Tea Review: Thotalagala Lemongrass Earl Grey

This is the first of four reviews of the four teas included in the brand new Thotalagala Single Estate Tea Gift Set! We start with the most aromatic of the options, the Lemongrass Earl Grey.

Thotalagala Trader Joe LemonGrass Earl Grey Tea

This is a lovely tea, with the earl grey aroma decidedly winning over the lemongrass, before you even unseal the ten-pack of tea pyramids. More Earl Grey orange-y aroma after you open it. There is decided difference between this and a typical Earl Grey tea bag. It has a fuller taste with more dimensionality. Sort of like the shape of the tea pyramid versus a flat tea bag.

The tea pyramid pretty much fills up after the infusion is over and it almost bursting at the seams. A picture of what’s inside right below, sitting on top of an upside gaiwan lid:

BREWING INSTRUCTIONS

Now the tricky part is finding the right brewing time and water temperature for your preferences since you only have ten tea pyramids and you can’t buy more of it unless you buy another gift set.

So my brewing recommendations is this: do “active brewing sessions”. Put on a timer and taste it after 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, etc. Stir up the infusion as well before you pour. This can help you find your preferred balancd between the Earl Grey flavor and the taste of the underlying black tea faster.

What I’ve settled on is I pour out half the infusion at the three minute mark, and then after 2-5 more minutes pour out the rest (or half the time I forget and it morphs into grandpa style). The instructions on the box are not tea-specific, it just says 3-4 minutes of 8-10 oz of water in almost boiling water.

INGREDIENTS

This tea has just three ingredients, the tea leaves, the lemongrass and the bergamot oil, all organic!

The tea bag is attached to a tea bag with a tea string, but there are no staples!

PACKAGING

This is tea #1 of four in the gift set. For packaging, check the Unboxing post, I don’t want to repeat everything four times, since they are all packaged the same way.

NEXT UP

Next up, is a review of the “Festive Black Tea”, the other flavored tea in the 4-pack. I already opened the container and I’m drinking it 🙂

2 thoughts on “Tea Review: Thotalagala Lemongrass Earl Grey”

    1. Thanks for the comment! Organic only applies to the methods of farming. Caffeine itself is based on the type of tea, for example teas that come from the actual tea plant (camellia sinensis, eg black teas) naturally have caffeine, while herbal teas (eg peppermint or spearmint) naturally don’t have caffeine.

      As far as how much caffeine is in it, there are many variables that come into play, some within our control (how much tea we use, how long we brew it, what water temperature we use, etc), and some beyond our control (the type of tea, the soil/area/terroir the tea was grown, how it was processed by the tea farmers, etc).

      Unfortunately for us as consumers, there isn’t a simple way to accurately measure caffeine in tea. A tea like this has both lemongrass and black tea leaves in the pyramid, would have less caffeine than a tea that fills up the tea pyramid with only black tea leaves (from the same source). But it may still have more caffeine than a different black tea from a different source/farm.

      There is a nice summary article here: https://ratetea.com/topic/caffeine-content-of-tea/21/

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