Earl Grey Creme Vanilla (TE01)

Dear Steepy:

Today I received my Upton Tea order. What joy! What excitement! I have to say, I think the amount of tea I ordered multiplied in the box. I surely couldn’t have ordered 18 different samples, plus a pound of tea? Something must have happened that I am completely free of blame from. Packing gnomes, or possibly a gemino curse.

So naturally, in order to combat the effects of the evil packing gnomes, I had to immediately begin drinking the tea. If I let it sit too long, who knows how many times the curse could multiply. I would quite literally be buried in tea. Obviously, I had to start with the biggest package, the 250g bag of the Season’s Pick Earl Grey Creme Vanilla.

Upon opening the bag, I get a powerful smell of lime. Now, my only other previous Earl Grey Creme expereince also reminded me of lime. I’m not sure if it’s just me, or maybe this is truly what the combination of Bergamot and Creme smells like. I’m not sure. I suppose the only real way to tell would be to take a standard EG, or possibly even a double bergamot EG, and add some cream. I may have to try this. For science, of course, not for my own personal enjoyment, heavens forbid!

Brewed, the SPEGCV gives off a delightful smell. All at once it is sweet, and vanilla, but also tart smelling. It really is a very, very lovely aroma. I think that’s part of my love with EGs in general; as polarizing as the aroma may be, it is very distinct.

The taste has a very similar profile to the smell. At first, the creamy, vanilla flavor sort of smoothly glides over your tongue, with the tangy citrus flavor in tow. The flavors are really smoothly mingled over a fairly subtle tea base. The tea is lost a little bit at first, but once the up front vanilla flavor fades a bit, the flavor finishes off as a fairly straightforward EG. The tea and bergamot just lolligagging at the end of the sip to remind you where this tea comes from.

This is sweet and dreamy. It reminds me of what I’ve always wanted key lime pie to taste like, but it’s never really lived up to. But in a tea. It’s really quite good. I am definitely going to enjoy drinking my way through this tea. And at the absurdly low price of $7 for 8 oz, it’s both supremely good and supremely cheap. Who could ask for more?

Sincerely Yours,

Buried in Tea

This tea confuses my brain. I didn’t enjoy the intial sip because there was a weirdly strange aftertaste. However, as I’ve continued to drink this it’s turned into a really nice lemon custard type tea. Which is still weird to me since this is supposed to be vanilla? This really isn’t vanilla at all to me except as maybe a hint of it in the background mellowing out the lemon flavour. Not sure how i feel about this overall as a staple in the cupboard but not a bad early grey as far as not tasting the bergamot AND being a dessert type lemon tea.

Thanks to Alphakitty for this tea!

The aroma is absolutely delicious. Like a creamy, sweetened earl grey, even though I know it’s not. The bergamot isn’t coming out too strongly, which is nice. Oh man… it tastes absolutely delicious too! I have a soft spot for earl grey creams, and this is hitting it very well. I’d definitely drink this one again. The bergamot is quite mild, there’s a lovely creaminess, and not really any astringency. If anything, I’m almost getting a bit of a berry flavour. This is really quite good :)

Sadly, I’m going to leave this one behind in the hopes that my uncle may enjoy it (if he doesn’t want it, I may regain it at Christmas), because he likes earl greys and I failed to bring anything other than this one. Hopefully he enjoys it too!

This smells really nice! A combo of EG but with more of a lemon than a bergamot and a nice creme but not a vanilla type cream either. It’s more lemon and creme than that punchy Earl flavor but I do like it! It’s pretty darned good!

So we’ve found an earl grey I can share with Dylan. This one is pretty yummy. Vanilla goodness meets sweet, creamy tea and bergamot. Again this time there seems to be lime and possibly lemon in this tea, underneath the bergamot. I think the tea base is stronger with this one than the mad hat tea. I really like this one better. Maybe it’s just the creamy taste along with the vanilla that does it for me. It really seems to make the bergamot much more manageable. Yay we found the bergamot that belongs in our cupboard!

