Marks And Spencers: Empress Grey

It's no secret here on this blog that one of my favourite blends is Lady Grey, the feminine and fruity sister to Earl Grey.

Twinings developed Lady Grey fairly recently, in the 1990's I think, so it's certainly not as old as Earl Grey but is so established in their line that many think it's as old as the popular blend. However, recently money has been tight and, if I'm quite honest, the price of Lady Grey, which is now hitting around the £4 mark for 50 teabags, has been out of my range.

So, I've had to start hunting for tea's that may be similar but slightly  more affordable.

Occasionally I chat to a chap called Colin on Twitter about tea. And he gave me the heads up on Marks and Spencers Empress Grey blend. So, I thought I'd give it a try!

I popped down to my local branch of Marks and Spencers and was delighted to see the tea on offer. The tea is priced at £1.50 for 50 teabags. At the time of purchase it was on three boxes for two - a real bargain.

Firstly, I would say that Empress Grey does lack the richness that Lady Grey has. It's certainly more fruity and a lot stronger then the Twinings blend, but, aside from that, I really, really enjoyed the tea and is a good alternative to the popular Twinings blend.

Marks and Spencers Empress Grey is a thirst quenching, stress relieving drink. Last week I was working and came out of work really, really thirsty. My body craved this blend for some reason and when I got home drunk almost a whole pot in a sitting. It really relieved my thirst which is a good sign.

I love the lightness of this tea and it's citrus flavour, mainly lemon, comes through nice and strong. It really leaves your mouth feeling refreshed and clean, it serves as a very good palate cleanser! Even after you finish the cup of tea, you can taste it for some time and it's a flavoursome, full bodied taste.

The Chinese tea is light and tasty and the tea infuses to a wonderful honey colour.

It's flavours of bergamot, orange and lemon are blended well. I was reminded of a nice fruity punch type drink as none of the flavours outdid one another, they worked well, hand in hand and combined made for a really tasty cup of tea. In some blends you can get a lot of lemon flavour and can barely taste the orange. This works so well together and I was hugely impressed.

Upon tasting this tea you soon realise that it's totally addictive and on more than one occasion have been making two to three pots of this a day. It's brilliant on those sorts of days when you fancy something nice and fruity and refreshing.

As this is a black tea you don't have to be too particular how long you infuse it for, but I would advise no more than around four minutes. If you brew this for much longer it does tend to take on more of the lemon flavour and can start to resemble a lemsip, so for a evenly balanced, nicely tasty brew, I would suggest brewing for around four minutes.

Last year I was really impressed by Marks and Spencer's Christmas tea, Mulled Fruit Tea but to my shame I've not really investigated any more of their tea's, it's just not a shop I'd think of to head to the tea aisle but I will certainly now have a look to see what they have in. I'd quite like (naturally for me) to taste their Earl Grey and a couple of their fruity tea's.  And I'm interested to see what they produce this Christmas!

I have heard good things about Empress Grey on the internet after doing some research and I can say it makes for a great cup of tea. I'm not sure if it will ever replace Lady Grey in my affections but it's still lovely, and most importantly for the moment, affordable.

So if you do pop into M&S to do your Christmas shopping do give this tea a try. I'm pretty sure you will like it and, actually, it doesn't stain your teacups, so overall it's a brilliant tea!