Twinings of London

I’m beginning to suspect that this is all part of Twining’s policy as the Earl Grey also suffers from what I am starting to call the American Deficit (when the same brand and style of tea has less flavor when purchased in an American Store than when purchased in other countries).

Some fair back and forth testing has confirmed my suspicion. A nice Earl Grey (not the best, but far from the worst) that’s reliably good when purchased from a retailer not located in the United States.

When I came back from Australia, I stopped by the store to pick some of this up. I still had most of a box left from Melbourne, but I didn’t want to run out and I felt like getting out of the house.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a big difference between the same tea as sold in Australia and what is available on store shelves in the United States. The latter is largely without flavor while the former is a perfect general tea in the English milk-and-sugar style. I’m not sure why this would be and I don’t know if others have had a similar experience, but I’ve tried it from several boxes and from different stores and continue to experience the same thing. I even did some cup after cup switching between the what I had left from Australia and what I got here at home. There is a clear difference.

It makes me a little hesitant to trust ratings too much on this one being that where they come from may affect the actual quality they are getting. All that said, my rating is for the Australian blend/variety/type of Twining’s English Breakfast Tea which is a solid all day cup. I have also ordered a box direct from the UK to see how the original stacks up.

I really enjoy this Tea it has a very nice orange taste with a very slight cinnamon in the background. This is a tea that is light on taste but great on flavor. Great for people who love a semi sweet taste but not something overpowering.

I got this from a friend of mine as a present, and it’s an Earl Grey so I have set quite high expectations for this one! Let’s sip! Wohoo!

The dry leaves look very produced. I don’t know whether this is the same exact tea they put in the bagged version of this (I’m not too sure if that exists though!). It typically looks like the tea leaves you would expect from bag, with here and there a longer leaf.

The scent, ladies and gentleman! The scent! Oh my gosh! Great. When I first opened the box I was like, meh, alright this is the thousand year old scent that was trapped for eternity in the box. Never have I been so wrong in my life! The scent remains even after I picked a few grams out of the box. Very intense scent! It’s obviously bergamot-scent as you would expect from an Earl Grey.

I steeped 5 grams in 300ml for about 2 minutes. The end result (as can be seen in the photos I’ve taken) is quite good. It’s about 60-70% dark. As the first sip goes down, I feel no dryness, no bitterness. It goes down slowly, mostly due to its very strong scent.

Bottom line: Great Earl Grey. Re-buying should I run out of the 3.56oz/100grams I have. :-)

Photos available here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127882037@N04/sets/72157648318765629/

Elusive citrus
Green in the black, green in brown
Earl grey is “light” tea.

I’m still wrapping my palate around what bergamot tastes like. I know it’s in the citrus family, so I’m thinking that the orange-peel flavor in this tea is it. Other than that, this tea tastes pretty green. The color is even a greenish brown! Not what I would have expected in my limited experience…

Truth be told, I only drink this tea when I’m feeling under the weather. It has certainly been one of those weeks. I don’t particularly enjoy the taste; it’s far too similar to a cough drop, though I suppose that is the point. I added a good bit of honey to this to up the wellness factor and sipped slowly. I’m not sure there is enough lemon and ginger here to make a real difference, but it does give the feeling that I’m doing something good for my body so it serves its purpose.

After staying up till 3 am and waking up at the usual time, I wanted to drink something strong this morning. Tastes good with milk and sugar!

I don’t love this. It tastes kind of artificial and tart. I’m sure someone could love this, especially someone who likes fruity teas. I am not that person. It’s not bad for a bagged tea, but it’s not to my taste.

Meh, not a huge fan. Maybe it’s the citrus. I’d probably drink this if I had to, but I’d rather not.

I’ve been holding off on black teas(other than chai) during my past few weeks of tea exploration, but I decided to dip my toe in this week with a Twinings Classics Black Tea Variety Pack. I figured the English Breakfast tea would be a good place to start. With some milk, sugar, and Pumpkin Spice CoffeeMate, this was really enjoyable!

Had to give it to try when I saw it in the supermarket. If not for the tea, then for the nice metal box. :-) Tasting notes follow:
The scent of it is like real gunpowder. I don’t really find it great, to be honest.
Taste: Well, strange, but it’s not that bad. You can feel that its a green tea, and it’s quite a mild one, but it has some strange (bad?) aftertaste. Aside from that, it’s good.