Earl Grey

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Bergamot, Black Tea, Natural Flavours
Flavors
Acidic, Bergamot, Smoke, Sweet, Citrus, Malt, Lemon, Drying, Grapefruit, Lime, Smooth, Earl Grey, Earth, Astringent, Orange, Paper, Cream, Citrus Zest, Floral, Nuts, Wood, Honey, Perfume, Cloves, Dark Wood, Orange Zest, Bitter, Green, Lemon Zest, Dark Bittersweet, Vanilla, Butterscotch, Guava
Sold in
Loose Leaf, Tea Bag
Caffeine
High
Certification
Kosher
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec 2 g 9 oz / 263 ml

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From Our Community

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189 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I found a recipe for Earl Grey lemonade and it made me curious. It has been very hot here recently and I have been drinking a fair amount of half-tea, half-lemonade that my fiance’s mother has...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “I have one more bag of this. I used to drink this often and loved it. Now I am finding it kind of meh. I hate it when the classics don’t quite live up to the memory.” Read full tasting note
  • “This is another tea I bought, mainly because I like Earl Grey. It is really one of my favorite [fruit flavored] teas. Surprisingly, I haven’t had all that many different brands of it, nor do I have...” Read full tasting note
    82
  • “I am kind of confused by the myriad of Earl Greys that Twining’s seems to offer. I am now in Heathrow Airport (London) on my way to Madagascar and I had a bagged EG that wasn’t the typical...” Read full tasting note
    59

From Twinings

Twinings has been blending my family tea for years. Legend has it that my ancestor, the second Earl Grey, was presented with this exquisite recipe by an envoy on his return from China. He liked it so much he asked Richard Twining to recreate it for him. Generations of my family have enjoyed Earl Grey tea and today, I am proud to continue the tradition with the tea celebrated throughout the world known as Twining Earl Grey." – The seventh Earl Grey

At Twinings, we take great care to ensure that the Earl Grey you drink today tastes as extraordinary as the one Richard Twining first created. Fresh, fragrant and flavoured with the distinctive notes of citrus and bergamot, this Earl Grey tea has all the taste of the original.

Ingredients: Black tea, natural flavor, bergamot peel

Brewing Instructions: Add freshly boiled water. Steep 3 minutes or to desired strength. Do not microwave.

About Twinings View company

Company description not available.

189 Tasting Notes

90
467 tasting notes

After all the wonderful suggestions about where to start on my Earl Grey adventure, I decided to start with basic, basics. I tried good old teabags! Haven’t had a teabag in eons. I just started with Twinings because I could find it in the grocery store and it didn’t cost much. I like it. Nice aroma, good taste. Something I could drink a lot.I have gotten into teas that are more exciting and it was nice to go back to simple. I don’t think I’ll skip my more interesting teas but I will have this in my rotation of teas. Now I think I expand and try some others. I had so many suggestions (Thanks!) that I was pretty overwhelmed. Now that I have an idea what a basic EG tastes like, I can move to variations.

Now that I have had a chance to drink a little more EG I like it even more. If this is the ‘boring’ Earl Grey, I can’t wait to see/taste what’s next to try.

__Morgana__

Yay! Enjoy the experience.

Josh Buteau

Good job!! Twinings EG was my first step into the more “elegant varieties”. Howeve I just feel that you don’t really experience the full bloom that you could with the loose leaf. I tried they’re loose leaf… Huge difference. Plus the twinings website usually always has a promo of some sort and a tin of loose leaf only cost about 4$. Overall, welcome to your journey with the Earl!!!

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81
299 tasting notes

Yummers easy hot tea with my nutella fudge cookies! >:D

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78
429 tasting notes

I pulled this tea out quickly as I needed to have something nice after the ceylon tea I just drank. This is one of my favorite bagged teas. I’ve been drinking this one for years and I always enjoy it.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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71
67 tasting notes

Twinings is almost where my journey as a black tea lover starts,it introduces me to major black tea branches at that time. Earl was always a nice approach to black tea for me ,since it’s light and fragrant——the smell of bergamot is always delightful and energetic.

K S

My introduction was Bigelow Earl but I have certainly had my share of this one as well.

Rheya

Bigelow is not so common in the city where I live,while Twinings can be seen in most large supermarkets and tea rooms.In fact I’ve never tried Bigelow before,any recommendation on this brand?

