Great Mississippi Tea Co. Mississippi Mud and Colonel Grey

 

After reviewing two plain teas from the Great Mississippi Tea Company I was really looking forward to trying some of the flavored versions (which they shared in part for review, but also tied to Jason being kind enough to offer them to try, after visiting in a video meetup talk).  Their plain teas were quite good, a lot better than blending material needs to be, but the blends sounded especially novel.

One of these is chocolate flavored mixed with black tea and the other a variation of Earl Grey, just with floral input (lavender) and sage.  Both sound like they go a big step beyond mixing black tea and flowers.

I've become a little more open to tisanes and some blending lately.  Not so much; I still drink plain tea every morning, but once in awhile I'll mix chrysanthemum or a lemongrass and pandan tea bag (that someone gave me) in with sheng pu'er to drink grandpa style while driving around.  Trying some nice Moychay (Russian vendor) compressed tisane bars not long ago brought the tisane theme up again, which reminds me that I've still only tried 2 of the 6 of those.  High quality plain tea is still definitely the way to go, but there's something to be said for variation, and an option that involves less caffeine (which isn't how these mainly black tea versions go).

A main reason they've developed flavored versions, according to talking to Jason, was to suit American tea preferences, which don't focus on plain teas so much.  The average person in a Facebook tea group would be into plain teas, or people likely to read this blog, but it can tap into a broader potential audience to offer a range of novel flavored teas too.  They wouldn't necessarily need to be that novel, since conventional jasmine green tea or typical Earl Grey probably aren't familiar to most Americans either, but going a little further couldn't hurt.  It's one more differentiator, and a way to add something to the experience.  

It was hard to get myself to brew these Western style, since I tend to only use that approach to speed things along or when I have lower quality tea around to use up.  In some cases a Western approach works just as well though, for example for most green teas or for broken versions of black tea.  For flavored tea Gongfu brewing probably wouldn't work as well, because any flavoring would extract faster than the natural tea leaf flavors.  Or so I would expect; I'm almost never confirming that by checking.  Years back I would drink Earl Grey from time to time but I don't even remember when I did last.  I kind of like it but it somehow never comes up.  Onto how these worked out then.

not the same as the clean look in a gaiwan, using an infuser mug and small glass teapot

Review:

Mississippi Mud:  it's good.  Good is all relative; I'll try to be clearer about how good, and good in what way.  The ingredients are black tea (the Black Magnolia version), chocolate extract, and hazelnut extract, and I guess it tastes like those things, like a mild black tea, chocolate, and hazelnut.  It's a good combination.  Someone was asking online for suggestions about Christmas tea blends and this is pretty much there already, or perfect for a bit of extra messing around with, adding some candy cane, pine needle, or orange peel to it.  If there was any way to add dark cherry flavor it would be drifting closer to chocolate covered cherry, maybe even nicer for that with a small dash of brandy or cognac.

It's probably as well that I'm doing a simple review form of these, only checking two infusion rounds, related to that flavored tea form.  For as good as this tea quality is (I've already reviewed the plain black version) it won't get quite woody, astringent, and unpleasant in later rounds, so it would be fine for a second, but the extract might not be present at the same level.  

Fiscussion of relative flavor balance is in order.  Hazelnut is kind of on the same intensity level as the chocolate, which works well.  Chocolate flavor could be a lot stronger and this would still work, but it's a significant input at this level, a decent balance.  It doesn't taste like chocolate with tea, instead the opposite.  I've got a high tolerance for chocolate, so mixing this half and half with cacao husks would still be pleasant to me, or probably even better.

In trying this Black Magnolia again brewed Western style versus Gongfu (which I didn't write about here) a yam / sweet potato flavor came out a lot stronger, which is probably adding balance to this blend.  Somehow it almost comes across as a hint of vanilla or citrus, not that I'm noticing those specific flavors, but the the complex effect makes it hard to pin down exactly what it is.  It seems creamy, which I guess ties back to matching that chocolate covered cherry effect.  A dash of cherry brandy might make this really addictive.  It's strange to think about a Christmas party full of people getting hammered on a tea cocktail, like a festive older adult version of vodka and Red Bull.  I don't drink alcohol, for what that's worth, so I never try tea cocktails, just saying.  I don't have any problem with drinking, I just don't get around to it.

