This tea, from The London Tea Merchant, was sent to me by the wonderful Ann when she heard I was doing this experiment.
4 minutes steeping (recommended)
No sugar
Quite pale when steeped. A faint orange smell when in leaf form, but less so when steeped. It does smell a bit creamy – perhaps vanilla?
Tastes a bit weak. Used 1 tsp of leaves, as recommended.
Added sugar, but it didn’t bring out the bergamot as sometimes happens.
Next time:
Used a bit more tea, and got a resulting darker colour. Tasted a bit stronger but still not much of a bergamot flavour.
The website says that there’s a slight bergamot taste, along with vanilla and rice pudding, which I think I get.
Overall this is an ok tea, but it’s not a great Earl Grey tea.
Acts of Kitchen 