K S

Bigelow was my first exposure to tea. I have soft spot for it. I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it if you can’t get it easily and at Twinings prices but if you stumble upon it give it a go. Twinings earl leans a little towards lemon while Bigelow is slightly more orange.

Rheya

Thanks~ Speaking of orange I think this version of lady grey (http://www.amazon.com/Twinings-Lady-Grey-Tea-Bags/dp/B000MPOG0I/ref=pd_bxgy_gro_img_y) is quite lovely,with refreshingly sweet 、soft and delightful orange aroma,and tastes smooth/light.
As far as I can remember,this one is quite different from the classic blue box of Twinings lady grey,but I can’t find its page in Steepster……

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52
187 tasting notes

My second real attempt with Earl Grey after a horrific Tazo cup a few months back.

Since my Tazo hot cup was so bitter and oversteeped when I followed the instructions on the packaging, I might have understeeped this cup. The teabag smelled very fragrant and quite delicious, with the bergamot a subtly sweetening the blend.

The bergamot in this isn’t the strongest, which is what I like. However, the taste was overwhelmingly floral, which was quite odd. Almost potpourri-like. There isn’t a real strong taste of bergamot; it’s more of an aftertaste that lingers on the tongue and in the back of the throat after each sip. A pleasant aftertaste that was altogether welcome. But the black tea itself didn’t have any real presence at all, which surprised me. I wanted it to be a better balance of the two, and I didn’t expect the bergamot to taste so cloying and floral.

I’m going to try to brew my second cup a bit stronger next time, in hopes that the black tea taste will rise to match the flavoring in this package. It was a very drinkable cup, with no bitterness whatsoever, but I’m not sure if this is going to be the perfect blend of Earl Grey for me yet. More tinkering needed!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
teafiend

No matter how hard you try, Twinings will be either disappointing or horrific. Good luck though!

teaplz

Twinings in general, or just their Earl Grey? Hopefully I do like Earl Grey, and I just keep having the wrong blends.

teafiend

I will hesitantly say most Twinings because I’ve had only subpar results from their tea. Their Breakfast teas and Lady Grey are okay, but others are much better for the same price.

Jillian

I second that Twinings’ Lady Grey is quite decent, but I’ve never been a huge fan of any of their other teas.

kai

Seconded on Tazo. Their Earl Grey is one of the worst things I have ever drank in my life.

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23 tasting notes

teet-da da da…tee da da da…

I think I am getting hooked on to Earl Grey!

Geoffrey Norman

It’s easy to do. I made the same confession a year ago.

Hazel

I know…and you dont even realize it…and I used to say “Early Grey is boring”

teawing

I am with you Hazel, it grows on me every cup…

teawing

Drank my last Earl Grey bag at home last night…you know what that means…
The voices inside my head…“Errrrrrll Grrrreeeyyy!”
The only way to stop them is a pickup on the way home!

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96
18 tasting notes

My second review for this Earl Grey and I want to take the opportunity to speak up for it. Firstly, this size tea bag is meant for 6 oz of water. If you want more tea use more bags (or import the larger Brit version). Secondly, I’ve read some reviews that stated this is “weak”. Well, Earl Grey isn’t supposed to be a strong tea, though there are versions out there that play up the bergamot a bit more. Personally I think the balance of bergamot and tea taste is perfect in the Twinings blend.
Thirdly, there is a controversy concerning the US version of this tea was weakened in 2006 when the packaging changed (the Brit version was indeed reformulated in 2011, but that’s another pot of tea entirely!) and I want to address that.

I don’t think it was changed at all. The tea was always blended in England and prior to the 2006 package change had been packed in the US. After 2006 it was packed in England and was still blended there, hardly a need to worry there. The new packaging lists the strength of the tea as “light”, whereas before no such indicator was displayed. Perhaps the power of suggestion played into peoples perception of the taste, they were told it is a light tea and tasted it as such.

It is also possible that a bad batch of tea reached our shores in 2006/07. That combined with the new “light tea” description may account for some people detecting a taste difference. An entire blog was devoted to this “change” in 2006 – savetwinings.blogspot.com , but sadly has not been updated since 2009.

