Earl Grey Moonlight

I’m not normally a huge fan of Adagio’s flavored stuff. I used to be. But I suppose places like Kusmi, Lupicia and Mariage Freres have raised my expectations for flavored teas and Adagio no longer matches up. That being said, the husband loves having his tea with lots of sugar and milk and I refuse to sacrifice some of my super tasty (and sometimes expensive) teas (both flavored and un-) to him because of that. He gets Stash and Adagio and the like.

This is the tea I made for him this morning and the leaves smelled so good, I had to make myself some. The smell made me think of icing on an Earl Grey cupcake (if one were to make and ice an Earl Grey cupcake). Sadly, post-steeping the smell calms down from that super-sweetness a bit. But happily it still smells like an Earl Grey cupcake, just now the baked cake part (I think that’s the vanilla note making me think of cupcake cake).

The taste isn’t as cupcake-y as the smell(s). In fact, I get no cupcake. (Sadness.) But it is still nice. Oh, it’s not the smoothest tea – it’s got a little prickly texture that isn’t astringency but probably would turn into that if steeped longer – but the flavor is nice. There’s a bit of a perfume/fake flavor note on the front end, especially when slurped but the vanilla/cream-ish note to it smooths things out a bit.

Honestly, it’s not the best tea ever or anything, but it is totally drinkable without additives and that counts for something in my book.

This smells pretty nice, but the flavor is a little watery.
I added stevia, which helped.
As it cooled it got a little better, there’s a nice lemon cake with creamy frosting kind of thing, but not real inspiring.
Still, it didn’t taste bad.

Again, the steep time is soft. I’m not sure, exactly, that it’s correct.

Ready for the least-inspired tasting note I may ever write?

Here it is:

‘Mreh.’

It’s drinkable. The tea base tastes brighter than the last two Earl Greys I sipped on today. Ceylon, perhaps? The result is a pretty one-dimensional cup with a brighter, definitely more citrus-y flavor than the other two had — there was an actual chunk of dried citrus in the leaves, so that explains that.

I do appreciate that the tea taste in this has a stronger presence than in the Tea Guys cream blend, but the rest of what’s going on is pretty underwhelming, so while it moves in the right direction, it’s still very heavy on the bergamot with the vanilla taking a far backseat, with the result that it tastes to me a little bit like some sort of…cleaner.

A nice cleaner, mind you. Some kind of cleaner I wouldn’t mind using in my kitchen because it would smell good. But even so…

I should probably admit that at this point today I’m sick to death of Earl Grey. Take this with a grain of salt. ;) As a matter of fact, if anybody has been curious about trying this (I understand it’s relatively new as an offering), let me know. I have a tiny sampler tin, but I’m willing to just send it elsewhere; I have more of the Tea Guys blend than I’m likely to be able to drink while it’s fresh, anyway, and I can’t see myself wanting a whole bunch of this.

This is an old favorite of mine. I think it’s an Earl Grey that I will never tire of, because of the touch of sweet and creamy vanilla. There is a robust black tea flavor with a citrusy finish. There is a little hint of bitter lemon noticeable initially. The aftertaste is completely sweet and creamy bergamot and vanilla. The tea’s flavor is a little on the weak side but adding milk and sweetener helps. I like that this is a lighter EG, it’s not too heavy on the bergamot. Now that I’ve made this cup and started sipping, it is actually less wonderful than I remembered. Still good, but just not as perfect as I’ve thought in the past. Hmmm, maybe my tastes are changing.

It’s a beautiful day here – the sun is shining and there’s a slight breeze so it’s the perfect temperature outside. Hope everyone enjoys their Tuesday!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with blue and yellow petals and pieces of orange peel.
-Dry leaves smell like soft bergamot and creamy vanilla. Tea liquor aroma is of malty black tea and sweet citrus.
-Tea liquor is a clear very dark brown color.
-Robust and lemony black tea flavor with a citrusy finish. Sweet and creamy bergamot vanilla aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Light malty and citrusy flavor with a hint of sweet vanilla.

