Special Blend with Earl Grey
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Commercial Description
A special blend of tea with Earl Grey. Specially selected leaves from the hillsides of Sri Lanka and other countries, enhanced with the delightful scent of bergamot. A full-flavored tea, full of personality, and subtly balanced.
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 2 reviews
85 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5Difflugia (170 reviews) on Jul. 15th, 2018
The dry tea is quite broken and smells almost like Froot Loops. Unlike most Earl Greys, though, the aroma of the tea is discernible beneath the bergamot.
The brewed tea smells mostly of malt and bergamot. The tea tastes more bitter and astringent than I expected. Based on Ahmad's other teas, I was expecting the blend to be mostly Ceylon, but there's definitely something, probably Assam, with more bite to it. This is definitely one of the best Earl Greys that I've had. Most Earl Greys have enough citrus to overwhelm any flavors of the tea, but this one is balanced quite well. The finish alternates between the bergamot and malt, giving kind of a rich lemonade sensation.
This tea is much heavier on the bitterness and astringency than I originally expected. This allows the sweetness of the bergamot to come through, but the overall tea is definitely more bitter than many other Earl Greys. I expect those that enjoy typical English Breakfast teas will find this tea equally enjoyable.
I bought this tea at a Middle Eastern grocery and paid $9 for a half-kilogram. Ahmad's US website sells a pound (454g) for $15, though, which is still more than reasonable.
83 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5Alex Zorach (1453 reviews) on Aug. 4th, 2014
This is another exceptional loose-leaf black tea from Ahmad, strong, and sold for an exceptionally reasonable price. Thank you Emily for sharing this one with me!
This seems to be either a black tea blend very lightly-scented with bergamot, or a blend of unflavored black teas with a bit of Earl grey: it has a faint suggestion of bergamot, emerging and then vanishing, but the overall experience is more like drinking a straight black tea. Excellent if you enjoy Earl Grey but don't want the flavoring overdone, and really want to taste the base tea.
The base tea is rich and malty, full-bodied, and potent. It strikes me as similar to the Ceylon but perhaps a bit maltier and with a warmer, and less cool character.
I can see this being an every-day drinking tea. It's excellent in the morning as well as the afternoon. I also think this tea could appeal to people with a broad range of tastes, although it's definitely a strong tea, with a fair amount of bitterness and astringency, so I would recommend it only to people who want a robust cup. That said, this may be my new second-favorite from Ahmad (I still think I prefer the straight Ceylon, that tea is absolutely unbeatable in its price range).
Page 1 of 1 page with 2 reviews
