey, The Cove Tea Company

The Cove Tea Company uses Sri Lankan black tea and Italian bergamot in their Organic Earl Grey. This is an absolutely refreshing blend that is easy to sip on all day. The bergamot shines through, and there is just the right amount of astringency to make the tea brisk without becoming overwhelming. 

I’ve been learning more about astringency in Tea 102, which I’m enrolled in right now as part of my Tea Sommelier training. While we won’t go more in-depth until future courses, even this brief overview has helped me understand this flavor component of the tea-drinking experience. The big revelation for me is that astringency and bitterness are not the same thing. I had always conflated the two. Rather, bitterness is a flavor, while astringency is a mouthfeel sensation. Think of the dryness you might feel in your mouth after eating underripe fruit. (For more detail, including some science, check out “What Does Astringency Mean for Green Tea Drinking?”)  

Ultimately, I do enjoy a bit of astringency in my black tea. That’s even one of the things I enjoy about it. If my black tea isn’t a touch astringent, I’m actually a little disappointed. (Conversely, I would be annoyed by an astringent white tea.) But that dry mouthfeel can get overwhelming, which is why balance is so crucial. Since bergamot is citrus, it is also astringent, meaning that an Earl Grey can become overwhelming.

My belief at this point in the project is that the way to prevent overwhelming astringency is to single-source black tea from a consistent region, and blend accordingly. Since tea and bergamot are both crops, there are a number of variables that impact astringency from harvest to harvest, so not everything is in the blender’s control. But single-sourced black tea seems to be a defining feature. Earl Grey from The Cove Tea Company exemplifies that. 

Tiny Kingdom, Emeyu

Emeyu Tea doesn’t specify what kind of black tea they use in their Tiny Kingdom blend, but Italian bergamot is listed as the next ingredient. On the very first sip, the bergamot came on quite strong and the tea seemed a little weak, but as my cup cooled, things evened out. By the end of my tasting, everything felt well-balanced.

One of the things I’m noticing as I continue with this project is that there are a number of blends out there that are nice, but don’t wow me. I don’t regret tasting them, and certainly wouldn’t object if someone served me them, but I also wouldn’t buy them if left to my own devices. For me, Tiny Kingdom is one of those. On the whole, I enjoyed my sample of it, but ultimately, I felt that while it was perfectly nice, it didn’t rock my world. 

I’ve stated this before, but I’ll say again that every palate is different, so these tasting reviews are ultimately subjective. You might try Tiny Kingdom and think it’s exceptional rather than good. I do think this is a blend worth trying if you can easily get a hold of it. It’s a truly straightforward Earl Grey, and if you enjoy a tea that is no muss, no fuss, this might be just right for you.

Two Florals

This week, I tasted two different floral blends. One is the familiar Earl Grey with a lavender addition. Given what I’ve learned about astringency this week (which I detail even further below), it’s a little amazing to me that lavender is such a common addition, as I’ve learned one reason why this flower, while beautiful, can also throw off the entire tasting profile of a specific tea.

I also tried a blend that incorporates rose and jasmine. While I didn’t delve into astringency levels for these additions, one thing I did start thinking about is how each addition has the potential to introduce a new level of complexity to a tea. Of course, more is not always better. Any sort of addition beyond bergamot means the tea blender has an additional type of challenge: how to incorporate the new flavor in a way that truly enhances the tea tasting experience, rather than distrancing from it. 

Provence, The Cove Tea Company

The Provence blend from The Cove Tea Company contains black tea, bergamot, and French lavender. I was impressed with the balance of lavender to bergamot. While the lavender outshines the bergamot just slightly, it doesn’t overwhelm it completely. I get a well-rounded cup of black tea, lavender, and bergamot flavors.

One of the things I learned in my reading about astringency this week is that lavender is even more astringent than black tea! That makes a lavender Earl Grey extra challenging for blenders. As mentioned above, black tea and bergamot are already astringent. When you add lavender, that’s yet another astringent layer, and it’s more potent than the tea base! No wonder it’s easy for the bergamot and/or the tea flavor to become overwhelmed in a Floral Grey.  

