Earl Grey Cheesecake

These teas by 52teas smell amazing. Incredible. This is no exception. I only steeped this for for 2 minutes because lately every black seems bitter to me. It seems to have worked! I’m not getting any bitterness.

Thrilled the Earl Grey is not overwhelming. Actually the taste of this tea is much more subtle than the scent. I’m much more tasting the cheesecake and black tea – yay for little bergamot!

Thanks to Will Work For Tea for yet another awesome sample!

Ok here it goes, this is one I was dying to try, well it was tied between this one and pancake breakfast! I am not only a huge fan of Earl Gray, but I am a huge fan of cheesecake as well, so this one should be a home run.

Dry this tea has a similar aroma to cream of earl that I get from Davids, its a very creamy smelling EG but 52teas EG Cheesecake also had a slightly floral aroma on my nose. The steeped tea is very dark in color and has a very sweet smelling EG aroma to it, very pleasing as I sit here staring at piles of paperwork before the weekend.

Initial taste I could certainly taste the bergamot immediately; however it faded quickly to a sweet creamy aftertaste. It’s not super cheese cake flavored which is nice, but you do get that taste from it, or at least I do. I really like the Earl Gray base to this though it has the perfect balance of tea and bergamot.

Again thanks to Alphakitty for this sample in our recent trade, it was hard to pick out ones to try from her large collection but so far I have been hitting home runs. Unfortunately this one looses a mark or two for missing out a bit on the cheesecake flavor, if it had of been slightly more pronounced this tea would be impossible for me to stop drinking. Been contemplating getting a 52teas club membership and if the majority of blends are like this one I cant see why I am putting it off.

A lonely pouch of Earl Grey Cheesecake had been chilling in my tea cupboard for quite some time. Frank’s post earlier this week on how to make a pitcher of iced tea brought this little pouch out of hiding. I rarely make freshly brewed iced tea, what can I say, just love it hot generally. And the idea of brewing a whole ounce of one of my favorites just freaks me out. But, its humid here in Kansas this week. And sadly I didn’t love the Earl Grey Cheesecake hot, so I thought, what the heck, live a little. ;) So glad that I did! It’s creamy and kinda smoky, and somehow I am tasting the “cheesecake” more in this version. Wow, you might just make an iced tea convert out of me yet, Frank! I actually think I prefer this tea iced. I suppose this makes sense, after all, who eats cheesecake hot?

Although I am sure this would be good to someone that just loves Earl grey and it isn’t that I don’t like it I just like Earl grey that is less bold. This one is way too strong for me and I don’t taste cheesecake of anything creamy like that. It did however, taste better with pizza which is why I gave it more points than normally.

To finish off Day 1 of my 52teas/mysweethoneybush/manteas week-end I chose an obvious dessert tea that I’ve enjoyed a number of times before ..

This is an incredibly strong perfumed tea, so much so that it can actually turn a lot of people I’ve offered it to off .. And I’m not talking just your regular Earl Grey Bergamot either, this is full on floral, plus Bergamot, plus Lemon, plus …. ?? I’m really struggling to put my finger on what else I can smell, but I’d say it’s easily the strongest scented tea I have in my cupboard .. And I love it!

The flavour is smoooooooth, rich, complex, creamy, and very much enhanced by the addition of just a little milk & sugar .. The second brew is even more delightful as it has less of the over-powering fragrance that detracts from the flavour, so I tend to quickly drink the first cup and linger on the second .. As I am right now :D

This might sound strange but I think I can detect some Rose just as I swallow ?! Or at least I’m getting a hint of some flavour profile that’s also in my favourite Rose Tea, and it’s most obvious when the cup is lukewarm to coolish – also just like it is in my fav China Rose blend!

So that’s how I like this best; 2nd brew, a little bit milky, a little bit sweet, and a fraction past the lukewarm stage (cool but not chilled) .. This is the perfect tea to finish off my lazy rainy Saturday, and I will indeed be sad when I finish my pouch of it :(

Hm. I think I may have made this too strong.

I was so excited to try the Earl Grey Cheesecake. It’s the tea that convinced me to place my first 52 Teas order.

I thought I liked lots of emphasis on bergamot in Earl Greys. But, either I’m wrong or did something questionable with this. It came out pretty bitter and the bergamot was harsh. I didn’t even finish it!

I think I might need to completely disregard the suggested paramaters and play around with it. I will leave the rating till next time.

. . . ew.

Burnt, bitter, no hint of creaminess or cheesecake. Just a very poor, very fake-tasting Earl experience.

I forget how potent freshly packed tea is; I got this and put my usual measure (i.e. too much) into the pot and … totally forgot about it.

This happens a lot.

It is a credit to the quality of the leaves that the result was still drinkable! I diluted and diluted and diluted until I ended up with something more pleasing, but by this time my taste buds were utterly demolished.

I tried this again this morning with The Office Water (dun dun dun) – the stuff that comes out of a water dispenser. Suffice to say that it is nowhere near boiling and can be imbibed within minutes. Usually this doesn’t work very well with extracting flavor from dried plant matter, but in the case of very fresh leaves like these, it’s perfect.

The end result is a very pleasing, mild Earl Grey with distinct notes and aroma of lemon. As far as I can tell, the “cheesecake” doesn’t add a flavor of its own, but makes the natural bitterness of Earl Grey a milder one, allowing the bergamot to come through more easily.

I’ll be making more of this today.

Just had my first cup of this. While I cannot discern the cheesecake flavour, I think this is such an awesome Earl Grey flavour!! I enjoyed the sweet, crisp and creamy Bergamont until the very last drop.