Taylors of Harrogate

Not sure about this one. It’s intense. A bit thick. I understand why milk and sugar is traditionally a must. Not sure I’d reach for this repeatedly. I first read about this blend on the Harney’s site and was curious about it. When I saw it boxed in bags at the grocery store I thought I’d give it a try. Can’t really recommend it without extra tastings.

I don’t normally gravitate towards bagged teas as much anymore. I was drawn by the design on the box and I am a sucker for rose teas so I decided to give it a try. I am so GLAD I did. It is delicious. There is an artificial rose taste to it but it reminds me of rose candy and rose drink I grew up drinking as a child. I love it! It brought me back to those rosy days.

One of the teas Jack sent up with my birthday present. I’m surprised by how quickly I’ve gone through them! This is my second to last teabag of the Earl Grey, and I’m finding myself wishing I had more. It’s nothing mind blowing or super unique, but it’s a really nice EG with a good balance between the tea and the bergamot and it goes down well. It’s one of those teas that is just really easy to drink, you know? It’s not bergamot-mad like the Clipper EG I like so much, but it’s also not as weak as most bagged teas. If I were in the market for a quick and easy Earl Grey, I think this would be a top contender. Especially if I get more freebies!

PSA*** the international version of this tea is NOT the same as the UK version. I will rate based on the UK version.

An excellent, strong, rich, full-bodied tea. There’s a reason it has become the UK’s most popular tea. There are many UK sites that sell it. You don’t need to steep this for very long to get a truly excellent cup of tea. I would definitely take this tea with milk.

NB The version sold in Australia (and likely elsewhere) is packed in the UAE from an entirely different blend of black teas. The company is quite transparent about this – they’ve claimed “regional tastes” and also environmental issues re transporting African tea to the UK then to Australia. Whatever the reason, it sadly results in an inferior and much weaker tea than the original.

Faint aroma of green tea from the dry leaf. Black tea blend aroma in the brewed tea.

Good blend of black tea. The flavour is a bit weak but with a longer infusion, I would be concerned that the bitter note becomes more pronounced. This brew would benefit with some milk added and the package in which it came recommends this.

Holds up well with a splash of milk (semi-skimmed). The bitter note is balanced out with the creaminess of the milk and the tea could probably stand for a longer infusion.

Thank you for a freebie of this one, AJRimmer — especially as you only had a few and liked it so much.  I was having chocolate cream pie for dessert, and thought this would be an excellent pairing.  Yup.  What a unique delicious flavor.  I tried a sip before looking at the ingredient list and was surprised at the uniqueness of the berry!    I don’t think I’ve had a tea with this specific berry flavor yet – and I can distinctly taste the raspberry AND blackberry. Looking at the list of ingredients (and bright red brew), I thought I’d hate it.  But no!  It does have an authentic buzzy, earthy raspberry/blackberry flavor with just enough of a tart boost from the hibiscus.  It tastes like those jelly candies with the sprinkles coating them that are raspberry and blackberry flavored and look like raspberries and blackberries — had them once, not sure what they are called. The second steep the next night was purple in color rather than the bright red, and that lovely flavor was also mostly missing, so it was perfect that first steep… wouldn’t really bother with a second. I wouldn’t mind having some of this around (especially to pair with chocolate cream pie.)  This would also be good adding some vanilla ice cream to the mug. (Try it, AJRimmer!) 
Steep #1  // 18 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  3-4 min

Got a box of this for super cheap at TJ Maxx this fall, and it’s much better than I thought it would be! The berry flavor is tart and pleasant. It’s not the same as all the typical bagged berry tea flavors. I really enjoy having a cold mug of this one in the morning. I only have a few bags left, and this is one I’ll miss when it’s gone.

Having my third pot of the tea right now, this brew surely packs a punch on the first steep with a strong flavour to it and is always accompanied by a gorgeous boquet of flowery notes with a fruity hint to them. The second steep is a lot more mellow, the flavours more balanced and the aforementioned flower notes are more pronounced throughout the cup.
Loses flavour and color on the subsequent steep, so it’s not worth it to go for a third one, really. Nonetheless, this one is definitely a winner on both of the steeps, the first for the morning to wake up, the second to enjoy the truly complex brew that this is.

A delightful infusion with lots of sweet jasmine notes through the whole brewing/drinking process.

The nose is as if you were walking through a garden with jasmine in the air.
I’ve always oversteeped green tea in the past but this 2 minutes was right on the money to pull out the delicate green tea flavor but nothing more. This has a soft and delicate balance between the floral nose and slight tannin bite on the finish. It is well done and I would stock this as an easy-drinker or to enjoy with some Asian cuisine.

This is a straightforward chamomile tea. Difficult taste to describe but if you have brewed it in the past you are likely already familiar with this flowery, herbacious and slightly sweet infusion.

The Taylor’s reminds me of my mother, who religiously bought Celestial Seasonings teas for me in my youth. This was perfect for teatime in the late evening as it is more of a health benefit with no caffeine. I would have no qualms sharing a cup of this tea with her so as far as I am concerned it passes the test to be enjoyed. Chamomile is not my favorite, but for the nostalgia if nothing else, I must say it is fine.

10oz out of tea for one pot/mug.

Light, aromatic, and pleasant. Fairly mild and one-dimensional, which to some can be a good thing. So light I would not dare add anything as it would likely just overpower.

