Becky’s from Holland Earl Grey Tea Review

becky's from holland earl grey tea review

Do you ever randomly wander into a gift shop on the high-street, see a cute tea gift pack and then buy it for yourself? I do! I saw this gift pack from an obscure brand I’d never heard of before (Becky’s from Holland) and was drawn in by the 3 classic flavours.

My long-time blog readers know how much I adore a good Earl Grey tea, so I decided to review that one first. Here’s what I thought.

Becky's Earl Grey Tea at a Glance

Izzy's Rating
2.6/5
  • Blend: Pure Ceylon black tea with bergamot flavouring
  • Flavour: Full, robust and bitter black tea with a touch of bergamot

This was a strong offering from this newly discovered tea company. It’s best drunk with milk to soothe the black tea bitterness enough for the bergamot to pop out!

earl grey pyramid tea

Full Review - Becky's from Holland Earl Grey Tea

Izzy's Rating
2.6/5
  • Type: Pyramid mesh sachet
  • Tea: Ceylon CTC Black tea
  • Additives: Bergamot flavouring (3%)
  • Flavour Notes: Subtle black tea, rich, bitter, robust
  • Aroma: Bold black tea, classic bergamot
  • Milk or Lemon: Milk
  • Where to Buy: Amazon

I like the pyramid style packaging a lot – it’s fun! It’s not so great for storage though. As you can see, there’s a lot of unnecessary space in the tea box. I suppose that’s a good thing if you’re buying this as a gift and you want it to look more impressive than it is!

Pulling out the pyramid sachet (which feels like soft material rather than the usual plastic mesh) the aroma is quite ordinary. The black tea smells quite bold, in fact. It’s not dissimilar to an English Breakfast blend in terms of strength and fullness. The bergamot is quite faint but clearly there.

It brews into a dark red amber coloured tea with a hint of orange at the edges of my mug. It’s appealing and warming. The texture isn’t as thick and robust as the aroma would suggest, however.

The flavours are subtle at first, then the black tea quickly dominates. It’s rich, slightly bitter and quite robust… and at the same time, very one-dimensional. There’s no depth of flavour here. It’s easy to drink (once I’ve added a splash of milk) and the bergamot isn’t overpowering.

The experience as a whole was, honestly, quite average. Not bad, but I wouldn’t say it was great either. It didn’t earn a great spot on my Best Earl Grey List.

black tea with bergamot

How to Brew Earl Grey

The instructions on the box are a one-method-fits-all. 80°C, 2 to 3 minute steep time. This is about right for the green tea blend included, but for this Earl Grey I stuck with my usual boiling water. It gets the most out of the black tea!

I stopped the clock at 2 minutes and 20 seconds, at which point it was quite dark. Darker than most Earl Greys, in fact. I would recommend having this Earl Grey with milk. Crazy, I know. I usually recommend having Earl Grey with lemon as milk tends to overpower the subtle floral and citrus notes the bergamot teases out of the black tea.

This cup, however, didn’t have any of those subtle notes when I sipped it without milk. It certainly is robust enough to handle a good splash of milk so don’t hold back.

Why Becky's from Holland?

After scrolling around the products on their website (and squealing a little bit because there’s so much I want), I couldn’t actually find a place to buy this tea. So, it remains one of those tea brands you’ll just have to stumble upon with pure luck.

Edit 10/2019 – since writing this review Becky’s from Holland has added this tea to Amazon UK!

The feel of the pyramid sachets, the packaging and the amount of tea inside is all about standard. The black tea looks to be CTC (the leaves are crushed, torn and curled rather than just twisted into long leaves) and is from Ceylon/Sri Lanka.

earl grey tea gift

The white specs you can see in my photo are the bergamot flavouring. It’s quite common in tea bag Earl Greys – check out my Twinings Earl Grey Tea Review for another example.

This quality is ok. It makes for a standard gift – I wouldn’t call this a luxury item. It would make a nice stocking filler!

Summary

Overall, this was a pleasant standard Earl Grey that most people would be happy with if you bought this as a gift for them. There’s also green tea with jasmine and green tea with lemon in the box, but I’ve yet to review them (at the time of writing).

Make sure you use the tags below to navigate through our blog and find out if I’ve reviewed the remaining Becky’s from Holland teas since this was posted!

About Me

I’m a tea reviewer living somewhere in Essex, England, trying to review as many teas as is humanly possible. Subscribe to Immortal Wordsmith to keep up to date with my progress!

Isobel Moore

Isobel Moore is a quiet, quirky and creative “human bean” whose favourite pastime is curling up with a cuppa and a good book.

Over the past 5 years, her tea reviews at Immortal Wordsmith have helped thousands of readers choose vibrant tea blends and single origin selections from fine, organic, and responsible tea companies.

As a professional content writer with a qualification in digital marketing, Isobel has worked with market-leading tea brands around the globe to develop their content marketing campaigns and gain exposure. Her professional portfolio can be found on Upwork.

Besides a deep-rooted passion for tea, Isobel writes on topics ranging from food and travel to wellness and literature.

Favourite Quote: “Manuscripts don’t burn” – Mikhail Bulgakov

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