Countess of Seville (organic)

I haven’t tried an Earl Grey green before, but I’ve heard good things! So, I picked up a sample of this back in June when I visited DAVIDsTEA in New York City and have held on to it ever since. It’s time to try it!

The aroma of the dry leaf is strong bergamot and citrus. The combination of the two reminds me of soap. Let’s hope it doesn’t taste like that! The brewed tea aroma is even more potent. But I can’t be afraid. Not of tea!! Here goes nothing!

First sip…phew! This tastes pretty much exactly like it smells. There’s virtually no green tea taste. Just lots of bergamot and lots of citrus. I guess if you love those two things, then this would be spectacular. But I’m finding this bergamot to be a little too powerful for me. It feels like I’m drinking it through my nose instead of my mouth, kind of like getting water up your nose when you go swimming. Not an entirely pleasant feeling.

Overall impression? Not good. First impression was maybe a 62. But upon further reflection (and further sips), this one is really too bergamot-y for me to enjoy so it’s getting a 45. Oh well, it was worth a shot. Maybe another Earl Grey green will be more to my liking. Or maybe this just isn’t a good combo for my taste buds. Either way, it was fun to try! :)

Shock! I’m not a huge fan of Earls, occasionally I like a cuppa, but overall I can take ‘em or leave ’em. This surprised me this morning. It’s one of my wife’s favorites, so I had her make the pot this morning. It was light and delicate and very refreshing! I was very, very happy with this.

I don’t know if it’s mind over matter or what, but so far I’ve come across two teas in the advent calendar I didn’t really like (Creme de Menthe and this one) and the days they were in the calendar, I enjoyed them! So huzzah! I look forward to the rest of these beauties.

My wife was very pleased to see this one and ended up making 3 pots, of which I only had 1 cup XD

Well. I did a naughty thing. Yesterday we stopped by David’s Tea to replenish a few favourites. We also left with 4 new teas to sample. Today, we went back in to pick up a 2 pack of beautiful double walled glass mugs that were half price (yay!) and we ended up picking up three more teas to sample. The Countess was one of this second batch. I also ordered 4 new teas from 52Teas last night…I have no restraint this week!

Anyway, the beau picked out the Countess. He is a sucker for anything citrus. So much so that he even forgot his theoretical dislike of green teas. Since we had beautiful new mugs (http://www.davidstea.com/accessories/double-wall-glass-mugs) we thought we would brew this one up in our new pretties. We are terrible with water temps…we boiled the water and let it sit for about five minutes. It is definitely cool enough, there is no burnt tea taste at all. I’ve established that my “problems” with green tea stem from a couple cups with water that hadn’t cooled long enough. I also appreciate bolder teas, so the mild nature of greens is strange to me. I should really experiment more with them.

Anyway, the countess! Smells of froot loops and oranges. Steeped, the liquor is a pale green/yellow and smells of a traditional earl grey. Sort of dusty and froot loopy (not a big EG fan over here. I like my Twinings Lady Grey, but that’s about it). The taste is surprisingly pleasant, and actually reminds me a lot of the Twinings Lady Grey. I get a lemony, orangy froot loopy flavour. Quite mild, very sippable. You can taste the green tea, the bergamot and the additional citurs, but no one flavour dominate the rest. The bergamot is a bit forward, I find, but not terribly dusty as it can be. This is a pleasant cuppa, but not one that I would keep on hand for myself. If the beau likes it though, I am more than willing to drink a pot every now and then.

This one is tonight’s advent calendar sipdown! Unfortunately though, my roommate and I brewed up a nice big pot of it (literally, a pot. On the stove. Neither of us has an actual teapot here) and when she tasted it, it tasted fishy to her. We don’t recall this being a problem previously, but perhaps it’s an age thing. I can’t really taste any fishiness myself, but I also am a bit suspicious of my tasting capabilities at the moment given my cold. Soooo, looks like it’s up to me to drink the entire pot. She finished off our tin of Buttered Rum instead (which I must say, smells way, way better than the bag of Buttered Rum I have…. interesting.)

