Earl Grey

Today did not get off to a good start, Steepsterites.

I set my alarm for 8am so that I could be up in time to welcome my couch, lovingly, when it was delivered ‘sometime between 10 and 2pm’. Showered. Dressed. Went downstairs to get tip money for the guys. Passing the front desk, the concierge says: “Sorry you missed your furniture delivery!”

?!?!

But they told me 10 and 2, I exclaim, flailing and looking (I am sure) generally aghast. I’m early!

“No, they were here yesterday,” he says.

Of course, yesterday I was out running errands and incommunicado, because I wanted to be sure my house was perfectly in order and prepared for my couch, for which I have been waiting for six months.

Sigh.

So instead of getting tip money at the market around the corner, I bought a chocolate toffee bar. Eff it, I tell you. Eff it all and give me candy.

I needed a tea that would stand up to a Skor bar. Earl Grey was the tea that got me interested in better quality (and loose) leaf. I love it, but I’ve strayed away from the perfumey stuff in recent months. Still, it sounded capable of cutting through the candy bar, and I’ve had this tin in my cupboard, untouched, for everrrrrr.

It’s an extremely bergamot-y tea. The scent of it is high and forward, but not bitter; there are times when Earl Grey’s bergamot tastes more floral to me than citrusy, but this cup is very much in the citrus end of the spectrum — possibly more than any I can recall. For all that it’s a very smooth cup, with no astringency even after four minutes in boiling-hot water. I think I’d enjoy it with a bit of milk and sugar (which is how I usually prefer my Earl Grey — I skipped it today because I don’t like to first rate a tea with additives).

It’s also not bad with the candy bar, though I think for the other half, I might switch things up and go with some Dawn.

Steepsterites, I started going through my dashboard, realized that I have way too much to catch up on, then realized that I have a lot of tea to log, and then realized that I have email from a week ago that I still needed to respond to, and then realized that it was already 1:30 AM.

When did that happen? It was 11:00 PM two minutes ago! I demand to know where all that time slipped away to. Probably somewhere on the island with Jack and Sawyer and Kate and Desmond. Mm…Desmond. But I digress. [Again.]

Anyhow, you’ll have to bear with me as I slowly, slowly, [or maybe not so much, because 14-odd days of logs is really daunting] try and catch up with what’s been going on in the Steepster-verse. I feel like I’ve finally nailed a decent rhythm so far as school goes, but I’ve got a bit of crazy week coming up and so I’m just letting you know I might be fading in and out a bit [not unlike AT&T’s wireless signal – I’m sorry but I couldn’t help it; their commercials have been driving me crazy]. Okay, on to the tea.

I’ve had some pretty bad Earl Grey in the span of my tea drinking experience. For me, most Earl Greys tend to fall in the middling to bleh range. Andrews and Dunham’s definitely doesn’t land with the majority.

Is this the best Earl Grey I’ve had? No. But it’s solid. The bergamot is visible, but not overwhelming, and I found the finish to be sweet. Overall, it was a very smooth tea, though I did notice it getting a little bitter as it cooled.

I don’t think that this is going to be an Earl Grey that knocks people over with wow factor [especially those drinkers that are more discerning in their Earl Grey tastes than I], but I also don’t think it would be disappointing. It’s one of those teas that I’ll enjoy drinking until it’s gone, but doesn’t scream for a re-order.

This Earl Grey is delightful. The more I drink it the more I am liking it. I still maintain that I prefer Lupicia’s Earl Grey… but, it certainly is NOT the worst I’ve ever had either. I find the bergamot in this tea to be quite remarkable as it possesses a fruitier flavor to it. Yes, I know that bergamot IS indeed a fruit… but my experience has been that bergamot possesses a very “fragrant” flavor that I can liken to a flowery quality (since flowers are fragrant). This bergamot is less flowery and more fruity. That is to say that while it is quite fragrant to the nose, it is less fragrant to the palate.

Eh… suffice is to say that I like it.

