French Earl Grey

Just a quick note, so I can keep track of my thoughts trying many different new teas these days. I love this one. I’m not a big bergamot fan, so classic, straight-up Earl Grey is not really my jam. This is a lovely, fruity variation that still essentially reads “Earl Grey” to my palate, but without the unwelcome bitterness/astringency. I plan on keeping this one on hand unless/until I find an even more pleasing sibling-of-Earl-Grey suitor.

337/365

The first thing I noticed about this one was that it contains rose petals rather than the more usual cornflowers, which makes it both different and pretty – an excellent combination! It also smells delicious – really, really peachy!

Suprisingly, it tastes peachy also, which is as amazing as it is unexpected. It’s the best kind of peach, too – not artificial at all, but nicely juicy and fruity. Like an actual ripe peach. There isn’t a lot of bergamot, so this would be an excellent EG for a bergamot hater (I know you’re out there…I think I used to be one of you!) It’s muted and subtle, and you could pretty much pretend it’s not there for what you can taste of it. The black tea base is very smooth with a nectar-like sweetness that perfectly complements the peach flavouring.

I was expecting a pretty standard EG, but this is far from being that. I think this is what I thought Bird & Blend’s Earl’s Paradise would be like, before I was bitterly (and that’s no joke…) disappointed. I’m struggling to call this one an EG, though – it’s really a peach-flavoured black playing dress-up.

This one recently made its way into the “5 oldest teas” box that sits on the countertop of my tea nook. And goodness, I have the better part of 100 grams to get through… x.x

Luckily, I love this tea, so hopefully it won’t be too terribly slow to finish. I bet it would make a yummy milk tea, too, so I’ll have to try that later…

Anyway! This is probably the only tea I’ve really liked from T2. It’s such a lovely marriage of bergamot with stonefruit, and the apricot and peach notes here are quite tart, which is so unusual. I wonder if it’s because they describe this as having citrus notes as well, so my tongue just interprets the combination as underripe peach and apricot? Either way, it’s tasty. The bergamot is somewhat strong, which I think is a good choice since the tart stonefruit can hold its own. The base is fine, inoffensive but nothing special.

And what a lovely lingering tart apricot finish! Definitely one of my favorite nontraditional Earl Greys.

This tea smell amazing. Will fill your kitchen in scents like a blooming garden.

Just don’t think of it as an Earl Grey. It’s an earl grey for those who don’t usually like earl greys (and I love my earl greys). If you have an earl grey craving this will not fulfill it but damn what a good tea. A floral fruity tea that stimulates your senses and doesn’t overpower your taste buds, really a perfect picture of a classy drink. Larger economy bags of loose leafs makes it affordable too.

Can handle a second steep but is considerably weaker. No more than 2 steeps for this one.

additional notes: Tiffany sent me TWO cubes of this one, so I decided to have a bit today of the one that Mastress Alita sent me, so I can eventually reuse that resealable pouch (since T2 uses unsealable packaging.) It was very grapefruit today and very delicious! I just noticed a grapefruit tea is one of the prompts this month, so maybe I can finish this pouch in time for that. It might be the only grapefruit tea I have. Second steep was excellent too. I’ll have to remember these parameters for the future, which is why I’m writing this note today… also raising the rating from 82. I think this would be one of my top five T2 blends (though I haven’t tried many and most others were blegh.)
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 24 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 4 min after boiling // 4 min

So My internet has been down for the longest time and now it’s working off and on….So I’ve had this tea several times since then and after this cup will have only one serving left.

This was kindly sent to me from Mastress Alita. I had wanted to try this company for awhile now and am glad that I got the opportunity.
I found that the best length to steep it was just under three minutes.
The tea is pleasant to drink and makes for a very unique earl grey. I can see it being too floral for some people but I find it to be quite nice. The main note I’m getting is a peachy floral flavor. Somewhat reminiscent to how DavidsTea’s Buddha’s Blend smelled. Although this tea is not nearly as perfume-y as the DT blend which I found to not be drinkable. They mention hibiscus in the ingredients but I’m assuming it’s white hibiscus based on color of the tea, taste, and looking through the dry leaf. I could definitely picture myself drinking this in Paris so the name is fitting In my opinion. It’s a beautiful tea and when I place an order with T2 if this is available I would definitely consider adding some to my cart.

May Flowers! This is actually the first earl grey tea I ever bought for my collection. I had never liked the taste of bergamot (which, considering the way I like citrus and strong tart, tangy flavors, I’m not sure why I never liked that taste, but it just was very offputting to me… perhaps because it was so perfumy? Despite how much like I like florals, I can’t handle a jasmine-scented tea because it is simply too strong in scent and sets my head off because I feel like I’m drinking perfume, so the aroma more than the taste could have had a lot to do with it). But I read a lot of reviews saying this was a good earl grey for “people that normally don’t like earl grey” and I thought I’d try to adapt my palate, starting with this blend (and I later added other blends as well, and now I’d say I’m pretty tolerant with all but the heaviest of bergamot teas).

This tea does have a noticable bergamot flavor that lingers on the tongue, but there is a fruitiness to the base. Most people say it tastes of peach, but for me, it tastes very much of lychee, and lychee black teas are one of my favorite things, so that actually was a good way to ween me into the bergamot. The tea is accented with rose, sunflower, hibiscus, and mallow petals, and while you can’t really taste any of those flowers individually, there is a very subtle floral sweetness right at the end of the sip.

I used to always take this with some milk, to cut the bergamot back just a bit, but now that I’m more used to it, I can drink a cup plain, and pick out the lychee fruit notes beneath the citrusy bergamot. I think I’d certainly prefer something like this over a plain earl grey in my cupboard.

Let me start off by saying that Earl Grey is my favourite tea, hands down. I don’t think it should be interfered with. The delicate, floral bergamot oil paired with heady black tea makes for a blend that’s just right and makes an excellent base for London Fog, Earl Grey hot chocolates or just a plain (but sublime) cuppa. Twinings’ attempt at combining other florals with it, such as rose and lavender, turned what could have been a well balanced blend into an over perfumed mess, rather akin to the bedroom of a fussy old lady. Lady Grey is an abomination. Bergamot was never meant to be paired with overwhelming amounts of citrus. The fragrant nature of it becomes lost.

I digress. Until I’d tasted this blend, I really thought Earl Grey was best left alone. T2 have somehow found the perfect combination of fruits and florals to enhance the elegant, aromatic nature of the bergamot whilst still letting the flavour profile of their base black show through to create a tea that is seductive, complex and still somehow fresh, without the slight bitterness that Earl Grey usually comes with. Fantastic blend.

It was like a sweet daffodil but it looked like a puddle of mud.

Bought this one on smell alone – SO glad I did! I am a sucker for anything Earl Grey, and this is a lovely twist on a classic. It’s also probably the only earl blend I have ever tried first sans any milk – and I think I’ll keep it this way. Yummy!