80
drank Earl Grey by T2
1257 tasting notes

Sampler Sipdown September! I’ve been trying to sipdown all my EG samplers, and sure enough, there was an EG in the T2 sampler horde. I believe there was also one for their French Earl Grey, but since I already had that tea, I believe I simply dumped that one into my larger stash of that tea. T2’s French Earl Grey was actually the first Earl Grey tea I ever tried, and was my “stepping stone” into acclimating my palate to bergamot, since I had read on a tea blog that it’s fruity notes made it a “good Earl Grey for people that don’t like Earl Grey” (and at the time, I loathed Earl Grey). I have a review of that one already on Steepster, and continue to dip into it from time to time. Come to think of it, I’m probably not that far off of sipping down the original 100g of that tea now, too…

Took a thermos of this to work. I actually found this one to taste very similar to Lupicia’s Rooibos Earl Grey, just in terms of the flavor and intensity of the bergamot — that is, the bergamot was a very nice taste and not sour or overwhelming. It had that sort of slight grapefruit/lemony taste and I found it more pleasant than I’ve found bergamot in other Earl Grey blends. Of course, I enjoyed this more than the Rooibos Earl Grey just because being on a black base gave the bergamot a stronger foundation, and the black tea was nice, not bitter or astringent like many Earl Grey blends tend to be. This was actually an Earl Grey I found myself easily able to drink without having to add milk, because it didn’t have that bitter/sour/astringent quality many have. It still isn’t my favorite plain EG I’ve ever had (that would still be Steven Smith Teamaker’s because I loved the black currant notes I found in that blend) but I would rank this one my second favorite as far as plain EG’s I’ve tried. But I do still prefer EG blends more than plain EGs, so I’d take T2’s French Earl Grey, that has that slight lychee note paired with the bergamot and that subtle floral flavor to this one between their EG offerings.

Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Grapefruit, Lemon, Malt

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 16 OZ / 473 ML

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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