As you might have surmised, I’m fascinated by everything I’ve learned about astringency over the past few weeks. I’m loving applying what I’m studying to this tea tasting project. My major takeaway with this blend is that the folks at The Cove Tea Company once again have a good sense of the different levels and types of astringency in each component of this tea. This is an excellent blend that I would add to my regular tea rotation.

Earl Grey, Chaplon Tea

Because the ingredient list includes jasmine oil and rose petals in addition to bergamot oil, I decided to classify the Earl Grey from Chaplon Tea as a Floral Grey. In this blend, Chaplon blenders have used black tea from the Uva province of Sri Lanka. 

All in all, this was a lovely tea to enjoy on a spring day. (St. Louis has since been plunged back into winter weather.) The black tea has a nice, bright quality to it. There’s some astringency, but it’s not overwhelming. I found it quite refreshing. 

My one minor disappointment in this tea was that the jasmine got overshadowed by the bergamot and rose. I love the taste of jasmine, and when I saw the ingredient list on the tea bag wrapper, I got really excited. I certainly have no complaints about bergamot in general (it would not have been smart for me to take on this challenge if I did). As I’ve noted in previous posts, it can be easy for bergamot to get obscured by other flavor additions. Here was the first time I felt that the bergamot was the one doing the obscuring! 

This was still a perfectly enjoyable tea. Honestly, if I hadn’t read the ingredient list on the wrapper, I wouldn’t have noticed the jasmine didn’t come through. This was an enjoyable tea that I could imagine drinking all day long. I also wonder how it would fare as a cold-brewed iced tea; it’s possible the jasmine might come through better.

By the Numbers

As of this writing, I’ve tasted 29 Earl Grey blends. I only needed to be at 27 for March (I mistakenly said 28 in my Part 5 post), so I’m a little bit ahead. I’m going to spend much of the remainder of the month tasting non-blended teas in order to pass my cupping exam for Tea 102 as part of my Tea Sommelier training. I feel like the cupping exam for this course is going to be much more challenging than the Tea 101 exam was, and I want to give myself ample opportunity to prepare. 

With four more teas tasted since my last post, the proportions haven’t changed that much, but Floral Greys and Special Blends have taken a slightly larger share of the proverbial pie. One of the things that’s interesting for me to note is that outside of the Classic blend, teamakers tend to lean toward florals, followed by additions that don’t fit neatly into a single category. I thought I’d have ended up with more Creme Earls in my tasting list at this point (since that’s an established category), as well as more Tisanes, since not everyone wants caffeine. However, since I’m not even at the halfway point yet, there is still plenty of time for things to change.

While I haven’t entirely settled on the topic for the next post, I have a feeling it will be a mix of classics and special variations. While I’d initially planned on four of a single category per post, there are far more classics in my queue than there are other varieties. With that in mind, reviewing two categories per post seems like the best way to maintain a variety throughout the course of the project.

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

Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share! 

For more tea content, check out my tea pairings playlist on YouTube.

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.

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

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 

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 

Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot

The Earl Grey Year: Cremes and Special Blends

As with last week’s post, this week I’m combining two categories: Creme Earl Greys and Specialty Blends. I describe each category in their respective sections. Since I simply have fewer of these tea categories in my Earl Grey lineup, combining them ensures they get written about in a timely manner. 

A quick housekeeping note before I begin. Last week, you might have noticed that I started adding a reference list to the end of my posts. This list is a running inventory of all the reading I have done for this project, whether or not I have any citations in a particular post. I obtained many of these sources through my access to an academic library. If you want to access them and need help, let me know!

Two Creme Earls

Earl Grey Creme teas usually consist of black tea, bergamot, vanilla, and cornflowers. However, there is some variation within the theme. Blenders often omit the cornflowers, as they ostensibly only create pretty leaves and do not impart flavor (I disagree on the latter point; while the flavor is subtle, I find it easy to detect). A smaller number of blenders omit the vanilla. And, like bergamot, vanilla has a range of flavors depending on its country of origin. 

Creme Earl Grey is not my favorite variation. It’s easy for the vanilla (if used) to overwhelm the bergamot, and often it tastes overly sweet or artificially creamy. Even when the blend is made by a skilled tea artisan, it’s simply not my preference. Still, the two teas featured in this week’s post were perfectly enjoyable, and if you like a creamy tea without the milk, these might be your new favorites.   