I also made an order at Adagio that arrived today. First one in almost three years. As I usually do, I opened each package just to sniff. It’s a sort of silly but fun ritual I have whenever I get new tea. I have to smell it, to get a feel for what it’s going to be like.

The scent of this tea made my friend and brother both grin and agree that we should try it first. It was a potent, incredibly strong Earl Grey bergamot smell, topped with rich, creamy vanilla. Like buttercream frosting. It promised to be something refined and dessert-like.

In their words, it tastes like Fruity Pebbles if Fruity Pebbles was a tea. Of course, there’s more to it than that, but I felt it was worth mentioning. This is a gorgeous balance of flavors. The vanilla lingers longest in the aftertaste in delicious harmony with the bergamot as it fades. It really does taste like the top of a cupcake, but with a strong black tea base. It’s lemony and powerful and I think it will make a great comfort tea to take with me on the way to work when it’s cold. Waking up and sipping this would definitely improve my mornings.

I had wandered away from Adagio, but I find that old loyalty is coming back.

I got this tea as part of my order during the Great Cherry Blossom Hunt O’Doom on the Adagio site.

The smell of the dry leaves was very nice – citrusy earl grey with a distinctly sweet vanilla scent. The earl grey base is clearly the same one as the earl grey bravo – ie. very strong and pungent – and I’d hoped that the added vanilla would tone it down a little bit, but that doesn’t really seem to be the case. I found that even with a short brewing time it was still too strong to be drunk without milk. The milk softened things out and allowed the vanilla to come through a bit, however, it had to fight the powerful bergamot notes to do so.

I’m rather disapointed as the end result wasn’t a creamy as I thought it would be and tasted very similar to the original Earl Grey Bravo.

For a girl who likes her flavored black teas, I usually don’t reach for a variation of Earl Grey. Today is different. I had planned to have hazelnut or almond oolong for breakfast as I’m getting a replenishment supply from the mail lady, who by the way can’t get here soon enough! Anyway, The Earl Grey Moonlight was sitting next to the other above mentioned teas and it won out. Strange….

Usually I’ll choose an Earl Grey Cream over a regular Earl Grey. Something about the cream flavoring mellows out the sharpness of the citrus. And I’ve been burned so many times by the overuse of bergamot that I hardly ever give it a whirl.

Enter Adagio’s sample: I bought this because it was a sample size. For not drinking it very often (I mean maybe 6 times a year, tops!), I really didn’t want a bunch of it hanging around.

I had 12 ounces of water and steeped 2 tsp. of this with a half tsp. of Adagio’s Cream Black, using the below preparation parameters. A couple tablespoons of simple syrup and half & half and it turned out really delicious!

The sample size was the right amount, as there are just too many other teas I prefer. When this runs out, I might get another sample to have on hand for those rare times that I reach for an Earl Grey.

Visiting my BFF, and we’re having a tea snobbery session. After dividing up the night’s purchases, she offered me a cup of this.

I’m not a huge fan of vanilla, but it didn’t seem super strong so I said I was game. It’s juuuuust on the good side of bearable (for me); enough to sweeten the cup but not quite enough to make it awful.

The Earl Grey comes through very nicely. Overall, this is a pretty good cup! I’m not sure I’d want it every day, but occasionally as a nice complement to dessert (we’re making scones), it’s a great pick.

Sipped down my sample of this latte style.

Now when I was youngish, I read a book where the main character drinks a lot of earl grey. Having no idea what earl grey was, I imagined it to taste as a sort of creamy sweet ‘grey’ tasting drink. I don’t know why. It was a taste I invented in my head with absolutely no context, I don’t think I’d even tried tea at that point.

Now, while I’ve come to love earl grey for what is is, in latte form with a hearty amount of sugar, this tastes exactly how I imagined earl grey to taste like. Which is interesting. Maybe I’ll order this again sometime and try making some ‘milk tea’ out of it.

