Earl Grey Creme

Totally screwed for my final exam on Thursday. I just finished all my final papers a few days ago and have been trying to memorize ~200 definitions plus a plethora of other info. Sigh. What a colossal waste of time.

This is a decent EGC. The dry leaf smells like creamy vanilla and bergamot, so we’re off to a good start, but the taste is a little lacking. Hot, it’s a little creamy, not too astringent. Definitely like it more hot than cold.

Cold steeped was a real let down. The base comes out more, but it has this dry, straw-like flavour to it. The creaminess is lost and the bergamot is there but not as strong as I had expected.

Have definitely had better EGC blends but have also had much worse too.

Drum roll Roll up! Roll up! Ladies and gentleman I would like to say thank you for advice and friendship over my first year of tea blogging. That’s right I have now reached just over a year on my Steepster account. :) Also this is my 400th tasting note so it’s a double celebration. Drum roll end

Seriously now As most of you know I adore Earl Grey and when I was digging around in my Della Terra samples box I pulled it out with a grin so wide that my face started to hurt. I had remembered seeing it when I opened it just before Christmas and left in there for safe keeping, today it was a very nice find. Like finding a sunken treasure amidst a messy cabin room that has gotten worse with time. Well…it’s been one of those weekends that has now dragged into the start of my week. But enough of that…

Loose leaf this tea looks pretty with blues and yellows among the black finely cut and curled leaves. Very elegant. :) Not only is it aesthetically pleasing but the smell is divine. Strong bergamot (which is waxy yet sweet) and a creamy rather vanilla scent trailing behind it. Yummy.

Once brewed this forms your average dark brown tea colour but has that same wonderful scent but perhaps a little more vanilla like than before.

Usually I like to add milk and on those rare occasions a spoon of stevia sugar to complete my Earl Grey but I will be sampling this in it’s raw form (without either additives).

Wow. No that’s not good enough… WOW That’s better! This is delicious. It’s smooth and sweet with creamy vanilla tones making it some sort of Earl Grey mist. It’s so fresh and light yet there it is.. that sweet and citrus Earl Grey distinct flavour. It’s very different yet very similar. I may even try a stronger steep next time around to see what difference it makes but so far I am truly loving this.

Such a shame that I only received this as a sample pack and I didn’t think to order a bigger pack to try. :( Oh well, it has been added to my list for when I next place an order.

Another Earl Grey Cream to check off my list! Seriously, I am on a mission to try them alllll. I got this in my envelope from Amanda and was excited since, well, I love EGCs but I am also becoming quite fond of Della Terra. Their Mother of Pearl and Walnut Brittle are totally unbeatable teas, and everything else has been yummy too.

To be totally honest, I kind of have trouble telling EGCs apart at this point haha. Aside from a few standouts, they do tend to blend together. This one is heavy on the vanilla with less bergamot, making an exceptionally creamy cup though it’s not as Earl Grey-ish as some others I’ve tried. I had it both hot and iced and preferred it hot, even though I do love a good cold brewed EGC. It’s good but not WOW blowing me away good, a nice offering but too similar to others for me to really want to stock it. However, if you’ve never tried an Earl Grey Cream I think this would be a good place to start, it’s got a nice balance and isn’t heavy on the bergamot!

Uh…. YUM! This tea is delicious. The aroma is distinctly earl grey cream, and the flavour is oh-so-creamy and good. I read Alphakitty’s note on this tea prior to taking a sip, and totally agree that I have trouble telling earl grey creams apart, for the most part, because I don’t have them in a short enough time frame for a real comparison. However, I tend to prefer ones that are heavier on the cream, lighter on the bergamot. Because of its accessibility, the DavidsTea version has become my standby, but when it’s hotter, it’s often not as creamy.

