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I’m going to put my cards on the table right at the outset. Twinings Earl Grey, to put it plainly, is the best tea there is. You might think, reader, that I would preface such a bold statement with “I think” or “in my opinion”, but no, that’s not how it’s going to roll at TeaFancier.com.
I am going to pepper my reviews with unequivocal statements like “most fruit teas are just delicately scented cups of hot water”, “Lapsang Souchong tastes like ashtrays” and “Son of Dork were a better band than Busted” and leave it up to my readership to determine whether or not I’m talking out of my hat. Of course, all the things I just mentioned, definitely are true so you know I’m a woman who can be trusted.
Twinings Earl Grey is the linchpin, the cornerstone, the very foundation of my tea drinking life. It’s how I start each day. Brewing a cup of this perfectly balanced tea and bergamot blend is the first thing I do each morning (after I’ve given the cats their breakfast, obviously). It reassures me that the world is worth waking up for.
There are other brands of Earl Grey out there and I’m sure they all have their place. But there’s no getting away from the fact that the Twinings version is the original. First blended in 1831 at the request of the Prime Minister, the actual second Earl Grey himself, Twinings have had plenty of time in the intervening 190 years to ensure that this tea is the best it can possibly be.
(Edit: This, it turns out, is complete bunkum. See my Teapigs Earl Grey review for more details.)
The bergamot flavour isn’t overwhelming. It is a subtle background flavour, which doesn’t merely complement the black tea at its base, It elevates it. Flowery lemony notes bring out the best of the underlying tea flavour and produce something that is almost magical.
If a law was brought out, which stated that everyone was only allowed to have one particular tea for the rest of their life, this is the one I would choose. Well, I say that. What I would probably do is grab a pitchfork and join the rest of the mob rioting in the streets. Because despotic regimes are all very well, but limiting the variety of one’s tea purchases would be taking oppression of the masses just a step too far.
I have given this tea five stars, because that’s the maximum possible score in my rating system. If I could give it ten stars, I would.
