This smells and tastes like some halfway point between Bigelow Earl Grey and Twinings Earl Grey. With Bigelow, the bergamot note is strong and pointed and the tea has a more earthy taste. With Twinings, the bergamot note is more gentle and the tea has a more woody taste. With Harney & Sons Earl Grey, the bergamot note is pointed, but also broad. I don't have to add lemon with this, but with other brands of Earl Grey, particularly Twinings, I often feel the need to add a squeeze of lemon.

The tea taste here is quite subdued. That's where it deviates from both other teas. I'd say that this tastes more like lemon/bergamot tea than it does like black tea. I may have just gotten the tea when it's too fresh, though. There are about 2 years left before the "best by" date on the bottom. So, it could be that the bergamot note is leading at this point and won't be as strong later.

I don't dislike this tea, but I also don't feel like I'm drinking tea when I have it. Every tea I've had from Harney & Sons thus far has had the tea itself taking a backseat to other flavors. As someone who loves tea, I find myself quite disappointed by this, but not surprised. There seem to be a lot of brands creating "teas" that are essentially a bit of low-quality, low-taste tea with a bunch of other flavors that completely disguise the fact that it's even tea that you're drinking. David's Tea is another brand that does this.

Overall, I'd say that this isn't a tea lover's tea. It has a good flavor and is good-tasting with a bit of honey. But, it lacks any real tea flavor at this point. For more of a tea flavor, I think Twinings is more suitable, though it does best with a bit of lemon as well as honey. For more of a punch of bergamot, but with a tea flavor that's still present, I'd recommend the Bigelow Earl Grey instead. I don't find that it needs a squeeze of lemon to satisfy.

My brewing method for this tea was:
100ºC temperature
300ml water
2 tsp tea
3 min duration
1 spoon raw honey

Update: After making this quite a few times, I've become more impressed with the flavor. Loose teas, particularly flavored kinds can have the flavoring unevenly distributed. So, I'm raising the rating from 78 to 85. There are definitely some flavors I still crave from Twinings or Bigelow Earl Grey teas, which this one doesn't have. But, this is a good tea and I'm glad to add it as one of my regulars.

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