The Tea Keepers – Earl Grey & Vanilla
This tea is absolutely wonderful. The Tea keepers were recommended to me by Sasha of SaChasi Blends, whose teas I have enthusiastically reviewed in the past.
Now it’s a fundamental rule of The Tea Fancier that if a teamonger whose work I greatly admire recommends another teamonger, then I am duty bound to check them out.
(I was surprised as you are to discover that there are any Tea Fancier rules at all. I got down the big hardback Tea Fancier Book Of Rules to check what they were. It turns out there were only two rules and they were both “We don’t talk about Tea Fancier”, which I then crossed out in biro when I remembered that’s not how blogs and social media work.)
It turns out Sasha SaChasi is not only an expert at blending tea, she’s also an expert at drinking them. Her recommendation was a good one and I’m very happy to make The Tea Keepers’ acquaintance.
This Earl Grey & Vanilla contains Assam, vanilla pods, cornflowers and bergamot oil. The black tea is top-notch stuff. The vanilla and bergamot perform a perfect flavour balance, neither one dominating and both of them bringing out the best in each other.
You’ll have noticed that Earl Grey & Vanilla contains actual bergamot oil, rather than the bergamot “flavouring” that is used in most Earl Grey blends. I do wonder if this is one of the reasons this particular Earl Grey is so magnificent. Further Earl Grey-based research is needed.
I love Earl Grey. Were I to go on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, I would choose a hefty supply of Earl Grey as my luxury item. And given that The Tea Keepers Earl Grey & Vanilla is, thus far, the nicest one I’ve ever drunk, this is the blend I would pack to take with me.
Today’s featured book is Not Without A Chaperone: Modes and Manners from 1897 to 1914 by Cecil Porter.
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Early Grey is the best tea in the world. I’m very pleased I’ve found your tea blog, it’s a delight 😁 x