Nothing is really negative, although I guess if someone wanted to identify some aspect as potentially limiting it could be described as slightly woody.  There's really no astringency edge of black tea in this; I suppose that would be more naturally interpreted as not matching someone's personal preference.  Since I mostly drink Dian Hong, soft, flavorful, and complex Yunnan black teas, I don't miss that.

Colonel Grey:  that first hit of bergamot is nice; it's been a long time since I've had any Earl Grey.   To skip ahead to ingredients this includes Black Magnolia black tea (their version), bergamot oil, orange peel, lavender flower, and sage.  I suppose to some extent it must taste like those things.

Sage is noticeable if you try to pick it up but I doubt anyone would flag it as an input in blind tasting at this level.  That's my favorite overall tisane, from back when I drank a lot of those.  I would usually blend other tisanes then, but not usually sage, which I liked best alone, in order to fully experience it.  I think it adds a nice edge, or maybe a little depth.  Lavender flower is similar to the corn flower input in versions sold as Lady Grey.  It's hard to distinguish an orange peel input from bergamot but the level and type of citrus is pleasant; it really works.  I could brew this twice as strong and experience it as a nearly harsh bergamot blast and still love it.

Bergamot is strong enough that it stands out in the experience, and wafts into your nasal passages, and gives a nice aftertaste effect.  This isn't even really brewed strong, although I used a lot more than what I would consider a teaspoon of tea, maybe two or three fully heaped up, just with a good bit more water too (maybe 300 ml).  

From there it seems odd going further with discussion of other effect or relative balance.  It's Earl Grey, just a complex version of one.  The black tea input is better than those usually use, just a lot less edgy in terms of astringency and sharp flavors.  A Twinings version might be hit a little harder with bergamot, but this is comparable in input.  I think all the flavors together add up to the same level, it's just more complex.  

I had a maxed-out version from the Cordon Bleu culinary training organization once, so heavy on that input that brewing it a bit strong resulted in a palate shocking level of bergamot flavor.  So that's how I would brew it, every time.  If I had known that tea was going out of production I probably would've bought a half dozen of those tins.  I'm not saying that this is too weak, or should be stronger, but I suspect that half the people who love Earl Grey and bergamot flavor experience have a preference for it quite strong.

I would recommend brewing this a bit stronger than the package directions suggest (both of them, really). There is nothing to become harsh or out of balance from the mild black tea input, and for everything blending nicely as an experience but being subtle dialing it all up makes sense (to me).  I could've brewed both of these nearly twice as strong and they would probably be slightly better.  They worked as I made them though; they are nice.

For the right person messing around with Gongfu brewing would be more or less necessary, even with expectations that wouldn't work out as well. Probably those first 3 infusions would be really nice, for the extracts being so strong in them, and then stretched out versions after 5 or so would probably still be ok, but likely closer to the herbs and tea input, with the extracts wearing off.

this was that first infusion, but the second looked about the same

Second infusion:  notes stopped there, so I'm writing a bit more from memory later.  The flavors weren't really "rinsed off" in that first round, and for them being brewed stronger they were even more intense in the second round.  I don't remember if there was much difference related to aspects not being as pleasant; I think they were just shifted slightly.  

Using less tea and going with one long infusion probably wouldn't be better or worse, again just different.  For teaware that tends to soak up heat (the infuser mug but not the glass teapot) pre-warming the device would probably help, since hotter brewing would seem optimum, to me.

Which brings to mind the question of their input about that, which I can cite from a sales page description:

Mississippi Mud:  This is a Black Magnolia based tea that is flavored with chocolate and hazelnut extract. The hazelnut and chocolate bring out the natural cocoa/maltiness of the Black Magnolia in the most brilliant way.  It is a guilty pleasure without the calories of a Mississippi Mud Pie!