Tomorrow I go to the doctor and get retested to see if the liquid restriction helped.
If it did not, then I have something else, perhaps something bigger going on with me.
If it did help, then I am going to have to keep my liquid levels down still.
(sigh) Between and rock and a hard spot for sure.
Anyway, I am trying this tea for the first time, and when I opened up the little sample tin, I said. “Ohhhhh”
It smelled like a orange cream dessert.
But, at the same time I was drooling over the scent, I was also frightened.
I mean, I am a bit of a Earl Grey devotee.
Once brewed, the sugary orangey custardy odor toned down some, and I could smell my good ol’ bergamot shining through.
Taste still reminds me of cake or custard.
This tea is good, very tasty indeed.
But, in some sense, I am having a hard time thinking it a Earl Grey at all.
It taste more like a good quality flavored dessert tea.
But, I do like it, and will happily finish the rest of the sample.
Have a great Tuesday, you all!

Help! Too much black tea today! I wanted to drink and write about Anxi Fo Shou from Verdant. But it tasted weird and sour. I think either the water is off or my tastebuds are off. Then I opened up my bag of Laoshan Black thinking I’d get one good cup of black, but had the same weirdness going on as for the Fo Shou. I had two steepings of each. Now I’m cold brewing them cause if I have more caffeine now, I think I might explode. But there’s so much flavor left in those leaves! I’m freaking out! I think it’s a good day to try that banana caffeine cure I read about. But first, this tasting note.

So I didn’t actually have this Earl Grey Creme Vanilla today, thankfully. I had opened this packet for the first time at work a couple days ago. It’s been crazy stressful and busy so I haven’t had time to write a note before now. But anyway, this tea smells amazing. So sweet and delicious. Like an orange creamsicle. It was always my favorite from the ice cream vending machine when I was a kid. Of course, I managed to spill half my sample onto the floor when I ripped open the packet, so I got to smell that deliciousness all day long as my rolling chair kept going back and forth on those leaves. Eventually, I figured out I could pick up the leaf bits with the lint roller I had in a cabinet, but then I could still smell it from my trash can.

Anyway! I can’t concentrate when I’m over caffeinated like this! So the tea! Tasted pretty good, but left an odd aftertaste that I associate with artificial flavors. Upton doesn’t always use natural flavoring, but I don’t make a big fuss about it since the majority of my diet is pretty natural, I figure a bit from the occasional tea can’t be too bad. But when it tastes funny like this…well, that’s when I wish they had gone for natural flavoring.

Overall, not bad, but I’ll be looking for a better EG Creme. The one from SpecialTeas was quite tasty. Alas…

Now for that supposed banana cure!

EDIT Okay, so, skeptical as always when hearing a vague scientific claim, I googled the banana/caffeine thing. Turns out the “science” behind the banana cure is pretty shady. Ah well, at least my banana blueberry smoothie was delicious.

I’m mildly lactose intolerant so I try to drink only one cup of tea with milk today. I already had chai this afternoon, so why am I having earl grey? Well I got my Upton order today, and when I opened the bag for this it was like, “sweet baby jesus this smells JUST like sugar cookies!” Naturally I had to drink it immediately—I’m kind of surprise didn’t try to chow down on the leaves. Yes, it smells that amazing!

I love earl grey and have far too many variations of it, but this is definitely one of the best I’ve tried (which is good, since the smallest option is for 250 grams!). It’s sweet and creamy, with the vanilla and cream tastes front and center. The bergamont is also definitely there, and the citrus/cream combo makes me think I’m drinking ice cream. I know this isn’t a dessert tea, but it really might as well be. The actual tea flavor is there in the background, a soft and mellow black without any real astringency, though the other flavors definitely outshine it. I’d still put my beloved White Cream Earl Grey from Culinary a bit ahead of this due to how very prominent the vanilla is here, but only by a nose—this is a divine cup of tea for sure!

Ah. There we go. This is the first in the series of Earl Greys in the Upton sampler. In my zeal to taste the lavender one, I didn’t see the little number that indicates this is the first in the group.

In the can, this smells like vanilla, then tea. The vanilla isn’t a pure, beany vanilla smell. It’s more the ice creamy/cream soda variety of vanilla, which makes sense given the word “creme” in the name. It does make me wonder whether anyone has done a pure vanilla Earl. (Note to self to be on the lookout.) Thinking back on it, I’ve mostly seen Earl Grey cremes, with or without the word vanilla included. I can smell a citrus note toward the end, which is where the bergamot seems to be hiding.

