Cream of Earl Grey (organic)

Shared a pot of this with my roommate tonight, in another advent calendar tea sipdown! There was enough leaf leaf (4.5 tsp or thereabouts) for two large mugs each, which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

To me, this tea smells primarily like a light earl grey, but the flavour is oh so delicious. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the tea contained creamer and sweetener, just like in the good old days when my best friend and I used to go through pot after pot of heavily sugared/creamed earl grey, spending the night playing games and laughing. Clearly this is a less sinful version! Unlike straight earl greys, the creaminess of this tea softens the bergamot and eliminates any bitterness/astringency coming from the black tea base. A perfect cup (although, perhaps not the best thing to drink immediately prior to sleeping!)

ETA: Re-steeped the infuser in a single mug of tea for ~3.5 minutes, and ended up with a really delicious, surprisingly not too strong cup of tea. Yum! I think I no longer have any more earl grey creams in my stash :‘( (Unless… there’s one in my box from LiberTEAS?! I will have to check ASAP!)

ETA again: Third infusion is as far as this one went. At this point, it’s less like an earl grey, and more like a weak black tea. Still ok, but I’m drinking this because it’s an earl grey cream, and now it is much less so. Oh well, felt bad about throwing so many leaves away without at least attempting some additional infusions!

drumroll please………
I WENT SKIING FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON TODAY!!!!! I love to ski but I haven’t been able to go as I had hernia surgery at the beginning of February and that sort of wiped out my options of skiing because I didn’t go in January. But I got to go and it was nice and powdery and lovely and I am so sore right now but it was worth it.

Anyways, I’ve noticed that when I’m sore I have a craving for Earl Grey. That sounds really awkward but it’s true-after I work out (something else that’s been put on hold :( ) or run or anything that makes me sore, I crave Earl Grey. So I dug this out from the samples that Bonnie sent me and brewed it up.

It’s honestly a sip down. Not because I’m in a hurry but because it’s so easy to drink. I’m not picky about my Earl Grey’s-as long as I can definitely taste that there’s bergamont in there, I don’t care. And this is pretty good. I added milk and sugar (pretty much the only way I drink black Earl’s) and it’s now almost gone. Not amazing, but not at all bad.

Thank you Bonnie!

After all this time, I picked this up, as I’m on the search for that perfect EGC.

Previous reports of the bergamot being ultra potent led me to believe I wouldn’t care for this, but this is quite smooth in comparison to some others that I’ve tried. A gentle waft of cream is coming from the dry leaf, and thus far, I’d say the flavours are balanced.

The first steep is a little on the brisk side, but I’d say that this has a very desirable amount of bergamot in here. Not as creamy nor vanilla-y as I had hoped, but no bitterness, at least. The cream is present in every sip but it doesn’t hang around for as long as I would like.

The second steep still bursts with flavour, the liquor almost as amber-y as the first steep, and the creaminess is a little more pronounced now.

Not my favourite EGC, but if I’m ever EGC-less and need a fast fix, I’d most definitely skip down to the nearby DT and grab more of this.

I seem to have fallen in love with Earl Grey Creams. I adore the two I have in stock always (Upton’s Vanilla Cream and Culinary’s White EGC), and I really enjoyed the one I tried from the Tea Table. I was kind of addicted to the ice cream I made out of it…

Anyway, I realized I’ve had this gem of a sample sitting around for some time untouched. Well, time to change that! The smell is heavenly, just what you’d expect from an EGC. Rich, smooth, creamy and dessert-like. The flavor is strong too, very vanilla-y, like pudding or a cupcake. It reminds me of their vanilla oolong (probably because I also had it today) but the flavor doesn’t mask the base. I think black teas can take a LOT of flavoring and still stand out, and you can definitely taste the black here.

However, what I am not getting is a whole lot of bergamot. It’s fainter than the Tea Table version, and is kind of downplayed by all the creaminess. Usually I find that citrus bite and vanilla smoothness and interesting counterpoint, but here it’s just smooth cream and a strong black base with maybe a tiny hint of bergamot. It’s more a lightly citrus-y cream tea than an EGC but it’s still delicious!

