Vahdam Earl Grey Chai Spiced Black Tea

Oh great, another one: the Earl Grey Chai Spiced Black Tea. And what's the base for this exciting fusion? You guessed it, CTC black tea again. Yay.

Opening the packet, the smell of the bergamot is pretty strong, and it even manages to overwhelm the chai spices, which was a surprise. The dry mix is those familiar dark CTC pellets with some spice bits scattered throughout.

But then you brew it. And that promising Earl Grey aroma? It pretty much disappears in the taste. What you're left with is, once again, the dominant bitterness and generic flavour of the CTC black tea base, with some muted chai spices somewhere in the background. The Earl Grey is barely a whisper.

It just feels so lazy. Like they threw some Earl Grey scent at their standard CTC chai mix and called it a new flavour. The execution is just not there. The base tea completely overpowers any subtlety the Earl Grey or even the spices might have offered.

Another disappointment.