Cream of Earl Grey (Organic)

My caffeine treat after finishing my midterm! I believe this is the first time I’ve had this in a travel mug, but it is quite tasty. I need to get more EGCs, they are so tasty and they just make me happy! This one is creamy yet not bitter, i think i steeped it almost 4 minutes too! Maybe the travel mug is actually slightly helping the flavor? Lol, i will happily sip this and get caught up on my homework that is due today haha.

ETA – happy day!! I got my first job offer!! So excited right now!! :D

TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT
IT’S MY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON STEEPSTER!
TOOTING MY HORN (If you don’t toot your own horn, nobody else will!)

So, why did I choose Cream of Earl Grey by DAVIDsTEA? It was one of my very first loose leaf tea purchases, and I found some in the cabinet.
Time to say adios to this packet, but not without a last cup to remember my journey.

I had never been a life-long tea drinker. I thought that tea was all fuss and pinky fingers up in the air…not for me at all. I liked strong coffee. My coffee came from Community Coffee in Louisiana and a small roaster (Cornucopia) in San Francisco.
While in Vancouver, B.C. at the Metropolis with my granddaughter Schey (Sept. 2011), we stopped in at Teaopia. We had never seen a tea shop like that before so I bought some tea for my daughter and a little Pumpkin tea for me.
My daughter says I found Steepster and I say she found it (seems more likely), but whatever the case…I joined Jan.5,2012, adding my first tea’s to the cupboard. (A couple flavors of Celestial Seasonings and Good Earth bagged tea’s).

Like most of you, I was stunned that anyone followed me, but the encouragement and friendship was genuine and continued month after month.

I soon got the hang of Steepster, learning from more experienced tea drinkers. I picked up the popular brands…especially DAVIDsTEA,
52tea’s and Teavivre (what a great help Teavivre’s samples were to my tea education in the beginning!)

I ordered this Earl Grey, Chocolate Orange Puerh (my first puerh), Oh Canada, Black and White, Check Mate and a few other tea’s as first ventures into loose leaf tea and was hooked. It was cool getting tea from Canada too!

If you told me a year ago that I would be drinking unflavored tea…hahahahaha…or Pu-erh that I would break off a Brick or Beeng…hahahahhaha. I wouldn’t just laugh, I’d scratch my head and say, “Bing who?”
Then, “What’s a Gaiwan?”, “What’s Gongfu?”, “What’s Sheng and Shu?”
Really?!

I’ve been binge tea drinking this weekend! A celebration!

I went to Boulder with granddaughter Schey and began at the fancy, hand-painted Dushanbe Tea House.

Next we went to Ku Cha Tea House and had tea on lovely low tables served with care and attention. The ratio of tea to water was correct. There was a soothing waterfall, Asian art and lush plants creating a restful place for sipping tea. (I ran into Alex Alan for those of you who know him here on Steepster. He looks happy!).

Today, I went to Happy Luckys and brought a 1953 Pu-erh Brick (blend) to share, that the HL guys broke apart for me (a first for Preston), and a sample tasting of a Taiwan Green Tea Powder.

While choreographing the breaking of the brick (careful prying), I drank a delicious hot chocolate matcha with steamed milk!

When I returned home much later, still uncertain about what to review, I finally chose this Earl Grey. It seemed right to go back to the beginning.

This is a tea that I would probably not drink today. I don’t mean this to sound snobbish.
I don’t drink as many flavored tea’s as I used to and this is too stong to me now. It seems that with all the tea tasting the past year, my taste buds are much more sensitive and this is not a tea that is subtle in the least.

I have used this tea in other ways, to infuse flavor into lemon and vanilla pudding. It’s good used that way!

So many people have taken my hands and guided me along, answering questions, never putting me down when I haven’t known what I was talking about. I’ve been naive and childish many times.

Puerh people that I asked questions about what shu and sheng is, Darjeeling people that I had to ask what first flush and second flush meant have infinite patience.

I’ve just scratched the surface…but looking back, I’m amazed that at my older age, I’ve learned so much in a year.
What has happened to me was summed up by my Priest, Fr. Evan, after a visit when we were drinking tea. I had explained my tea journey after the devastation of illness and divorce.

“Bonnie, you’ve changed this past year. I can see that you’re much less afraid of people. You seem to have come alive and are interacting with people in a way that I didn’t see in you before. You are on the right path, so keep doing what you’re doing and write about tea.”

Being on Steepster this year with all of you has been what has brought me alive and I want to thank you.
All the followers, those who comment now and then, those who send the messages in the envelope up top, the swaps and gifts, the Vendors who email me asking how I’m doing.

I want to name names but I won’t. The list is long and all of you are so important to me.

Here are the pictures of my crazy weekend of binge tea drinking (so far)! http://flic.kr/p/dJ7cRu

Taken with milk.

It had been a while since I had this one, so I pulled the tin and took a long, deep inhale of the dry leaf. Mmm! It smelled so creamy and good. Yup; it was awesome: strong notes of creamy vanilla and a divine bergamot flavour. It was like a London Fog. Just… Pretty perfect. I could honestly go for a second cup.

To echo Marzipan in one of her earlier tasting notes today: it’s nice returning to old friends.

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!

Decupboarding! Backlogging from earlier today.

This was the first sample we offered at the tea party my friend and I hosted a few weeks ago – so much fun!

This is the best Cream of Earl Grey I’ve tried. I don’t like Teavana’s offering at all – their straight Earl Grey is far too strong, and their EGC tastes incredibly artificial.

This is light and smooth. I usually add a bit of milk and sugar, and it’s equally as good hot as iced. Not sure I’ll be ordering more, just because I’ve still got 2oz of Teavana’s to sipdown, and I can’t really justify buying more tea (isn’t that everyone’s problem?)

This was a blast from the past today. I’m doing some 12-hour (incredibly slow, boring) shifts at the office conveniently located near a DT, and have taken to popping in for a to-go cup. The problem is that I never know what I want; I have pretty much any of the teas I have any interest in drinking at home. And I feel silly paying $2.63 or whatever for a cup of things I have tins of. But, I have to do it. It’s just too damn convenient.

Anyway, I haven’t had this one in ages though I often pause over it when choosing what to drink. I think it was in my first-ever DT order, so we go way back. And it just jumped out at me today. I knew it was the tea for me. When the employee opened the canister to scoop mine out, the scent was incredibly powerful and had me excited to get back to my desk for some quality time with that turquoise paper cup. It didn’t disappoint. It’s as good as I remember it being. I think I might need to indulge in some fresher stock, as my love for this one has been renewed. So sweet! So creamy.

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

Cream of Earl Latte on this rainy day! Ah , a dash of sugar and it’s like a sweet, creamy, milky London Fog!

The perfect accompaniment to a supper of Grilled Cheese and tomato soup, enjoyed while watching Breaking Bad. :) A content moment!

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 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.