Earl Grey Drinkers

[beetlejazz]

What about buying some TGFOP Ceylon and adding the bergamot yourself? Who knows what you'll discover... :twisted:

 

[beetlejazz]

double

 

[Nick Fox]

I like Tazo's Earl Grey, iced. Tazo's Awake is pretty good too! I don't know why but I always like my black tea on ice, I've tried them hot and I don't seem to like them hot- except Chai tea, I'll drink that hot on cold nights.

 

[Puff Daddy]

A little more about English Tea Store Earl Grey blends. I've really been enjoying these and now that I've spent some time with them, I'm finding them to be an excellent product and value. There are three that the wife and I have been drinking on a daily basis for weeks now. Their Buckingham Palace Garden Party is said to be the queens choice for her spring garden parties. Whatever. It is a blend of Earl Grey and Jasmine teas. That didn't sound terribly appealing to me at first, but it's actually quite good. It's lighter than a traditional Earl Grey but it isn't at all thin or weak. The jasmine and bergamot work well together and the base tea is of good quality. This is our regular drink now and we've been buying it by the pound.

They make a standard Earl Grey that was previously called Earl Grey Metropolitan. I don't know why they discontinued use of that name. They now just call it Earl Grey. The switch created some confusion as many of the reviews refer to it as Metropolitan, but when ordering, the customer service drones know nothing about any such blend. Yet, when the sealed foul pouch of standard Earl Grey arrived it bore the sticker Metropolitan on it. Anyhow, it's quite good. Not quite as strong as Twinings Classic loose leaf but a bit smoother and friendlier. A good tea at a good price.

A nice surprise was their Versailles Lavender Earl Grey, which is their standard Earl Grey with a good dose of Lavender. As foofy as this sounds, it's really, really good and smells fantastic! I bought a 4 ounce pouch of this for the wife and immediately fell in love with it and began hoarding it for myself. I've got to get a pound of this stuff. It's very smooth and well balanced, the dark tea and lavender aromas work wonderfully together and the taste is velvet.

The only negative I'll give is about the company and not the tea. The tea is great. The sales and service department needs some help. My last order was placed on line and accepted and confirmed via email. Two days later I get another email followed by a voicemail saying that they were out of the Buckingam Palace that I had ordered and would I like to substitute? A call back went unanswered so I emailed with a request to substitute the Earl Grey Metropolitan. Two days later another email response saying they don't know what that is, they have no such product. Turns out they just don't have anyone in that department who actually knows what they previously (like less than 6 months ago) called their standard Earl Grey, so I squared them away on that. Three more days go by and another email. We now have the Buckingham Palace in,do you still want that? 3 weeks after I originally placed my online order, it arrives. That was pretty lame. Hopefully they get it all sorted out. They may be the Pipes and Cigars of the online tea world.

 

[Vito]

Mrs. Vito has been an Earl Grey fan for many years. It hasn't really clicked with me in the past, but maybe it's time to give it another shot. One thing that pipe smoking has firmly established as axiomatic: tastes change.

For example, Lapsang Souchong, which is unquestionably an acquired taste; my first cup of the stuff was undrinkable. Then I learned that the long steeping times so often recommended by the tea vendors are just wacko. Brewing Lapsang Souchong in a way that brings out the nuances is as much an art as brewing any other tea. A great Fujian Lapsong Souchong carefully brewed is a thing of beauty.

Truth be told, I've drastically curtailed my black tea intake onna counta the oxalate thang. Of course, the category "black tea" is in many cases a misnomer that encompasses a huge range of teas, many of which aren't "black" at all. There's very little research on the oxalate content of different varieties of black tea, but I suspect that the lighter "blacks" (such as Yunnan Gold, or the fabulous Yunnan Noir that PD mentioned) are lower in oxalates than the deeper black teas of Keemun, Darjeeling, Ceylon, Assam, and others.

Anyhow, all the research I've studied suggests that citrate is one of the greatest mitigating factors in preventing oxalates from from binding with calcium (calcium oxalate kidney stones are the most common), so perhaps there has been some perennial wisdom in the "tea with lemon" thang. Also too, the inclusion of bergamot (which is high in citrate) in Earl Grey probably makes Earl Grey one of the more benign black teas, oxalate-wise. I think I'll glom onto some and give it another try.

:joker:

 

[BurleyLegal]

Twinings Earl Grey is my everyday tea, I generally have 2-3 cups every morning. Numi makes an Aged Earl Grey which is definitely worth a try. It has a more pronounced bergamot flavor and is a tad more full bodied than Twinings. I keep the Numi around for a change of pace now and then.

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Twinings Earl Grey is my everyday tea, I generally have 2-3 cups every morning. Numi makes an Aged Earl Grey which is definitely worth a try. It has a more pronounced bergamot flavor and is a tad more full bodied than Twinings. I keep the Numi around for a change of pace now and then.

I agree with you on the flavor profile of the Numi. At first I enjoyed Numi's Earl Grey but the more I drank it the more I began to realize that I wasn't in love with the warmer almost fresh fruit flavor it has. As far a teabags go The Republic of Tea's Earl Greyer is about the farthest I'll stray from my standard Twinings loose leaf brew. Choice Organics has a pretty decent tea bag if I am on the run. Lately I have been only brewing loose leaf tea when I have time at home. That said, I haven't been drinking it much.

I did find some rather nice bulk Lapsang at the local food Co-op.

 

[Harlock999]

I think I may try the Earl Greyer, but Twinnings definitely does it for me.

 

[BurleyLegal]

I agree. The Numi Earl Grey is citrusy to the point of almost being orangey (I guess that's a word?). It's not bad, but I definitely prefer Twining's use of English restraint in the bergamot department.