Raspberry Earl Grey

I am so behind on tasting notes! I have officially vanquished NaNoWriMo and am currently at 55k, but I’m only finally getting to the third and final arc of my book so my writing is far from over. As such, I’ve been devoting all my writing time to it and not to Steepster, though I have tried to keep up on everyone else’s tasting notes and threads!

I got this in a very generous swap with Dinosara. Raspberry + earl grey? Hell yes, sign me up! In the bag this smells intoxicating, super yummy and fruity. Since I got it I’ve tried it both cold brewed and hot, and I like it equally both ways. Cold brewed the raspberry is very prominent and quite authentic and juicy. Hot it has a rich black base, strong for an EG but I don’t mind it. The bergamont is subdued but nicely citrus-y both ways, and it’s distinctly an Earl Grey. This is definitely a tea I could see adding to my permanent rotation since I don’t have a solid fruity EG—maybe I’ll have to try out some of Ovation’s other blends before I make a decision!

Thank you Dinosara for including a bit of this in our trade! Sadly, I heard yesterday that Ovation will no longer be in business. I really wanted to try many of their blends, and this was the only one in my stash, so I thought I’d try it this morning. The idea of this one just seemed dreamy. Earl Grey and raspberry?!? I steeped for four minutes in boiled water that I had let cool for a few minutes. I didn’t really smell any bergamot and I didn’t really taste any bergamot. There is a slight hint of raspberry. I really like the black tea base though! It’s a nice malty, medium flavored black tea. The steep color is a coppery brown. I’ve REALLY been on a malty tea kick lately. I wish I could drink malty teas every morning. I keep thinking of Golden Moon’s Sinharaja but I only have a little left of that one (that Momo kindly sent!) and that stuff ain’t cheap. I might have to splurge on some when I run out though. It will be one of my treasured teas. Anyway, I like this one but it isn’t the best representation of a bergamot tea. I wish I could try more of Ovation’s teas though!

Before I made this order from Ovation I tried a sample of their blueberry Earl Grey, and I enjoyed it even though I’m not a big fan of blueberry flavored things. But I was pleased with the Earl Grey part of it (and that the blueberry tasted pretty authentic), so I decided to go ahead and order this one. The dry leaf is chock full of dried raspberries, orange peel, and a scattering of flower petals, and it smells awesome. A nice blend of bright, citrusy bergamot and juicy raspberry.

The steeped tea has that black-tea-blend aroma that I can’t quite pick apart but find a lot of places. Assam-y, I think. Not my favorite, but it doesn’t always mean a flavor that isn’t good to me. There’s also the bergamot and a warmer raspberry aroma as well. I’m going to hold of rating this one as well (and tasting the rest of my teas) because I do think that these blends need time to settle and mature since they were fresh-blended to order. I’m not getting a lot of strong flavors out of this cup, and they all seem a bit muddled. There’s some astringency with a citrus note behind it, and maybe some raspberry, but they are kind of lost. I definitely can’t figure out this tea base… I don’t like Assams but I felt ok ordering more black-tea-base teas from them because my sample of Blueberry Earl Grey wasn’t bitter or astringent to me, but brewed in a similar way this tea is both. Maybe it will mellow more, but maybe it won’t and it will mean I might have to write off black teas at Ovation because the base and I don’t get along.

My first tea from the ’Here’s Hoping’ Teabox. It’s a very good choice, if I do say so myself!

The bergamot is not overly strong, but it allows the raspberry to be the star of the show. I like that the raspberry is a fruity flavor rather than a candy one. So the taste is mostly of raspberry with the bergamot being a lovely end note. It’s absolutely delicious! The black tea base is strong, which I also like. I wish more EGs were paired with a strong tea base!

I’ll definitely resteep this tea later today. I wish I had known how good this was before Ovation went out of business. C’est la vie.

This is what I was hoping Numi’s Berry Black would be and I am so happy that Ovation Tea chose to omit hibiscus flower. The floral “perfume” side of bergamot is missing, leaning toward the fruity lemon side, which is particularly enhanced by addition of orange peel. I’m not sure of the tea base; maybe Ceylon, maybe Keemun. The tartness of the raspberry hides the pure flavor of tea from my palate. I followed the instruction to brew for 5 min but I will go back to my usual 3 min next time. I do detect a dryness/astringency that might be diminished with a shorter brew. Today, I made two separate pots, one of 52teas EGC and this raspberry EG. Yay for finding another way to make EGC last longer.

I got my pound on order of this from Ovation last week and trying it out for the first time now. On my last cup of this pot that I made and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Which is good because I have a pound of tea to get through and I like to switch it up a lot.

This is a very pretty tea to look at and also to smell. Lots of big raspberry pieces as well as raspberry flavouring to this, according to the ingredients. There is a nice bright flavour to it, citrusy from the bergamot and orange peel and also the tanginess of the raspberries. This is a nicely done earl grey and I don’t like a lot of earl greys so I’m glad that I like this one.