Earl Grey Creme, The Steeping Room

While it’s no secret that I’m a huge Steeping Room fan, I have to admit that this is not my favorite of their offerings. A Creme Earl is already not my preferred tea, so it’s going to take a lot to wow me. This is a perfectly nice cup, and I’m glad I tried it, but when I make my next Steeping Room order, I’m going to be stocking up on extra Eastside Earl Grey instead. 

The main thing that kept me from loving this blend is that the bergamot doesn’t quite shine through enough when stacked against the creme flavor. This particular blend does not use vanilla. I know some of the creaminess is coming from the cornflowers, but I’m wondering if the “compliant flavor” listed on the label contributes to that as well. The bergamot is there, but some of its vibrancy is dulled. 

Despite the fact that this Earl Grey Creme doesn’t suit my particular preferences, it’s still a nice, easy cup to drink. Someone who is a big fan of Creme Earls would probably enjoy this. 

Earl Grey Moonlight, Adagio

Adagio has a number of Earl Grey variations. Their Earl Grey Moonlight contains black tea, orange peel, blue cornflowers, vanilla flavor, bergamot flavor, and creme flavor. A sample pouch makes 10 cups, so I had ample opportunity to try this blend. The first time I tasted it, I was still recovering from bronchitis and had sinus congestion. However, the dry leaves were so fragrant that I could still smell everything! Between that and the prettiness of the dry leaves, it made a nice first impression. 

As for the steeped tea, it was an enjoyable cup, though I felt that the vanilla overpowered the bergamot. The flavor was smooth and enjoyable, and everything was well-balanced enough that I could drink multiple cups in one day . . . but when push came to shove, I didn’t especially want to. I would have a cup of it and then be ready to move on to another tea. 

As with The Steeping Room’s version, if you like a tea that has a creamy flavor without having to add dairy, you would probably love this blend. People who enjoy vanilla would probably enjoy this as well. Certainly if I was given the choice between a straight vanilla flavored tea and Earl Grey Moonlight, I would choose the latter. I like vanilla, but it’s just not my favorite tea flavoring, so I enjoyed having some citrus to balance it out, even though it didn’t really shine.

Two Special Variations

Special variations are Earl Grey blends that do not fit easily into one of my other categories. For example, a blend that includes a mix of green, white, and oolong tea (as described below) is a special blend because it includes three types of tea rather than just the standard black. Special blends might also include unusual additives, such as coconut (you’ll see an example of that featured in a later post). 

Special variations can be fantastic, or they can fall flat. When they’re done well, they provide an innovative approach to a common tea blend. They bring a sense of surprise and fun into the drinking experience. When done poorly, however, additives can overwhelm classic flavors, or the tea can feel like a novelty beverage. 

Smoky Earl Grey, Fortnum & Mason

In my very first post of this series, I wrote about a disappointing tasting experience with Fortnum’s Earl Grey Classic. Their Smoky Earl Grey was the complete opposite experience; I adored it. According to the Fortnum & Mason website, this blend was the original Earl Grey the company created and sold. It was developed because a member of the royal family requested an Earl Grey blend with more oomph. They did not disappoint!

The smokiness of this blend comes from the inclusion of lapsang souchong and gunpowder green teas. Because the blend includes both green and black teas, and because lapsang souchong is not a standard Earl Grey base, I’ve classified this as a special variation. 

The success of this brew is a testament to the skill of Fortnum’s blenders. It would be easy for the lapsang souchong in particular to completely overwhelm the bergamot. However, they have managed to create a cup in which the citrus and smokiness hold their own. It’s a unique tasting experience.

Earl Grey Supreme, Harney & Sons

The Harney & Sons Earl Grey Supreme combines black, oolong, and white tea, which is what places it in the Special Variations category. This is a visually stunning blend, with the brown oolong leaves creating a sense of texture, and the silver tips providing contrast. The dry leaves also smell stunning. You can sense all of the teas along with the citrus. 

In terms of taste, the black tea dominates the oolong and white tea. I was hoping for something a little more dynamic, but it didn’t register with my palate. The bergamot is bright and vibrant, and shines even though there is plenty of flavor from the tea itself. 

