We gleefully had sniffed demo leaves of Murchie's Earl Grey in their Victoria store before, but since had brought home and ordered only the tea bags of the cream version (Earl Grey Cream). My wife is a bigtime EG drinker—probably half her total tea consumption—and wanted some loose-leaf tea as part of our annual fall/winter tea order. Folks have been buying this formulation since the 1930s, and I can see why. It hasn't disappointed.

She ordered the 2-oz. resealable plastic sack, then relocated it immediately to a tin. The sack has a see-through part, and she doesn't want light getting to it over months. The tea from that sack will last a good, long time; only a small amount of leaves delivers a thick, dark, rich cup. As such, the value rating on it is high, and that's even before accounting for the U.S.-favorable Canadian dollar conversion.

The dry-leaf aroma was strong on bergamot, as expected, but also bore a nontrivial level of vanilla essence that was more muted in the flavor. Don't get me wrong, this is a potent EG, not an EG cream, but some vanilla was evident. The liquid brewed up quite dark; a white ceramic spoon disappeared about 2-1/2 inches down my deep cup. The bergamot also backed off some in the flavor vs. smell, which I attribute to Murchie's use of a really fresh, strong combo of Ceylon, Keemun and Darjeeling, as advertised. You won't lose the tea in the flavoring, I promise. The taste is tolerably bitter and the finish a little more so, but not quite enough to be a problem for me unless the tea has gone cold (when the bitterness does become a bit overbearing). The aftertaste lingers a long time, and brings back a lot of bergamot. Although I'm rather immune to caffeine, I did feel a boost, and suspect this contains a strong dose of it.

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