Too bad Shimano does not address the market with a dedicated road bike solution for a good Tour/comfort/loaded/older spinner/big hill sitdown rider/ triple-gearing option for those of us that would like the option of low gears, with a wide range of relatively evenly spaced gears. I for one would be perfectly willing to give up the option of 54x11 gearing, although with just a little double shifing, I easily had it all in the friction-shifting era of a 5-spd cog/Avocet triple

The ubiquitous 5X-to-30T triples are not condusive to low gearing: for example, a 30T chainring with a 32 rear cog (not even available on a 10-spd freewheel) is not an ideal tour solution (and, for older riders that may be a little overweight, every ride is like touring). The mfg needs to provide a solution that the rider can select--it's not possible to leave it to the imagination of mechanics at usual bike shop; the current crop of bike mechanics just do not have the knowledge to give riders what they want.

For marketing purposes, the drivetrain probably should not be called the Earl Grey; I'd call it the Pacific Coast. I'd say, an inner ring of about 24 and a 10-spd cog set from 12-27 with a top ring of about 46-48T, and an inner ring that depends on if the rider wants to do a lot of double shifting for the maximum amount of gears.