Here's a rare flavored black tea where the flavor itself is fairly feeble, and the tea dominates it (not necessarily in a good way, either). Save your money and get an off-brand, food-service tea at a cheap motel, for an experience that is comparable, if not better.

I got this from a gift pack of sampler boxes, with individually wrapped teabags. One would think this seals in aroma better. Usually it does. But the dry-bag scent of this tea was barely perceptible! It seemed like the tea was left sitting out somewhere for a year or more before even being packaged. At least it didn't seem unpleasant at that point. Nothing fungal was growing out of the bags, and the contents weren't moving on their own, so...onward!

The bergamot did make itself somewhat more present in-cup, more in flavor than aroma. There's a catch, however. Normally, with a nicely but weakly flavored tea, I'd recommend that the manufacturer simply put more in the bag. And yes, as usual, there's room. However, because the base tea gets excessively bitter, pretty fast, that wouldn't apply here. Tea and flavoring balanced better in the aftertaste. The bergamot was strongest in my burps! When the best flavor of a tea is experienced afterward, belching, this is a problem. Were I Whittard's blendmaster, I'd hurl this formula into the ash heap of history, then start over with a higher quality *and* quantity base tea, plus 3X more bergamot. Several other brands have proved that it can be done.

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