This is my favorite Earl Grey Cream tea yet, and that's not a knock on Murchie's excellent rendition, which is a better value but just a notch below Teavana in richness.

Teavana has undergone a remaking of its marketing and strategy under the Starbucks banner: no more stand-alone tea shops, just 15-sachet plastic tubs on sale via Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart (where I got mine), and probably other outlets. They're not cheap! I paid about $5 for one tub, so like that cranky old man hollering at you as a kid to "Get off my lawn!", I was going to be tough to please. Teavana made it happen.

A few of the reviewers of the "retired" loose-leaf version noted weak vanilla with this, but my experience was the opposite: dominant vanilla and only background bergamot. That's OK, since the result is a very rich, creamy, smooth drink that I can treat as a worthwhile indulgence, even at this price. Still, the bergamot was present and accounted for—more in the aftertaste and (very pleasant) dry-bag scent than the straight sip or wet-bag aroma. Speaking of the wet bag, it's worth a good sniff or two, or dozen. This is where the lavender comes out best, almost like a potpourri of lavender, vanilla and faint orange, with about 15 lavender flower buds visible in-bag. If you enjoy those aromas, breathing deeply through the squeezed, damp sachet should be a blissful endeavor. Truly I say, that should be part of the experience of this tea for anyone trying it, and certainly adds to the "value" rating amidst a fairly high retail price.

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