Earl Grey

This is yet another of my long-wanted Earls that I now get to try thanks to SimplyJenW. Any time anyone says a particular Earl is their favorite, I have to try it of course, and this one has gotten quite a few lauds. Yet another kind of Earl base, this one is a Keemun. I didn’t actually mean to steep this at a slightly lower temp to start, but I didn’t realize the kettle was set on that temp and I poured it before I realized. It wasn’t too low, at least.

Steeped the brewed tea smells pleasantly of quite citrusy bergamot. It’s not suuuper bright, either, more sweetish smelling. Wow, this is a really good Earl! The bergamot is very nice… I was worried it wouldn’t be strong enough for me, but it is. It’s very citrusy, I like the way it blends with the base, and it almost tastes sweet in the aftertaste. There’s also a hint of that floral quality that bergamot sometimes has. Yes, this a great example of a very well done bergamot. As I’ve tried a lot of Earl Greys I’ve noticed that a lot of them really depend on the quality of the bergamot, and that bergamot flavoring/oil can vary wildly. With the wrong bergamot it doesn’t matter how strong or weak it is, it just isn’t very pleasant. With the right bergamot, it can be super strong and it never gets bitter, pity, or astringent. This is definitely the right kind of bergamot. Color me impressed. Gotta try this back to back with my beloved Todd & Holland Earl Grey Double Bergamot to decided which one is my favorite Earl because this one is a front-runner.

I just got my order a few days ago from Lupicia, but this tea has been calling my name ever since receiving it. So I finally caved in and decided to try it.

Aroma – not surprising – it’s Earl Grey! It is a very strong fragrance, but that’s not a bad thing. I love the smell of bergamot in the morning! (Yeah, it’s 12:30 pm, but, for me, it’s still morning!) The dry leaves possess a stronger scent than the brewed liquor. The brewed tea is still pleasantly bergamot, but the Keemun tea can also be detected in the scent which adds a slightly earthy note to the aroma.

Initial sip – awesome! Lovely citrus notes, hint of floral. The Keemun base is pleasantly pungent. I love the way the bergamot and Keemun play together in this blend.

As I continue to drink, I note that this is a skillfully flavored Earl Grey tea. Speaking from the standpoint of one who flavored teas for many years, Earl Grey was one of the most difficult (if not the most difficult) flavors to create. This is because there is a fine line between not strong enough, just right, and too perfume-y when it comes to the bergamot. This one is planted firmly in the just right position! Well done!

I don’t know if it’s my favorite Earl Grey, but if it isn’t, I don’t know which one is better, either. It’s really, really good!

I’ve been in the mood for an Earl Grey all day – so it was very fortunate that my Happy Bag from Lupicia decided to come in, because this was inside!

Steeped 2 teabags in 500ml. water in the Breville at below parameters.

The smell of the dry leaf was STRONG bergamot. Like, I held it too close to my nose when I sniffed and was bowled over. It smelled great, though, I just hoped it would not be as strong once steeped because that really would have been too much for me.

Thankfully, the smell mellows out in the steeped tea. This is a fantastic Earl Grey! I’m surprised at the fact this is a Keemun base, because I don’t really get any smokiness – just the strong bergamot and black tea in a great balance with each other. I’m drinking this without additives but I think it wouldn’t be bad with milk and sugar, either – in fact when I make it next I’ll try it that way and compare.

This is the first Lupicia tea I’ve ever tried, and it bodes well for the other teas I recieved in my Happy bag – January is going to be a fun month of new tea!

After workout tea……

It is time to get back to my healthier ways. I always feel so much better when I am making an effort to exercise, but it is usually the getting started that is the problem. I think I am going to set up a jar with tokens….one token for a workout (I might even include a rigorous round of shoveling snow if we get any more, LOL!). One token for a dollar, and work up to buying a tetsubin. I know I can get by without one, but I am kind of wanting one for my oolongs. Anyway this is my post-workout cuppa today.

One more thing about Lupicia that I like…..by placing an online order for $30 or more, I have now been subscribed to their “Fresh Tea” Magazine for a year which supposedly comes every month and includes a free tea sample. I can always get behind a free sample. For December, which they included in my order, it was Earl Grey. The one I have is a wrapped sachet, but I think this will be a fun thing for the upcoming year.

