ClassieLassie

Finally got around to trying this in a London Fog today. Treating the tea so harshly (ha!) negates the overwhelming “Earl Grey”-ness, while the blackberry-vanilla blends in with the vanilla syrup and milk to make an interesting drink. Although, towards the end of my cup, I got a weird acidic taste; not quite sure if it was over-steeped tea (though I only steeped this for 3 minutes and used my Ingenuitea to brew it) or the milk reacting with the citrus in the EG, or something else altogether.

In case you want it, here’s a standard, very malleable recipe for a London Fog:
http://breweddaily.com/2009/01/homemade-london-fog-tea-latte/

I have an immersion frother like they sell at Ikea and World Market
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10076320/

I generally make 12 ounces of tea, 4 ounces of milk, and use 3 pumps of Torani Vanilla and a little less than 1 full pump of Torani Hazelnut when I make a London Fog at home.

I got an Amazon gift card for my birthday and decided to use it to pick up one of these. I have a similar one from Teavana, but for some reason, I had to have this one too.

Pros:
• It is super easy – throw a scoop of tea in, add correct temp water, wait for tea to brew, set over cup to drain, remove, and drink. Depending on the type of tea, this gadget can then be stashed in the ‘fridge for a re-steep, or the leaves can be swished into the sink/bin/garden/compost bin.
• I have yet to encounter a tea that has particles small and fine enough to slip through the strainer into the cup.
• It is far easier to clean out bits of tea from this than from a tea ball.
• I don’t care that this is plastic. That means I can take it with me without worry on trips, picnics, and work.
• This thing will hold 16oz of liquid. I can brew up an entire travel cup of tea in one go, set this on top of the travel tumbler and not worry about spilling or even having to stand there and hold anything!

Cons:
• I have a few cups (a Tervis mug, some other ceramic/stoneware mugs) that this will not fit comfortably over the top of. I have to balance one side on the edge of the mug to engage the lift mechanism in the gadget.
• It holds 16oz of liquid. If I want to use a smaller (normal) sized cup that isn’t see-through, I have to constantly pick up this thing and check the level of the liquid in the drinking vessel.
• Occasionally, if I haven’t let it drip completely out, I might have a small drip on the counter when I set it down.

Overall, I really like it and find myself grabbing it from the cabinet more often than the Teavana one. The only actual drawback for me is that it doesn’t fit over certain mugs I have.

Backlog!
I picked up a tin of this when I picked up H&S Birthday tea. Made an entire pot and drank it all yesterday.

In the tin: Smells like: Standard black tea with Peach Jam mixed in. Looks like: This is the looseleaf tea from H&S. Long leaves of black tea and chunks of dried amber fruit.

In the cup: This brewed up fabulously in my brown betty teapot. Lightly fruity and a great tea for both being lazy while recovering from walking around a Rennaissance Faire in a steel boned corset all day the day before, and a nice tea to have at hand while working. I tried it both with sugar and with sugar and milk. It works well with both, depending on mood.

Picked up a tin of this on the recommendation of the owner of the tea shoppe I visited.

In the tin: Reminds me of a fruit salad or what walking into a Bath & Body Works in the late 90’s was like. This is bagged in a nice nylon bag with large pieces of fruit and greenery visible.

In the cup: The liquid is reddish-pink. It tastes very very fruity, a bit like a kids cereal. Apparently, there’s flower petals in here too, but I can’t taste them! (A good thing, as I don’t like “floral” teas at all.) This needed barely any sweetening for me, but it did need a dash of sugar.

This is decaf, and would probably be fantastic iced in July when the days are over 100F and humid.

I’ve been drinking a lot of the same teas over and over lately and haven’t been logging them, because, well, who wants to see the same teas with the same notes, from the same person, everyday for weeks on end?

Since I have been drinking so repetitively, I decided a change was needed and began scouring the internet for ideas. I kept seeing Starbuck’s Passion Tea Lemonade copycat recipes in the results, read a few, and decided I could mix up a similar beverage with the Ruby Sipper sitting in the cabinet (since I’m forbidden from buying more tea and don’t really like most Tazo).

I brewed up a double strength 16 oz of Ruby Sipper, added 2 tsp of lemonade mix, and two pumps of Vanilla syrup to a big glass full of ice. It was good, but I’m not sure I need to add lemonade mix next time. Ruby Sipper is plenty tart on its own! I think I should stick to regular simple syrup or just sugar if I make this again; the vanilla didn’t seem to hurt, and I picked up subtle vanilla hints drinking this, but it didn’t enhance it either.