The bergamot is fresh and juicy – it made my tastebuds do a little happy dance. Oddly enough, about half way through my mug it started reminded me of a chocolate orange. Not at all a bad thing but certainly unexpected. Added a little sugar and milk and this is a super EG breakfast tea. Mmm.

So, I finally got the Zarafina I ordered some time last century. (Or maybe the beginning of the month, I forget which.) It was very, very used. To the point where I was worried it would still work when I took it out of the box. But I got it all cleaned up, figured out how it all went together, and then thought about what I should baptize it with.

I decided that an Earl Grey would be good, and opening my cupboard, the A&D tea darn near fell on me. Right then. A&D Earl Grey it would be then.

So I looked at all the dials, read the instructions twice, and just jumped in. And it worked fine!

And the tea was good, as usual. Yummy. The bergamot was bold, the tea was lovely and just – YUM. I love this tea. If you like an Earl Grey that is loud and lovely, this is for you.

Per Alicia’s suggestion and an enjoyable one at the B&N yesterday, I decided to try to make a London Fog with A&D’s Earl Grey tonight after a yummy dinner of Indian food. I knew it was late but it sounded good and seemed like it would go good after Indian.

I made the Earl Grey as I normally would and added heated milk, vanilla extract, and sugar. I didn’t think it tasted right at first. I could taste everything, but it was off. Too little Earl Grey, too much milk. As it cooled, it got better. I think next time I could steep the tea much stronger and use less milk. But I liked it and there will be a next time.

1 cup Earl Grey tea, 1/4 cup heated milk, 1/8 tsp vanilla extract, 1 rounded tsp sugar.

In yesterday’s mail, a card full of tea arrived from wonderful wombatgirl! Inside the card was written in large black letters

Tea.
Earl Grey.
Hot.

I of course got the HUGEST kick out of that, being an Earl Grey fan and a Picard fan :) The card is now on my desk here at work turned inside out so that the words show!!! I am so happy that I am getting to try A + D Damn Fine Earl Grey!!! :)

It is an absolutely delicious Earl. I love whatever bergamot they used, and the concentration is perfect! Not too much, not too little. I am absolutely crazy for the tea base! It balances so well with the bergamot – and adds a really great foundation. Anyone know what kind of tea was used?

I really didn’t want to like it as much as I do! Damn A + D and their Damn Fine Teas! Now I have to go and get series 3! SHEESH!

In some breaking news, the amazing JacquelineM has won the “Courtesy Death Match” that we had going on for a swap. I received her package today and was blown away. Check out these most adorable tins:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabstea/4629760163/

And those labels? Each one is hand colored and decorated with absolute charm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabstea/4629760379/in/photostream/

Yeah, she’s amazing — and the teas she gave me are amazing too. I’m am unworthy! And I’m also apparently dead cuz she won the Death Match. ;)

A&D’s Earl Grey won out as the first tea I selected to try: an Earl Grey sort of fit my mood this afternoon. Oy — this is some yummy tea! It’s subtle and gives me even more warm fuzzies (if the Courtesy Death Match hadn’t already done me in, then the sheer amount of warm fuzziness I’ve had lately would’ve done it. I’d be a warm pile-o-goo).

I think that I like my Rosy Earl Grey more. It’s got a bit more oomph and the Frou-Frou Factor. But this is absolutely lovely. And it has pushed me over the edge to purchase this series as soon as possible. Thank you so much JacquelineM!!!!! TG

I’m not really a connoisseur of Earl Grey Teas, not having tasted a myriad of brands in several years nor having done any side by side comparisons recently, if ever. However, I do know that I like this tea.

The small bits of dark tea leaves are fragrant in the tin, pleasantly so. I brewed up 2/3 of a cup this morning to 2/3 of a tsp with boiling water steeped at a minimum of 5 minutes per infusion in a teeny-tiny glass teapot – and I think I had a total of 4 infusions of 5 oz or so each time.

