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It is NOT served with cream.Twinings is one of the oldest conveyors of Earl Grey and still use the same recipe as they have for well over a hundred years (soon to be two-hundred). Enjoy. Not that this means the tea is superior because of any endorsement; in this case the tea speaks for itself.I prefer loose leaf teas to tea bags. A traditional English tea, Earl Grey is a black tea whose principle flavor is from the rind of bergamot oranges. There is a reason they have tea ceremonies in most of the world (and although less rigorous, so do the British in their own way).
Twinings Early Grey is among the best on the market, alongside Rishi loose leaf. Named after Lord Grey, the tea is a flavorful black tea that is best served nearly boiling hot with or without lemon. Their tea is also endorsed by the 6th Earl Grey and his signature appears on their packaging. Twinings is the quintessential British Earl Grey, and if you've never tried it, you owe it to yourself to do so. I enjoy a good cup of tea and my absolute favorite is Earl Grey.
Although there are various accounts of its origin, it is most likely was an Indian recipe (China is also a commonly attributed with creating the recipe) which made its way to England in the early 1800s. There is something in the process of measuring tea into a cozy and letting it steep that makes the resulting cup of tea that much nicer.
The bergamot is very acidic, the flavor was not enjoyable even with added sweet and milk. I bought Twinings Earl Grey and was disappointed. I love the Twinings tea tins and the ability to create my own cup of tea, but with this tea I have to add other tea to give the cup a good flavor. My experience with teas grows with time. I really love a good cup of Earl Grey. The tea was too weak for the flavor of the bergamot to be enjoyed properly.
I usually buy tins of loose Earl Grey for her in London but haven't been able to get over there for a while. My girlfriend is an Earl Grey fanatic. this product was fresh, neatly packaged and she enjoys it as much as the package I bring back from the UK.
The biggest secret with this tea once given to Earl Grey of Hoswick Hall (British Prime Minister in 1830 - 1834) by a Chinese manadarin, reportedly in gratitude after the earl saved his life, is to get just the right doseage of bergamot oil, a rather intense, tangy scent derived from the bergamot orange (which in turn is a cross between the pear lemon and the sour orange; the latter is native to South Vietnam, and its oil was probably the recipe's original ingredient). (From the Twinings website: "When the mandarin's tasty gift began to run out, Earl Grey asked his tea merchants, Twinings, to match it for him.
Just be careful not to oversteep it: only an exceptionally forgiving tea like, for example, Yunnan, will not turn flat and bitter that way; and with any decent Earl Grey, 2 - 3 minutes should be plenty of steeping time (with Twinings it certainly is). When guests inquired about it, they were directed to Twinings on the Strand, where they would ask for Earl Grey's tea by name.") Unless you insist on having *all* your tea with cream or milk, I recommend having this one without any kind of milk products: not only does the original recipe not call for such an addition; in my mind it just plain ruins the blend's particular flavor.
Twinings unique blend was the Grey family's long-standing favourite. Whichever way you have it, though, if scented teas are your kind of thing, Twinings Earl Grey should be right up your alley.
Earl Grey is my favorite blend of tea by far - no competition there. Using too much bergamot oil can easily obscure the black tea's natural flavor - but with Twinings you just can't go wrong, because the original Earl Grey turned to this very company for a match to the quickly dwindling supply he had received from his Chinese friend.
(But that's just me, of course).
And by the way, as the previous reviewer noted, Twinings really is an old British company, unlike some outfits that attach "of London" to their names. The recommendation is three to five minutes, and even as a fan of strong things in general (coffee, beer, hot sauce, :)), I lean toward three minutes for a good cup of Earl Grey. I wonder if the first reviewer oversteeped his tea, as the second reviewer implied. After switching from coffee to tea as my primary hot morning beverage, I found there is a certain art to making the perfect cup of tea (using loose tea leaves), and part of the art is proper steeping. It's easy to be overzealous, especially if you're accustomed to drinking bagged teas.In any case, I haven't found a Twinings tea where the flavors were not deep and distinctive.
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