I love visiting old fashioned British tea shops and tea rooms in the UK, sampling chocolate cake and scones with cream and I especially love drinking earl grey tea.

I wanted to try Cartwright and Butler's Classic brand, for no other reason than I loved the beautiful packaging of this earl grey. Here it is perched atop my woodburner stove

This Yorkshire based company, East Riding to be exact, started out in humble fashion, in a small room in 1981.

However now their biscuits, cakes and teas can be found in shops such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges to name just a few.

Quality Packaging

After unboxing, I was immediately struck by the quality packaging of this tea. It comes in a classic brush steel tin that will look lovely in the kitchen.

The tin lid sports a large C&B embossed logo and an air tight seal, perfect for storing other tea bags if you run out of Cartwight & Butler's Earl Grey.

Opening the Silver Bag to Peer Inside

After popping open the tin, and opening the silver bag inside, this is what I found, a neat row of 30 tea bags and a lovely aroma. my package had a best before date of June 2019.

I popped in a tea bag, and let the tea steep for five minutes, as I wanted a strong taste.

After tasting I found that the black Ceylon tea was powerful, with a subtle infusion of bergamot.

Frankly I anticipated that the bergamot taste would be stronger as that was the impression I had from the aroma wafting out from the packaging on first opening.

Instead I discovered a really full bodied black tea taste, with just a subtle hint of bergamot. I'me certainly not complaining as it tasted lovely.

I also had a look at their biscuits but didn't pick up any this time as I'm trying to to cut back on sweets. I'm sure their Dark Chocolate Gingers, Strawberry and White Choc Chunk, and Triple Choc Chunk biscuits would go down a treat with their Earl Grey.

In short this is a tasty tea, wrapped in very classy packaging. I would have liked to have seen the ingredients clearly listed within the tin, and perhaps some recommended brewing instructions.

Do you like earl grey, what is your favorite type of tea?

I look forward to reading your comments below.