Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: WayGood Tea
Tea Description:
An exquisite black tea flavored with aromatic lavender flowers & bergamot.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Lavender Earl Grey Cleanse from WayGood Tea is one of the most unusual Earl Grey teas that I’ve encountered.
Let me start with the “cleanse” part of this tea. I’m not a doctor or one who specializes in herbs. I’m not someone who recommends a ‘cleanse’ or a ‘detox’ because neither of these activities are something of which I partake. I don’t drink tea for health benefits. I don’t drink tea to cleanse, detox or lose weight. I drink tea because I like the way it tastes.
Now, if I happen to find a tea that I enjoy drinking, I certainly don’t mind at all if it happens to have the cleansing, detoxifying or weight loss benefits in addition to a great flavor. But flavor should come first. I drink tea because I like the flavor of it, if I want to drink something for health benefits, I’ll go drink some wheatgrass juice.
I don’t drink wheatgrass juice. I drink stuff I like to drink. That’s why I stick to tea.
So now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me turn my attention to this tea. It’s one of the more unusual “twists” to the classic Earl Grey teas that I’ve yet to taste. That’s not to say that I don’t like it – to be honest, I haven’t actually decided if I do or I don’t! It’s quite different.
The rosemary adds it’s distinctive fragrance to the overall cup and when I lift the cup to my lips to take a sip, I smell the rosemary. While the rosemary and bergamot seem to complement each other aromatically, the first few sips were a little strange because I expected to smell bergamot but I smelled the rosemary with the bergamot (as well as notes of lavender and juniper berry) and the medley of aromas is just … well, it’s different. It is unexpected.
But, even though it IS different and unexpected, it’s quite pleasant! I’m not hating the flavor here at all. Quite the opposite.
That said, one big disappointment about this tea is that the black tea isn’t a particularly strong flavor. It’s more of a background note and that’s even a little more generous than the flavor here actually represents. The black tea tastes thin (almost like it’s a decaffeinated black tea). It’s a very weak tasting black tea and I’m of the opinion that black tea should have some vigor to it.
I steeped this for four minutes in 205°F – that should not have produced a weak tasting black tea unless the black tea is not a particularly strong tea to begin with … or it’s a decaffeinated tea.
The bergamot isn’t a particularly strong flavor as it melds with the flavors of lavender, rosemary and juniper berry. The orange peel enhances the notes of bergamot somewhat, but not really enough for someone who is a bergamot fan like I am.
I don’t taste much from the elderberry either. Of the seven elements of this tea, I taste the rosemary the strongest while the pine-y notes of the juniper seem to accentuate the rosemary, then I taste the lavender, followed by the bergamot (and orange), the black tea and then the elderberry. It tastes herb-y, pine-ish and floral with hints of citrus in the background.
Overall, it’s a pleasant cup of tea, but I find myself wanting to taste TEA here, and I’m not tasting a lot of it. It’s a very weak tea – but as far as a cleansing or detox type of tea, this is quite enjoyable.
