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4 ounce bag
$3.00/oz Sale $2.40/oz  |
8 oz (1/2 lb) bag
$2.70/oz Sale $2.16/oz |
16 oz (1 lb) bag
$2.40/oz Sale $1.92/oz |
An Earl Grey lapsang souchong? Wow.
Picture yourself sitting on top of the ruins of a burned-out building, sipping a cup of Earl Grey tea as the smoke from the smoldering remains of civilization swirls around you. For the moment, the zombies (which are repelled by bergamot, of course) are at bay and your shotgun can take a well-deserved rest.
The various strong flavors in this tea hit you at different times. As you bring the cup up to your mouth, the bergamot is the first thing to hit the nose, cutting through the smokiness of the lapsang souchong. When you take the first sip, the bergamot all but disappears, leaving the pine smoke flavor, which fades into the base tea (an organic black Yunnan) as it swirls through your mouth. After you swallow, the bergamot returns, blending with the smoke to create a lingering aftertaste.
IngredientsBlack tea and bergamot oil. |
Preparation Instructions
Leaves: 1 tbsp This tea is good strong and straight.
Water: boiling Amount: 1 tbsp/8 oz Time: 3-4 minutes
If you like strong teas (or if you use milk and sweetener), you'll want to go longer than that! |
Such a delay! It was about eight months ago that I came up with the Mr. Excellent’s Post-Apocalyptic Earl Grey Tea blend (see my blog post about it here), and we finally have a logo for it! This one was drawn by my son’s friend from college, Brandon Pope. [Read More]
After my blog post a couple of weeks ago about Twinings changing their Earl Grey formulation, I went to my favorite online forum (the Straight Dope Message Boards) and started a poll to see what people thought about it. I never thought at the time that it would lead to a whole new spin on Earl Grey tea. [Read More]
The tea world is all a-twitter because British tea giant Twinings has changed the formulation of their Earl Grey tea after over a century and a half. This is being likened to the “New Coke” fiasco. It’s difficult to address a subject like this without puns, so let me get this out of the way and call it a tempest in a teapot. [Read More]
Black tea is fully oxidized, removing all green color from the original leaves. This is sometimes (incorrectly) referred to as “fermenting.” (If you want real fermented tea, see our Pu-erh teas).
After oxidation, the tea is generally stronger and higher in caffeine than white, green, or oolong tea. It also has a longer shelf life.
The main defining characteristic of Earl Grey tea is bergamot. Earl Grey is typically made from black tea, but can be produced from any base variety of tea.
Lapsang souchong is a variety of black tea where the leaves are traditionally smoke-dried in bamboo baskets over pinewood fires, which gives the tea a distinctive smoky flavor.
