I don’t smoke. I love Gin though. You don’t ‘learn to like’ gin, it kills off the tastebuds that protest.
I enjoy Bigelow earl grey tea… but the other brands I’ve tried have not been good.
No Earl Grey for me. Just, blech.
English Breakfast loose tea, steeped for 5 minutes by the timer, half’n’half and just a touch of sugar.
I’ve repressed the memory of trying it. That is how I know it was very unpleasant.
I always thought it was Earl Grey and lemon, milk to me, doesn’t go very well with bergamot.
I bought a box of Earl Gray a few years ago. Yes I’m a trek fan too.
I made one cup and had to pour that stuff down the drain. Eventually the box of earl gray went in the bin.
I do like some of the English breakfast teas.
I love Earl Grey, but once got a box of double bergamot. It was a little much. Not the horror the OP describes and it was drinkable, but regular Earl Grey is actually just right, double bergamot is too much.
I love Earl Grey tea. I drink multiple mugs of Bigelow’s Earl Grey several nights a week. Double bergamot? I’m going to have to find that.
It’s not my favorite, but I don’t mind earl grey tea. However, like TruCelt, I am revolted at milk and sugar anywhere near it. Worse is when all these fruity or flowery flavors are blended in. A friend once passed me a some orange creme infused earl grey, and I couldn’t stop gagging half an hour later.
Bergamot reminds me of lavender and pine. I like it a lot.
I also like ice tea Earl Grey, though.
And English Breakfast, and Irish Breakfast, and Awake, and also Chai tea made with milk and lots of black pepper.
Cilantro - ewwwwww
I love tea. I’ve never had a tea I didn’t like. I’ve never tried (or heard of until now) that Lapsang Souchong. Sounds like a Discworld character.
I like Earl Grey black or with milk and sugar.
I hate going to the mall but I will go to the Natick Mall for 2 reasons.
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The guys at the Car Spa do an awesome job cleaning the car (even after my puppy reenacted a scene from the Exorcist in the backseat).
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TEAVANA!!! I am so in love with that store. They usually have 5 or 6 sample teas going at once. I just wish it was a bit less expensive. I got 4 oz. of loose white peach for $30. I’m going to ask everyone I’ve ever met to get me gift certificates for Teavana for Christmas so I can stock up.
One time, lo these many moons ago, I ran into an Indonesian poster on another board.
Somehow I found myself being severely lectured on what was “tea” and what was,
apparently, not-tea, e.g. peppermint tea, rose hip tea - basically anything not beginning
its life on a tea bush, and remaining forever unblended with, say, oil of bergamot. I was so annoyed that I disconnected from that lecture and never returned for more ‘education’.
However, on the loose topic of hot beverages: how do you all feel on the subject of what
constitutes “tea”?
an seanchai
I guess that’s like the martini argument - every drink in a martini glass is not a martini. I don’t have a problem with people calling herbal teas teas, though - the “herbal” is usually included, anyway.
The exploiter Earl Grey is an outmoded excrescence of the exploded feudal system. He should be hung from a lamp post.
But, instead, I’ll just pack him off to Cafe Society.
I love Earl Grey, especially with a lot of sugar. On the other hand, my brother-in-law says it’s “like drinking hot perfume.”
I 
Earl Grey. Twinings. No milk. No sugar. 
Oh, and a little dark chocolate to nibble on on the side.
I absolutely love Earl Grey, although I’ve had brands of it I disliked.
My recipe for the perfect drink on a cold autumn day:
Start with a mug of Earl Grey, steeped for four minutes from loose leaf tea.
Stick a teaspoon in a jar of Lyle’s Golden Syrup, enough to cover about half the spoon. Stir into the tea.
Add a splash of half-and-half, just enough to make the mix a darkish tan. If it’s just brown and cloudy, that’s not enough. If it’s the color of khaki pants, that’s too much.
Crap…now I’m going to think of THAT instead of ‘This tastes like tweed’ when I drink EG. 
I like it, on occasion. But more than one cup and really, it tastes like soap.
I am now on a quest for the mythical double-bergamot tea. Gevalis’s is pretty strong, and that’s what I normally get.
What is tea? Well, it’s pretty far down the list, but Webster’s does allow for an infusion of various plant substances to be called tea. Although I’ve always found “beef-tea” to be a horrible substitution for bouillon.
Personally the way I use the word is that something which contains the leaves Camillia caliensis is tea, and anything which doesn’t, but is a steeped hot beverage is a “tea of” something. Like Chamomile tea, or herbal tea, or raspberry tea. I would never say “would you like some tea?” and then hand the person chamomile all unsuspecting.
To me, it’s not complicated. So long as it is made with leaves from a tea plant, it can be called tea.