Earl Grey

Why have they added tons of overpowering orange peel to their standard Early Grey? I could understand them having a separate recipe with orange (i.e. Lady Grey), but for a tea company to not sell actual normal traditional Earl Grey is very odd.

At the weekend we like to drink a good Earl Grey tea in a tea pot made from loose tea leaves. I have been trying different Earl grey teas with cornflowers from different famous shops and speciality tea shops but I must say this Earl Grey from Whittard is a favourite. It has a lot of cornflowers and lemon peel and the quality of black tea is good. I see from the reviews that people don't like it but this one is meant to be very fragrant floral Earl Grey, not like the breakfast Earl Grey which I drink during the week in tea bags.

Perfect earl grey, not overpowering, doesn't taste like washing up liquid. Smooth, citrus flavours. My fave in the morning.

The old recipe was superb. This blend is just awful. I’ve stopped shopping at Whittard. Bring back the old recipe.

It looks fancy but I prefer the old product. Please bring it back.

It has a nice fragrance and taste. It’s not overpowering.

Overpriced and not a subtle enough flavour for me . Something is overpowering and I can’t work out what it is.

you use to have my favourite earl grey, you changed recipe, there's a lot of orange peel and the bergamot flavour is gone. boring and unremarkable

Up until 12 yrs ago, my wife was a certifiable Starbucksian Coffeeholic. Then she contracted pneumonia and once on the mend, she could no longer stomach anything remotely coffee. Time for a new hot drink: tea. She tried all types of black tea and settled on Earl Grey. She tried all types of available tea brands -- US, Canada, Indian, UK, etc. -- and fell in love with Whittard. So, for about 12 yrs, it's been all Whittard EG and nothing but Whittard EG...which is why I order 500+ bags a year for her. Keep up the good work and don't change a thing.

For years I have hated Earl Grey, the smell alone of most brands was too much. Far too purfumey and soapy for my taste. Until I tried Whittards Earl Grey. This is mild instead of a huge hit of purfume. It smells devine and I can happily drink this subtle tea all day! It may not be to everyone's taste who prefer the fragrant punch to the face but it is right for me. Oh, and I try to get as many orange pieces as I can to squeeze the juices out with the back of my spoon for an extra citrus kick! My only quibble is it would be great with a stronger tea base.

If you have ever tasted Earl Grey from Sri Lanka You will not touch this tea from Whittard Very flat....where is the bergamot? And why the Orange peels ? Extremely disappointing

I agree with the review by Ramona Kircher. This tea is still better than the most of earl grey tea you get in Holland. But your original recipe earl grey with Bergamot were much better.. We loved that early grey, it was perfect - the best we ever drunk. Please go back to your old blend. I always ask my family in London to buy Whittard tea it is so much better than all teas we have. We adore this tea and we want it back! Please listen to your customers.

Never tried the earlier blend but this one is disappointing. The citrus flavour reminds me more of washing up fluid, and drowns out the bergamot flavour almost completely. I will be looking elsewhere in future.

This tea is still better than the most of earl grey tea you get in germany. But your original recipe especially of the afternoon earl grey were much better. The taste of the afternoon earl grey was perfect - the best i ever drunk. Please go back to your old recipes. I also would pay a higher price. I adore this tea and i want this tea back! Also the earl grey before without orange peel was great.

My favourite tea ever. Lovely fragrant and fresh tea.

I quite like it. Though, previously I've only tried earl grey in teabag form from a different company. At first I was worried about the orange peel, as I can feel sick with orange juices & flavourings. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised that I was not affected negatively by the taste. Its one of my favourite's. Food pairings wise, it goes nicely along side battered haddock, as well as Japanese curry.

It is vers disappointing to buy Earl Grey and get kind of Christmas orange magic. I wonder whether the name is that misinformative, that it can be called deception. The tea per se is not bad, but if you expect an Earl Grey, you need a bucket...

Always loved Whittard blends but this is worse than Twining and they've seriously gone downhill flavour wise. Will try Benugo. .

