Earl Grey

What brands/types have you tried? I hooked my mother on Earl Grey tea and I am always buying her different types to try out when I come accross them. A lot of the teabag Earl Grey's are artificially flavored or have lemon flavoring which is not so hot. I generally buy her a decent mid-grade quality loose Earl Grey from a local coffee shop. I don't think they have it branded, but I'll check for you. (It's called "Fortune's" in the strip district in Pittsburgh, PA) I've found Earl greys with Ceylon tea, Oolong Tea, Green Tea, white tea, and Black tea. The green tea and white tea was terrible, the others were all decent. Adagio has a tea called "Earl Grey Bravo" which looks very good and is very reasonably priced, I am planning on buying this next for my mother.

- Dominic Drinking: Still working on my Shirakiku Sen-Cha

Gosh - really, I have tried a lot of different brands. I guess I am looking for something that is mildly fragrant, as opposed to jerking-my-head-back-because-the-scent-is-so-strong kinda tea.

If you like Earl Grey, but the fragrance is overwhelming, then you may want to give keemun tea a shot. It is the base black tea for most Breakfast teas (Irish, English); it is very smooth and accepts milk and sugar if that is your thing. Twinings offers a good bagged keemun tea, so it is readily available. I use

to find out about teas that I have not tried, but there many resources online. Sites that sell tea seem to only say wonderful things about the tea they sell, so I try to avoid them.

Adagio's Earl Grey Bravo is too strong for the likes of me, I ususally end up cutting it with an equal amount of keemun or ceylon. Revolution Tea has a lavender earl grey that I like very much. Just a hint of lavender, and just a hint of bergomot. I can actually get this tea in my supermarket, so I am drinking it constantly. Marlene

I forgot to mention, Revolution's offerings in the grocery store are almost whole leaf (they've been crushed a little) and in a nylon, not paper bag. Very nice. Marlene

Try Jacksons Earl Grey. The bergamot is VERY subtle in this blend. It is available as loose leaf tea and as tea bags. Jacksons has become more difficult to find in recent years, at least in my neck of the woods, but you can purchase it online at

I have purchased my tea from this website for many years. They are very efficient and reliable and I have not found any prices to beat theirs.

Jacksons claims that their Earl Grey formula is the original one, although this is disputed by Twinings.

I know what you mean about the bergamot being overpowering in many blends. It's why I won't drink any Earl Grey that isn't made by a British company. I was visiting one site the other day and they were proudly promoting that their Earl Grey was blended for American tastes. I immediately lost interest in trying it right after reading that.

Good luck.

Persian tea has a lot of either bergamot or cardamon in it...depending on the type. It is very fragrant, but I REALLY like it. I love that aroma wafting out of the bag of leaves or when it is brewed. It is also drunk with no milk and traditionally with pastries, hard rock sugar with bergamot oil, or at least a hard Belgian sugar cube in one's mouth!

Pete

At Christmas time I was given a 90g tin of 'Original Hotel Sacher Tee', "a composition of choice Darjeeling teas, a hint of Earl Grey, and jasmine blossoms". This has only a little Bergamot - much milder than Jacksons. Anyone know of a bulk supplier of something similar, in the US or Canada ? (The Hotel Sacher is in Vienna, Austria)

Anne

Upton's has a Sacher blend. This is a fairly traditional European style. Theirs has a lot of vanilla in it, though, which doesn't quite sound like the stuff you've got.

You could also, of course, try to blend your own.

--scott

Try Simplicitea's earl grey lavender or earl grey rose. The lavender/rose takes the harshness away from the oil of bergamot. I like their white tea varieties as well.

Try Simplicitea's earl grey lavender or earl grey rose. The lavender/rose takes the harshness away from the oil of bergamot. I like their white tea varieties as well.