Organic Earl Grey

The graduate advisor emailed me a while ago, asking that I give her my CV in less than two days so she can send it off so I could be considered for some fellowship. Seeing that I haven’t had the particular outlay of CV the committee would like, and I just moved here so my stuff still isn’t organized, I started ripping through my suitcases to find transcripts and what not, and in the process, came across this teabag I got from a hotel. Sweet! Something to drink while I try to come up with a relatively decent CV.

I added milk to this, because actually, I had this while I was staying at the hotel, and I remember it tasted really burnt. It tastes a little better this time. The bergamot isn’t overwhelming but it’s distinctly bergamot. It’s not as burnt as before too. It’s not all that well-rounded though. A little astringent but it’s full-bodied. Eh, I’ve had better Earl Greys, but I’ve had worse too.

So, my man works for Leon’s Full Service, and this is one of the teas they carry. He snuck me into the little server station and opened a case that had all kinds of Mighty Leaf sachets. I picked this and a darjeeling while no one was looking.

Sadly, I have to agree with what a lot of you guys have already said. While this is actually pretty good, it’s just not great. I gave it longer than the brand recommends by 45 seconds, and that did make the black tea pretty strong and bitter. (But I like that.) Anyway, I prefer my Earl Greys to have a stronger bergamot flavor, and this one is on the mild side. You can smell it before you sip, like an exotic perfume, but it doesn’t translate much into the tea. And the black tea base they use is really, really standard. Boring, even.

What I’m trying to say is that Harney & Son’s Earl Grey Supreme has ruined me forever.

Was pleasantly surprised to find whole leaf in the silken sachet Mighty Leaf tea in the diner I was eating in this evening (why was I in a diner on Thanksgiving? Long story short, we had our dinner at the place my mom lives, a care facility for wheelchair bound people (my mom has MS), at noon, and we were starving again by the evening!) ANYWAY! I was presented a tea chest and could pick which tea I would like, and I chose the Organic Earl Grey.

Maybe I was just desperate for a cup of tea, but I thought it was really quite good! At the diner, they give you a little metal teapot full of hot water – enough for 2 cups – and then your cup and the sachet. This is great because you can time your steep :)

I had my first cup with a little milk and sugar, and my second sans additions. Both steeps were flavorful, not heavy on the bergamot, and to my taste, slightly smoky! Sort of like an English Breakfast type smoky. The leaves handled the two steeps admirably. I wanted to pinch myself because I couldn’t believe I was getting such a good cup of tea in a diner!! Sure, I have much better loose Earls at home, but I would choose this diner over any other in my area not only because the food is good, but because I can get a really nice cup of tea there. Ponzio’s, if you are ever in South Jersey and hungry!

P.S. I finally saw the latest Harry Potter. I loved it. I cried and cried and cried.

Sipdown, 242. I randomly picked up a sachet of this at a hotel or conference once, and I have had it in my stash since. I brought it home with me this weekend because my parents don’t have a good tea set up so I brought sachets.

This also means that the water is less than optimal, but I don’t think that it is the reason that this tea is both mostly tasteless and also bitter. Not just tannic black tea bitter, but the taste of poorly deployed, bitter bergamot. No wonder so many people dislike Earl Greys, when they are always exposed to examples like this. With sugar and a splash of half and half it is ok drinkable, but I’m glad I never bought a box of these a the grocery.

Have this as part of a Mighty Leaf sampler I picked up. Their tea sachets are hand sewn around the edges and very pretty.

I grabbed this one in celebration of my Mighty Leaf order shipping (I had to get some Spring Jasmine, I was so impressed by this one in loose leaf). Also, in celebration of my Damn Fine Tea order shipping. Squeal…I love that I can track the ML order and am excited to get the awesome teas and even awesomer tins from DFT.

Back to this tea, it has the right flavor of bergamot for me. More citrusy orange than floral perfume. The black tea base is bright and a pleasant sip along with the bergamot. I could enjoy more of this, but will wait before ordering anymore. I would still like to pick up more of Lupicia’s Earl to see if it is still my favorite.

What can I say other that I was surprised to sort of like this one. The bergamot was not at all overwhelming and it wasn’t oily. It was pretty good, balanced, and not at all offensive. A nice little surprise.

Keep moving, folks. Nothing to see here. Just a standard Earl Grey with nothing to set it apart from the herd. Let’s keep the flow of traffic going. Life’s too short to drink boring tea. Nothing to see here. ::waves with a little traffic baton:: Let’s keep it moving.

Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act IV scene 7

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.
Sonnet 130

As Act IV closes on the Shakespeare box I hate to admit it, but what I have remaining are the teas that I kept shuffling out of the way of the other teas that caught my eye. There are only a few more teabags and chais left (sorry chai lovers! I’m rather wary of chai as a loose leaf tea since I’m too lazy to do anything with it beyond steep it. Hopefully this box changes my mind in this area). The upside is that because I’m less excited about the final teas it means that my pace of writing notes will slow, thus I can stretch out the joy of writing these notes a while longer.

It was mainly for this reason that I dubbed Mighty Leaf’s Organic Earl Grey one of Shakespeare’s great sonnets. I had lower expectations, but my first Mighty Leaf experience was a pleasant surprise. The tea itself was a nice Earl Grey, but nothing remarkable. It was smooth, didn’t taste “Pledgey” to me, and was one of the better bagged teas that I’ve experienced thus far. This tea gave me pause to think about trying to experience more bagged teas on my tea journey. Even though I don’t “look down on” teabags I realized that I have almost exclusively focused on loose leaf teas.

