Apparently I didn’t try this yet – Either that or I didn’t rate it. This is one of the three teas that my aunt sent me for Christmas from Pippins Tea Company in Toronto (which no-one else has ever logged, what’s up with that??) All of these teas came in a gold bag, but no product description and the name hand written on the outside. It’s a mystery! Well, not this one, since cream of earl grey kinda says it all.
I did this up in a T-Sac today, which I’ve closed in a different way than usual, to allow tonnes of room for expansion. I feel quite smart, but really I should have caught on ages ago. I just tucked the extra flappy bit inside and stapled the edges like a “regular” teabag. I have the size 2 ones, so it’s quite roomy, which I like. Watching the swirls of amber come out is one of my favourite parts of steeping.
I didn’t smell it pre-steep – Sorry! Once steeped the liquor is a golden amber, and looks like an ordinary black tea. I went light on the first steep for now, as I’m treading unusual waters, for me. The steeped smell has a hint of coconutty vanilla, which worries me. I loathe coconut! But, so does this aunt, so it’s unlikely to be coconut. There is also a really fruity smell hidden in the middle, I don’t know how to explain that. Maybe the cornflower blossoms they threw in there? They’re pretty, if nothing else.
First sip – Mild. Very mild. Missing the earl grey flavour here, but that’s likely because of my short steep (1.5 – 2 minutes). It’s sweet. I’m throwing the tea back in for another 30 seconds, see if that brings out its muscles.
Sipping again – Still weird. You can get the earl grey flavour at the end of the sip now, but I still get a hint of something coconutty. Starts off sweet still as well. I think that the “tea water” container at work has been contaminated by coffee, as something is weirdly coffee in this steep. I’ll drink it and I’ll try for a re-steep but I think that a proper measure of the tea will be done at home when I’m in charge of things like water temp. For now, no rating, as this was a weird example. It’d probably get a 65 – 70 if I were going to go numerically right now though. I’m coming to like it more and more as I go through he cup, but I definitely want to try again with some boiling water, that doesn’t have a hint of coffee.
