This tea is sold as an Earl Grey, but the leaf smells really, really different from what I expect. I do notice bergamot, but there are a lot of other aromas in there, and it smells cloying, more like potpourri than a flavored black tea.

Upon brewing, I find I like the aroma even less, because the bergamot is even more obscured by other flavorings. To be honest, it reminds me a lot of the air fresheners used in public restrooms...not the sort of smell I want to drink.

I can pick out a sort of "orange" aroma, but it doesn't smell like actual orange fruit or orange peel to me. I actually have the aromas of different oranges pretty fresh in my mind, because I've been buying a lot of citrus fruits lately, as they're in season, and the orange in this tea doesn't smell like any type of citrus I know. It reminds me a lot of the orange-scented scratch-and-sniff stickers that I remember from early elementary school.

I definitely notice the "cream" quality in the aroma as well. Earl Grey Creme teas are a whole thing of their own, and if that's what they're going with this one, I think it would have been better to label it as such, because I find that this aromatic quality completely changes the nature of the tea. I would probably avoid a tea labelled as such, because I don't like them.

There is also a bergamot citrus quality, but it's somewhat backgrounded by the other aromas.

I do think orange and vanilla blend well together, and I think they can both blend well with black tea, but for some reason, in this blend, it just doesn't work.

The flavor of the base tea, I found was actually quite good, but I never got past the added flavorings enough to be able to enjoy it. The base tea is robust and dark, and has spicy notes that are still evident beneath the heavy flavoring. I wish I were able to try this tea on its own, or in a classic Earl Grey blend using only bergamot oil and no other flavorings...it's quite different from their English Breakfast, but this company doesn't sell any other pure teas.

I think MajaTei would do well to rename this tea. It's likely to disappoint (possibly disgust?) a significant portion of people looking for a classic, British-style Earl grey. I can see other people liking it, but I think they'd be more likely to reach these people by naming it something more like "Earl Grey Orange Creme" or at least "Earl Grey Creme".

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