Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Le Palais des Thés
Tea Description:
Thé des Lords is a wonderful Earl Grey with a pronounced bergamot scent, enhanced with safflower petals. Of all the Earl Grey teas, this one has the strongest bergamot flavor.
Earl Grey is one of the best-loved English teas. It was first created when Charles Grey, 2nd Earl of Falloden and Foreign Secretary of Britain, received an old recipe from a Mandarin Chinese that called for flavoring tea with bergamot.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’d like to start this review off with a bit of a disclaimer. What I am about to say is in no way intended to offend any of our readers or any other tea drinker. I’m just going to off on a bit of a rant now, but please don’t take any of it personally, as it’s not intended as a personal attack on anyone.
With that said… here goes:
Do you know that there are people out there who do not like Earl Grey tea. How can this be? I don’t get it. When people say to me “I don’t like Earl Grey.” It almost sounds to me like they are saying “I don’t like tea.” Now, granted, every palate is as individual as the person who possesses it, and therefore every person has different likes and dislikes – and that is a good thing. If we all liked the same thing, how boring a world it would be.
However, Earl Grey to me is almost synonymous with Tea itself, and there are just so many Earl Grey offerings out there (it would seem that every tea company has at least one… and for those who don’t, why don’t you?) I just don’t understand how people can dismiss Earl Grey so easily.
Yes bergamot is often mishandled when it comes to flavoring tea, and the end result is a tea that either just doesn’t have enough bergamot, or it has too much bergamot and it ends up tasting soapy or perfume-y. Then again, the quality of the bergamot is just as important as how it’s blended, because a poor quality bergamot can lead to the aforementioned soapy taste just as easily as too much bergamot added to a tea can.
And while I have enjoyed most of the Earl Grey teas that I’ve come across, there are some that I simply DID NOT like. One that comes to mind immediately is one that I drank within the last few months with my meal while dining out. Perhaps what I should say is I attempted to drink this Earl Grey, but I barely could get down the first sip of it. It was terrible. No amount of any addition – honey, sugar, milk, cream – could possibly mask this terrible flavor. I don’t usually like to ask a waitress to take something back, but in this case, I had to. I simply could not drink this tea.
And a bad experience like the one I just mentioned could be the reason why people so easily dismiss Earl Grey. There are bad ones out there. But, I really would like for people to allow themselves the opportunity to experience some good Earl Grey teas, because there are quite a few out there to be experienced!
This Thé des Lords from Le Palais des Thés definitely qualifies as one of the good ones!
It is really good. The bergamot here is perfectly executed, offering a sweet yet tangy citrus flavor that is very clearly focused. It is good and strong, but not too strong. I also taste the lovely tea underneath the flavoring. It doesn’t taste too sweet, it doesn’t taste too tangy, and it does not taste like perfume. It has a slight tongue-tingly sensation that I attribute to the citrus-y taste of this.
A delicious Earl Grey tea, one I’d recommend to those fond of Earl Grey teas. This is excellent!