Twinings denied any change in their US Earl Grey formula at the time and never have admitted to any changes to the US blend since. I believe them because you can ask any Brit who loves Twinings Earl Grey…the company isn’t exactly shy about tampering with the blend and admitting to it when they do. www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8728913/Twinings-is-changing-Earl-Grey-man-the-barricades.html

Sorry for the rambling nature of this review but I felt this good, solid tea needed a sympathetic defense witness. lol

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 15 sec
Anthony Bazic

Nicely put Tim! Certainly there are people who’s tastes that are too demanding and tongues as sharp as knives, but I guess its their lack of admiration for this simple cuppa. These type in particular made by Twinnings is one of many teas that got me brought me to love tea before I got began to have interests in loose leaf teas and the like. Its certainly not a bad tea and quite balanced as you described, its kinda gives a best compromise of bergamont and tea flavor without one overpowering than the other or it would be like drinking air freshener! However, it can get bitter and astringent at times possibly owing a lot of disappointment among afficianados, the main upset over teas like twinnings of course its a bagged tea which has alot of bad rep due to being of poor quality or flavor. Its an overstatement to be honest, as there are some companies who do sell bagged teas that uses fannings or a combo and still puts out darn good teas!
Twinnings , Numi, Tazo, and stash continues to make good teas despite all the upset against bagged teas, its a matter of subjection as definitely loose leaf teas can also be not good as the bagged teas. Things are not perfect which some people can’t get over…

timmya9433

The bagged vs. loose leaf debate is interesting. There are many teas that taste better in loose form, Twinings Earl Grey oddly isn’t one of them. I have tried the loose version and found it not as strong and the bergamot not as bright compared to the bags. Perhaps I got a bad tin? I dunno.

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37
477 tasting notes

I’ll admit, although I’m pretty sure I’ve had this in the past, it’s probably only ever been with lots of milk and honey, and never without.

At any rate, yuck. I’m reminded of Sinister’s tealog concerning it, and Captain Picard (I am a Trekkie myself, although I did tend towards Voyager—I was a fan of the Doctor), and specifically the quote “watery slurry” which is Twining’s Earl Grey.

I didn’t make it particularly hot—I need to replace my kettle, I really do—but before that, the bags smelt deliciously of Earl Grey. Sniffing the wet bag, and the tea, all I could smell was overpowering bergamot. When I sipped it, that’s really all I could taste. Water and strong bergamot. Now, bergamot is bitter, like grapefruit, but the bitter that I tasted seemed more like the kind you get when you go to take the zest of something and cut too deep into the pith.

I don’t know, just my thought.

The tea taste was watery and way in the background. I tried to add some honey, and it helped somewhat—the tea is slightly more noticeable, but overall still very… I don’t want to say yuck again, because it wasn’t horrible.

However, it did give me a thought. Earl Grey scented cologne. Anyone? Interesting, eh? I remember seeing a how-to for green tea perfume somewhere. I’m sure it could be adapted. It’d give me something to do with the rest of the teabags. Although I’ll try drinking this again when I can get the water hotter.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec
AJ

Don’t suppose there’s a manlier version of that, hmm? Still something I’m bookmarking and looking into later.

JacquelineM

If you happen to have a L’Occitane around you, take a sniff. I can smell the tea and bergamot, and I don’t think it’s super feminine or super masculine. I think it smells like a cup of earl grey tea with sugar in it. But fragrance is so personal… I started a thread in discussions here on Steepster about tea fragrances and some people had some other recs that they liked:

http://steepster.com/discuss/126-tea-perfume

AJ

Hmm, interesting. Thank you.

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67
10 tasting notes

Earl Grey. This is strongly associated with high tea for me, for historical reasons. But here I am, drinking it for lunch, with cheese and bread. Heresy.

Still, it’s a nice cup drunk black, and the astringency (heh) tackles the rather cloying cheese I’m eating quite nicely. 3/5 chainsaws indeed. :-)

Carolyn

Interesting. I hadn’t realized that there was a use for the astringency.

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58
58 tasting notes

I just needed something easy and mild this morning to go with a chocolate chip cookie. This did the trick. There is really nothing of merit to say about this tea, but if all you’re looking for is something that will not overpower or distract whatever it is that you are having with it yet is still relatively pleasant, this is not a bad option. It served its purpose today.

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