The tea looked gorgeous in the glass teacup. It was a dark amber lightly washed with reddish tints and just simply sparkled in the glass cup – true, it may have been that touch of the early morning sunlight streaming into the house, but so what?, this tea really is gorgeous in the teacup. And tastes very good. It’s mellow, smooth, lightly fragrant, and best of all, the bergamot was there but not overpowering to this novice palate. All the infusions were such, and one or two infusions did last a little more than 5 minutes in the teapot in which I brewed this tea this morning. One can’t help but savor this tea, sipping slowly to enjoy it fully while breathing in the aroma of the fragrant tea to fully appreciate it all, in a breakfast room awash with the beautiful morning sun. A nice peaceful delicious beginning to today’s tea adventure.

A&D ARE IN DA HOUSE!!! Sorry JacquelineM we’ll have to wait a little bitty while longer for your package.

Anyway, this is a company with very reasonable international shipping rates (about $11 world-wide flat rate) and I just WISH I’d found out about that sooner. It took Auggy sharing a sample of the awesome Caravan with me to make me desperate enough to go have a look. Now I’m sad that I missed out on the others series. Jackee Muntz and Thomas Sampson in particular. Oh well. I guess we can’t have everything.

This is going to be interesting. I have high expectations of this company, maybe to the point of foolishness considering that I have only tried the Caravan and since that was a smoky, I was predisposed to love it.

This Earl Grey business is another kettle of fish. I’m not really an Earl Grey fan. There are some that I have liked a lot (Kusmi’s Smoky Earl Grey is great for example), but it’s not a type I would generally go for myself. The Bergamot can easily become bitter and dusty for me. I did consider seeing if I could get someone to split a set with me so I got the Caravan and they got this one, but then I got greedy and wanted it all for myself.

The aroma of the dry leaves is very bergamot-y but not overwhelmingly so. This is a good thing. Clear bergamot, but not a promise of dusty bitterness. After steeping it’s the same. The bergamot aroma is very clear, but I can’t really pick up the tea. Just bergamot.

Hmmm… I’m in doubt, Steepsterites. Flavour here seems to be twofold. There is a fresh sort of sparkly flavour just at first. It’s familiar but I can’t really place it. Some kind of sweet citrus-y thing, I think. Without it being truly citrus-y at the same time. It just there for a brief, brief moment and then it’s all bergamot. Heavy, dusty and borderline bitter on the soft palate(*).

I like the little pang-flavour there at the beginning, although it because more and more difficult to find as I drink, as the heavy bergamot lingers in the aftertaste and drowns it out. The aftertaste is pleasant though. The heavyness goes away quickly and it leaves this citrus-y remnant that makes my mouth feel fresh and gives the tea a sort of summer-y image.

Considering the fact that I’m not an Earl Grey fan, I would say, “Yes, this is indeed a damn fine tea.”

_{(*) Note I said ‘palate’ there. Not palette, which is something a painter uses to mix paints on.}

Yesterday I started with Harney’s Earl Grey Supreme so today I’m giving the A&D a whirl.

Wow. I really like this. Figures, right? Limited edition and all.

The bergamot smells fairly strong in the dry leaf, but in an appetizing way; not oily, not perfumy, not stomach-wrenchingly acidic. When steeped isn’t too strong at all, just a little stronger than the Harney’s (which means pretty much exactly the right strength for me). And not only that, it has a very interesting quality to it. It isn’t oily, and it isn’t tart, but it has a sweetness to it, and it’s almost as though it has a floral note to it without being perfumey. In any case, it’s got a depth of character that I haven’t experienced in a bergamot flavoring before except maybe in the Samovar Earl Lavender.

The tea is mild, smooth and medium-to-light bodied. It’s a good foundation for the bergamot flavoring to show off on, and frankly I find the bergamot flavor so interwoven with the tea as to make an attempt at describing the tea separate from the bergamot futile. It has an unobtrusive, slightly sweet finish.

I’m sad that I’m going to have to distance myself from this one so as not to fall in love, it being limited edition and all.