I may not wax poetic about this or other bagged teas, but they definitely have a place in my cupboard. NE

Okay, I can’t take it anymore. I don’t think the world will end if I write about tea occasionally in English (currently in a Japanese immersion program).
Anyway, I’ve found a cheap hack at one of the campus coffee shops- one bag of Mighty Leaf tea is really cheap. Ask for it with steamed milk of any type (I get soy) and it’s the same price. Mmmmm…. so this is a decent earl grey (most really do taste the same to me), and with soy milk it even seems to have a touch of sweetness that I may or may not be imagining. I’m in the library with a travel cup, so I’m lazily letting the tea bag sit, and it hasn’t ruined the flavor at all. If anything it’s richer. I love that I can get an organic tea latte for $1 ;)

Yup! Everyone else pretty much said it…it’s typical Earl Grey…I’m grateful for Earl Grey Tea, indeed, and also grateful for finding some Might Leaf in a store somewhat nearby FINALLY.

I had this tea over the weekend at the hotel where I stayed. I was somewhat disappointed in the tea. The tasted of bergamot was very settle, which is good. That’s where the positives stop. The black tea itself was really weak, as in lacked depth of flavor. I would say I could drink this again, except for the chemical flavor the pouch gave off. Maybe it’s just me, but the tea tasted like the bag gave off plastic flavor. I don’t think I’ll drink this again.

Had this with breakfast this morning. Earl Grey is not my favorite tea. I don’t like the feeling that I am drinking black tea while wearing really floral perfume. Its not bad. I would just prefer straight breakfast tea.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag
Additives: none
Water: hot spigot water, 1 mug full
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: bergamot
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, hint of citrus
Flavor: bitter, astringent, black tea, hint of bergamot
Body: Full
Aftertaste: astringent, a bit bitter
Liquor: almost opaque deep dark reddish brown

Not a remarkable tea, but a nice afternoon caffeine wake up call while at work. I should have done a bit less time, and perhaps a packet of sugar.

Post-Steep Additives: none

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/04/mighty-leaf-teabag-black-tea-organic_06.html

I’m currently traveling, and away from my tea cabinet at home. This is always a trying time. Hotels often provide tea bags, but rarely ones worth drinking.

But, at the keynote last night we pocketed a few Mighty Leaf tea bags which we were happily gulping down while listening to a paper on why it is important for anthropologists to take the topic of religion seriously in Japan.

Tea bag tea, no matter how premium, is still tea bag tea. I don’t care what anyone else says, it just isn’t as good as loose tea. Heck, even loose tea, once placed into a tea bag, doesn’t steep as well.

But if I have to drink bagged tea, and right now I do, I’m glad we have Mighty Leaf.

You could say I’m a fan of Earl Grey – ever since I heard Jean Luc Picard order it on the Enterprise I longed to try a cup! I’m also rather a purist – I want the bergmot to be strong, and I must be able to taste the black tea in the background. I bought this tea at the supermarket in a sampler pack of Mighty Leaf teas. I wasn’t expecting much, truly, just a cup of the Earl for my afternoon.

I love the little sachets Mighty Leaf uses, though I do with the serged thread holding on the tag didn’t always drip down the side of my cup! I used one sachet for 12 oz of water. I worried it might be weak, but it was not.

There is a nice blast of bergmot, but it isn’t so overwhelming as to taste bitter. There is definitely an underlying sweetness, which I must attribute to the essence of Jasmine on the ingredients list. I am really liking that extra flavor, to my surprise – although I love jasmine I would never think to put it in an Earl Grey! I think this might have to go on my short list of good Earl Greys – it might even be better than my current favorite bagged version (Republic of Tea’s Earl Greyer.)

I am guessing for myself that black teas need a little cream, I just need to learn how much cream is enough because I did not want to overpower the flavours of the tea with too much cream.

And today was almost too much..

I has been awhile since I’ve had an Earl Grey and I have been missing out. I was a bit worried after reading the ingredients where it mentioned “essence of jasmine.” Thankfully, the jasmine isn’t noticeable in either the scent or taste. I was a bit apprehensive about this tea since it was in a bag, but it was a whole leaf bag which I’ve don’t recall having tried before. The tea is very smooth with the black tea holding its own against the bergamot. The flavoring does not make it taste like perfume and is not artificial. I tried it plain which is definitely good and drinkable but I decided to make a London Fog latte by adding a bit of vanilla, sugar, and milk. Yum! I think this is a great Earl Grey. Although I don’t use bagged teas that often, it is nice to have the convenience every once in awhile.

Not to sound harsh but all Earl Greys taste the same… this one is no exception. HOWEVER, with the right amount of cream and sugar this tea really makes for a delightful afternoon tea (especially if it’s raining!). Don’t worry to much about over steeping, and again I do recommend experimenting with different amounts of cream and sugar.

Despite what everyone else says about this tea being “just okay”, I have to strongly disagree. For me this tea had a really lovely rich, round flavour. I got the loose leaf variety, dropped about a teaspoon and a 1/3 into the bottom of my Libré Tea infuser mug, and I just left it in there and drank straight out of it. I like my teas stronger so this wasn’t an issue. I have tried it with and without both milk and sugar and its just all around a really fantastic tea. Plus I love the fact that its organic.
I would give this tea a 96/100 and it had maximum steeping time in just below boiling water.

This was good but not great. I loved the smell of it, but the taste was just meh. It’s been awhile since I’ve had an Earl Grey tea, so maybe I’m just not a fan.