Rosy Earl Grey

Rose! Jasmine! Earl Grey! It’s like a fairy tea sister offered to send a magic tea with all my best loved flavors in it. Wait! This really happened!! Rabs sent this tea to me!!!! :)

I LOVE IT!!!!

If you too love these things, you HAVE to try this tea! It’s blended SO WELL. As you can imagine, all these fruits and florals together could be an awful, sickening mess, but this is PERFECT. Every single flavor comes through, but is subtle and delightful. I think the black Earl Grey is the anchor that holds this whole confection together. The rose and jasmine add just the right flavor and sweetness. Not a single solitary addition needed.

This tea is also very beautiful. Rose petals and buds. Green tea amongst the black. Long elegant leaves. This tea is a delight for the eyes as well as the palate!

I’ve been really good about not buying tea, but this one is getting bought as soon as the month turns!!! Love, love, love!

Though I continue to protest that I can’t add tea swaps to my already horrendous schedule, that I’m trying to simplify my life rather than complicate it more, etc., Rabs prevailed upon me to accept her generous offer of a sample of this. The sample came in a lovely heat sealed ziplock, gold on one side and clear on the other, with a charming label indicating the name of the tea, the company, and steeping temperature and time, in a quaint old-timey font that looks like what my old Smith Corona used to produce. Really well done, looks more professional in its packaging than some samples I’ve received from companies!

I didn’t know until now that this was another of those mixed green and black teas that tend to drive me nuts. But fortunately I don’t have to guess at the steeping time and temp because Rabs has taken the guess work out for me.

This is a visually pretty tea, a lot of rose petals adding color to the mix. In the packet it smells really flowery and I totally get the adjective “frou-frou” to describe this. The mixture of rose and jasmine is a really nice one, with the components of each scent blending together to create some third scent with aspects of both but something unto itself as well. There’s a green tea aromatic aura more than an actual smell. I’m made aware of the green tea’s presence but it’s not obvious. And there is a black tea strength around the edges. I don’t get Earl Grey but I’ve discovered sometimes it comes out in the steeping even if I can’t smell it in the dry leaves. Really, this smell is mostly flowers.

My first attempt at making this, in the Breville, didn’t come out right. I am gradually learning that the measuring spoon provided with the Breville is not at all to be trusted with mixtures that include things other than relatively small tea leaves. Even though I clearly made it weaker than it ought to be, it had a really lovely jasmine/rose aroma and a pleasant, mild taste. There’s even a hint of Earl Grey.

Second try: Stronger, more flavorful, as expected. Very nice flavor. Nice enough that I want to spend more time with it as I ended up having to get on a phone call for work and didn’t get to savor my second try as much as I would have liked. I’m not sure I’m getting as much Earl Grey as I’d like even now, but that’s what experimentation is for — and besides, there are some teas styled as Earl Greys that don’t taste like them and that I like just fine.

Believe it or not, this one is enough to make me break with my decision not to order black/green mixes.

Rating is provisional for now. I can see it going up with more experience, though.

A very potent and aromatic Rose EG! Stands up to it’s name. Floral Rose, That flavor you would expect from an Earl and the juicy bergamot, too! Levels of Flavors exceed expectations!

Oh floral joy! I have found my “Ultimate Cup of Fou-Fou!” It’s like I went through a beautiful garden, picked a bouquet of fragrant flowers, and then made a tea out of it. Oh, I must have this on hand forever and ever!

The dry leaves had me worried. It really smelled potpouri-ish. I actually wrinkled my nose and had to hope that steeping would mellow things out a lot (and it did – maybe not a lot, but it did enough).

The aroma smelled wonderful: a heady mix of earl grey, rose, and something else I couldn’t put my finger on – but I knew it was floral. Um, yeah, turns out it was jasmine ::blushes::

The first four sips were actually horrifying. The first sip I recoiled slightly – it was like a little salty/citrus bomb went off in my mouth. Second sip the icky lemon/lime taste/sensation started near the back of the roof of my mouth and traveled in a straight line partway down my throat. It did that for two more sips. It really was a bad sensation that that I’ve never experienced before. I set the cup aside and hoped that cooling it a bit would help. I waited maybe a minute and tried again. The “citrus yuck” was gone and all the yummy sweet florals came out ::Hallelujah Chorus starts to play:: TG

I am getting a slight dryness to the back of my throat which started near the end of the first steep, but I love this tea’s taste so much that I don’t care. I’ll live with it. The only thing I adjusted on steep #2 was that I added a minute. No weird citrus sensations with this cup. I’m dying to try this iced!