This is finally back in stock at Adagio, and the lovely ladies at BSB had a promo coupon – I couldn’t resist picking it up! I just wish I had picked up a couple other of Cara’s blends I’ve had my eye on while I had a coupon!

Cara’s description on the Adagio site sounds good — Earl Grey Lavender, Green Chai, Cherry Green, and Marigold Petals.

In the bag: It certainly does smell of Earl Grey and spice. It looks pretty, like “tea potpourri” with the marigold and other flower petals. It would be pretty (and smell good!) in a glass bowl, if one did not want to ever make tea out of it and instead wanted to use it in a display.

In the cup: It smelled of Earl Grey and an orangey-cinnamony spice I associate with Christmastime (from the chai). There’s a lot going on but it blends together to smell warm and homey. The tea liquid is dark brown. I brewed it with boiling water, steeped in an Ingenuity for 3 minutes and drained into a white pottery mug.

First sip plain: I just taste “hot water” with a faint, bitter flavor. If this is how most people drink tea for the first time, I’m not surprised that most of my friends and colleagues in the “real world” claim not to like tea.

Second & Third sips: I added 2 spoonfuls of sugar to it, 1 at a time, and wow, the flavors popped! I definitely tasted orange spice and the flavor of the Earl Grey base came roaring out. I never got a separate flavor of flowers, lavender, roses, or marigold (which is good, as I don’t particularly fancy drinking a get-well bouquet), but I also never got a distinct cherry flavor.

Fourth sip – rest of the cup: I added a splash of whole milk. Normally, to a green tea, I wouldn’t, but it seemed to help, quite a lot. After the milk addition, the tea became even better tasting. The subtle cherry came out, more like grenadine and maraschinos in a Shirley Temple rather than the cherry lollipop so many “cherry flavored” things are; it was definitely cherry flavor rather than actual cherry. There was also a subtle vanilla hint. It reminded me a little of the “London Fog” tea lattes a lot of the coffee shops make.

Basically, there’s a lot going on in this tea! No one flavor overwhelms, competes, or even stands out; they all blend together and make a very “girly” tea that isn’t a standard flavored tea.

Backlog from yesterday!

In the tin: The tea smells so good – like fruit, but not “fruity”. The bergamot blends in well with the other fruits used and does not stand out; the honey is barely noticeable, except as a sublte sweet smell. The bags Harney & Sons use are really nice. I made a pot of this, because the weather was dreadful and called for a lot of tea. The directions on the side of the tin say to steep for 5 minutes. That’s a bit long to me for a black base tea, but I increased my usual steep time by 30 seconds as a compromise.

In the cup: The tea was a dark reddish brown and still smelled of fruit. It was not very sweet or fruity, until I added a bit of sugar and a splash of milk. I debated over the milk, especially since this tea does have bergamot oil in it, but the slight astringent “teaness” brought out by sugar alone necessitated it. The bergamot flavor (I expect anything with bergamot to taste like earl grey) was not noticeable on its own, but combined with the fruit well. The honey was not distinctive, did not add to the sweetness of the tea (though I did add less sugar than I normally use in a black based tea)

All in all this was a delicious tea to sip while reading a Victorian murder mystery, huddled under a blanket and a cat, watching the Texas winter weather pour down outside the window.

Entering a review on my phone is impossible!

Anyway, I had to go to an in-law thing on the other side of Texas last weekend and they are all hardcore coffee drinkers. I took a little of my own tea along, and an electric kettle, mug, etc for the hotel, but hauling all that to aunt-in-law’s house would have been a bit rude. However, there were a bunch of Twinnings Earl Grey bags hanging around in a cabinet and one of the cousins-in-law introduced me to “a coffee house tea drink” called a London Fog. Basically, earl grey tea brewed from a bag, vanilla syrup, and hot milk mixed up together. Except in very rare occasions (Cara’s Reichenbach Recovery from Adagio being THE Exception) milk never goes in an Earl Grey for me. However, this was surprisingly drinkable, and now I have a way to use up the ridiculous huge amount of Twinnings Earl Grey I have hanging around.
I also found a recipe for Earl Grey Shortbread. Those came out smashingly delicious!

Apparently, according to Wikipedia anyway, London Fog was “invented” in a coffee shop in Canada.

In an effort to start clearing cabinet space, I tried this tea again today. I had read to try this iced; while I’m not usually a fan of iced tea, it has been unusually warm for January here and I figured icing this blend couldn’t hurt.