The Earl Grey Supreme is a popular blend among Harney fans, which illustrates that even a beloved blend isn’t right for every single tea drinker. Although the flavor was good on the whole, there is a tannic intensity that prevents me from truly enjoying it. I can have a single cup and then I’m done. As someone who prefers to pick one tea and drink it all day long, it’s disappointing that my stomach can’t handle much of this blend. I’m also not clear on what causes that issue for me, as this is the first time it’s happened on this project.

By the Numbers

As of this writing, I’m officially at the 25% mark! The yellow on the tracking chart is getting bigger, and I feel like I’ve hit a real project milestone. I also only have three more teas to taste in order to stay on track for March, and considering we’re barely a third of the way through the month, I’m in a comfortable position. 

Since so little time has elapsed since my last project update, I’ve only sampled two new teas, meaning that the proportions haven’t changed very much. Posting this category breakdown right at the 25% mark did inspire me to go back to the first post in this series to see what has changed. On January 20th, I only had four categories; now I have six. Classic Earl Grey still dominates, with Floral Greys still in second place. Creme Earl Greys and Special Variations still are proportionately tied. While a few things have changed, much is still the same. 

Now that I’m more caught up with the blogging portion of this project, I’m not sure what the topic will be for the sixth installment. It might be another round of classics, or it might be another mix of categories. Either way, expect at least one more update in March, if not two.

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

Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share! 

For more tea content, check out my tea pairings playlist on YouTube.

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.

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

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 
Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot

The Earl Grey Year Part 4: Greens and Tisanes

Before diving into Part 4 of this series, I want to take a moment to thank Mark of seasonwords.com for making a contribution to my project wish list! The Winter White Earl Grey he funded has been ordered and should arrive by the end of the week! 

While I had initially planned to only write a blog post when I had consumed four teas in each category, last month taught me how things like shipping issues could throw a wrench in those plans. In addition, looking at my current queue, it’s clear that certain types of Earl Grey are simply far more prevalent than others. In order to prevent the tasting rate and the blogging rate somewhat proportional, I decided to feature two smaller categories in this week’s update.

Two Green Earls

I classify a Green Earl Grey as any blend that consists of green tea and bergamot. (While there are some blends that combine green and black tea, I have placed those in a separate category.) Since green tea ranges from grassy to smoky, and has a flavor quite distinct from black tea, I think that Green Earl blends are worth exploring, even if you haven’t enjoyed standard Earl Grey in the past. Hopefully you’re inspired to try one of these!

Earl Grey Green, Adagio

This Adagio Teas blend contains green tea (variety unspecified, though I’m guessing sencha), orange peels, natural bergamot flavor,and cornflowers. The leaves, citrus, and flower petals look lovely in the infuser basket. The dry leaves and the wet leaves both have a nice scent, with the citrus coming forward. 

The stepped tea itself is very bergamot- and citrus-forward. I actually don’t get much green tea flavor at all. However, the bergamot/citrus is not overwhelming, which suggests to me that the tea is doing some subtle work to keep everything in balance. This would probably be lovely as a cold-brew iced tea.

Since green teas can usually be resteeped 2-3 times, I factored that into my analysis of this category as well. Unfortunately, most of the bergamot and citrus did not come through on a second infusion. The green tea is still nice, but if you’re looking for sustained bergamot across multiple infusions, you’re not likely to find that here.

Duke of Earl, Cove Tea Company

At last, the chance to sample my long-delayed Cove Tea Company package. I’m happy to say it was worth the wait. This blend contains green tea and specifies that it uses Italian bergamot. It’s a truly straightforward, no-fuss variation on this classic tea. 

The dry leaves smell lovely; the bergamot comes through quite well. The taste has a nice progression: a hit of green tea at the front, with the bergamot blossoming at the back. It’s a light blend, but also complex. In my reading this week, I learned that “Bergamot essential oil produced in Italy is ranked as of the highest quality at the international trading market” (Avila-Sosa et. al, 2015, p. 247). In the course of this project, I had already started to notice that bergamot marked with its country of origin tends to contribute to a better-tasting tea. While I’m finding things to like about bergamot from all regions, the biggest takeaway so far is that when a blender uses bergamot with a named location, I am probably going to have a more pleasurable tasting experience. 