And you see that Preperation Detail right below here? The one that says 205 degrees? Well, for the first time I can attest to the truth of that statement: my Pino Pro electric kettle came last evening and from now on I’ll be within a few degrees of accurate temperatures! ::does happy dance::

I was fortunate enough to get a sample of this delightful tea from the magnificent RABS (thank you so much!). It was labelled an “8” out of a possible “8” in the Geek package and I’ve been holding off on trying the two remaining 8 teas for a very rainy day—or for one of those dark nights of the soul.

Today I decided to indulge myself and opened the delightful package. I love this tea. It’s not a simple rose tea nor is it a simple Earl Grey. It manages to surpass Earl Greyness by an abundant bergamot taste and the rose makes for a delightful adjunct—both visually and, more importantly, in terms of taste.

I highly recommend this and must order a full package. Great job, Teas, Etc. I’ve never had another tea like this so far and, in a world where copy-cat teas seem to be the rule, I really like this original.

Time for my quarterly return to Steepster! I actually had a revelation earlier this week that one of the reasons that I don’t come by here often is because the dashboard takes forever to load these days. I hit the steepster link, go off to do something else while it loads, proceed to completely forget about it and finish off whatever tea I was drinking in the meantime.

In any case, we’ll see how long this return lasts. Probably until I finish my current research paper which I am at this moment procrastinating on while writing this note. I think I’ll probably stick to only logging new teas as I try them rather than logging all the tea I drink unless I get a strongly different impression from it than previously.

In any case, I’ve been wanting to try this tea for a while, since I loooove earl grey the best. Even more than the crazy ass teas from 52teas. Although I love those too, of course, just NOT AS MUCH :P Anyway, I was really wary of it, but I know Rabs loves it, so I had always been planning to try some. Sadly, my finances have not been great of late. Yay for being at a public university in California! Motto: We Have No Money.

I finally got a bit of a break when mum sent me a check for Valentine’s day with instructions to buy tasty chocolates for myself because she was busy. I think that we all know that “tasty chocolates” is a universal code for “nifty tea and possibly some posh beer.” So I grabbed several Teas,etc. teas. Including this and coconut custard, which I had also been coveting for a while.

Now, this is a black and green (and bunch of other stuff) blend, which has historically been problematic, but I tend to get around this problem through the highly scientific method of treating it like a black tea and selectively forgetting that the green tea is there. I recommend this method for anyone as chronically lazy as me.

Now then, to the tea itself. This is, to put it frankly, AMAZING. I can’t believe that it has all that stuff going on in there (jasmine and earl grey and rose, oh my!) and yet it all manages to come together somehow without anything becoming too overpowering. That’s right, I am getting the rose and the jasmine and the earl grey in basically equal amounts! I am freaking out here guys. I am going to have to keep this on hand ALL THE TIME, I am not even lying. As with other “augmented” earl greys though, I don’t really see this as a substitute for normal earl grey, which I need in the mornings to function. However, I really love having this throughout the day, or making a big pot of it, since the different flavors mean I won’t get tired of it even if I’m drinking it for several hours.

tl;dr version: A++ would drink/buy again!

Addendum: I think my other reason for slacking off on Steepster is my chronic inability to write short tasting notes. WHY IS THIS SO LONG.

I was in the mood for something citrus-y again (after drinking Paris) and so I grabbed this out of the selection that LiberTEAS sent me.

This smells.
So.
Very.
Very.
Very.
VERY.
Good.
I can’t even describe to you how much I love the scent, there aren’t enough words. It smells very bright and citrus-y from the bergamont and the floral scent pops through and adds a wonderful lightness to it. Oh my gosh I can’t even contain how good it smells. It’s also BEAUTIFUL. There’s so many flower petals all throughout the forest-green leaves. Oh my gosh. I have to stop I could go on forever.

Anyways, I steeped with boiling water (as par LiberTEAS directions, though I think I might let it cool a little bit next time) and steeped for 3 and half minutes (again by the directions on the baggy, though I think I’ll go a little shorter next time, maybe 2 and a half or just 3 minutes). I’m surprised at how much the leaves opened up. They literally look like leaves from a tree inside the infuser basket. I think that’s a result of the boiling water. The resulting brew is pretttty dark. Like if I didn’t know better I would say that there wasn’t any green tea in it, but rather a lighter black tea. The aroma is a lot more floral than the leaves. In fact it’s mostly floral, and I can’t detect any citrus.

