Blueberry Earl Grey

Today is my dad’s birthday, and as tradition dictates I baked a cake! I love baking but I usually try to keep my cakes simple. Well, not this year! My dad said he wanted “something fruity” so as tempted as I was to make a fruitcake just for laughs I went with a blueberry lemon theme.

The base cake was a fluffy white cake, much less sweet than your usual cake, studded with blueberries. In the middle was a blueberry mousse, the frosting was lemon cream cheese and it was topped with more mousse and candied lemon peels. All from scratch!

And because 4 components weren’t enough apparently I also made a sorbet on the side. Using… this tea! Water, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and this tea simmered for 15 minutes, then chilled and poured into an ice cream machine.

So this note isn’t really that centered on the tea (because CAKE) but the sorbet came out SO GOOD. The blueberry was strong, you’d swear there were fresh blueberries in there somehow, and of course EG is great in any cold form. All in all, a huge success! Worth the 5+ hours of work the total ensemble took.

I think this is my favorite of the Ovation teas I ordered. I’m happy I gave it a shot!

I’m sipping away at my 4oz bubble cup with just a splash of milk in it, while my timolino holds the rest. This is pretty good without milk too!

I have to begin this tasting note with a caveat that I don’t usually like blueberry flavored things. I’m trying this one this morning because I have a groupon-style deal to this company that is expiring in the not-too-distant future, and I’m trying to decide what to order. It’s really tough! This company has a lot of blends that look tasty, not to mention the create-your-own blend option, but they don’t sell samples so I have to choose only a few. I’ve had one other tea from this company, the Brown Sugar Fig, which was also black, but I want to know how their Earl Grey base is. Also I need to try out their black tea base again… it’s a Assam/Ceylon blend, and I’m not the biggest fan of Assam.

However! This cup is very pleasant. The black tea base comes through as robust, but also very smooth and not bitter. It’s malty and plays well with the bergamot, which is bright and citrusy. The blueberry is omipresent and really the main flavor, but it’s not too overwhelming and I can still enjoy the cup. Of course now this only makes my ordering decision more difficult!

This is fin-NOM-i-nal!

The aroma is INTENSE and I love that about this offering! A party for the senses!

The ingredients are plump and visually-FUN!

The taste is awesome! The Assam and Ceylon is D-Lish! The Orange Peel and Blueberries are my FAVE! Citrus and Berry yet EG flavors thrown in and jammin’ well together!

I did three infusions with this.

The 2nd infusion was a tad more orange than berry with the EG still present. The 3rd infusion there was more blueberry but the berry was more soothing and mellow than before. The Citrus and EG flavors fell in the background and were subtle but a nice addition to the Blueberry!

I really like this one! A nice flavored EG! AND…the only BLUEBERRY Flavored EG in the Steepster Database to date!!! Woot!

I bought some of this from Alphakitty when Ovation had their sad out-of-business sale. thanks alphakitty! I thought I’d have some of this with some lemon meringue pie for breakfast (no judging!:D). It sounded like the perfect combination and it is! The blend has some HUGE blueberries that you can’t really see, since it is the same color as the super black tea leaves. There is also a few flowers and some orange peel. The only way I could think to improve Ovation’s earl grey is to actually have more bergamot. There were a ton of orange peels in my infuser, and I think there was more of an orange flavor than bergamot. There was a hint of blueberry which I’m not sure is from the actual blueberries or flavoring, but it tastes pretty authentic to me. I love the fruitiness mixed with the medium bodied black tea. The black tea is brisk and a bit tough, and the other flavors make it gulpable and thirst quenching. I love this one.. I just wish for more bergamot! I’ll try steeping for less than five minutes next time.

The first time I tried making this tea I got distracted and oversteeped it by 7+ minutes. Needless to say it was bitter.

A while later I tried it again with fresh leaves for about 4 minutes. It was very blueberry-ish. It could use more bergamot but still a good Earl Grey. I am thinking of mixing with with some double bergamot for MORE bergamot, or some EG cream because a creamy blueberry EG has to be awesome.

It is good with milk and some sugar helps bring out the blueberry. I might try an even shorter steep time to see if that keeps the bergamot from being overwhelmed by the blueberry.

This one came from a swap with Lariel!

This one smells so good. Dry, the blueberry scent sticks out a little more. Once brewed, the black base, bergamot, and cornflowers are more detectable. Luckily, the blueberry is still there, and not overshadowed by the earl grey notes.

Taste: Yum! I love me some earl grey and I love me some blueberries, and this tea delivers on both. All the basic aspects of an earl grey are present; the earthy black tea, the bergamot, the citrus notes. And the blueberry shines through very nicely. Not overpowering, but almost naturally blending with the other aspects. It isn’t artificial in the least. I love this! Too bad Ovation is no more. =(

Thanks, Lariel, for letting me try some of this before it was gone forever. Happy to have tried it.

Tea of the afternoon…..

This one is pretty good. It is nice to have a variation on Earl Grey every now and then. The blueberry is in balance with the bergamot, and both are present but not overpowering. The presentation is very pretty with the orange peels and flower petals. I think it will take a few more tries before I have a good read on it, but will go with a tentative rating for now.

24 oz teapot, 6 actual tsp tea, freshly boiled water, 4 minutes. Lightly sweetened.

I have long added a pinch of blueberry tea to my Earl Grey Creme so I was excited to check this one out. I love the twist of the blueberry with the Earl Grey. The black tea base was nice and rich. My issue with it is that the bergamot is a little stronger than I prefer. Still tasty and worth consideration.

Hmmm… I’m not sure about this one. I mean, it’s good, don’t get me wrong. It’s really tasty… it’s just different. The bergamot is a bit obscured with the strong blueberry notes. But, as it cools, the bergamot seems to pop out a little more.

I think I’m going to try this one again before I rate it.