SIPDOWN! I think? this is from raritea though i can’t be certain, as at a certain point i stopped noticing who was putting what into my box at our swap.
I vaguely recall being asked if i wanted to try this and i’m 90% certain that even though i pretty much hate earl grey, i wanted to compare it to the earl grey creme from upton that i actually quite like (because it tastes like lemon cream).

This one? much more bergamoty, and i taste more of a vanilla flavour than the lemon i get when i drink the version from upton. I think this pretty much solidifies in my mind though, that me and bergamot? we’re never going to be friends lol

i haven’t tasted this yet because i’m still waiting for it to cool.
but it has been brewed in my brand new black timolino.
!!!
now i have a black timolino for black tea and a green one for green and white tea.
(i just need to do a good cleaning on the green one is all)
i feel very satisfied with this arrangement. i use my timolino always. even when i’m not traveling. because it keeps the tea good and hot and i’m a slow sipper.

So I went to my local DAVIDsTEA store….AGAIN….haha, I took my mom and she picked up 3 teas, and I decided to get a bit too (obviously! :D ). So this is my first purchase of a black tea from DAVIDsTEA I think! I did have this particular tea once at my aunt’s, but as I didn’t know her steeping parameters I didn’t review it. I didn’t look up any tips on how to brew on here, so I just did 3 mins with boiling water.

Oh, and the dry smell is delicious!! Creamy and bergamoty and yummmmmyy. I haven’t drank that many Earl Greys to be honest, and even fewer Earl Grey creams, but this one smells quite delicious. The steeped smell is nice and creamy as well, with a light touch of the bergamot. Also, love the pretty little flowers in this :)

So for taste, this is pretty decent, considering I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to. It’s very creamy and quite light for a black tea, although the aftertaste has a predominantly black tea taste with it, a wee bit bitter maybe. The bergamot is also not very strong, at least, I remember tasting it a lot more in other EGs. But for a cream, this is rather yummy! I would like to try a splash of milk next time I brew this, just to see what it does to the creaminess!

Overall, I’m so far pleased with my impulse black tea purchase. It’s a nice change to have a different base on a flavored tea, even though I probably shouldn’t be having this this late in the evening haha. But quite creamy and good! I may experiment with steep times to see which ones make the flavors pop. Oh, I also think I like EG creams a bit more than EG themselves, even though I have barely any experience with both, but that could be because I lovee vanilla, and cream = vanilla. :D

I think I probably really bug Ricky here on Steepster because I’m always emailing him about merging duplicate entries, heh. This one happens to have two entries, and even though my pouch uses the other variant on the name (“Organic Cream of Earl Grey”) I chose this one because it has more entries. Well, they should be merged soon anyway.

This is the last of the three samples I bought at the shop last weekend. It smells really creamy, and it delivers. It’s possibly one of the creamiest EGC’s I’ve had, though it suffers a bit from the same faint, slightly pithy, bitter-citrus flavor that their plain Earl has. Not shocking, because that’s probably the base of this. The cream goes a long way to smoothing that out, but it’s not quite enough for me. Still, that is some super vanilla-y cream in there, with almost caramelly notes. Pretty tasty.

Thank you Courtney for this tea. I love Earl Grey :)

In raw form this tea has a very strong citrus scent that also reminds me a little of liquorice (for some reason). Ahhh thinking about it now it must be the vanilla pod.

Once steeped this tea has a creamy and sweet vanilla scent with waxy bergamot behind it. Very nice.

Without sugar or milk: Slight sweet from the vanilla with a soft creamy element to it. The bergamot is a little sour and floral which gives the tea an overall tangy taste. It’s drinkable but it would take a few mugs to get used to it.

With sugar and milk: Now I can pick up the vanilla pod a little better with it’s thick licorice like taste. The bergamot is less sour and blends in better.

