 | "Bergamot-lovers will find this blend to have too-little, too-late... as a regular green tea, this would have been perfectly fine, but as an "Earl Green" it doesn't make the grade. "
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If I have any particular specialty when it comes to tea, its Earl Grey. I drink several different types of tea each day, but I’d be hard-pressed to remember a day when at least one of those blends wasn’t a decent Earl Grey. So you could say that I’ve got certain standards in this department.
Granted, this isn’t an Earl Grey. Its an Earl Green. First off, I hate that name. Earl Grey has a history and a dignity and for goodness sake an actual person behind it (Prime Minister Viscount Howick, aka Charles Grey, the 2nd Earl Grey). Calling a tea “Earl Green” is cutesy and enticing to a certain sect, I’m sure, but if you want your bergamot-flavored green tea to succeed in a long-term, I’m sorry, it needs a better name.
It also needs a better flavor.
Stash’s Earl Green is a crushing disappointment, especially because of the absolute success of their Earl Grey blends. (Their Double-Bergamot Earl Grey is now in my full-time rotation.) Opening the bag, you’re met with the familiar and distinct and lovely aroma of oil of bergamot. All I can say is, enjoy that moment, because that’s the last encounter you’ll have with it whilst drinking this disappointing tea.
What this “Earl Green” really brews up into is actually largely indistinguishable from a rather run-of-the-mill, generic green tea. If that’s what it was marketed as, I’d likely give it a favorable, if not glowing review, but no - this as marketed as “Earl Green”. Bergamotic promises were made and not kept. There the faintest, slightest, all-but-undetectable ghost of a hint of a possible drop of oil of bergamot in the aftertaste, which seems fresher and cooler than you’d normally get with a regular green tea. But no, its not enough. Not by a longshot.
The silly name “Earl Green” is obviously an attempt to draw lovers of Earl Grey into the green-tea market, but with blends like this I doubt it will succeed. Checking their website now I see they offer a “Double Bergamot Earl Green” - looks like I may not be the only one who was disappointed. I’ll give the double a try in a future order.
Post-script: Interestingly enough, a few minutes after I finished my cup of Earl Green, I noticed the essence of bergamot gradually emerging on my lips and the tip of my tongue. I don’t know that I’ve ever had this kind of a time-delayed flavor experience before. Its a nice little surprise, but I don’t want the memory of bergamot after the fact, I want the taste and aroma of bergamot while I’m drinking my tea.
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Stephen Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on Stephen's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by Stephen. |
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