This tea is ok, except when I've been used to drinking the old recipe for the past 10 years or so. This new mix is so disappointing I'm not buying again, and am now searching for a new favourite. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE reconsider going back to the old blend

I loved Whittards Afternoon Early Grey blend for such a long time. It was the best I could find. Until my last order. I asked the other half to make me a cup of tea one afternoon "Earl Grey please darling" I shouted to the kitchen. When I got my cup of tea, I took a sip and had to ask him if he heard me shout, he said yes, he'd opened a new box. I had to double check I’d actually ordered the right tea. There it was sitting in my cupboard "Earl Grey" on the box staring back at me. Urgh, it doesn't taste like Earl Grey. I had to take a really long sniff of the box to even get a hint of Bergamot, more like BergaNOT! Very disappointing! I should have read the reviews before ordering and looking at them now, it's been a year or so of bad reviews for this particular tea. Why aren't you listening to your customers Whittard? Surely we all can't be wrong? Please bring back the old blend.

I haven't the old Earl Grey but I like the new one it is the closest I have found to Twinnings Lady Grey normally I find Earl Grey to be to perfumey.

I popped into the Whittards store a couple of weeks back to treat myself to some delicious Earl Grey tea. When I eventually brewed it, I was surprised at the taste. Not what I would ever describe as Earl Grey, so it's interesting to read the other reviews here. The tea looks very pretty, but there is little of the black tea with bergamot flavour. Definitely there is a strong orange peel, even pithy, flavour which is not great. I won't be buying this again in the foreseeable future.

I bought this tea for a holiday in London and we love it! in Italy it has successful

Sadly this newer blend isn't as fine as the old. Surely with so many disappointed customers you will consider changing back to the original stronger earl grey. Used to be the best around

I've enjoyed Whittard Earl Grey for years and recently received a packet of it as a gift. My supply was running low so I was happy to receive a new batch. . . until I brewed a pot. What happened??!! Please bring back the previous blend. The new recipe is a pale shadow of the tea I knew and loved. At first I thought perhaps there was something wrong with the particular packet I received, but after reading reviews from others, I see I'm not alone in my dismay. I won't be purchasing any more tea unless and until you return to the earlier recipe.

Let's keep track of the flow of time.. Something like French trends.. I satisfy this change, Great!

I just bought the "new earl grey" thinking I was buying my usual and noticed you changed the recipe. Much less bergamot flavor and added orange peal. I will never buy it again. The previous one was perfect and you ruined it.

I actually love it, much more prefer it to "English Breakfast" one which came in set. I think its the best Earl Grey out there!

I should have listened to the other reviews, I thought I knew better. Why oh why did you change the recipe? I have been drinking Whittards amazing Earl Grey for years, but now it's awful. Very thin fragrance on the nose, if you didn't know it was earl grey you would struggle to tell. On the palate orange absolutely dominates this drink, but that's not the only issue. The thinness of the nose carries through to the taste, it's -very- weak, if you add a slice of lemon it just tastes of lemon and if you add even the smallest splash of milk it tastes of orange fruit tea (with milk). Very unpleasant brew, very disappointed, I implore you to not waste your money. I will be trying Kanuka Earl Grey until Whittard come to their senses.

I wish I had believed all the other online reviews, this is not a patch on the previous blend. If I’m going to have to drink a sub standard Earl Grey tea, then I shall be buying a cheaper one elsewhere. I had been a customer for at least ten years, but not any more! Very disappointed indeed.

I used to enthuse about Whittards Earl Grey, how it was the absolute best and I used to make special journeys to stock up... no longer. The new blend is not a patch on the old so I certainly won't be recommending it, paying top whack, or giving it as a gift.

I have long been a big fan of Whittards Earl Grey teas, especially the afternoon Earl Grey but following the change in recipe and the added orange peel it is nothing like the original and more like Lady Grey. I wrote to Whittards asking if they were going to listen to the critisism and go back to the original blend but the reply was "we will pass on your comments to the buying team" read into that what you will. Anyway I have found a fantastic alternative Earl Grey tea at the Bari Tea brewery in Alnwick, Northumberland, its similar to Whittards original but in my opinion slightly better.

Not a very nice tea I am afraid. It seems from other reviews that the old formula was superior.

We love this tea for our tea time in the afternoon. It has a perfect balance of black tea, orange and bergamot and leaves a pleasant aftertaste in the mouth. Definitely an all time favourite.

Sadly I didnt like the orange peel in this tea, I think it may have impacted on the taste and it wasnt to my taste at all for Earl Grey. Im only reviewing because I hope it will help Whittards review this tea as it would be great to have one that got 5 starts again!

