Black Night

Blech!!
I ordered this under false pretenses, as the website said nothing about the eeeeevil berg under ingredients. I don’t like it!
Ah well, I emailed the company and they’re refunding the money I paid for it since I can’t drink earl greys. And yup, I’d have checked Steepster for reviews first but for some reason this wasn’t coming up and now it is! odd.
Also, while my response from Red Leaf is adequate and more than enough to pacify me I was a little disappointed that they didn’t do more to retain my business. Now I’m glad I waited til trying all the teas I bought from them before submitting a full length tea shop review.
The moral of this story? bergamot is eeeeevil!! heh. I just like saying that so I’m gonna do it again. makes me feel like Count tea-cula or sumthin… so… eeeeeeeeeeevil!!!!
(sorry folks, running on little to no sleep. that is the byproduct!)

Thanks to Indigobloom for providing a generous sample of this tea! My taste buds may be a little compromised because I just ate pan-fried hashbrowns followed by a glass of Moscato d’Asti. Why did I just drink wine in the afternoon when I plan on working out soon? I have no idea. Just like I have no idea why I’m watching commercials on a pre-recorded show. I keep forgetting I can fast forward. Anyway, I digress.

The brewed tea aroma is STRONG. Luckily, the flavor is less intense than the aroma, but definitely still flavorful in its own right. This tea is assertive and tastes of bergamot and citrus. I wish I could add some milk, but it looks like my carton expired four days ago. Thank God I read it before I poured it into the cup.

I accidently let it cool off too much, so I threw it in the microwave for a minute. This one is good. I feel like the base is a little heavy for these flavors though. I wish I had more adjectives to describe it. It’s not malty or robust nor does it have notes of cocoa or honey. The base just strikes me as heavy and dark, although not bitter thankfully.

I generally like lighter, more complex black teas. This tea oddly doesn’t give off any flavor if you swirl it around in your mouth. The flavor comes only in the aftertaste. I think that’s what I dislike about it. I’m willing to give it another shot again once I buy some more milk. This is definitely not my cup of tea sans additions. But I look forward to experimenting with it.

This tea reminds me how much I love just straight black teas. This is also a sipdown! 372 with tea/382 with teaware. We’re trying to establish a one in, one out in regards to buying new tea, so I’m trying to make up for the 50 new teas we’ve ordered in the last few weeks. This is lovely, but I have so much Nepal black and other straight black teas that I don’t feel the need to replace it. It’s sweet and bracing and yummy.

This is hands-down the strongest tea I own. Fruity, brisk, energizing. I think describing a tea as a “coffee converter” is a bit cliched at this point, but that is what comes to mind – it has the caffeine and the strength of flavor. It was fruitier before adding milk, but a little harsh for my taste. I think maybe I have been oversteeping this, because at 3 minutes (and 1 level tsp/8oz) I’m getting a lot more of the fruity/winey taste, so bumping the rating accordingly.

This black tea and you can see that when you look at I’t. I’t smells like strong black tea to. I steeped it a couple or minutes or so. This tastes I’s strong not bitter or anything. I’t tastes good. But, just not something I would drink all of the time because I am not used to the strength.