My first cup of this way back when I got it (I had forgotten about Steepster – sorry! I blame grad school) was not so good. The Earl Grey Bravo overpowered everything. I’m picky about the Earl Greys I will drink and most are too strong on the bergamot, but being a Whovian I had to try this blend. So, onto today’s adventure.

Not remembering that it has Earl Grey Bravo in it, and knowing I was going to ice it to see if that made me like it any better, I did what I usually do when icing tea and used twice as much tea as I normally would for a cup of hot. If I make this in the future, I need to remember to only use half as much, and cut the steep time by a minute or so, down to only 3.

Results:
The astringency of the tea was way too strong after sweetening (unbleached sugar) and pouring over ice. But the vanilla flavor was finally observable!

When I returned from running errands, I added more ice to remaining brew. The Earl Grey flavor came out after this round of ice and is very strong – almost too strong for me.

This will probably be a tea that is only pulled out for certain guests that like a super strong Earl Grey flavor, or lugged to certain events with other Whovians for the novelty.

After being scolded a few times by my husband for buying yet more tea when we have a ridiculously full tea cabinet (seriously, I’m storing some of the “bagged tea in boxes” in a basket on the counter), he snapped this up at the tea booth at a local antique mall, along with a few other Harney&Sons blends. We also snapped up 4 other H&S teas that day!

In the tin: Wow, this smells great! Not quite like fresh pineapple, not like candied pineapple, and definitely not like suntan lotion – but it reminded me of all of those scents. The little bags are adorable! Pyramids with a string and tag. The bag itself is made of what I suspect is nylon, but am too lazy to go look up. The bags are fairly transparent, but stronger and finer than typical “paper” teabag material. The tea leaves inside are, for the most part, whole leaves; of course, there are smaller bits at the bottom of the bag, but nowhere near what I would term “fannings”. The string seems to be good quality kitchen cotton string that is just long enough to fit my giant mug, and the tag is just big enough without being a “tag” hanging off the side of the mug. I’ve read great things about H&S teas on here, had a great experience with their Apricot at a tea room recently, and so far, I’m really liking this one. I’m also amazed at how much the leaves swelled in the bag! Followed the recommendation for brew time (3 minutes) and water temp (170F) listed on the tin. So glad I have an electric kettle with preset buttons for the different tea varieties and recommended temperatures!

In the cup: The tropical scent was still very present in the liquid. The flavor is delicate, without tasting like “new mown grass” like other green teas I’ve had in the past (and what put me off green teas for a good while). I tried a few sips straight, and didn’t hate or love the flavor. I added one small spoonful of unbleached cane sugar and the pineapple sweetness popped.

Tropical green is definitely a green I like and can see myself drinking on a regular basis.

Yes, another note on this from me!

I introduced it to a friend this weekend. I was letting her go through my ridiculous tea cabinet and she liked Cara’s artwork for this one and asked me about it. I described it as “Earl grey, and hazelnut; if you add milk in this one instance, it tastes exactly like a Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie”. She promptly shoved the tin at me and proceeded to devour nearly the entire pot.

I added 2 heaping spoonfuls of sugar and a good splash of whole milk.

I loved being able to introduce her to the awesomeness of good tea (and how easy loose leaf really is to brew) this weekend!

I had a “tea party” at Coco’s Tea Room yesterday. Fantastic service! I’ll go add a review to the room as soon as I’m finished writing this up.

We had a pre-selected menu but were able to add on pots of tea to share. I was given the task of selecting the 4 pots for our group. One of the ones I chose was this Apricot tea. It was delicious!

In the tin: Although it was served already brewed in a teapot, I did find out that the tea shop used brand and that it was sold in the antique mall in which the tea room is located! Of course, I went out afterwards and bought a tin! (and a lot more tea that I absolutely do not have space for, but had the husband’s blessing and encouragement even to buy!)
The “sample sniff” tin in the antique mall booth smelled just like fresh apricots!

In the cup: The brewed tea smelled like the dried apricot bins in the bulk section of some grocery stores. It tasted like regular black tea (probably Ceylon, I’ll need to look at the tin I brought home!) with dried apricots.

Backlogging yet another cup of this! My “giant” tin of it should be arriving in the post today – Huzzah!

Was taken out to a local “english style pub” for dinner last night. Had far too many Pimm’s cups and a seriously gigantic beef & mushroom pie. And a scotch egg w/Branston Pickle. Made a cup of this almost as soon I got home and took my coat off.

A spoonful of sugar (though I think I’ll try the next with honey), a splash of milk, and a chocolate covered “honey caramel” made for the perfect evening.