1 rounded tsp per 8 oz. of 200F water. Steep for 5 minutes.

Using water a bit off boiling for brewing a black tea is kind of typical, but I wouldn't for one as soft in character as this one, since there is no significant astringency edge to even consider, never mind brew around.  Let's check the other one, which should list the same brewing approach, so more for their description:

Colonel Grey:  Since Jason is a Kentucky Colonel, our version is named Colonel Grey.  This is a Black Magnolia based tea that is flavored with premium bergamot oil then blended with orange peel, lavender flowers, and sage.

1 rounded tsp per 8 oz. of 212 F water. Steep for 5 minutes.

Nope, they recommend full boiling point for that one instead.  It is conventional to use that for tisanes; maybe the reasoning was that extracting full flavor from those required it.

All in all really nice.  I like good quality, basic tea blends, and it's interesting trying versions that reinterpret that kind of range and go a step further.

Halmari Orthodox Assam and Earl Grey tasting

orthodox Assam; full name HALMARI Gold GTGFOP1 Clonal

Halmari Earl Grey

I didn't get to the last two of the Halmari Assam tea samples, one their highest quality orthodox Assam black tea, and I'll try an Earl Grey along with it.  As I've often repeated combined tasting makes more sense with similar teas, and these aren't that.  The main point is wrapping up trying them, since I'd like to clean the slate of what I mean to get to, but comparison could turn up something interesting.

I'll try to prepare these in a hybrid style in a gaiwan, more or less in between Western and Gongfu, or probably as a light version of Gongfu style, which isn't traditional.  The idea is to make small quantity infusions, adjusting for the unusual proportion as I go.  It's not ideal for tasting to use an unconventional brewing approach but it's not that atypical for me.  Related to informing background I've got a touch of a cold.  I'll probably re-try this orthodox tea version later this week to double check how a standard Western brewing approach works out, and hopefully I can shake this cold instead of it getting worse [editing note:  I'm adjusting the draft while I have a throat infection; that didn't work out].


I'll mention a little about what the orthodox tea is first.  It's listed as HALMARI GOLD GTGFOP1 CLONAL.  I don't keep up with those letter terms but I could swear that first "G" should be an F (which I won't explore, but the Wikipedia article on all that is a natural starting point).  I looked to their description to shed light on the "clonal" part:

Leaf : Long, selectively plucked and delicately rolled leaves with a generous sprinkling of chunky golden pubescent buds. Very exclusively made only during the 2 months of second flush season... 

One of our most iconic teas, the GTGFOP1 Clonal has won the North American Tea Championship is 2012,2013 and 2015.


Not much for detailed description, but winning awards is a good start.  Clonal is a reference to propagating the tea by cuttings to preserve consistent genetics, versus using seeds, but I'd expect that's related to a hybrid or other selected tea plant type with characteristics they want to preserve.

Review

I went too long on the first infusion, even though it was only for around one minute.  This really is a hybrid style of brewing, in the middle between Western and Gongfu, but some people would see it as a light proportion variation of Gongfu brewing instead.  Not that a brewing approach label really matters.  Part of that error--preparing it a bit strong--might relate to using slightly higher water temperature than I usually tend to for black tea, close to boiling point versus down between 85-90 C instead.

These teas would be fine across any temperature range, I'd expect, still making ok brewed tea at lower temperature more typical for green tea brewing, but hot water would probably be more standard, and variation would shift aspects balance slightly.  I'm often using slightly cooler water to accentuate sweeter flavors and de-emphasize astringency / feel elements, but for some that wouldn't be preferable at all, and different teas would work out differently.

first go, brewed a little strong (Earl Grey left, orthodox right)

Brewed a little strong I can only get the general range for the orthodox version; it's nice.  It is normal to brew on the slightly strong side for comparison tasting, using the standard "ISO" approach, for two reasons:  to set one level of parameters to use across many examples, and to help with identifying flaws in the stronger brewed version, which is said to highlight those (along with practice in trying tea made that way).  Nothing negative stands out.  The feel is a bit strong, and the taste is a little intense, leading towards dryness, but I'd guess this is exactly how a very good Assam brewed a little too strong should be, the right attributes in the right balance.  The malt is intense but I don't think it's going to take over the tea, back in the normal balance, and even brewed strong the flavors are still quite clean.