It makes a huge difference with the added sugar and milk, almost like it’s a completely different tea. Me and my husband love it. We will be drinking lots of tea tonight whilst we play FF IX :) Thanks once again Courtney

Day 5 of 24 days of tea (and my BIRTHDAY, woot!) Unfortunately, I forgot about the tea steeping and ruined the blend. Way too bitter, dang. I think I’ll make a purchase of this later to try again though since it got some great reviews.

I have mixed feeling about this Earl Grey. The first thing that hit me was the citrus note, then the creamy vanilla part, then the tea. When I think earl grey, I think fragrant tea with just a hint of citrus. I really want to smell that earl grey distinct aroma and that didn’t hit me with the first few sips. It kind of crept up on me as I kept drinking it and even then the tea didn’t seem to have that flavor I was looking for. The vanilla is nice, but just a tad too overpowering. I’m very sensitive to vanilla and often find that when it’s used, there is too much of it. At least the vanilla didn’t taste artificial.

I just steeped this a second time, but I feel like the tea is mostly the same. I don’t really notice a change in how the flavors progress. It feels a little smoother, but I think that may be because I knew what to expect from the flavor.

All in all it is a good tea- just not what I was expecting. I think I could grow to like this, but I was expecting more fragrance from the tea itself.

Sample package label:
“BLACK TEA / ORGANIC
Lovers of Earl Grey adore this creamy alternative to the original blend. We’ve added a touch of vanilla for an unexpectedly rich, creamy taste experience.

Ingredients – Organic: Black tea, marigolds, cornflowers. With natural and organic flavoring.

1.5 tsp. / 98*C 208*F / 3-5 min.
USDA Organic / Canada Organic Biologique / PAREVE”

6-oz water with total dissolved solids (TDS) of 19 ppm, heated to 212*F and allowed to cool to 208*F – verified with DAVIDsTEA digital thermometer
1 Heaping Tevanna teaspoon

Introduction: I understand Cream of Earl Grey from DAVIDsTEA is a blend of organic Sri Lankan and Chinese black teas. Most EG teas have a 100% Sri Lankan (Ceylon) base. Having the addition of a Chinese black tea, was a significant reason for wanting to sample this EG tea. Our current EG has a Ceylon base and I can’t get past the astringency. Other primary reasons: My wife loves EG and prefers organic teas.

This tea has a vanilla / floral fragrance, which is different than a classic lemony Earl Grey.

Dark brown hue.

3-min & 4-min Infusions: The initial taste at both these time points was too light.

First 5-min Infusion:
There was a strong vanilla & floral aroma, but we didn’t detect a lemony aroma as is typical of a classic Earl Grey.
This tea was very smooth and rich with a strong vanilla & floral taste and a very subdued oil of Bergamot lemon flavor. There was no hint of bitterness. There was a moderate amount of astringency, as compared to our current Earl Grey Cream from Whistling Kettle. The reduced level of astringency appears to be consistent with this EG tea’s reduced level of Sri Lankan black tea.
2nd 5-min Infusion:
The second infusion was enjoyable. I was surprised that the flavoring was still present.

Impression: This tea is a good choice for creamy vanilla lovers who also appreciate strong floral notes.

For those who prefer a classic lemony Oil of Bergamot flavor:
“It’s complicated.” The additional natural ingredients that give this Earl Grey its rich full-bodied taste are much stronger than the classic Oil of Bergamot EG flavor. Achieving just the right balance must be quite a challenge as the number of ingredients increases. DAVIDsTEA also offers an Earl Grey.

Suggestion: For those like my wife who love the classic EG aroma & flavor, DavidsTea may also wish to develop another version of their Cream of Earl Grey where the oil of bergamot is as strong as the other natural ingredients – a Cream of Classic Earl Grey.

Many thanks to DAVIDsTEA and Natalie for providing this very generous size free sample.

I always enjoy trying Earl Grey & Cream Earl Grey blends. DT’s variety does not disappoint, it is very similar to Teavana’s Cream Earl Grey.