So I’ve had this sitting in my cupboard for a while now, and I thought I’d try it again and see if adding milk made me magically like it. Nope! Mind you for reasons that I can’t adequately explain to myself but which can probably be summarized by “I’m cheap,” I am still using the Almond Milk of Fail, so that probably didn’t help either.

I really should just toss out the rest of that almond milk.

I’m liking this one! A lot! I didn’t think that I would rate an EGC this highly, but the cream aspect here is toned down considerably and there’s a nice licorice aftertaste that I adore. I do wish the bergamot had come through a little stronger, but otherwise this tea and I have no issues!

Update: Now that I’m mostly over that cold (and no longer on all the lovely cold medicine!) I’m not quite as effervescently enthusiastic about this one, but this is still a very enjoyable cup of tea! I continue to be weirded out about the creamless-cream flavoring in general (if it’s there, you should see it!) but when I compare this to the other EGCs I’ve tried (like the Della Terra) this one actually does allow the Earl Grey flavors to do more than just peek through. Without a doubt this is the best EGC I’ve tried, but I don’t think it will be a cupboard staple, or a finalist in my personal quest for the best Earl Grey.

Thanks to aisling of tea for sending me this one. The bergamot is not as strong as others that I have tried. A little bit a vanilla. This one was pretty good.

I got a sample of this, hoping to find a cheaper alternative to Teavana’s Earl Grey Creme. It’s def. not a replacement, but it does stand on its own as a great morning tea.

There isn’t the same level of creaminess I get from Teavana’s Earl Grey Creme, but (and I’m totally guessing here) there does seem to be a smoother bergamont flavor (I’m assuming that what I’m tasting is the bergamont anyway. Still learning!) than straight Earl Grey’s – which I like.

So, not a substitute (still looking, might just have to cave to The Man), but a tea worth drinking of its own accord!

I’m surprised by the reviews on this one! However, I am typically NOT an Earl Grey fan, and maybe that distinction yields my appeased tastebuds. Overall, I love the combination of creamy vanilla and citrusy bergamot. A friend of mine who adores Earl Grey can’t stand it – she says the medley is too unlike Earl Grey to take it seriously. And I think that’s why I like it! :) I also added a bit of Splenda (two packets) because the bergamot flavor was too strong for me at first.

Different from the other Earl Greys I’ve had in the past, has a little more complexity going on in the nose before adding water. I get smells similar to butterscotch and/or caramel, with citrus of course, plus the tea base.
Taste: I get the creamy thing plus a bit of a cotton candy flavor? Some vanilla too maybe. I don’t detect a huge a amount of bergamot. After making this several times, the butterscotchy smell comes through on taste quite a bit for me. I like some sugar with this tea, and bet it would make a good latte. I’ve had many earl greys, and this one is pretty good.

Today is just an EARL GREY kinda day I guess. Tried this sample, from the sound of it I expected it to be similar to Zen Tea’s earl grey cream, but I think this one was less… creamy? Good taste though! And I could get a hint of cream in the aftertaste. Still delicious enough I didn’t feel the need to add milk, though I’m sure that would have tasted swell too.

I have had this sample kicking around for awhile, and apparently never remembered to add it to my Cupboard here, or review it. It stands up well to breakroom tea abuse (not optimal water temp, splenda, and room-temp plastic tub creamer). Not bitter, fairly mild. Probably better for a rainy afternoon than for a wake-me-up tea though.

The blue cornflower makes the unsteeped leaves quite pretty. I am not sure what it does for the taste, I’ll have to look that up someday.

Goodness, I DO NOT like earl grey, but I love this tea! Adagio does a great job with creating an alternative option for the standard earl grey. The undertone of creaminess eases the typical bite from the “bergamot.”

Finished This one off

With all the not so great reviews here I was a little insecure to post a positive one ;) I really like this tea. Wish it were creamier. I noticed that it can be over brewed easily-maybe that’s with all Earl Greys. It turns bitter easily 3 minutes-max (for me)
Great aroma. I know Argo tea sells a drink with Earl Grey Vanilla with sugar and (soy) milk, so I tried my version at home using Adagio’s blend. works fine (plus hell of a lot cheaper)