Although I’m having it cold, I think this is perhaps the most creamy ECG I’ve tried. Definitely smells like an earl grey, and tastes exactly like an earl grey with creamer. If not for the clear, brown liquid, I could swear that someone dropped a bunch of coffee whitener into my cup (yeah, my best friend and I used to steal her parents’ coffee whitener for our earl grey when they were out of milk… sooooooo many chemicals…..) The bergamot is definitely lighter here; I don’t know if it’s because of my conservative 3-minute infusion, or just how the tea is. I have a sample of Della Terra’s Saveur de Paris as well, so it’s tempting to mix a touch of that in when brewing this one up next time just to add a bit more bergamot. Not that this isn’t just fine as it is, though!

I’m glad to have tried another yummy ECG, but accessibility likely will still cause the DavidsTea version to win out.

Side note: Although my mom has not cared for pretty much every black tea I’ve made her sample (which would be nearly every tea I’ve brewed up, haha), she said that this one was quite pleasant. I’m tempted to leave her the rest of my pouch of it, but am not sure she’d ever choose it herself over a green/green oolong…

This smells so good. I love the smell of Earl Grey Creme … possibly even more than the smell of Earl Grey without the creme… the creamy notes just meld so beautifully with the sharp notes of the bergamot.

It tastes good too. It is sweet and tangy. The vanilla tones are almost fluffy and they come together so perfectly with the bergamot that is no longer sharp, just pleasantly citrus-y and tart. The black tea plays the supporting role, providing a solid background of flavor to the stronger bergamot and vanilla. It all works very well together. It’s very, very tasty!

I’m normally not an Earl Grey fan (too much watery fruit loops, IMO). But I’m trying to be more tolerant, so I opted for this in the vanilla version. I really enjoyed this! The vanilla cut that bergamot taste and was quite pleasant. I’d buy this again.

Special Thanks to Liberteas for this one

Backlogging because I couldn’t add anything yesterday but I did make some notes!

This was a bit more of a gentle EG – not that POW you would expect. There is a quiet creaminess to it too which was nice but certainly not overdone.

This was pretty darn satisfying!

TSTTB Tea #5!!

I chose this one because there have not been any Earl Grey Cremes I’ve met that I haven’t liked. This one is delicious. Lightly creamy and not artificial tasting. I put a scant teaspoon of sugar to compliment the creme and bergamot and it worked beautifully. The flavors are sweet and round. The tea base is bold (I only steeped for 3 minutes and it was plenty flavorful) yet balanced with the flavorings. Neither overwhelm.

Lovely tea!!! Thank you Traveling Tea Box!

This is another “Oh noes, I haz eated mah tea!” Della Terra Teas blend, by which I mean that you open the packet and you want to eat the tea. It smells like lemon cookies, maybe even lemon sandwich cookies, with the vanilla notes ‘n’ all. I don’t even know how I didn’t eat this one. Cookie Monster’s sitting in a corner, sulking.

[Edit] I forgot to mention that this tea is really pretty! I didn’t remember the photo, which showcases its beauty quite well, so I was surprised when I opened the packet and got a good look. Black tea with these blue highlights and flecks of gold. I rarely notice how a tea looks, so it basically has to bat its eyelashes at me and be all, hey, look at me, I’m pretty! Such a little tart, this one.

I wasn’t able to coax the flavour I wanted out of the blend, sadly. It was so frustrating, like dropping your keys in the car, between the center console and the bucket seat, and then being able to almost-but-not-quite reach them. The flavour I got out was that of a nice black tea, good but not great. The bergamot was present but really not bold enough, especially given the heady fragrance. I steeped three minutes because I recently got schooled on the dangers of over-steeping black tea, but I think maybe the DT black tea base is more forgiving than the 52T one…? Next time, I’m going to try my usual five minutes for this one and see how it works out, because I really, I really want to taste the taste that the fragrance promises.

[Edit again] Sorry, I also forgot to mention that, like 52t’s Gingerbread Chai (which I also had today), the aftertaste is perfect. Perfect lemon cookie! I would love to get the formula right for getting the taste to be just as perfect. I mean, who wants to sit there, aggressively exhaling, just to get the perfect aftertaste, ya? Even living alone I feel silly doing it.