Brewed strong the Earl Grey is also a little intense, of course.  The balance of the bergamot (a type of orange essential oil) is the main thing, then after that the input from the tea itself.  I'd expect it will level off nicely, related to the proportion and how they're coming across a bit strong.  This won't be a bergamot-intensive version where you just can't tell what black tea is under that, although brewed strong the black tea isn't contributing lots to this flavor.

It won't be as distinctive and pronounced as the orthodox version, the black tea input, likely quite a bit more subdued.  It doesn't include bud material as the orthodox version does, which would change the effect a lot.  I'm not tasting anything "off" about it, but at a guess it will be a mild version of a black tea, as Assam goes, with no off flavors.  That mildness might be as well, since intense malt might not pair as well with bergamot.

Next infusion

Prepared more typically--in one sense, at least--the orthodox version is great.  There is plenty of malt but it doesn't take over the tea.  A lot of nice sweetness balances that out, and there's more going on than malt.  Mind you if someone didn't like malty black tea they still wouldn't like this version but if typical Assam seemed one-dimensional, a bit rough, or unsophisticated and not well-balanced this version resolves all that.  The flavors-list style description is going to sound a lot like for any better Assam, I'd think, but how those elements come across, the exact expression of them, and more so how they balance is what defines this tea as being on a higher level.

Beyond malt a cedar or redwood like wood aspect fills in flavor depth.  The taste extends into a nice citrus element at the finish, nothing like the bergamot in a flavored tea but not completely dis-similar either, maybe in the orange zest range.  I'll work on pinning down another flavor aspect or two as I try a few more infusions.

lighter, a better infusion strength (Earl Grey left, orthodox right)

The Earl Grey is nice, of course with bergamot as a central flavor theme.  It's hard to separate out what the black tea is like aside from that, but I guess describing the mix is more valid.  Malt isn't intense, but it's there.  Some degree of wood-tone also comes across.  It might have sweetness and some citrus without the actual citrus added but combined it certainly does.  Mineral isn't as strong as I'd expect it would be if this were above average Ceylon instead, but there is some acting as a base for the other flavors.

It works; to me it's better than typical commercial Earl Grey versions.  Earl Grey isn't a page I've been on much in the past year, more so in the first half of last year, as I recall, but I can relate to it.  My favorite Earl Grey version so far was from Vietnam, from Hatvala, but then it was based on a plain black tea I liked alone, and I've not tried that recently enough to compare it to this from memory.

To me this type of tea works great as something you don't need to focus on, as a breakfast tea, more than one that would excel in a comparison tasting session.  The flavors balance is nice, just lacking subtlety of a better plain tea.  It would go with all sorts of foods very well, with enough sweetness and fruit to offset savory foods, and enough earthiness and body to offset sweet pastry.  Per my preference this tea works better drank with food than alone, even if it's something neutral like a butter cookie or biscuit, to help offset that bergamot orange tone, to reset from it while drinking.  A chocolate digestive is more or less exactly what I'm talking about, on the sweeter side, like a graham cracker with chocolate.  If you've never tried them life has at least one more re-affirming surprise in store for you.

the other British contribution to food, besides fish and chips (credit)

Third infusion

Brewed just a little stronger the orthodox version shows just a little pine-resin character, which is nice, even if it may not sound it.  The actual flavor range is a bit complex; it wouldn't be wrong to describe it as relating a little to cocoa, and with minimal imagination related to some sort of fruit (tamarind?).  The citrus is strong enough that would be more natural to flag.  The feel is cool too; a bit on the dry side, seemingly related to that pine flavor.  And as black teas go the aftertaste is quite pronounced.  Surely all of this relates in part to the very high proportion of buds in the tea.

