Review for: Organic Earl Grey Loose Leaf Tea 16oz bag (1pound), bought September 2020.
The underlying black tea is a good mix of Keemun and Assam. The Keemun makes for a lighter tea that does not drown out the Bergamotte oil, or force an amount that makes the tea taste soapy. Twinings itself has replaced most of the real Bergamotte oil with extract and their website doesn't say how much real Bergamotte is left. I still like Twinings Earl Grey, it's been my family tea for more than half a century, but knowing that this organic product uses only the real thing (2% organic Bergamotte content, as per ingredient list) is an extra star in my book. The tea that arrived was super fresh with an aromatic scent (expiry date end of January 2023), which is important as the bergamotte oil fragrance and tea aroma will evaporate over time.
The taste is a delicious, light to medium strength Earl Grey, great on its own or (for lighter taste) mixed with 1/3rd Darjeeling. If you are used to soapily strong Earl Grey variants or those made with Assam alone, you may find it too light. If you like Twinings, you'll probably like it alot.
I have not been able to do a direct taste comparison side by side, as I ran out of Twinings before this arrived, but as I am sitting here, sipping a cup of the hot, dark-golden liquid with a small teaspoon of cane sugar, tasting a well balanced mix of light black tea and bergamotte oil, I am letting out a satisfied sigh. I am finding this one to be an excellent substitute.
Update 2021: Had 3 1-pound-bags of this in the meantime, and all of them were perfectly aromatic and tasty.
Preparation instructions:
Serve in thin-lipped bone-china cups of approx. 6oz size (better sensory experience than mugs for delicate teas, see image).
Use 2 tea pots and a straining sieve: one pot to steep the leaves and another to strain the brewed tea into, in order to get the leaves out before they turn bitter.
Bring 3 cups / 24 oz of water to boil, pour over 6g (0.22oz) Earl Grey tea leaves while still boiling. The leaves should float freely in a pre-warmed tea pot. For less or more tea, just multiply or divide water and tea by the same amounts.
Strain after no longer than 3 minutes of steeping through a tea-straining sieve into the serving tea pot. (I am setting a timer to 2:40 min brewing time and don't stress over 20 seconds more). When I strain the tea, I either stirr the leaves right before, or let the leaves drip from the sieve after straining, to get all the full, concentrated tea. (if you accidentally steeped it too long, you can try decanting without stirring the leaves and it might save you from a bitter experience). I drink it with a little cane sugar and a piece of bread with something sweet on it, and thereafter, my brain starts working. If you are a Trekkie and have not tried what Picard's favorite drink really is about when properly prepared, this is it. If yours is bitter, you either use too much tea or you let it steep too long.
Oh, and I never use tea bags for black tea. It is filled with the tea dust that is breaking off from the properly dried tea leaves, the leftover after the leaves have been packaged. That tends to make for an overpoweringly strong tea, plus the dust tends to seep into the tea itself. Either that or (with luxury versions=filled with proper leaves) it does not have enough room for giving off its taste. Free floating is the way to go.
If you want to avoid the garbage getting all wet, just leave the used leaves to drip and dry in the sieve over the pot you used for steeping before throwing them away.
Disclaimer: this is the first time ever I bought this product. I have picked and paid it myself and have nothing whatsoever to do with either FGO, Amazon or Twinings. This is a pure tea enthusiast's review article and I hope you enjoyed it and your tea.
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