Earl Grey, loose leaf

I had to get some coffee beans today, and I went through the usual rigmarole where the person offers me a free coffee and I ask if I could have a free tea instead then they look at me funny, go in the back to ask the manager, then come out to say I can have a free tea :)

Today I chose the Earl Grey because I was curious about how the full leaf would taste, plus I was less than happy with the Awake I had last time. I also have fond memories of getting a ritual cup of Tazo Earl Grey twice weekly before my Most Favorite Ever Class Ever Taken Ever :)

Well, I like it much better than the Awake for sure. I think part of it for me is the nostalgia factor. It has that special Europe from World War II to the Present flavor for me. Also, the bergamot livens up the bland black tea and hides some of that tastelessness yet bitterness that I found in the Awake. I think this will be my go-to cup for free-with-coffee-beans or stranded-on-campus-in-need-of-tea type situations.

I now have an overwhelming need to curl up in a chair and read Simone de Beauvoir, Camus, and George Orwell!!

Stopped by the bucks to get a tea and to try one of those new petite cake pops…..Ok really I went in to use my gift card from my Iphone. Nerd Alert I had this about a year ago when I was working at a licensed store and thought it strong. So let me also say that they have done it again with these cake pops. Yes very tasty! and so is the tea. I really enjoyed the Earl Grey, this would be one that I would order on a regular basis. So I was doing some running around and went into Radio Shack. When I got back in the car the aroma reminded me of pesto. I don’t know why…I’m not complaining though either. It tastes similar to pesto as well. I will definitely order again.

I had this at Border’s bookstore. I needed to get more energy in order to spend money. It gets really tiring when you walk around with your head tilted to the right. Anyway, I was suprised to see that this time the tea was loose leaf and placed in a mesh sleeve that could be easily pulled out from the cup. This was noticeably better thanthe bagged version. It also went well with the slice of pumpkin spice cake I had. I managed to get over $120 worh of books (and a U2 CD) while I only had $70 worth of gift cards on me. Can I blame the tea?

I found this one at the grocery store complete with an “infusing kit” for the loose leaves. in other words, it had the cute little infuser on the top that you hang in the rim of the cup, scoop in the tea, and pour the water riht through it. I particularly like this tea, Earl Grey being one of my favorites anyway. It didn’t seem to taste all that different from the bagged tea, but I still enjoyed it with my usual sugar and milk additives. The infuser is a bit of a pain to deal with, but I don’t really mind for a tea that I find to be worth the effort. Besides, now I have an infuser for those loose leaf teas that don’t come with one.

Amount: 2 teabags
Additives: none / none / 2 packets of white sugar / 4 packets of white sugar
Water: 20 ounces / 16 ounces second steep both with hot spigot water
Steep Time: over 5 minutes (walking back from Starbucks), then 2 minutes on the second steep
Served: Hot

Notes: I had limited ability to pull the bags while walking back from Starbucks to work, so the first infusion was too strong and bitter. The second infusion ended up a little weak. Watch the brew time on this carefully it seems to turn bitter very fast. The first over-brewed cup was not salvageable even after trying to add milk and sugar. The second batch after 2 packets of sugar there was a hint of sweet and the flavor was smoother and less sharply bitter, 4 packets worked great, 3 probably would have done. I’ve always preferred my earl grey with sugar and milk. I did not try adding milk to the second infusion as it was already weak. The leaves stood up very well to the second infusion.

Smell: Black tea, citrus
Flavor: citrus, strong black tea
Body: heavy, it lingers
Aftertaste: bitter
Liquor: batch 1: dark reddish brown, batch 2: light reddish brown, opaque