In terms of resteeping the tea, the bergamot is still present on a second infusion, but considerably weaker, but still quite enjoyable. The bergamot doesn’t really survive a third infusion, but you’re still getting a nice cup of green with a whisper of citrus. This is a lovely blend perfect for the onset of spring.

Two Tisane Earls

A Tisane Earl is any blend that does not use actual tea, but rather an herb such as rooibos or honeybush as the base. Of course, bergamot is a nonnegotiable part of the mixture. Tisane Earls are generally a good option for people who love the taste of bergamot but can’t have caffeine. (However, be sure to check with your doctor to ensure that the herbs in question don’t interfere with any medications you may be on or worsen any medical conditions you might have.) So far, rooibos is the most common herb I’ve found as the base of an Earl Grey tisane.

Earl Grey Rooibos, Artful Tea

Rooibos seems to be the kind of herb that people either love or hate, with little in-between. For me, it was love at first sip, but even with my general enthusiasm, I know that some types of herbs, oils, and flowers work better with rooibos than others. While I’ve been a fan of rooibos as an Earl Grey base for most of my adult life, I also know it can be difficult to pull off well. Rooibos is assertive and strong; bergamot is much lighter. 

Fortunately, the blenders at Artful Tea understand how to balance out bergamot oil with the rooibos to ensure a pleasurable drinking experience. What’s especially impressive is that they make this work while sticking to the basics. The blend consists only of rooibos and bergamot oil. There is no extra citrus, no flowers, no other herbs to balance things out. When you stick to just the two ingredients, they have to be just right. There’s no room to hide, and the team at Artful Tea pulls this off masterfully. A common refrain on internet memes is, “10/10, no notes,” and really, I can’t think of a better way to describe this tisane. 

If you don’t like rooibos at all, you probably want to skip this one. I think bergamot is a delightful addition, but it certainly doesn’t make the rooibos disappear. But rooibos fans should give this a try, especially if you haven’t had any sort of rooibos-based Earl Grey yet.

Rooibos Earl Grey, Adagio

For many years, the only Earl Grey blend I would drink was the Rooibos Earl Grey. Adagio was the first brand I tried, but I’ve enjoyed plenty of others as well. Based on my earlier bad experience with regular Earl Grey (discussed in Part 3 of this series), I refused for the better part of a decade to drink any sort of real tea with bergamot. 

For their Rooibos Earl Grey, Adagio combines rooibos orange, blue cornflowers, and natural bergamot flavor. Although I haven’t had this particular blend in quite some time, I’m happy to report that it’s as enjoyable as I remember.

Like most Adagio teas and tisanes, the dry blend is quite pretty. The rooibos smell dominates, but once the hot water is added, the bergamot and orange peel come through. Drinking the infused tea, I find a well-balanced cup where the rooibos and bergamot both come through. I think that’s impressive, because rooibos can be heavy-handed. I think the orange peel helps to keep things well-balanced and keep the rooibos from overpowering everything else. 

If you don’t like rooibos, you should avoid this blend, because the bergamot and orange peel don’t make it go away. However, if you’re a rooibos fan, give this a try. It certainly has a special place on my tea shelf.

By the Numbers

As of this writing, I’ve tasted 23 different Earl Grey blends. It’s hard to believe that at the end of the month, I’ll be more than 25% of the way through the tasting portion of this challenge! I’m pretty sure I’ve already had more Earl Grey this year than I have in the rest of my adult life, which I find amusing. The good thing is that I’m not tired of it yet!

While classic versions of Earl Grey are still the best represented, other categories are beginning to stand out. I’m close to having enough of both Creme Earl Grey and Special Variations to give each of those a post of their own, though honestly, based on this post, maybe I should do another half and half in order to keep the blogging momentum going. 

I have close to 50 teas in my tasting queue, which is exciting. It’s a good feeling to not feel like I have to hurry up and buy more tea. That being said, there are still 50 teas to add. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment! If it already happens to be on my list, I’ll consider that a sign to make it a priority 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

Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share! 

For more tea content, check out my tea pairings playlist on YouTube.

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.

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

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 

Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot