Buckingham Palace Garden Party

It’s been a while since I’ve had a Buckingham Palace Garden Tea so I’m really excited Azzrian sent me some of this! Thanks so much!

This has a nice-medium-strength black tea base with mellow yet juicy orangy notes that are delicious AND subtle flowery notes. I’ve read that some people have found this too floral-tasting but I really like it and normally aren’t overly-jazzed about floral teas. Perhaps I didn’t infuse for as long as they did.

As it cool at room temp for just 2 to 3 mins – it grows a tad sweeter.

I do really like this! It’s a goodie!

Thanks Val for the sample! (This is one of our Steepster Tea Club selections!)

I like this tea – it’s a mix of a lot of things but I immediately think ‘this is fancy’ when I sip it. There are just so many flavours in it that it’s a treat to sip. I’m getting jasmine notes too. This is a great afternoon cup to drink and re-steep!

Thanks for the sample!

I got a sample of this from Sandy’sCuppa.

The dry tea smelled almost identical to Earl Grey. Which, as everyone already knows, I love.

The tea brewed strong and dark, which is what I had expected from the assam base. The tea had a very subtle taste of bergamot, not as strong as I usually prefer. I did not taste any jasmine while drinking the tea, but it definitely is pronounced in the aftertaste. Because I was impatient, I also brewed up a cup of flavoured matcha at the same time as I was drinking this tea. The Buckingham palace tasted better with more pronounced bergamot after I had a sip of the matcha. I think because of the sweetness in the matcha. I did not add any sweetener to the Buckingham palace tea but I think I will try that next time I brew it.

I love that there is assam in the base of this tea. Assam is my most favourite black base. I think it works well with the other flavours in this tea.

I steeped for 3 min, but I think I will do less time for next brew.

Very floral. I love how the tea is so layered with flavors. Its Earl Grey, then it’s more English breakfast. I used a French press, steeped for 4 minutes. Will definitely buy more!

This was one of the first blends with which I ventured away from straight black tea. It just sounded interesting. And so….PROPER. Sure, I had tasted mango tea, and almond tea, and vanilla. But this was something totally different. I didn’t have a wide-brimmed hat but I figured I would try it anyway.

It is incredibly light and fragrant, but it still tastes like tea. Some fragrant teas taste overwhelmingly like their fragrance, but this one does not. I like this in the afternoon or the evening. The smell always brings a smile to my face, and I can picture myself sitting in a manicured garden sipping in the sunshine and eating little lemon cookies. Even though I’m usually just sitting on my couch watching junk television.

I could hardly taste the bergamot but I really liked this tea. I think it was a good blend of tea, jasmine and whatever else was in it. I only have it in the bags but it was still good, strong tea.

I think I’ll put this on my list to buy looseleaf next time I put an order in with ETS. I think it would be good to mix with ETS double bergamot Earl Grey.

I had mixed feelings about this tea. Mostly, however, I did not particularly enjoy it. When drinking this tea, be prepared for it to be intensely floral (almost perfume-y). As they mention in the official description, the flavour does seem to fluctuate a wee bit – more jasmine some moments, more Earl Grey in other, with an interesting aftertaste – so it is certainly an adventure to drink. It’s not a particularly strong tea, but even so the flavours can be a bit much if you’re not expecting such a flowery, fragrant tea.

Intensely floral. This is for folks like me who enjoy a really fragrant cup.

This is a happy, pleasant tea. Floral, sweet, perfect for breakfast…which is how I’m having it now. I really like this, best tea I’ve had in a while.

Backlog:

I wish I would have read the description of this tea before I tried the sampling of the tea that I had, because I thought it was a straight black tea and not a blend of black and green teas. I steeped it in boiling water for 3 minutes and this imparted some bitterness to the cup (I think the green didn’t like that I overlooked it and it acted out in my teacup.)

Even with the bitterness, it isn’t a bad tasting tea but it could certainly be better.

I love the aroma – the combination of bergamot and jasmine are delightful. I like the way these two elements play with one another in the cup. The tangy bergamot is an interesting contrast to the sweet, exotic floral notes.

The Assam is bold and the aforementioned bitterness may be there because of the Assam or it may be that the green tea acted out as I said before. I don’t get a lot of green tea flavor in the presence of the stronger Assam.

Overall, it’s alright, but I think it’d be better if I’d brewed it differently. Therefore I won’t rate it numerically.