Earl of Bengal Tea

I am finishing up the last that I have on hand of this. I wanted to have more of this today mostly because I wanted to try to address Jaime’s concerns about this tea.

I don’t find it tasting of cardboard, or even “dusty”… but it is a stronger (and different tasting) base which I attribute to the black tea base. It is a Bangladesh-grown tea so it does taste different than a typical Earl Grey would (or should!) It does have kind of an unusual taste to it – but not a bad taste, just different.

But I do see where you’re getting the “dusty” comparison from… the astringency in this is kind of powdery/starchy. It isn’t a heavy astringency, so it’s kind of a light “dusting” of the powdery sensation. I find that the astringency becomes stronger the longer it is infused… so I recommend a lighter infusion time with this particular tea… just 3 minutes.

A very pleasant Earl Grey. I wrote a full-length review of this tea earlier this month, you can check it out here:

http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=15444

Finishing off the last that I have of this tea in my cupboard – it was part of one of my recent tasting boxes from Foodzie. I love it when the tasting boxes include tea!

I am noting a hint of savory bitterness toward mid-sip that I didn’t pick up on in previous tastings. It’s quite nice, actually, as it gives an interesting contrast to the cup.

A really good Earl.

Alright, having another go at this one. Reduced steeping time to 2 minutes, and the temp down to 200*. The odd flavor that I was thinking was “dusty” is still kinda there, and there’s still astringency (quite a bit for only 2 minutes), but I think what I’m getting now is more…meaty? Proteiny? It’s so hard to find the words for it. It’s much more palatable at this time/temp…I’m still not really getting much bergamot taste, though.

Okay, after thinking on this tea, it reminds me of those paper tasting strips in my genetics class. Did anyone else do that? They’re little strips of paper that have chemicals in them…some people can taste these compounds, some can’t, and the ability to taste each different compound is, apparently, a single gene trait. I don’t remember which ones we did, but I do remember being the only one who had to run out of the room to rinse my mouth out after trying one of them.

Okay, back to the tea…I did get a better cup this time around, and, in fact, actually finished the pot. I think I’ll shorten the steep even more next time around.

(And a big thanks to LiberTEAS for taking the time to help me out with this blend. You’re awesome!)

I’ve actually had a number of pots of this whilst being here at my parents’s place (snow has thawed slightly and I’ll get to go back home tomorrow). I think I’ve finally got this working right. I took the bags out of the cellophane bag, and then left the lid off the container overnight. That strange, musty taste is now gone for the most part, and I can enjoy it much better now. It’s definitely not my favorite Earl, but at least I’ve figured out a way to brew it!

So I’ve actually been drinking this tea a lot over the break…so much so that this is my last pot. I will say that it has improved for me, but not to the point where I’ll be getting more of it. And it’s not been terribly exciting to drink, but does deliver a good caffeine-get-me-awake feeling.

I think I need to tweak my steeping parameters on this one. There’s just something…not right about it. It’s got this toasted, dusty taste to it…and at first, I thought maybe I’d just gotten a bad batch, but the bags that LiberTEAS had tucked into my surprise box were the same (had those at work but didn’t log). Could this tea be picking up the cardboard taste? Any steeping suggestions?

I acquired another bag of this and am having a cup now…see previous notes…but I am going to share the rest of this with Amanda and Wonks!

I had a cup of this before leaving the house this morning. Last time around I did the loose leaf version…this time around a bagged version. I really enjoyed my cup and went a 2nd cups-worth and put it in the frig for dinner tonight. I’ll take a look-see about the iced version. I did notice with the bagged it surely tastes like Earl Grey but light on the bergamot and natural tasting…not fake. YUM

Had some of this ICED with dinner – as I mentioned earlier today I was going to do. This was great ICED. I like stronger black teas for ICED Teas too!

Bagged Version today. Smells nice and tastes pretty good. Good for mid-mornings!

This was the first tea I tried from Teatulia. I wrote a more lengthy review on my Tea Blog on Blogget last summer…check it out
http://teaequalsbliss.blogspot.com/2009/08/teatulias-earl-of-bengal-tea.html

I’m drinking this now…