Related back to those three Dian Hong (Yunnan black teas) that I compared awhile back this is definitely closest to the buds only version (golden tips).  I suppose personal preference would dictate how good a thing that is but I can at least definitely relate to this tea.  I suppose my absolute favorite for an aspects set might be more like a Chinese black tea, shifted more towards cocoa, a subdued dried cherry range, with just a touch of roasted yam, and a molasses sweetness background, but this tea works well for me.

The Earl Grey is still mostly bergamot; that's really as it should be.  The flavors are really clean, and the earthy complexity beyond that makes it work well.  It's in the malt, cedar / redwood, touch of pine range too, but it seems a quite different black tea, the balance is completely different.  It has a lot less pine going on, and probably less natural citrus, but of course that's just a guess.


I'm in a hurry today--always in a hurry; kind of how life goes these days--so I won't get through more infusions, although brewing these twice more I'd probably tease out another aspect or two, and notice how they work out for being stretched for infusion count.  These might express slightly more complexity brewed Western style for more of that coming out in a three to four minute soak, it just wouldn't work to experience flavors evolving layer by layer, as a Gongfu approach allows.  I'll try these teas again Western style and check in related to what turns up.

Second try, conclusion

I did try the orthodox version again brewed Western style; the results weren't so different.  I brewed the tea twice using a standard light proportion and 3 1/2 minute then around five minute second steep, brewed to a typical infusion strength.  The flavors range was the same:  malt, cedar, pine, and citrus, with good sweetness and a bit of fruit aspect that was harder to pin down for being more subtle, per my take close to dried tamarind.


I was curious how this would seem in comparison to their other orthodox version that I reviewed and to be honest it seemed similar.  Both are complex, clean flavored, and full in feel but not really astringent, both well balanced, a bit intense but moderate on malt.  I would expect those similar aspects are balancing a little better in this orthodox version, that it's a little cleaner in effect (likely related to very slightly different feel and overall flavor effect), with a bit more fruit, but a difference would be clearer trying them side by side.


I actually posted a version of this before considering mentioning value, a subject bloggers tend to avoid but one I've been drifting into more lately.  As in other cases of direct sourcing buying this tea from Halmari would be an incredible value related to buying anything remotely like it from a resale vendor.  Don't take my word for it though; check the prices on their website and Google search similar alternatives. 


I didn't do as much with describing subjective preference in this post as I sometimes do, but related to what I prefer in teas of theirs I really liked their oolong version.  As I mentioned in that review post it shared some space with Darjeeling second flush teas and Oriental Beauty Taiwanese oolongs, which cover two nice and related ranges for tea aspects.

recharging to cause more trouble later

Twinings, on location in Bangkok

Twinings had a booth downstairs in our office building this week (in Empire Tower in Sathorn, Bangkok), so I stopped by to see what they are selling.  I'd assume that anyone reading this knows what teas they sell, for the most part, but I'll go into that anyway, before mentioning how the booth experience went.

The company is known for making standard loose teas and tea bag teas, per the Wikipedia article in particular associated with Earl Grey.  I ran across reference to them selling an interesting sounding specialty tea recently, Grey Dragon oolong from Dewata estate in Indonesia (sort of the page I've been on for awhile, Indonesian teas).  It's a little odd that they claim that tea is produced exclusively for them when you can find other vendors selling it online, but all the same it shows there is more to them than Earl Grey and teas like Darjeeling only described as "Darjeeling."

They also have a nice looking cafes in Central World (a Bangkok mall).  Oddly according to an article one was the first such boutique shop ran by them (a cafe, more or less), opened in 2012 and still the only such version in 2014.  Those cafes aren't really for me since I have no interest in "high tea," drinking ordinary versions of teas along with little sandwiches or macaroons; I'm just into tea.