This is a really good Earl! (Dinosara, I am talking to you!) It is maybe a little brighter and less musty than the ones I usually drink (even though I still love me a slightly mustyish Earl!) If I ever pare down my cache of Earl Grey varieties, this will be on my list….but since I can get it in 50 g, I might go for it anyway the next time I order at Lupicia. Also, I have not had Earl Grey in a while, and I think my taste for it is cycling back around, but I am thinking it was jut one particular Earl variety, recently rehomed, that squashed my cravings for it. I am so glad to be on friendly terms with the Earl again!

My afternoon 5 minute resteep was good, too!

I like a lot of bergomot. This definitely has a lot of bergomot. I can’t say much about the black tea base, it tastes pretty standard to me, but the bergomot is delicious. (Have I mentioned that I love bergomot? I even wear it in my perfumes.)

It is one of those Earl Greys that stands up proud and strong and shouts to you in the morning. I need that.

If you’re not a fan of Earl Grey, this probably won’t be something you want to try. I’m probably going to purchase some of this after my current supply runs out. Can’t be without an Earl Grey!

My previous Earl Grey experience is limited to cheap tea bags, which I never enjoyed, so I always assumed I wouldn’t like this. But I’ve had a sample from Lupicia around for ages now, and I thought now was the time to try it.

Lots and lots of bergamot. I never thought of Earl Grey as a fruity tea before, but Lupicia’s blend is heavy on the citrus note. The tea is very smooth and refreshing, especially iced.

Trying 1 tsp with 8oz boiling water steeped for 4 minutes. It’s amazing I have the alertness to even type this this morning. Getting up so early for work is always a struggle, seeing my shifts vary as I work in a restaurant. 3am always comes too soon!

This Earl Grey brews up a nice strong liquor of a deep brownish orange. It smells heavenly this morning, but any black tea might get that reaction! This is a sample I received from Ricky, and I am excited to compare it to other Earls I have tried. Just not this morning…need a few more cups first!

Greatly scented of bergamot, this tea made me more alert while steeping it, it has a decent flavor without any additives, but a bit of bitterness (maybe 4 minutes was a bit too long). I added a splash of cream and a pinch of sugar and this is much smoother and really quite nice. I can taste the bergamot and the black tea. I like this, but can’t describe much more than that right now. Thanks Ricky for this generous sample. I think this may be added to my list of Lupicia teas to purchase (the list is getting rather long however!).

It’s that time again: TEA TIME!!! Today I’m going with a classic: Earl Grey.

The dry leaves bring back memories of Paris when my friend, Juanita, and I stayed with a French family for a week before going off to the Cannes Film Festival for the first time. Beautiful, luscious earl grey!

The family we stayed with drank this tea out of bowls instead of cups! At the time, we thought it was a French thing. We came to learn it wasn’t, which just led us to believe we had stayed with one weird French family! Now I think they were probably just fine lovers of good tea.

But I digress while impatiently waiting for the tea to cool. The brewed tea’s aroma is heaven! It tastes sweeter than expected, which is a pro for me. I find Twining’s Earl Grey to be a little strong for my tastes.

This tea goes great with a little honey. Just a little though, or it overpowers the core flavor of what makes this tea distinctly Earl Grey.

Simply put: it’s perfect! It’s exactly what I wanted and expected, and I can’t help but be enveloped with memories of a summer exploring Paris with one of my best friends.

Smooth. Robust. Flavorful. Just the right amount of bergamot. Probably someone’s perfect Earl Grey. But for me the tea base seems too heavy and strong due to Keemun, not refreshing enough. It’s more on the smokier side though I can’t taste any smoke directly if it makes any sense, the blending is done very nicely indeed.

