70
drank Earl Grey by T2
27 tasting notes
I don’t think I’m giving this one a fair go – this tea comes from a presentation caddy I received more than 5 years ago. Due to the protestant “waste not, want not” ethic drummed into me by my late grandmother, I simply CANNOT throw out the remnants of a box of high end tea! It caused real angst to throw out even some generic green teabags that I discovered lurking at the back of my tea cupboard.

Sidebar – Yes, I have a tea (& coffee) cupboard, which has overflowing embarrassingly to boxes in my spare room! That is because the other trait I inherited from said grandmother is buying “stuff” for a rainy day, especially when there is an offer going. These two qualities mean that I am a pack-rat of the highest order, something that my beloved hubby has endured without complaint (or rather, only the occasional comment) since we met…
But I digress – so I have a moral imperative to wade through any tea, only disposing of it if has become completely undrinkable. So here I am, trying out the teas from my lovely presentation tin (T2 Sixteen Classics – sadly, discontinued) & while some teas have weathered the distance, others have become tainted by the other flavours, or lost their potency. I suspect this has suffered a bit of both.
I’m also a bit wary of Earl Grey after a fanatic flatmate tainted everything in our cupboard with the smell of her Earl Grey stash! And that included the food. I spent months eating bergamot scented EVERYTHING. Blech!
Much time has passed, & because I am getting back into tea again & Earl Grey is rightly a classic, I decided to get reaqcuainted…
First off – that hit of bergamot aroma was missing when I opened the tin. Not a good sign…
I brewed for 2 mins & the tea started looking suspiciously dark so I added my obligatory dash of milk (I really struggle with drinking tea black) & cautiously took my first sip.
Hmmm – a faint bergamot scent, along with a pretty robust but uninspiring black tea taste.
If it was new I would have given it no more than 50/100, but I have given it the benefit of the doubt and upped it by 20.
Sigh. This means I’ll have to obtain another sampler in order to give it a fair go…

Flavors: Bergamot

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 250 ML

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Bio

As the product of a very traditional English grandmother, I was taught from a young age to ALWAYS brew tea (only ever black) in a pot, drink from a fine china cup, (never a mug), & pour the milk in first…
Like most young people, I didn’t realise what I had at home, so I went off to conquer the world. It didn’t all work as planned, but on that journey, I found a new me – a less driven, softer & more socially aware me. One that doesn’t drink coffee on-the-go, but takes time to savour a good cup of tea. Maybe not always brewed in a pot (sorry nana!), but DEFINITELY out of a fine china cup!

NOTE – In the interests of full disclosure, my new tea obsession has led me to buy lots of samples & mixed packs in order to find out what I like. (Hence my tea cupboard is full to overflowing!) I’m trying the better known brands first & looking forward to broadening my horizons.
My plan is to reacquaint myself with the black teas of my youth, and go on a whole new tea adventure with greens, whites, oolong, pu’erh, florals & herbals.

What I have discovered so far:

Likes:
Smoky blacks
Peppermint
Masala chai
Rose scented (but not flavouring)
Cold water infusions (great in the Aussie heat!)

Dislikes:
Most black teas without milk
Most of the green teas I’ve tried (trying different types to overcome this!)
Earl Grey (although I’m revisiting this)
Straight camomile tea (Blech!)

Favourite Tea Companies:
Madura Australia
T2
Tamborine Tea Australia
Tea Tonic Australia
Twinings

Tea Rating Scale:
90-100: Outstanding! One of my favourites, will always be on hand.
80-89: Great! Will likely be in my tea stock.
70-79: Good – I’ll buy it occasionally for a change or until I find something I like better.
50-69: Meh… It’s not for me…
26-49: Blech! I struggled to finish it.
00-25: So awful, I spat it out!

Location

Country NSW Australia

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