Anyway, they're better known for tea bag teas and loose teas that one might describe as "mid-range," which would really mean different things to different people.  But at least it is nice that loose teas are sold in grocery stores, with other options for decent, low cost Thai oolong in different places.  My own adopted project is more about promoting tea awareness than rejecting ordinary grade teas as unacceptable, although lots of people take "tea enthusiasm" that way, establishing their own status and knowledge by distancing themselves from anything remotely conventional.

I'm just not on board with ordinary teas enough to actually buy their tea, usually.  I've tried their Earl Grey and Lady Grey, and they aren't bad, but the English Breakfast tea one would do well to pass on.

On-site display at my office building

I work in a large modern office building in Sathorn, a building that extends to around 50 floors high, potentially holding a few thousand office staff, so different types vending and displays do come up.  There is one tea-themed shop in the building, related to a vendor I've reviewed before, Peony, it's just not really for me.  To place the context for that, they focus on tea blends (the type of tea I just said might be ok, a bit inconsistent), and they don't even sell loose tea at this branch.

The Twinings booth looked fine, with a focus on selling pyramid-style tea bags of loose teas, mostly blends.  I sort of get where that approach is coming from, trying to find a middle ground between selling dust in paper packets and real loose tea.  I'd like to see the hurdle of people putting dried leaves in hot water cleared a little more frequently than it seems to be now.

display tea bags to see and smell; cool, just not so functional

None of those blends on display sounded really exceptional but I tried a rose-petal blended black tea.  It was ok, a nice combination, if a bit nondescript.  Not enough taste came across to get a feel for what kind of black tea it was but the taste range was fine.  I probably drank that after three to three and a half minutes of brew time, the right amount of time for other sets of brewing parameters, but one more minute would have helped bring it to normal strength given the tea was crowded into the space of a tea bag.  Of course decent normal black tea can express a broad range of complexity without flower petals added, usually more related to malt, fruit, cocoa, or spice, but rose works as an addition when taking a different approach.


I did buy a "Lady Grey" variation of a loose-tea Earl Grey (bergamot orange flavored black tea, but with some flowers mixed in), since they had that on sale.  It was in part to drink and also to share with co-workers.  It's not bad, as long as one is fine with that type of tea to begin with.  It's not the best naturally flavored tea I've tried, and if they were selling conventional Earl Grey there I'd have probably went with that instead, but it strikes a decent balance and doesn't taste artificial.  It cost 220 baht for 100 grams of tea (more typically sold for around 350 here), equivalent to about $7.  For perspective, that's a little over what a Starbucks drink would cost here, or maybe two of the smallest plain coffees they sell, or the same as a half-dozen powdered-tea drinks.

loose tea!  it's a start

What would I do differently, related to a tea display booth?  It's already obvious, isn't it?  They had no loose tea for people to try, and almost nothing relating to those tea bags in single-type tea (only a sencha wasn't a blend).  I could see why promoting teas that seems to me the natural gateway to loose teas, lightly oxidized oolongs, may not work so well since mid-range oolong versions are the main type of tea produced in Thailand, or at least the by far most common type to find available for purchase.  But I don't think this was a case of Twinings marketing staff over-thinking other market options, but rather them not really thinking like a tea enthusiast, or a potential tea drinker.

The state of tea in Bangkok

One might wonder, what's the point of even mentioning this in a tea blog?  If the state of tea in Thailand is bubble tea and Twinings, with the other cafes and Chinatown shop exceptions I've already mentioned in lots of posts (and that one shop in Thanya Park, Tea Dee Zhang), why keep repeating that?  How can we move on?

I talked with the owner of a new cafe in Ekamai about that, Seven Suns about that in this post, and his idea was to encourage gradual tea awareness through sales of blends, and to offer unique blends that draw on Traditional Chinese Medicine practices to be healthier than plain teas.  They do sell decent loose tea there too, China Life products, definitely the next level up from Twinings, closer to the range of what I usually drink.  I've been onto even more interesting teas than that lately, versions that aren't at all easy to find, which I've also mentioned in lots of posts.