Going to a tea party on Saturday…halfway wondering if I can sneak this in and convince the kitchen to brew up a pot for me….

Finally got around to trying this today, I had picked up a few samples of EGs from Upton when I ordered the British Blend sampler tins. I’m not usually a big fan of Earl Grey, as I think most EG blends available in American groceries are far too heavy on the bergamot. Add to that, I was “traumatized” back in college by someone brewing up Republic’s Earl Greyer – except the person used about 3 times as much tea leaves as necessary and let it steep for about 10 minutes. No wonder I was turned off EGs for so long!

The sampler bags from Upton are cute, if impractical for storage after opening. A nice compact little silver bag, blocks light and nearly all odor from escaping or intruding; but there is no way to seal it back up after opening. I folded down the top several times and placed a binder clip on it.

In the tin/bag: The scent was very much what I expected of an Earl Grey – bergamot blast. The leaves are nice and long (whole, I suppose) and dark.

In the cup: I steeped this for only a little over 3 minutes, in case it was too bergamot heavy, and had a pale brown/dark gold. The scent of bergamot remained. The flavor of bergaot (or what I equate with EGs) was present, but not overwhelmingly. I did add two small spoonfuls of sugar, since I just can not seem to drink tea straight. Maybe one day I’ll get there. I never add milk to an EG (except Cara/Adagio’s Reichenbach Recovery, but that’s a special case).
I did not taste the lemon in the blend until I was about halfway done with the cup and then it was a fight to see which flavor was stronger – sometimes it was the lemon and sometimes it was the bergamot.

I did get out my fancy-pants little “tea for one” set, just to use it. You know what I’m talking about – a tiny little 8-9 ounce teapot with a 6-8 ounce cup that it sits inside of in the cabinet. More hassle to warm before brewing and clean up after drinking the tea than I want to deal with most days, but for a tester cup, it worked (though for the rest of my samples from Upton, I’m using my Teavana TeaMaker).

Backlogging from the weekend. I can’t seem to stop drinking this tea and wanting to talk about it!

I drank I don’t know how many cups of this over the weekend. This has become my go-to tea, especially now I’m home all day and not in an office.

I had the thought that this would be great with a cardamom pod tossed in while steeping. I never got around to trying it, because after I thought about doing so, I began to notice subtle spicy hints.

I absolutely love this tea and can not seem to stop drinking it! I even ordered a 250g tin!

Backlogging from the weekend.

I read someone’s review where he or she said PG Tips was a “comfortable sameness” each and every time. I think that’s about right. I always know what to expect – I have the steep time, water temperature and amount, sugar and milk amounts to add – all worked out and can replicate a perfect cuppa while half asleep.

I used a gift card I received as a prize from work to purchase this, because I wanted something easy to use at my desk to brew loose tea, and tea balls/tea eggs just do not cut it for brewing a decent cuppa (not to mention, they are a pain to clean, especially at work). After I left that job, this item was relegated to the back of my cabinet at home. I’ve once again gotten into tea and have been brewing quite a few single mugs worth over the course of a day. This gadget is perfect for that task.

How I use it: 2 Teaspoons (I happen to have a measuring spoon that is 2tsp) and boiling water (I drink mostly black teas or fruit tisanes), set a timer, and when the timer goes off, place this over my prepared mug of choice.

I found that if I do not fill the Teamaker up all the way with water, but just over 3/4 full, I do not end up with excess liquid leftover in the Teamaker after straining into a mug, nor do I have a tea spill from overfilling a cup.

I’ve misplaced the little plastic “coaster” thing that came with the Teamaker, but I usually do not experience any little drips or leaking, even after straining the tea into a cup and setting the Teamaker back on the counter.

Clean up is a snap with this strainer, unlike tea balls, tea eggs, or infuser baskets. Rinse with warm water and pour the spent leaves out into the sink, and place – lid open – on a towel to air dry. I probably should be washing this with dish soap or at least washing the filter mesh after each tea, but as far as I can tell I have not had any flavor crossover from brewing two different teas nearly back to back.

The one and only drawback I have found is that the plastic does not hold heat well, nor is it easy or effective to “warm the pot” first. But, for tasting a new tea without brewing an entire pot, allowing the leaves plenty of room to circulate and unfurl, and easy as pie brewing and clean up, this gadget can not be beat! I’m also looking forward to picking up the Ingenuitea from Adagio, a similar product, to compare (and have one at home and at work).