I added some sugar to it as I do with most of the Earl Grey’s I drink (a bad habit, I know), and it really helps out. I can taste the bergamont’s tart-sweetness and a really nice floral taste is left in my mouth afterwards. Not something I would reach out and buy again, but it’s pretty good! Earl Grey is my dad’s favorite kind of tea (though he usually drinks Bigelow and other bagged varieties) and I think I might brew him a cup when he gets home from work and see what he thinks….

On another side note, I have a feeling that my next batch of samples from Teavivre are going to come today. I don’t know why, but I always get a certain feeling when I know that my teas are going to come in the mail…. It’s like my sixth sense :P. I could tell with my last batch of samples that they were going to come and, believe it or not, when I got home they were in my mailbox! I really hope they do come! I’m getting some black teas this time and I’m so excited to try those. I’m also getting their Milk Oolong, which I heard was amazing and I’m getting some of their pu-erh touchas. I’m so excited!

To wrap this post up, I like this tea a lot, but I’m more of a fan of original Earl Grey’s. Many thanks again to LiberTEAS for including this in my sample package!

I’ve been wanting to try this tea for quite some time now, so when I placed my last order with Teas Etc, I finally broke down and purchased some. I’m glad I did, it is really delightful. I didn’t notice that there is also jasmine green tea in this blend, so I brewed it as I would normally brew a black Earl Grey (boiling water) and it still tastes amazing… I’m wondering if I should try and tweak it by lowering the temperature for the jasmine… I probably will do that, just to see how the flavors develop with a lower temperature. As it is though, I’m enjoying this cup immensely. Very delicious.

Ah, rose Earl Greys. Why have you eluded me thus far? I have yet to try one that was what I wanted it to be, but then, I haven’t yet tried this one. It’s been on my list for a while, what with all the Steepster love, and now thanks to JacquelineM I finally get to try it!

The dry leaves smell amazing, but I’ve learned to be skeptical of that coming through in the taste. But the brewed tea smells great too: way more jasminey than the dry leaf, but with a certain depth from the rose that is lurking in the background.

Fortunately, this tea has not disappointed! This is one of those teas, like some of the French ones I have, that each of the flavors plays out individually at different parts of the sip, but then they all come together at the end. The florals are the first things I taste, first sweet, lovely jasmine, then rich, thick rose. The bergamot, the Earl Grey, seems to hang out at the end of the sip, but then on some sips it underlies everything else. All the flavors just work so well together, intermingling, playing off each other. They meld together more as it cools into one great floral bergamotty flavor. This tea is just as amazing as I had hoped!

What was missing from all those other rose EGs was the jasmine, obviously. My favorite lavender Earl Grey also has jasmine in the mix, and I think that it goes a long way toward making the other florals work so well with the bergamot. Thanks again, JacquelineM!

ETA: After reading one of JacquelineM’s previous tasting notes in which she let it “cold steep” in lukewarm water during an office meeting, I filled my cup back up with cool water and let it sit for an hour until lunch. Not exactly “iced” tea, but cool from the air conditioning tea nontheless. The jasmine green was the predominant note in the cup (both the sweet jasmine and the grassy, vegetal green), but the rose and bergamot were definitely present. It was really tasty, and something I’ll definitely try again!

Will rate this when I am able to give it a bit more attention but it reminds me a lot of MF’s 1854 – a soft, gentle, floral tea with very faint EG hints. The taste profile went: rose, jasmine, hint of bergamot, jasmine. Some astringency developed as it continued to cool but overall I did enjoy this tea. Nicely soft and sweet.

This was my sipping tea for the 15 hour shower of gloom today, to be brewed with breakfast and left on my desk and slowly be drained through the day. This is because I was a bit scared to make it; the bergamont smell had that perume like strength. And I’ve found both Earls and Jasmine green best cooler.

Great choice for the day! This was delicious cool and all of the flavors are easy to sort out and enjoy in a few sips. The jasmine and bergamont pair so harmoniously I have to wonder why this isn’t as common as the two bases! The green isn’t detectable but a hint of the black base adds a ground to the garden.
Second steep: Hmm. The leaves smell nice even across the room. Should I risk a weak cup of beauty for a good strong scent? I’ll compromise by smiffing the tin thoughout the day.
Still good, more jasmine than I expected and less rose. Worth the loss of the brewed scent.
But I can smell the tin! And stare at the leaves as well! I wish I had the money to buy another glass jar and fill it with this tea. It would match my rose tuocha jar. =)
Another gloomy day brightened by tea from JacquelineM. Thanks!

