Given how much of a waste of time and steeping water Whittard's standard Earl Grey was, expectations for this version ran low. What a pleasant surprise instead!

Not only did this tea actually have a detectable and pleasant aroma upon opening the wrapper and sniffing the dry bag, that carried over quite strongly into in-cup aroma and flavor. The smell was strongly lemony, with only a bit of bergamot in it, bringing to mind an EG tea loaded up with lemon, as some folks (including my wife) like to do. However, in-cup, the lemon and bergamot both are well-balanced and unusually strong for most bagged teas, and the total fruit flavor far, far more robust than their inexcusably feeble regular EG. Even the base tea seems considerably stronger, with a bit of bitter edge, but not enough to be offputting (unless it steeps a long time then sits cold, as I discovered the hard way), and somewhat astringent as well in the finish. The aftertaste lingers at least a few minutes too, as if the fruit oil is sticking to one's mouth, but in a good way, prolonging an already pleasant taste experience. Inhaling through the mouth after a sip has an almost minty degree of cooling effect too. As long as one doesn't oversteep by more than a couple minutes, this is a remarkably good tea!

I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around the notion that two Earl Grey teas from the same company, in the same gift set, can be so vastly different. If ordering by type singly, choose wisely.

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