Just bought this Earl Grey Tea and didn't realise that the formula had been changed. I liked the old blend, but the new blend is dominated by orange peel and tastes much too fruity and doesn't really seem like Earl Grey, so I am very disappointed.

Woah! Serious disappointment! You had the best Earl Grey (Afternoon Earl Grey) in the country. And you've actually ditched it. What are you on?! Time to wake up and smell the tea..

Tea was rather disappointing. Not bad, but also nothing special. Just the standard you would get elsewhere as well.

Perfect balance of tea to bergamot - not over powering or like washing up liquid, like to many cheap alternatives.

Please bring back the wonderful Breakfast Earl Grey, I miss it so much, and the current one isn't a patch on it!

Really surprised by some of the bad reviews of this tea, it's delicious - smooth base, without a hint of bitterness and fantastic bergamot flavour. Sweet, sublime. Perfect in the afternoon for a pick me up. That said, I never tried the afternoon earl grey, but this Earl Grey is perfect for me.

Loved the breakfast Earl Grey and did not realise it was being stopped until I went to try and order some. Pity you did not bother to warn existing online customers it was going to be withdrawn so we at least could stock up a bit before it went. Please reconsider and bring it back.

What did you do with the old one? We loved it as is - why put flower pedal ? we don't care about aesthetics but Whittard earl gray flavor. Please bring back the old one.

Why did you change the wonderful Earl Grey you had in stock previously? Why the addition of the orange peel? It is no value added to the tea? We spent an evening with tea on the table and tweezers to take out as much orange peel as we could to make it drinkable. We also dearly miss your wonderful Afternoon Earl Grey.

Ruined this tea, its not just weak, tasteless its a scam it has much less black tea and less than half the bergamot oil instead bulked out with cheap peel etc but yet they have increased the price and reduced the quantity by 25grams as now only 100grams ...clearly think their customers are halfwits without taste buds !

I am absolutely frustrated about the change of the complete range! What has happened to Earl Grey, where is afternoon Earl Grey and Breakfast Earl Grey?! It’s hard to understand how a company with such a long tradition and heritage decides to relaunch the the whole product range. You had good working products and many stores with thousands of regular customers. I think this was the badest idea you or your management could have had! I’m from Germany and I bought always teas for home, when I came to England or Scotland. But now I don’t know if I ever will buy your tea again. There are many good teas out there and I don’t want to spend my money on a company that doesn’t cares about its customers... Please perceive your error! Then I will be back.

had an old batch of earl grey from whittards and it was great. bought this new one and it tastes more like a lady grey. as another review said it bits in. bring back the simple earl grey with a bit of oil in thats all.

Wonderful earl grey -it has the perfect balance of bergamot and tea, no bitterness and the flavour is carried through to the taste, rather than just aroma like so many other earl greys in the supermarket. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Whittard used to do a wonderful Early Grey until 6 months ago. They've ruined it. This tea has now got extra bits in it and the tea element seems reduced. Flavour is high on scent and low on the taste of tea. Never buying again. Bring back the old stuff it was amazing. A good example of if it's not broke, don't fix it.

I recently bought some loose-leaf Earl Grey (as I have done regularly for many years). When it arrived I was very disappointed to find that the usual robust bergamot flavour had been replaced with a bland, pastel, floral tea. It was not unpleasant but I wouldn't want to drink it more than once a month. Afternoon Earl Grey also seems to have disappeared! Do I really need to look elsewhere for a decent Earl Grey tea? PS Customer services were excellent and immediately agreed to let us sent the tea back.

This is one of the faithful I brought with me on one of my tasking this summer and I am glad I did. It has a nice flavour and enough caffein to give you the boost you need when the afternoon slump hits. Great for the avid traveler and tea drinker who may not have access to a quality tea during their travels.

Having been an Earl Grey drinker for years (or what I then considered to be Earl Grey), I was becoming increasingly underwhelmed by the varieties available in supermarkets and almost gave up drinking it. Then I bought a teapot, strainer and a pack of Whittard loose leaf Earl Grey. I use just one teaspoon for a two cup pot. The infusion is crystal clear, no bitterness and a bergamot explosion. This is what Earl Grey should be - truly amazing.