No bite on the peppermint but it’s an herbal infusion, so more of the complimenting notes are a balance of herbs instead of blasting your senses all at once. Less like enjoying a peppermint hard candy but more like smelling a peppermint plant from a few feet away.

It’s all right, and for someone who is after this light taste I could recommend it. As they say though, it’s just not my cup of tea.

Let’s be honest, you probably know what Earl Grey tastes like.
How does this iteration stack up? Splendidly.

Bagged, 10oz, 5:30 steep time. This particular steep was perfect, with distinct black tea through the sip and a bergamot rushing in to match it.

I used to drink Twining’s Earl Grey by the box. It got me through college when I just didn’t want coffee. So this was my base for all other Earl Greys.
If I’m being honest, my palate is slightly numb. With a poor sense of smell I am used to overpowering my senses with strong cigar smoke, deep black coffee, and dominating cologne.

Earl Grey is not about that, this is a light and refined blend with balance and a little bite on the finish. I learned from good tea to treat it with tact and it will reward with more nuance and enjoyment.

This is a solid cuppa, and I can’t help but heel happy to serve guests a pot when they ask for this timeless classic. At the end of the day when the curtains draw and it is just family/friends/company around, that is what Earl Grey is to me.
Well done Taylor’s, you’ve stood up to the expectations of memory with a great blending of a classic taste.

Honestly I could not imagine chamomile and vanilla together. Yeah, an herbal and sweet notes. Weird.

But result is better than I have expected. Although when it comes to chamomile, I rather like the golden buds of it than “hay” – stems, leaves et cetera. There wre maybe one or two flower buds in whole big bag. But in taste it was like classsic camomile tea with sweet aftertaste. But the vanilla was not too strong, so it was not annoying.

This was again a nice surprise. I expected much more sweet notes and annoying chamomile taste. Now, let’s do some school stuff and, let’s celebrate Day of fight for liberty and democracy (and international student’s day).

My friends in Britain got me hooked on this tea- it’s a good, sturdy, strong cuppa tea. It does brew fast, due to the CTC method of the leaves, but it a way it’s a great thing too so I don’t have to wait too long for a good cup of tea in the morning if I’m in a rush. 5 min and it’s good to go! I have noticed it is very bitter if I oversteep it past 5 minutes. Generally it doesn’t bother me as I add milk to balance out the astringency. All in all, very good!

It’s peppermint; not too dank. I drank it during our office move this week, since most of my loose leaf tea and infusers were being held hostage in a crate for the best part of two days. I’m still not sure how I survived.

Also, I think I might be back. It’s been a while!

I ended up finding this tea at a place called “The English Gardener Gift Shop” at a market local to me. I heard from r/tea group that it’s a nice strong black tea, good for slow mornings. It’s great with milk and/or sugar. I don’t recommend it being iced. I can’t really describe the taste, it’s just a very nice smooth black tea. Not as “complex” in flavor as Twinings English breakfast, but very good. I use 1 teabag from anywhere from 8 oz to 12 oz. Anything bigger gets two.

Deeply not a fan of this one; had that sour grassy/lawn clipping note that I associate with bad/cheap green tea and a rather floral/perfume-y strawberry. Not really any vanilla; flavours didn’t mesh up together. Nope.

I really liked this one; it reminded me quite strongly of DAVIDsTEA’s Rose Lemonade black tea (but this is herbal) but a little bit sweeter and more distinctly rose flavoured; so basically it had the two qualities that I wanted a little bit more of in the DT blend! Still tangy/lemonade-y though. Yum yum!

Loved this tea. The rhubarb is so fresh and real… despite there being no rhubarb in it, just rhubarb flavouring.

Brewing it hot was lovely, the longer it brewed the more the colour of the tea transformed through shades of rose gold and peach. Then the aroma develops from tart and almost sour to sweet, vanilla, rhubarb and crumble. The flavour is spot-on. Rhubarb is not the sweetest, friendliest fruit – it’s got a bite, an edge. This tea has managed to perfectly balance the tart vibrancy of rhubarb with sweetness. It should be sour and suck in your cheeks, but the sweet aftertaste rushes in and saves it.

I greedily drank the whole cup. Definitely going to buy this fruit tea again. Full review and a few pictures: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/taylors-of-harrogate-sweet-rhubarb-tea-review/

I got a small box of this bagged tea from the San Francisco Tea Festival. Being a CTC English Breakfast tea, and one that is, well, actually a known British brand, I went all-out tannin-wuss on my steep and only steeped it for a minute and a half. But it still looks a proper reddish-brown color to me, so…

The aroma is like malt, crisp autumn leaves, and a bit like cherries and cinnamon. The flavor of this is actually very nice, the short steep was probably a good choice for me since this isn’t too strong, though I imagine had I left it steeping very long it would’ve tended that way. I’m getting a lot of the notes that were present in the aroma — malt, autumn leaves, and cinnamon spice — but there is also a lot of lemon citrus and burnt sugar. It’s suprisingly good for bagged tea with quite a few flavor notes. The astringency after the sip is mild to medium, not as strong as I was expecting. It isn’t my favorite breakfast tea, but I certainly like this one more than many I’ve sampled, and I’m glad that it has a flavor that I can take plain just fine, at least if I prepare it with a brisk steep.

Tasted like artificial strawberry. Vanilla was definitely “gentle” as described, to the point of being barely detectable. Good for a strong artificial strawberry flavor, but crosses the line to “too sweet” and puckery at times. Tasted 11.2018.