From what I can tell, this is a lightly citrusy (bergamot) tea with an aroma much like a standard earl grey. I can’t really tell is there’s much green tea in there; my tastebuds are muted enough that I can’t really be sure. I do remember liking this one in the past as an interesting twist on earl grey (which I thought I didn’t like straight, but apparently I just needed to try non-Tetley versions!) However, now that I’ve tried DT’s Earl of Lemon, that one would probably be my go-to non-black earl grey over this one, even though I think the bergamot is a bit stronger with that one. And I must admit, I prefer the Cream of Earl Grey over either. Nom nom nom.

WOW. Of all the failish things to do, I just blew my nose and tossed the kleenex…. straight into my cup. Grosssss. Lucky for me, I have another half pot + downstairs waiting for me, so I can pour this out, rinse the mug, and refill it…. sigh.

I really like this one (though oddly, I don’t drink it all the time.. Hmmm). Soft, orangy with a hint of bergamot, and fully approved by my doctor as its green tea! I’ve never tried icing it, that will be my next challenge.

As with many greens, this one is a bit tricky to get right, the green can go bitter easily, so getting it right can be hard, but totally worth it.

Yum!

This is light and fresh but has the essence of a classic Earl Grey. The bergamot and orange here are crisp and refreshing, and the green makes a lovely base. The citrus is sharp on the nose but perfectly mellow and smooth when sipping. I haven’t had a lot of luck with alternative Earl Grey-types (except for the Cream) but this is nicely balanced and exceedingly pleasant. It’s a lovely variation and I can see it being an afternoon standby. It also kind of feels like an honorary member of the spring collection.

I’ve been looking forward to trying this one in my quest to find an Earl Grey (or variation of) I enjoy. This one seems hopeful.

I’m enjoying the scent (as much as possible with the bergamot). I like that there’s a hint of orange and the bergamot isn’t knock-you-over strong.

I love how light the green teas can be. This one is no exception. It’s so tricky with an Earl Grey smell and a green tea taste. I like it.

This is what I wanted The Earl’s Garden to be! Not the gross bitter mess that it is. I digress:

Light and fresh Earl, with a twist! This twist is orange, and it compliments beautifully. It did not resteep very well, I had to dump the last half of my cup because something tasted off, but that first steep was lovely. Not overpowering, just right!

I took a sip of this and my wife asked, “Is it everything you dreamed of?”

Yes. Yes, yes, unequivocally, yes. Very light green tea, without a hint of earthiness or bitterness, with the bergamot that makes Earl Grey delicious, and then the twist of citrus from the orange. Delicious. I think I could drink this all day. So. Very. Good. And hopefully, being a green, it will resteep nicely.

EVERYONE knows that I am obsessed with DT’s various renditions of Earl Grey and other classic teas.They do SUCH a profoundly good job it would soften the hardest of hearts and make the most particular tea lover reconsider their good taste.Yes they are THAT good.

This tea smells like a lovely earl grey profile but it’s a green tea and and the orange oil and bergamot just burst with a freshness and lightness that doesn’t smell usual or predictable.It’s pretty similar in smell to the Earl of Lemon just not as citrusy and not as deep and sexy as the Cream of Earl grey.It smells just lovely.

As for taste it’s nice..not mind-blowing like other earl grey types I’ve tried but good.It’s perfect for people that want something classic like an earl grey that usually only exists in a black tea to be a green tea instead.I think this would also be the most able to take a good icing out of all the other earl greys..it’s just light enough.

Surpisingly I haven’t logged this tea ever… shame. Anyways, this is a fave of mine. I decided to brew it for breakfast this morning. I love them green and lemon flavouring of this tea. It really soothes me, which is a perfect way to start the day.

I usually like citrus and earl grey but i’m really not a fan of this tea i steeped it for 2.50 minutes at 94. Degrees water and it was really bitter. The taste was really strong. To be honest the taste reminded me of citrus shower gel….i don’t know if i did something wrong because everyone seems to like this tea and the light taste of the tea (really not the cup i got tonight :S)

I got my David’s Tea order and I was really excited—one of the things I got was the Golden Pu-erh. I was really excited to try it since I’d never had a pu-erh before, so it was going to be a totally new tea experience. I opened up the bag of tea and the smell of citrus hit me immediately. “Yummy. This must be why they call it ‘Golden’ Pu-erh.” The cup was delicious, though not what I was expecting. Not earthy. More green. Citrusy, not musty, like the packaging mentioned. It was a head-scratcher of a tea drinking experience.

