Twinings Earl Grey Tea would have pleased Star Trek’s Captain Picard, who ordered “Earl Grey Tea, hot!” from his office replicator often, while he met with dignitaries, admirals, and crew members. Why?
Because this flavored classic black tea features a subtle lemon taste, only a gentle caffeine nudge and a translucent amber color with miniscule bitterness, and then that only happens if you steep it too long. Twinings, as with most black teas, is easily sweetened with stevia or Nectresse. The price of this product is roughly identical to other flavored black tea versions we’ve tried. It’s obvious that Twinings of London knows very well the intricate details of producing their line of classic black teas, as they feature several including this one.
We’ve enjoyed this in our kitchen cupboards for a decade plus. As insatiable tea drinkers for more than a score, we’ve downed several boxes of this black tea during that lengthy interval. They served Twinings Earl Grey Tea now and again at tea parties, and as mentioned, Captain Picard loved it, as it seemed to improve the insightfulness of his thinking. This is an eminently satisfactory flavored tea, whose caffeine content is on the low side of medium strength. It is second to none for those looking for a light yet melodious tea that only gently nudges you awake. You can drink more of Earl Grey without becoming wired.
Benefits, Pros, Features, and Advantages
Earl Grey tea features only unassertive caffeine levels; a bit less than the English breakfast tea, and way less than the Irish breakfast tea formulations. It will not shock you awake in the morning. But it may save you from that 4:30 PM late-afternoon work drowsiness if you start drinking it right after lunch. And, it’s a first-rate complimentary beverage to an evening supper.
As with all the other Twinings classic black tea offerings, the teabags are individually wrapped in an aroma-tight foil and organized in a single stack within the box.
This classic Earl Grey tea conserves its freshness and original flavor for years without noticeable decline in taste, as the box comes wrapped in virtually airtight cellophane, not to mention the individually wrappings, as mentioned above.
It sweetens up exceptionally well when you add stevia, sugar, honey, or most any of the diet sweeteners like Truvia, Nectresse, and Equal.
The best-if-used-by date is roughly three years out from the date I brought home my box. But it will remain fresh for much longer, without much great flavor loss.
This is an excellent tasting beverage as a hot drink. Each serving sets you back less than twenty cents.
This product contains no artificial colors or sugar, and is gluten-free.
When brewed according to the accompanying directions, it turns out as a medium yellow or brown, lighter colored tea. So if you’re a tea drinker who seeks a toned-down tea for your palate, and like to add lots of whole cream or half and half, Earl Grey tea is the way to go.
The artwork and packaging is of great quality, and even when you remove the outer cellophane, no tea smell greets you until you actually rip open one of the teabag protectors. They took attentive care to seal this tea quite well.
Does not stain clothes readily as its color is pretty light.
Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, and Concerns
Not a good appetite suppressant. Perhaps the higher amount of caffeine within stimulates hunger.
Though the caffeine herein is notably reduced, we can still experience a wired, revved up effect, particularly when we’ve had no tea in recent days. Drinking too much can induce nausea. But with Earl Grey tea, it takes considerably more cups to turn our stomachs.
This is a flavored black tea. However, Twinings of London is unclear as to just what ingredients comprise that flavoring. They just refer to it as, “bergamot flavouring.” So we’re reluctant to call this an all-natural tea that is free of artificial ingredients or preservatives. Also, Earl Grey tea is notably lighter in color than other black teas. Plus, its flavor is radically different than plain black tea, though black tea is still the predominant ingredient in this formulation. Whatever flavoring compounds they’ve use here seem highly potent therefore.
Brewing Instructions
Each tea bag makes one cup of Earl Grey tea.
By The Cup
- Boil enough fresh water for the number of cups of this tea you’d like.
- While waiting for the water to boil, unwrap 1 teabag for each cup you’re making.
- Put the bags into each cup.
- When water boils, immediately pour into the cups.
- Steep for two to five minutes or until it becomes strong enough for your taste.
- Discard the teabag(s).
- Sweeten tea as desired.
- Enjoy.
By The Pot
- Use hot water to rinse out tea-pot prior to brewing, in order to preheat it.
- Again, determine how many cups of Earl Grey to brew.
- Put the desired amount of fresh, filtered water in your kettle or pot.
- Put the kettle on your stove and switch on the heat.
- While waiting for the water to boil, remove the wrappings from the desired number of teabags.
- Remove tags from the teabags, to evade possible contamination of the tea with ink from these labels.
- When the water achieves a rolling boil, immediately add the teabags into the hot pot.
- Immediately remove pot from heat and turn off the stove.
- Allow bags to steep in the pot for two to five minutes.
- Remove the teabags from the pot with a straining spoon and throw them out.
- Pour the tea into cups, sweeten to taste, add milk, lemon, lime, or orange as desired, and enjoy.
Ingredients
Black tea and bergamot flavoring.
Product Rating
This tea drink is simple to prepare, contains just moderate levels of caffeine, is painless to prepare, and very good tasting and smelling in a citrusy sort of fashion. Our rating is thus, 90 out of 100.
Where To Buy Twinings Earl Grey Tea
Look for this Twinings tea product in the pale yellow and white box, that features the Twinings logo near the top, at larger stores, supermarkets, and tea shops, as well as online at eBay and Amazon. Check the references below for a lengthy list of suppliers and resellers.
References
- Earl Grey Tea Health Benefits
- Earl Grey Tea on Wikipedia
- Where to buy Twinings Earl Grey Tea
- Twinings of London Web Site
Revision History
- 2014-12-01: Added picture, added whitespace, adjusted ad placement, and fixed content issues and typos.
- 2014-09-06: Originally published.