My wife is trying to cut back caffeine intake, and had me include this offering in the latest virtual "Murchie's run" that we do a time or two per year. And being a big fan of both happy marriages and the $CAD---->$USD exchange rates the last few years, I did not object.

Now that I've tried the tea, I'm glad that I didn't raise a fuss. She likes it well enough, and I'll add it to my list of bedtime teas, almost all of which are herbal. Make no mistake, this isn't nearly as delicious nor rich as their normal Earl Grey. In fact, because the latter is so good, this is a noticeable dropoff. Yet for the same reason, it still beats most, if not all, decaf black teas I've had. If you want a black-tea fix before bedtime, or Earl Grey in particular, Murchie's EG Decaf may be a good choice to stock in the pantry.

Aromatically, I got the same somewhat metallic, plastic-like background to the dry-bag bergamot smell, without much base-tea scent, as with other decafs I've tried. This must be a virtually unavoidable effect of the CO2-decaffeination process. This characteristic, fortunately, was less in the in-cup scent, and hardly in the flavor at all. The main taste difference I noticed between this and the regular Earl Grey is far more astringency, especially in the aftertaste. It wasn't quite to a discomforting level (i.e., it didn't taste like chugging your favorite brand of witch hazel), but this was a surprisingly big element of the flavor about which the scent gave no advanced warning. The aftertaste also introduced a sweet fruity element—rather like a very faint guava or papaya essence—that I didn't detect while drinking. The base tea (a Darjeeling, Ceylon and Keemun blend) came out a good deal more noticeably in taste than both this tea's scent, and the smell and taste of most other decaf black teas I've had.

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