So I started to look at the little catalog that came with the DT order. I flipped back to the Pu-erhs to see what else they had. I liked this one, so I bet I’d like other ones as well. I glanced at the Golden Pu-erh entry. Not a single citrus peel in sight. And the leaves looked curled, like whole leaves. Not like the cut leaves in the cup I brewed.

Further investigation (looking at the page on green teas) tells me that apparently what I got was the Countess of Seville instead. It looks pretty similar to the picture, and now that I’m paying attention on my second steep, the flavor does remind me of an Earl Grey.

Luckily, I like this tea. I’d be really annoyed if it were some awful tea that I hated. I can’t wait to try it properly steeped!

ETA: Doh! Further investigation, plus the discovery of a berry of some sort reveals that this is not Countess of Seville, rather, I believe it is Some Velvet Morning.

I’m not sure what to make of this tea. I think the earl grey flavour combined with the green tea flavour is just not for me. I wish it was just a straight earl grey with bergamot and orange flavours.

Aside from how the mixed green & earl grey bothers me, I felt like the bergamot overwhelmed the orange flavours.

Despite my piles of criticism, I would like to try it again with a bit of lemon to bump up the citrus flavours.

I love the way this tea is perfumed with lavender and oranges.
Its simply delicious

Day 5 of my Advent Calendar.

What a nice surprise another tea that i’ve been meaning to try.

Dry leaves smell citrussy, and pepery i imagine that’s the bergamot oil.

Steeped it still smells very much the same. Liqueur is a nice canari yellow color.

time to taste: Light and refreshing, getting alot of bergamot but also picking up the orange the green tea is lost in the other flavors though.

I like it but not enough to go buy a tin of this, glad i got to try it though

Such a fabulous tea. I WAS drinking it with milk and sugar, but I recently invested in some agave, and what a great investment that was. It brings out the lovely citrusy-bergamot flavours in this tea wonderfully, without over sweetening it or any of the strange stuff that sugar will do to your cup. I can’t drink this tea unsweetened, because for some reason it tastes bitter for me (anyone else taste that bitterness too?). BUT I love not having to put milk in it, because it just seems strange for a green tea. Not for an earl grey, but just the fact that it’s green. It’s not an everyday cup of tea for me, but definitely pleasant and enjoyable whenever I’m in the mood.
Another note, I wish it was as citrus-y as it smells, but I think that might just be part of my eternal quest to find a perfectly strong citrus tea. I should probably just be drinking orange or grapefruit juice, but alas, I have taken it upon myself to find the perfect citrus tea.
And one more thing: On my second steep of this baby, it had this weirdly long, string-y tail of sediment in it. Being as curious as I am, I tried to pull it out of my cup, but it was just as elusive as my perfect citrus tea. C’est la vie.

I have to admit, I read the back of my 24 Days of Tea box to see what was in this one before I made a mug. It didn’t clue in at first that all the flavors were the same as Earl Grey (it’s been a long week). Anyways, so I made it, and my first sip tasted like green tea, second sip tasted like earl grey (!), third sip green, fourth sip earl grey, and so on. And I have to say I LOVE it!

I’m a big fan of my earl grey, and I especially love my London Fogs/Earl Grey Lattes, but I can’t drink much black tea… the caffeine wrecks me. This is an amazing alternative, and I love the flavor! This totally rivals my Twinning’s Lady Grey addiction!

This is my day #5 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

As a fan of tea in general, I was immediately drawn to the classic scent of Earl Grey. I love tea! Can’t live without it. Especially asian brews being oriental myself and growing up with them.

This one’s delicious! Strong with the Earl Grey but you definitely taste the quirk that is the citrus fruit of Orange. I work at a desk and my cubicle is always fluffed with the aroma of tea suiting my mood. This has become my waker-upper. Warm and soft yet strong enough to pick me up and spark me awake with the fruit.

Give it a try. :3

I think my water might have been too hot for this. I’m going to retry it again tomorrow. In the end, I had to add honey to make it more palatable. The first couple of sips reminded me of chamomile with a lemon twist. Remembering my reaction to place chamomile, this is not a good thing. Adding the honey brought out more of an orange peel flavor, which I happen to like, but there is this underlying vegetal taste of cooked cabbage that really reminded me of chamomile. I’m beginning to wonder if this is how my palate picks up floral components.

I’ll try this again making as sure as I can that my water is more in the 180 F range, just in case I messed up.