I suspect that more than a few of you may have a Flavia machine in your employer's offices and this was the case with me in a previous employment. One of the things I liked about the place is that they had a decent machine that produced palatable drinks and they were all free!

I was really surprised with the authentic flavour of the drinks and, being primarily a coffee drinker, I whizzed through the available options and appreciated them all. Then one day I spotted a mid-range Flavia machine on eBay with a large supply of sachets so decided to bid for it....and won the auction. £62 for a nearly new machine and about 700 individual sachets of a variety of drinks. Bargain!

I like the concept of this machine. It is especially useful if, as is the case with us, only one of you drinks coffee as it can be a bit of a pain to go through the rigmarole of putting the filter machine on for one.

In addition to a decent range of coffees, there were also some tea sachets included such as the one under review - Earl Grey. I was a little dubious about using the Flavia machine for tea, as tea generally takes a little time to infuse and the way the machine operates doesn't appear to give the water enough time in contact with the tea. However, I was pleased to note that, for machine made tea it wasn't too bad.

Of course with Earl Grey, what people like or dislike is the very distinctive taste and smell of Bergamot. With this tea, the smell and taste is there but it isn't as strong as with some Earl Greys I have tasted and this suits me.

I am still a little dubious about whether the method is appropriate for tea making. Basically, you put your little sachet into the machine and close the door, The action of closing the drawer operates the machine and water is forced through a little valve at the top of the sachet and is forced through the sachet until such time as the pressure within breaks the seal at the bottom and the tea or coffee comes out at the bottom - into your cup if you have remembered to put one there!. The machine then gives the bag a little squeeze and you can open the drawer and remove and dispose of the spent sachet. This latter process is automatic with the larger office machines.

Flavia Earl Grey suffers rather by not giving the drinker a chance to influence the strength of the brew by leaving the bag in longer. It's a one drink fits all option. For me, it's OK, as I like my Earl Grey to be pleasantly fragrant and not too Bergamotty! If you like your brew strong, this isn't for you.

I'll deduct one dooyoo star for this lack of flexibility.