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I was very worried about this tea…its pure Robitussin™ smell when dry in the bag. Luckily the smell doesn’t transfer to the tea (too much). This tea is weird…the tastes don’t make sense to me, but here it is: the brew’s smell is pretty neutral…not much there but the faintest of faint Robitussin. I moved away from the bag on the shelf behind me to see if was affecting me..thats how faint. So, don’t sweat it. The first mouth taste/smell is faintly pine tree and pine sap. yes, really. The mid to finish taste is pine sawdust…like you’ve been out cutting up a pine tree with a chainsaw (yeah, I’ve done that) or your walking through a large lumber warehouse with fresh lumber stacks all around. Just that smell/taste that you get at the roof of the mouth. Completely unexpected. Ultimately the tastes are so faint that they don’t distract you, but they do last awhile.
I think I like it…this will get further study (especially since I have a 100g bag) ;-)

Reordered this one instead of UVA Highlands as part of my January restocking. It’s a smooth, not to tannic brew. I can easily get two good steepings from a 1tsp scoop. It has the nice clear, “picture perfect” look of the tea you’d use for an advertising campaign. taste good too! Adjusting my rating upwards based on the last year’s knowledge gain ;-)

I waited until I had tasted this tea several times. Its OK, but I’m not a fan. It is very fruity and floral, overly so in my opinion. I cannot identify any singular fruit or floral flavor, just that it has a perfume about it. I can see where others might like it, but its not going to make my order list.

Fresh batch 1/27/11. So nice to have this back on the shelf. After a year of trying other teas, I’m back to where I started. I read the other reviews that have accumlated and I can agree with all of them. To me, this tea is a middle of the road, average everything fine tea. “But it has nothing special”, you say. “Right!”, I say. Its not a light tea, its not a heavy tea, its not smokey, its not floral, its not earthy, malty, musty, grassy, sweet, or sour. It can be weak or strong depending on how you brew it…but in the end, its just a really good, plain black tea.

Rediscovered this sitting on the back of my tea shelf. Its been at least a year since I last drank it. Medium dark in the cup and a medium mouth feel. Malty, mild, smoooooothhhhh. Some astringency, but no “bite”, leaving just the faintest sour tickle on the edges of the tounge. A very fine tea.
I got this as part of a sampler set for Christmas 2009. I recommend a sampler of it, as Todd & Holland charge a dear fortune for their teas. Fortunately, T&H recognizes that samplers are good for business and they have an extensive set.

Wow, I did not expect to like this tea, as I’m not a licorice fan, but this is different. First, all the flavors are muted and subtle. The tea is smooth, no green grassiness. The anise provides a hint of woodiness and a hint of licorice. Something is providing a bit of a sweetness. Overall, this is a good departure from my usual fare. I don’t know that I’d go order a bunch, but having an ounce or two on hand would be nice.

Sampler grab bag today. Did not care for this tea. I don’t know exactly what the turn off was, it just didn’t work for me. The smell of the dry tea was excellent, nice toasty coconut. The brewed tea didn’t seem to have any coconut smell, but a nice green tea smell. The tea tasted of green grass and raw coconut. I was expecting a nice and nutty toasted coconut, so it was disappointing.

I want to not like this tea. Firstly, its green. I don’t like green teas. Secondly, it has mouse turds in it. Ok, its really toasted rice, but I looked first, and read second. But on a cold, rainy afternoon, slaving away for my own portion of bread, it strikes a note with me. Toasted starchy cereal grains with the green vegetable underlying just works. Thumbs up for trying something new and having my expectations blown away (in a good sense, since I expected to hate it).

A light flavored Earl Grey with more citrus than the regular Earl Grey. I also got a touch of smoke with this batch. Smooth, High Quality tea. I got this batch in tea bags, although it is availble in loose leaf. I don’t detect a difference in quality between the bags and the loose leaf, although I have a preference for loose leaf..

[edit]: smoke wasn’t from the tea as it turns out. There is no smoke component to LEG.

Earl Grey No. 69 by Tea Gschwendner
“This is one of the worst Earl Grey’s i’ve come across. It has an overpowering bitter, chemical flavor.” That’s how I started this review, then I thought, “Earl Grey Bravo (Adagio) had the same issue the first time I tried it. Maybe I should brew it [No. 69] super short like I do EGB now.” So I did. Starting over…
This is not one of my favorite Earl Greys. It has a strong tea base with an overlying chemical flavor. In other words, brewing it shorter gave me less of a bad thing; which is not saying more of a good thing. Over all, I’d rather drink hot water.
[Edit 1/27] Gave away the remainder to another tea loving friend…they gave it back!