On a trip in May (egads!) I finally found my beloved PG Tips in loose leaf in a H.E.B. in College Station of all places!
I bought it and it sat in the hotel room, waiting, while I drank other teas I had brought (including bagged PG Tips – when one has an early morning workshop to get to, one doesn’t dawdle with loose). I finally got around to opening it this morning.
The packaging is a sturdy cardboard box, with a plastic “seal” that has to be removed and discarded in order to get at the tea, so not much help with freshness. I will be placing this in tins later today.

In the box: The leaves smell exactly like when I first open a box of the bags – like a good, standard English Breakfast blend of black teas. The leaves themselves reminded me of dry couscous – little tiny hard balls. Adding boiling water didn’t do a lot to change their shape, unlike other black teas, but this meant that the flavor was released and realized quickly.

Brewed: Yup, this is PG Tips alright. A good basic standard English Breakfast tea, that needs milk and sugar. Apparently, I’ve been adding the milk incorrectly for years – after brewing/pouring – and it is supposed to go in first, according to the UK Tea Council website. I did notice that adding the milk to the cup then the tea gave a slightly different, not as robust flavor. Not sure if that’s because of the order of addition or the loose tea. I’ll have to make another cup to test, oh dear!

Since I’ve been drinking a lot more loose leaf lately, and mostly single cups of said teas, I dug out the Teavana Perfect TeaMaker that I received as a prize from an old job to brew this. That may have affected the flavor as well, but clean up certainly was a snap!

I can’t stop drinking this tea! And when I’m not drinking it, I wish I was!
It probably doesn’t help that this weekend is BSIWeekend, I can’t be there, so I’m reading about all the fun on Twitter instead, AND I’m marathoning the Granada Sherlock Holmes series this weekend instead. (Pretty sure if I watch the BBC Sherlock one more time before Series 3 even starts filming, I’ll go mad.)

Delicious tea, great “rusty brown” color when brewed, and the “meat smoker/campfire” smell of the dry leaves that carries over into the liquid is growing on me.

The fourth in the “English” sampler from Upton. Richmond Park is not one I would probably have ordered on its own, had it not been in the package, but its not bad.

In the tin: Smells like black tea and old, stale campfire. I’m guessing that’s the Keemun.

Brewed: Smells like black tea, and thankfully, none of that stale campfire scent came with.

I added a healthy dose of sugar and had a very drinkable, if unremarkable, cup for lunch.

I think this could use a bit of lemon as well. I will have to pick one up next time I’m at the grocers. I rarely put lemon in (hot) tea.

I might try a very small cup of this with a bit of milk, but so far I don’t think milk is needed.

I needed something caffeine-free and found this in the tea cabinet. I had picked it up a while back and promptly forgot about it.

This is in individually wrapped sachets, so there wasn’t much of a scent “in the tin”. The wrapping did present me with a bit of a wrestling match; I finally triumphed by employing kitchen shears!

Brewed: This definitely smells and tastes like a chamomile and mint heavy herbal tisane. The lemon grass is barely noticeable.

I added a bit of sugar. It’s OK for a chamomile-mint based herbal tisane, but I don’t think it will be in my rotation very often.

Second cup of this today.

I committed the ultimate tea sin – I turned it into iced tea.
In my defense, I only drink iced tea when I’m sick and I’m coming down with a cold at the moment.

This makes a surprisingly good iced tea, even southern style like I fix – “Poisonously sweet and lemon-ed upped to its eyeballs!” as my aunt says.

Part of the British Tea Sampler from Upton. I was wary of this tea and would not have ordered it on its own, had it not been part of the set. I’m so pleased it was included, because I think it may turn into a close race between this and PG Tips as my favorite tea.

In the tin: no extraordinary notes stood out, slightly smokey, black tea.

Brewed: Again, smells and looks like a standard, plain black tea. Tasting it however, Wow! This is really good. I progressively added sugar, and ended up with more sugar in the cup than I normally add to any black tea, but I like a strong, sweet tea.

This makes a terrific all day tea.

English Breakfast Blends are my absolute favorite type of teas.

I got a small tin of this as part of the “English Tea Blend” Sampler set Upton sells.

In the tin: This smells exactly like what an English Breakfast blend should smell like.

Brewed: This looks, smells, and tastes exactly like what an English Breakfast blend should look, smell, and taste like. Dark brown, with a “tea” smell, and slight hint of tannin.

I was distracted by my cats clamoring for attention, so I think I may have oversteeped this, but it was still really good. I’ll definitely keep track of time better on the next brew.

I added sugar and milk, since this is an EBB. An excellent rival for my beloved PG Tips as a first cuppa.