Maybe this is just how it goes; a couple of new cafes will open every year and tea will never really "take off" here, but the number of people aware of decent tea will keep growing.  Thai Facebook tea groups can have thousands of members but for the most part better loose tea is a non-issue, even in businesses with "tea" in their name.  Even in the few local cafes selling decent tea the staff don't always seem to get the basics, like knowing that you can steep loose tea for more than one infusion.

powdered tea from Myanmar; a first for me

Related to popular options, what people are drinking instead, I tried a powdered instant tea from Myanmar someone left in the break room recently.  It wasn't so bad, it's just nothing like brewed tea, with way too much sugar artificial creamer.  It had a nice smoky element, somewhere between campfire and ashtray, which worked better than it sounds.  But whoever owns that won't have to worry about me drinking it.


Local online-weekly articles keep saying "we love tea in Bangkok now"--and they did get around to mentioning Seven Suns in that one--but half the time they're talking about "high tea," more about sandwiches and cakes.  One doesn't get the impression that they know their Tie Kuan Yin from a Da Hong Pao, or Sencha from Longjing, and those aren't obscure Chinese tea names (and of course one is a Japanese tea).  It's like not knowing what India pale ale is, related to the traditional practice and modern interest in better beer, and people here don't know about that either, in general.


Trip Advisor reviews have only good things to say about that Twinings boutique, but it's still only #42 of coffee and tea shops in Bangkok.  But you couldn't even buy brewed loose tea at most of the places on that list, since most are just coffee shops.  Tea has a long way to go here.

Earl Grey from Hatvala (Vietnamese tea)

A nice version of an Earl Grey tea (from Hatvala, although it wasn't on their website yet last I checked).  I end up reserving this tea type for when I'm stuck at a work function at a hotel but I suppose it deserves better.  Maybe it just took awhile for me to open scope of drinking tea to appreciate more of a variety of types, even though I drank more Earl Grey years ago than I do now.  The things I appreciate most about drinking tea haven't related to it, like trying new types, and experiencing the range of subtle characteristics a conventional single type and source tea can have.  But there is something to enjoying an "everyday" tea.

Earl Grey!  looks pretty good as those go

Earl Grey tends to just taste like orange oil flavored black tea, because that's what it is.  Wikipedia is the perfect completely generic source to fill in some details:


Earl Grey tea is a tea blend with a distinctive citrus flavour and aroma derived from the addition of oil extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange, a fragrant citrus fruit.^[1] ...

...Bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia) is a small citrus tree which blossoms during the winter and is grown commercially in Calabria,Italy....

According to the Grey family, the tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Lord Grey, to suit the water at Howick Hall, the family seat in Northumberland, using bergamot in particular to offset the preponderance of lime in the local water.


So there's all that.  Maybe bergamot is also the perfect additive to offset whatever is in Bangkok tap water, but for other health reasons probably as well to not drink that without substantial filtering.  To me this tea is all about how well the bergamot taste balances, more so than the other normal factors, like the grade of tea, and taste contribution from the oil, although those surely relate.  In this example those flavors balance well.

A tea friend once commented that blending teas is usually about covering up flaws in one of the teas. A bit negative a take, right?  Still, there could be something to that, and roughly the same idea in a positive form still works, that blending is about making the most of various qualities or strengths of different teas, and possibly herbs, by combining them.  This is a flavored tea anyway; not exactly the same thing.

It probably works out that most tea ever produced he just wouldn't drink, and to be fair the same is probably true to some degree of most tea enthusiasts; they seem to tend to draw limits.  But not all; some are very open and flexible, so they even might go back and give the standard Lipton tea bag a second look to establish a base-line.  I wrote about an even more basic tea bag here once, messing around, but I'm not going to link to that; it was what you'd expect.  I guess these ideas naturally lead towards some definition of what is really "better" tea, although that is completely subjective.

