Tea: Constant Comment® Loose Tea
A Flavored Black Tea from Bigelow Tea
| Brand: | Bigelow Tea |
| Style: | Flavored Black Tea |
| Region: | Blend |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Loose? | Loose |
| # Ratings: | 1 View All |
Reviewer: Whiskey
✓ 45 teas reviewed
✓ 8 of Flavored Black Tea
✓ 11 of Flavored Tea
✓ 4 of Bigelow Tea
✓ 7 of blends
Review of Constant Comment® Loose Tea
November 17th, 2019
| Aroma | Flavor | Value | Total |
| 8 of 10 | 3 of 5 | 3 of 5 | 68 of 100 |
| Excellent | Fair | Reasonable |
I think that this is the first time I will have said (or written) this, but I actually prefer the teabag form of this tea. The balance of flavors is off in this. I've tried four different ways of brewing it, changing both the times and the amount of tea, but nothing felt quite right.
Using 2 1/2 tsp for 2 min using boiled water and a 300ml single cup teapot did have the best results thus far. The tin recommended 2 tsp, but when brewing that for 3 min instead of 2 min, it was both too weak and too bitter.
The tea flavor itself was more woody and less earthy. It reminded me more of the tea taste from Twinings Earl Grey (both teabag and loose form). I actually don't like that lighter flavor, because it has less body and depth to it. The Bigelow Earl Grey in teabag form also has a deeper, earthier flavor to the tea. I don't know if they're using different tea leaves for this loose tea, but I don't like it. It's much too light. The whole array of flavors sits in one area on the palette and as a result, it's unbalanced and crowded -- like seating all your dinner guests, squashed up, at one end of the table.
The spices also turn the tea bitter very easily. I brewed 2 1/2 tsp for 3 min using boiled water and a 300ml single cup teapot, and it was already getting unpleasantly bitter. It didn't taste as if it were the tea becoming bitter, it tasted as if it were the spices. It was a different sort of bitterness that reminded me more of over-brewed herbal tea than over-brewed black tea. It may be cloves, though the tin doesn't say which spices are in it, so this is just a guess. I sometimes make a hibiscus tea in the summer with cloves and then chill it, but if I let it sit too long without straining it, it ends up with this same variety of tongue-recoiling bitterness.
I'm going to keep on trying to brew this better, but I'd actually recommend the tea bags at this point. The tea made from them tastes much better. The spices are much more balanced. It is also much less finicky. Perhaps this is why I had to find it online and couldn't find the loose tea anywhere in stores. Nobody likes to have to struggle to get a good cup of tea.