Tea amount: 1 level tsp/~4.75g
Water amount: 6oz/~175mL
Additives: About ¾ tsp Demerara sugar

Della Terra included this one as a freebie with my order. Thanks! I LOVE Earl Grey Creme. The creme & the bergamot is a perfect pairing with a black tea. This one is pretty good. Equal parts creme and bergamot, but I didn’t love the flavor of the black tea itself (though it never was astringent.) The flavors don’t meld together as well as my two favorites (Element & SpecialTeas which no longer exist) but that bar is pretty high. It IS better than the Teavana EG creme though!

ETA: I’m kicking myself because I just realized I forgot one of my favorite Creme Earl Greys from one of my favorite new tea companies, and this one is still in business! It’s The Tea Merchant’s French Earl Grey! (theteamerchant.net)

The smell of this tea is so intoxicating!
Brewed a pot of this this morning since I woke up early because of daylight savings. I must say, this tea is FANTASTIC! This is the first Earl Grey tea I’ve tried and the creme flavor compliments this tea and adds to its perfection.

This was my morning cuppa.

This is such a good, sturdy staple. It was love at first sip, and I’m particularly particular about my earl grey cremes.

I fell in love with London Fogs during my first year of university. They are a terrible, tasty addiction. So not long after discovering them I bought myself a bag of loose leaf earl grey creme from a now-defunct local tea shop since I figured the flavours were similar, so maybe I could recreate my beloved London Fogs at home. But nope, it tasted like an artificial, over-the-top, in your face attempt at vanilla creme. That experience turned me off of vanilla earls for a long while. It was just SO sickly. And I’ve found that same note in EGCs from other companies too (looking at you, Adagio!)

But once again I took a leap of faith with Della Terra, and surprise surprise, they didn’t let me down! This is so smooth and creamy-sweet like it should be, but it’s also fresh and bright, and almost peppery. None of that sickly business I had come to expect from an earl grey creme. This is perfection. Simple and bold, it feels like an old friend with those familiar London Fog flavours. This is yet another one from Della Terra that I will most definitely be stocking up on.

Also—you guys! You NEED to make this soup. Like seriously, even if you’re not a soup person, even if you’re not a carrot person..just try it. It is a party of roasty sweet goodness in my mouth. Had it for dinner last night and I’m already contemplating when I can make it next. Yum!
http://www.food52.com/recipes/9743_roasted_carrot_soup

This is my pre-class sipdown. I do really like the smell of bergamot. The flavour is really good. I very much enjoy the creaminess of this tea.

I don’t remember who sent me this, but thank you!

Pretty good (and there are so many decent earl greys out there to give one a run for one’s money!), though I’m learning as much as I enjoy marveling at the smoothness of a well made cream earl grey I actually prefer mine heavily scented and a bit brisker tasting for some reason—more refreshing, less dessert-rich. This is certainly on the dessert-rich end of the spectrum, with lots of vanilla.

As cream versions go though, this is very well done; with some milk it becomes smooth as butter, with the bergamot element coming in most strongly mid-sip (initially it’s merely fragrant on the nose and then it dissipates after the swallow, taken over by a mouthful of silky cream). Great easy-to-drink texture that doesn’t compromise flavor or overall black tea character. I could definitely see switching up my standard Upton lavender with this sometimes for a regular/near-daily don’t-think-about-it cup, when I want to feel more like I’m eating an afternoon snack than just drinking tea as a pick-me-up.

tl;dr: Not a trace of bitterness or astringency, just butter and silk. Rich rather than refreshing.

First taste on a nerve-wracking exam morning. So far, loving this tea. The bergamot is definitely flavorful, but not overpowering as in some Earl Greys, and the creme flavor softens it enough to allow for a milk-free cup. I love the marshmallowy creaminess the creme adds. Since I’m still a newb, I haven’t had the delight of tasting many creme teas yet, but if this is a hint of what’s to come, I’m pleased to start on the adventure.