Bartletts are my favorite – drip-down-the-chin juicy and a beautifully smooth texture, not at all what I would call gritty. But, yes, you gotta time it right. Other varieties do better when underripe, but Bartletts have to fully ripen to be truly enjoyable. But, yes, if I could pick one fruit to enjoy for the rest of my life, it’d be a perfectly ripe Bartlett.
I only just learned right now that Bartletts are the same thing as Williams pears (which is what they are known as outside North America.) I had no idea. When I lived in Europe, I loved Williams pears, but never made the connection that they were the same as Bartlett pears.