One direction these sorts of concerns could go might relate to a definition of specialty tea, but that's really a different thing.  I'm talking about subjective preference, not trying to make tea type variations and categories less subjective.  I've ran across a different sort of personal account of this in a blog recently, so I'll pass on a little of that.  It's from "the Devotea" tea blog, by Robert Godden.  This post also related to the tragedy in Paris over the weekend, just horrible that, but this excerpt is about preference:


I’m not fussy at all.  I do require, of course , that the tea not be made from a teab*g. That’s not fussy...

If it’s a black tea, it has to have some tannins. That’s not me being fussy, that’s a fact. But not too many tannins. It can be chewy and leathery if over tannined, and I don’t want that... 

I also like a lingering after-taste. I hate it when you drink tea and it vanishes from your mouth as soon as it’s gone down, It’s not too fussy to expect a memory of the taste to linger on your tongue for five to fifteen minutes, is it? No! ....


Subjective, and funny.  It keeps going, and I've trimmed some from this part too; the rest is perhaps worth a read.  The point is that what someone prefers varies, and whether that includes different broad categories or Earl Grey or not, is just up to them (or if Japanese green teas make the cut, etc.).  He as easily might have said he'd never drink blends, if his natural preferences had led there instead, but he didn't, and in fact he creates and sells those.

It's hard to say any tea is really objectively "good," to take subjective preference out of it, although I sometimes get the impression that one really is.  I suppose it's easier to describe a tea as matching a type well, or having certain qualities.  I don't drink enough Earl Grey to be a great reference for the matching part but I can describe this tea.

Review part:

as black as my wife's soul

The flavors are clean, astringency limited, with plenty to give the tea some body, just nowhere near enough for me to start considering adding sugar or milk.  The bergamot element is pronounced but it still also tastes like a black tea.  The specific nature of that tea didn't show through so clearly, but then that's how Earl Grey goes.  I could tell a bit about what the tea itself started out as but couldn't really describe it without the orange oil, which really is part of the point though, they should blend.


I brewed it western style (would be interesting to see orange flavor transition across gongfu infusions), and the flavoring taste was stronger and more aromatic first infusion than second, but it still worked to do more than one, and the "orange" definitely didn't drop out.  The tea contribution stayed consistent, full flavored, balanced, with good structure and some nice earthy elements, and good complexity, maybe smoother than I would have expected.

Vendor input:

I asked the Hatvala owner about the tea since there isn't a web page mention yet, and that follows:

The black tea is produced from wild tea trees (camellia sinensis assamica) from the northern provinces of Yen Bai and Ha Giang.  In fact the current tea is mainly from Van Chan and from the same producer as the Wild Boar although we will not market as a single origin and will perhaps use other black teas in future but they will always be from wild tea trees.

The bergamot oil we use is imported from Singapore but its origin is Reggio Calabria in the very southern tp of  Italy.  It is an extract from 100% natural organic Bergamot (Citrus bergamia Risso).

So there is that.  It did seem like a pretty good version of black tea to start, I'm just not so good at reviewing a tea as an ingredient.  It's interesting to consider that if I drank more decent Earl Grey I might be able to do that to some extent, or say something about the flavor profile of the oil.

There are advantages to drinking tea that's not some amazing example of a rare tea type; it takes the pressure off.  For better teas or some tea types I won't brew them Western style, but I don't usually have time to sit down for a dozen tiny cups of tea over a half an hour, so I can't typically drink tea like that for breakfast or on a work break.  Black teas in general work well for Western-style brewing, and from there experimentation helps point out how varying brewing affects different tea types, or specific teas.


I recently bought a lot of two other Hatvala Vietnamese teas for this purpose, a black tea (Wild Boar) and darker roasted rolled-style oolong (Red Buffalo).  That oolong would respond differently to brewing different approaches, it just works out well across a range of them.  This tea was a free sample sent with those; my thanks to Hatvala for that.