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I’ve been so Earl Grey crazy in this horrible heat. There is something about the bergamot that I find so refreshing (I think I’m just making excuses because I love to drink EG in the winter too. Let’s face it – I just love Earl Grey!!!). My tin of Earl Grey Supreme is at home doing iced tea duty, but I found this in my tea drawer at work, almost forgotten about. Poor Earl!

I’ve already had it twice since the temperatures have gone up. It’s a real classic. Perfectly bergamot-y (moreso than the EGS) and with the addition of a half teaspoon of sugar, really round and sweet. A true delight!

I added a little Rosy Earl Grey to the second and third steeps and had such a heady and enjoyable tea experience!

We chose a very hot stretch for our little holiday from work, which has turned from many adventures planned to sitting at home in our pajamas in the air conditioning (for me, knitting and reading, which is really great, but we were supposed to go to NYC and our local art museum and and and!!!). I even prepared a picnic for today’s adventures because it was “only” supposed to be 90 (!!!) but sigh – the forecast changed to 97. Way too hot to be out and about enjoyably.

So! We have a beautiful pitcher of Earl Grey Supreme to enjoy at home. I brewed it much the same way as I did last time, but did the first steep at 4 minutes and second at 5 minutes. That little tweak made it even more delicious. You can taste the subtle differences in the blended tea base better. It’s just as refreshing, but even more elegant. I’m officially done playing around with the brewing parameters on this one – it’s perfectly suited to my tastes!

For posterity:

4 tablespoons Earl Grey Supreme
4 cups of water, boiled
steep for 4 minutes, strain into pitcher.

Boil 2 more cups of water, and steep that in the original leaves for 5 minutes, strain into pitcher.

Add sugar to taste (about 1/4 cup for me).

Let cool as long as you can, refrigerate before bed. Serve over a glass of ice. If taking on a picnic, fill your bottle up with ice, then pour iced tea over and seal.

Off to knit some more!!! xoxoo

P.S. My comments aren’t working, so if you said something and I haven’t written back, I apologize!

P.P.S I have another guest post at Unputdownables :) This one about Virginia Woolf :) :) :) http://unputdownables.net/2011/07/22/seven-reasons-why-i-love-virginia-woolf/

Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Just popping in, saying hi, and exclaiming, “My, my, you are so delicious this morning, Mr. Keemun Mao Feng!”

Having a little post-lunch sit down and was in the mood for something sweet. I didn’t have quite enough of this left to make a whole pot, so I put in a pinch of Chocolate Almond Allure from Talbott Teas. Nice! It’s less marzipan-y and more nut-y, and you can taste a little chocolate. I do prefer the unadulterated Trois Noix flavor, even if it does make me cry with nostalgia!

Thank you Dinosara for a most enjoyable tea experience! I think instead of abracadabra, the magic word should be marzipan!

Mmmmm. What a tropical treat! I taste primarily the candy banana taste, and then a pineapple-y, creamy, yummy flavor. I’m really glad I combined these two teas because the result is so dessert-y! I was having a bit of a sweet tooth attack last night, and this satisfied it well, with the addition of a scant teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk.

My pitcher of Earl Grey Supreme Iced Tea of the Gods is now gone. Sob! I loved every sip of it, and can’t wait for another picnic or having guests or whatnot so I can make it again (it’s definitely a special occasion iced tea, imo :) Love!

I had a St*rb*cks *c*d C*ff** this morning (that’s Starbucks Iced Coffee, shhhh!), so I thought something with green tea in it would be lovely for the afternoon. I’ve started perusing the Dammann Freres website for the Future Order of October, so I thought what better tea to drink with that than a French one!?!? :)

Mmmm. I’m definitely getting jasmine and tropical fruit. I can’t really say which one, but maybe mango or passion fruit? The black tea is giving it a nice base, and the green a fresh taste. I don’t much care for green tea, but when it’s used in a blend I love the little oomph it gives – that little bit of grassy freshness is very nice, almost like another flavor in the blend!

Another bonus for a work afternoon is this reminds me in no way of anything Holiday-ish or growing up-ish :) In fact, I don’t think I had a mango until I was in college and living on my own!

Thank you Dinosara! This is so, so good! It makes me wonder how it would taste iced, too. I bet refreshing.

I had a cup of Emperor’s Red this morning, but was left wanting something fruity…nutty…something else, something more. I decided to put a scant teaspoon of Coquelicot Gourmand in my brewing basket to add a little je ne sais quoi to my second steep.

The tea itself is beautiful. I’m a goner for blue cornflowers in tea, and then the pink peony – oh!

Mmmmmmmmmm. Marzipan. Cake. That soft subtle indescribable French fruity flowery vanilla-ish flavor. This is so good. Thank you once again Dinosara for an incredibly delicious French tea experience!

I finally figured out that the addition of milk and sugar to these French teas is the thing that unlocks the nostalgia button, so being a glutton for punishment I am going to take the rest of these leaves home for a good sulk in Nostalgialand this weekend! Oh my.

Yesterday we went to Chanticleer:

http://www.chanticleergarden.org/

and I wanted to make a special picnic to take along. I’ve been wanting to make Earl Grey Supreme as a hot brewed iced tea for so long, but my frugal angel (I have a frugal angel and a decadent devil on my shoulders – at war!!!) balked at using all those leaves. Well, the decadent devil won and I made it. The frugal angel has her 2 cents in there, and I did two steeps of the leaves thinking I do that when I have it hot.

So – that was 4 tablespoons of leaves (!!!), 4 cups of water, 5 min, then 2 cups of water 5 min.

A few tablespoons of sugar thrown in, let it sit out a few hours to cool, then refrigerated. When I took it on the picnic I got my container and filled it half with ice, then poured the tea over and put it in the cooler. Some of the ice melted, but not all.

The angels and devils were all happy because it was the most delicious iced tea I’ve ever had! Not too sweet, the pithy citrus gave that pleasantly bitter taste sort of like Campari which is soooooo refreshing when it’s hot (the heat went to 101 yesterday!). Not the least bit perfumey or overwhelming. The tea tasted of quality and was of the perfect strength. The leaves were just fine being brewed twice.

And I didn’t really need to get all upset because even this special picnic divine decadence winds up being under 35 cents an 8 oz glass including the sugar. No biggie!!!

The one thing that bugged me, though, is my iced tea got cloudy! I know it has something to do with the tannins and cold, and that it happens even more with a better quality tea because it has more tannins, and I also know it’s just an aesthetic thing, but does anyone have a way they avoid this? I’ve heard a pinch of baking soda, a few drops of boiling water before serving (impossible at a picnic but maybe at home I can do this if we had company). Any others? Thanks!

Another humid one. This calls for one of my favorite hot weather teas in the whole wide world: Rosy Earl Grey. I love how delicate and heady it is (jasmine!) despite it containing black tea. The perfect marriage for me! Another summer day in a cup. Swoon.

Also, I thought it was funny/neurotic that even though I was carrying in a thousand things this morning, I still stopped and bought bottled water for my tea making because I knew we were out at the office. The thought of that nasty spigot water ruining Rosy! No, no, no!