JacquelineM sent me a little tin of this to try…thank you so much!!

It’s almost too pretty to brew. This is full of rose petals! Has a lovely rose and earl grey scent, with just a hint of jasmine.

In the brewed cup, though, that hint of jasmine becomes a whole heap o’ jasmine. There’s still some rose, and bergamot at the end of the sip, but there’s a whole heck of a lot of jasmine going on. And I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. See, me and jasmine…sometimes we just can’t be in the same room, and other days we’re best friends. Kind of like tweenage girls.

As it cools, there’s less up-front jasmine and more rose; bergamot is still playing the final fiddle. I’m thinking this is an Earl that’s just not for me. I’ll try it out again at a lower steep and see what happens.

I have finally gotten around to trying this tea that the wonderful Rabs had sent me in a swap. She said it was her favorite and that by me being a jasmine lover and a fan of earl grey, should appreciate… of course I was intrigued and eagerly awaited this! Unfortunately, I tend to drink alot of my tea at night or in the evening when I have some time to myself and the kids are in bed; I will usually seek out the white teas so I wont be tossing and turning all night. But today I decided I will make the time and try this out. Looking at the tea I noticed a full rose bud alone with several rose petals, very pretty against the black leaves! But by seeing this I was scared this would taste overly rosey, which is not my forte. Now, putting all of that aside I steeped this visually appealing tea and took my first sip and the rose was not overpowering at all! The jasmine I would say was the strongest note, followed by the rose and then the bergamot. But here is where the magic happens… the flavors all meld together quite nicely… to the point where I simply wonder how did they do that?!

This is a very good and different earl grey tea and I thank you Rabs for letting me try this one :-)

Thank you Jessica for sending me this tea.

There isn’t much more I can say about this that hasn’t already been said. It is amazing and delicious. The flavors work so well together. My favorite has to be the rose.

Yes….Happiness and relaxation in a cup. This truly is a restorative to me, and will be close to my heart like my Rose Congou. Luckily, Teas Etc. finally returned my email with good news….it is back in stock!

There is a perfect balance of floral and bergamot notes along with green and black tea base. I did slightly sweeten mine, but truly a wonderful tea! Thank you JacquelineM for sending me a generous sample! I am noticing that our tastes seem to run very similar!

Another goodie from MeghannM! Thanks!
Oooh, jasmine…rose….love! This tea smells amazing dry, just like walking through a flower garden on a warm, humid day. I brewed this baby up because I just couldn’t wait to try this! Wow, this is something. Something wonderful for sure! Honestly, the ingredients in this tea could lead to a big, scary, disgusting mess but it works beautifully.

This is like a mix of the best jasmine pearls, most amazing rose, and a delicious, balanced Earl Grey. I think I’m in love! And, the tea cup doubles as aromatherapy! I’m sitting here with my nose in the cup letting my day melt away with each deep breath of jasmine and rose.

Although this is a black tea, I have a feeling that this would be great to have before bed as the florals are very relaxing. I really needed a cup of fru-fru today!

This won’t be an everyday tea for me, but it is remarkably nice for a special occasion. The rose dominates, seconded by the jasmine. The bergamot provides but a simple backnote. Nice.

Another sample from JacquelineM! When I opened the container and saw the rose petals and smelled the aroma, I wanted a huge bowl of it to display as a decoration and scent the house – drinkable potpourri! Many Earl Grey teas scare me a little when dry because they can smell overpowering and that makes me think of industrial strength cleaners. This one, steeped, is delicate and a light amber color. The rose flavor is in the forefront and I think there is jasmine sweetening this as well? The bergamot is not strong at all. Although it was good plain, I think I liked it best with a tiny sprinkle of sugar. Thank you, J! A lovely tea to look at and to sip!

This tea makes me believe I’m sipping from a fancy teacup at an afternoon tea. It screams, “I’m FLORAL!” in both its taste and scent. This is a fine tea, but I’m realizing more and more that I’m not particularly into floral teas. It’s a refreshing and rejuvenating cup, but really isn’t that enjoyable unless you like jasmine and flowers.

A very girlie tea. Mostly rosy and jasmine-y with faint bergamot. I wouldn’t really even classify it as an Earl Grey because of the faint bergamot. I really liked the jasmine aspect of it. It tended to get a little bitter as it cooled.