I won this is a SororiTEA Sisters Contest awhile ago and somehow forgot to try it out. I decided tonight would be a good night to do so! It was quite delicious. I was in an Earl Grey mood tonight so it really hit the spot.
I really like Lupicia’s teas, I don’t know if I have tried one yet that I didn’t like. This one had good flavor, but without being overly flavored. It wasn’t highly perfumed which I appreciated. I don’t think I will purchase more of this tea, but I will definitely enjoy the rest of my sample!
I took some pictures of my cup of tea if you want to check them out: http://apurpledress.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/an-earl-grey-kind-of-evening/

This one’s unusual. It has a…I don’t know what the term for it is exactly…kind of…very light but definitely present jasmine-y muskiness or earthiness to it, some sort of smell I associate with Chinese tea. I suppose basing EGs on Keemun is unusual among the ones I’ve tried maybe, guessing that’s why. It’s good though!…not what I expect when I reach for my EG like a security blanket (I admit I like mine heavily perfumed with super floral and super zesty bright bergamot), a sort of unique hybrid thing. Not sure where exactly to class this in my day to day tea habits as it’s filling a rather unique niche. Hm.

(I’m noticing sometimes I run into a problem rating teas because what I think of as the in-a-vacuum aesthetic quality of a tea and whether it actually fits into my specific life are at a disconnect. I guess going forward I’m going to try to take more of the former into account than the latter in rating on this site, and keep personal notes of my must-haves and staples elsewhere. We’ll see if I can keep that straight for the most part…)

As a side note to myself, I’m beginning to wonder if “bergamot” doesn’t mean what I think it means smell and flavor-wise somehow, based on other Steepsters’ reviews of EGs. Common consensus will be “oh this one’s super bergamot-y” or “this one has barely any bergamot” and it will be almost opposite my impression. But I find this so, so puzzling because I’ve LOVED bergamot for like 20 years and as such chosen it for my bath products and candles and whatever else, so the element I find common (and tantalizingly beautiful) in all of those products (from lots of different sources, mind) must be it, right? Perplexed.

To me it’s that exquisite heady yet fresh, floral note that has an edge of citrus zest to it. The smell of, well, the flowers in an orange grove, that almost jasmine perfume (which is so funny because I loathe jasmine) combined with the zippy aroma of orange oil, the way the zest permeates the petals a bit. Done poorly or too heavily it becomes bitter.

My 16th tea from The Book of Tea is another lovely Earl Grey!! I liked Earl Grey Darjeeling that I tried last time better because I prefer lighter black tea, but to all strong black tea lovers out there this is probably a perfect Earl Grey. The citrus flavour is intense, and the Keemun tea base is potent and uplifting (oh I am going to stay up late again tonight…). I desperately need something like this to cheer me up after a tiring day :D

From my Lupicia Lucky Bag, and wow I really enjoyed this. I’m not getting that overpowering bergamot aroma or taste others have mentioned, but the bergamot is present, and I think it blends very nicely into the backdrop of the black tea. I’ve never tried Keemun on its own, but here it translates into a smooth base with sweet notes. Every mouthful is basically me going: mmm this is some great tea.

Pleasant bergamot aroma and flavor, but pretty generic Earl Grey.

I like this Earl Grey. Two things to note: the form bought in teabags in definitely the best I’ve tried; they currently hang out in a tiny tin in my travel bag for drinking on trains. The loose form is auditioning for a place in my cupboard as my Earl Grey staple.

Just okay. I like some more depth on my earl grey, but this just has light citrus. Not bad, just not my favorite.

Too much bergamot (typical of Japanese Earl Grey in my experience). Otherwise, not wholly unpleasant.

I don’t have much experience with Earl Grey beyond Starbucks but this one seems nice. It has a very strong fragrance both dry and steeped – it was relaxing just taking in the aroma while waiting for the tea to cool enough to drink. The color was a deep orange-brown, it had a little smoky taste to it which made me think I might’ve brewed a little strong.

So another tea i tried from my friend. So glad i did!
So let see,
The aroma… very Earl Grey no surprise, strong aroma but good and expected. Like all good tea the aroma is stronger than the flavor.
The Taste… Bergamot! Surprise! no just kidding but it’s earl grey. I get citrus, with floral notes and even some earthy notes (very slight). Very enjoyable, well balanced.

Earl Greys are easy to get wrong for me as they seem to be either too weak, too strong or too pungent. This one is well balanced and i would recommend it to anyone!