French Friday! Drinking this sample kindly provided by Dustin (thanks Dustin!) this morning, and snagging as my Ode to Tea P entry.
Dry leaf smells like a very floral bergamot… a sort of violet/lilacy scent? Brewed 2.8g per 350ml of 205F water, steeped for 3 minutes. The steeped cup smells pretty much dead on for the leaf; the bergamot doesn’t smell overwhelming because of the sweet florals peeking through, and reads a bit grapefruity citrus on the nose. Drinking it, though, it has a quite full bergamot flavor, and it is a bergamot that is leaning more grapefruit tasting than lemon-lime (I go back and forth depending on the tea). There is a sweet finish, but it isn’t the vanilla/cream that often accompanies Earl Greys. It’s definitely a sweet floral note that is reminding me of the (extremely limited) taste I got from a violet tea once, with a subtle sort of grape note left on my tongue after the berg settles. Looking at the tea entry, apparently this is bergamot with plum and yuzu flavorings, but I’m not getting either of those as flavor notes.
It is very pleasant! Been a while since I’ve had an EG and it’s a nice way to start the morning. I still have a hard time believing that when I first got into tea, I hated the taste of bergamot; now those teas are some of my favorite!
(Reminder that tomorrow is National Haiku Day! Tomorrow, leave a haiku about your tea in your tasting note!)
Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Floral, Grapefruit, Grapes, Smooth, Violet
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I am glad you liked this one! It is one of the few Earl Grey style teas I love.
I think that was the same with me. Started out hating bergamot but then loved the good stuff. Maybe most of us start with the most terrible bergamot teabags?
Maybe. I know I originally started with blends that sort of “tamed” the bergamot taste, then I just built more and more of a “I’m okay with this now” and could drink plain EGs, heh.
There are definitely some I still think taste really sour and astringent, though!
I am glad you liked this one! It is one of the few Earl Grey style teas I love.
I think that was the same with me. Started out hating bergamot but then loved the good stuff. Maybe most of us start with the most terrible bergamot teabags?
Maybe. I know I originally started with blends that sort of “tamed” the bergamot taste, then I just built more and more of a “I’m okay with this now” and could drink plain EGs, heh.
There are definitely some I still think taste really sour and astringent, though!