A mild bergamot flavor along with heavy does of creamy vanilla. I would recommend this if you are already placing an order with DAVIDsTEA. Thanks to Stephanie for letting me try this out.

This will not be a totally precise tasting note as this was tasted together with 5 other EGCs but this one has a solid flavor that lasted 3 steeps and can possibly live up to another steep or so.

For the 1st steep, I liked how this tasted more than I did the other 4…but not so much more than ZenTea’s :)

Hot or cooled down, this did not get bitter! Hooray! And in the end (after the 3rd steep), this was the best tasting of all 6 EGCs that I tried.

Dry Leaf Nose: Creamy bergamot aroma.

Liquor: Dark brown liquor.

Flavour: Creamy with a sweet and prominent bergamot note. Black tea in the background but present with a rich and supporting role.

Alright, apparently I don’t like Earl Grey, who knew?
I can drink this if I add sugar but I don’t like the bergamot. I may give it another chance and try brewing it differently but… ew.

Anyone up for a swap of almost 50g of Cream of Earl Grey?

Edit – lots of exclamation points to follow…

Not to be dramatic, but if I was forced to only drink one kind of tea for the rest of my life, (the horror!!), this would probably be it.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is the only loose leaf Earl Grey tea I’ve tried.

However, before Davidstea opened up in my city, my favourite tea of all time was Tetley’s Earl Grey Vanilla. Looking at reviews on that, apparently it’s not very good according to the standards of tea connoisseurs, but it will always have a place in my heart (and in my cupboard, for those easy teabag sorts of days).

Then one day I decided to try something at Davidstea which didn’t classify as a dessert blend. This was it. I expected it to be fairly similar to the Tetley one, boy was I wrong!

It was like a flavour explosion in my mouth! So creamy and just the perfect amount of vanilla sweetness to balance off the delicious bergamot! I steep it usually twice per perfect spoonful, as per the directions. It’s good straight up but I almost always add a bit of cream (no watered down milk for this girl!)

Compared to the Tetley version this tea blew my mind, I will never not have a tin, at home and at work!!

(Would love to try some other brands’ versions of this sometime to compare!)

What?! I haven’t logged this yet? How on earth did that happen! This is a standard at my house. The other half just loves it, and thankfully chips in his fair share of the 250g bags when I do orders. Its a really nice early grey, and the vanilla just sets it over the edge. The vanilla adds a lovely creaminess to the tea. Will be drinking cream of earl grey for years to come.

MANY THANKS again to Steepster Bonnie for sharing her very interesting teas with me!!!

The title of this tea is fascinating. I didn’t know what to expect from an Organic Cream of Earl Grey tea. When I opened the packet, I couldn’t detect the familiar aroma of bergamot that I was accustomed to in other Earl Grey selections. Instead, the scent was more like pipe tobacco or cough syrup.

I steeped this tea for six minutes at 212 degrees. A golden orange colored brew was produced.

The flavor of this tea is a cornucopia of fruity, flowery, sweet, and almost perfume-like taste. Ironically, the only attribute I don’t recognize is bergamot. However, it must just be a consequence of my allergy-plagued tastebuds because my fiancee commented on the bergamot scent when she walked into the house! There is no bitterness and nothing that I would describe as unpleasant.

This is a likable tea. It’s a little more flowery and fruity than I prefer but that isn’t stopping me from enjoying this sample.

So knowing now what I didn’t know before I dumped a shallow davids perfect tea spoon into the strainer and steeped it for the lowest recommended time.

Really want to love this tea since it smells so lovely.

Earl Grey suddenly becomes sexy in DT’s hands.

When brewed it smells more regular but has a lovely creamy disposition with that pinch of vanilla and is a richly honey colored drink.

This tea smells of wonderfully superior ingredients while keeping the classic Grey profile.

Taste is totally creamy with a passionate (but delicate) kiss of vanilla and bergamot.

This is definitely a great earl grey experience.It’s lovely and delicate nothing is overpowering or false tasting.It is creamy and sexy.If you are looking for a less boring earl grey with pronounced sex appeal..this is it.