What the Heck is Oil of Bergamot?!?
Written: Feb 29 '08 (Updated Feb 29 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent black tea for creamers and latte style.
Cons: Better sweetened than not.
The Bottom Line: Buy it. Bigelow has a satisfaction guarantee. So you should give it a try. I bet you don't take it back! :)
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| welleducated's Full Review: Bigelow Earl Grey Decaf Tea |
Okay, I love this stuff and drink it everyday. I need my "treats" and tea/coffee lets me enjoy goodies with adding a lot of calories to my daily diet.
The fact that it is decaffeinated is also important. We all get addicted to caffeine without realizing what it is doing to our bodies. Caffeine is pretty bad and aggravates illnesses link anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Still, while even decaffeinated teas/coffees have a touch of caffeine, it's an improvement over the original and, just like everyone else, I have a hard time giving up the flavor. Herbal tea is nice and all, but nothing can beat a good cup of black tea with creamer for providing extensive comfort after a hard day.
So, what's up with oil of bergamot? It is the key ingredient in this delicious tea that I drink most days, but I don't even know what it is! Certainly, it smells kind of funny - strong, like eucalyptus. Take a whiff of the tea packet and it's easy to wonder why anyone would drink this stuff. Well, it turns out that bergamot is a small, pear-shaped citrus fruit. Okay, that explains the lemon-like smell once the tea is brewed. After brewing, the smell is subtle (compared to what sniffing the packet would lead one to believe) and you really have to "sniff" from a distance to get a whiff.
Apparently, bergamot is a cross of the pear lemon and the Seville (Spain) orange or grapefruit. This explains the "tanginess" when drinking the tea straight, without sweetner. Like any good citrus tea, Earl Grey tastes better with a bit of sweetner. Adding sugar or, better yet, honey really brings out the citrus flavors and reduces whatever bitterness from the black tea.
As Americans, we can really be the stuffy ones. For some silly reason, we shy away from adding creamer to our teas - like it's some sort of culinary sin! But after a fateful trip to England when I was 15, I learned that creamer is the key to enjoying most black teas. Adding sweetner is not half as desirable as adding a shot of milk. Personally, if I am going to add calories to my drinks, I want them to count instead of being "filler." I pick Coffeemate because it has less calories and my digestive tract gives me a beating when I drink regular milk. Earl Grey takes a wide variety of creamers and tastes as good as (or better than) a cup of coffee. I have used Original, Creme Brulee, Eggnog, Pumpkin Spice, Gingerbread, Cinnamon Vanilla, Vanilla Nut and even Blueberry Cobbler. You know a tea is good when it takes Blueberry Cobbler with ease! Of course, there's also Hazelnut, but I have never enjoyed that flavor. To really enjoy the complexities of this Earl Grey, have a few cups with milk or an unflavored creamer. You will be amazed at how many flavors percolate in your mouth.
A staple of English society, Earl Grey is named after the 2nd Earl Grey who was a British Prime Minister in the 1830s. Reportedly, he received a gift of tea flavored with bergamot oil as a diplomatic gesture. The legend goes that a Chinese man's son was rescued from drowning by one of Earl Grey's men. However, Chinese tea is generally green tea, so it seems unlikely that, if true, the original version was made with black tea as it is commonly made today.
In recent years, new versions of Earl Grey have been made with green tea, white tea, oolong and tisanes (rooibos). The common thread is that all contain oil of bergamot. There is even a French version which contains rose petals. To prove their devotion to the tea, their is a beverage called "London Fog" which is a combination of steamed milk, Earl Grey and honey. Now *that* sounds like a yummy latte!
Ingredients: Decaffeinated black tea and oil of bergamot.
Hot Tea Instructions: Pour boiling water over tea bag and steep for 3-5 minutes. Color should be dark, deep brown.
Quick Brew, Iced Tea: Place 6 tea bags in a one-quart container. Pour 1 cup (8 oz) boiling water over tea bags. Steep 10 minutes. Remove bags and add 3 cups of cold water. Serve over ice and sweeten to taste.
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Recommended:
Yes
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welleducated
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Location: Arizona, USA
Reviews written: 42
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