The tea’s aroma is very pleasing, creamy and citrusy, with an undercurrent of sweet black tea. I think I’m already noticing a trend here in the Upton Earls, which is that the bergamot and whatever else is flavoring the tea sit above the tea base as a foundation more than interacting with it.

V. nice flavor. Much better than the only other Earl Grey Creme I have had, which was by The Necessiteas. The bergamot is not strong at all, perhaps not even strong enough, though it does give a citrus accent to the creme that keeps the creme from running away with the tea completely. The primary flavor is the creme vanilla sitting on top of the tea.

I think I will try this at four minutes next time and see what that does to the flavor.

I don’t usually reach for Earl Grey teas, but if there’s some creamy vanilla added in there’s more of a chance I’ll try it. The bergamot is many times too overpowering.

So enter this offering from Upton provided by Alphakitty! The dry leaf smells a little chocolatey and creamy. Hmmm… that might be because there was a H&S’s Florence sample in the swap too. I’m pressing on anyway.

Brewed 2 tsp of leaf with about 10 oz of boiling water. The wet leaf smells a little like cream soda! Ok, now we’re talking! :)

I did try this without sweetener first and was pleasantly surprised there was very little bitterness. It’s very smooth, which is also something I find lacking in many EGC’s. A little rock sugar added and it brings out more of the creamy vanilla.

This is a really nice offering. I can’t say that I’ve ever had a more enjoyable EGC before. And it’s my first sampling from Upton. It’s going on my shopping list when I get around to building up enough of an order to justify a purchase – thanks Alphakitty!

First cup of the day. I’ve lost a little of my love for Earl Greys, I think because there are just so very many out there. I’ve yet to explore the world of cream EG’s, and this may be the beginning of a beautiful thing! This tea leaves smell like a creamy and sweet lemon dessert. The tea itself has a black tea and vanilla aroma, with just a hint of bergamot. The flavor is more robust than I was expecting, with a really strong lemon note. The light, creamy vanilla citrus flavor comes in the aftertaste. Adding a little milk seems to soften all of the flavors nicely. This tea reminds me of a light, airy dessert. Thank you, Mercuryhime, for this sample!

Birds have built a nest in a vent outlet just above our back porch. From inside, it sounds like the birds are right in the wall between the kitchen and bathroom. All of the chirping can be a bit annoying, but it is funny how every time we make a loud noise inside, it sets all of the babies off chirping like crazy. I hope that they are ready to leave the nest soon (and it sounds like they are!) so we can close up that vent! :)

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell like creamy and sweet lemon. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and vanilla with a hint of bergamot.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark orange brown color.
-Strong malty and lemon flavor and finish. Light creamy vanilla citrus aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A soft and creamy cup. Reminiscent of a light lemony dessert.

Prepped 3 tsp. leaf to 500 ml. water in my Breville at the below parameters. Added milk and sugar.

This is from my most recent Upton order – the boyfriend goes through tea filters and their Moroccan mint like crazy, and we just finished Teavana’s Earl Grey Creme so I thought this would make a good replacement while I was at it. I was right (thankfully, because I totally bit the bullet and bought 1/2 pound since it was so cheap)!

So the thing with Earl Grey is that I’m pretty sensitive to bergamot. And I have always been more attracted to the “cream” or “vanilla” in these types of blends than the bergamot flavoring. Teavana’s variation of this blend was quite heavy on the bergamot, and the vanilla was more present in the smell than anything else – it was also kind of a sharp, thin smell – there wasn’t any “cream” in the scent or flavor. What I really wanted was it to be the other way around – bergamot as more of an afterthought, vanilla front and center.

The dry leaf in this was amazing! Though visually it didn’t have any of the pretty cornflowers and was just the brown, unadorned leaf – the smell made up for it. It was very vanilla at the forefront – actually more of a buttery vanilla. It smelled luxurious. I was up late last night so I prepped the Breville to be ready first thing this morning, and spent a good few minutes inhaling the aroma. Yummy!

Once steeped, the buttery vanilla smell remained, and transferred over to the taste. Bergamot does exactly what I wanted it to – creeps into the finish to let you know it’s there, but doesn’t dominate. And with milk and sugar, this is fantastic! I can see myself rotating this with my beloved East Frisian in the mornings – almost makes it worth getting up early for!

This smells interesting in the tin (I bought the sample set). I couldn’t tell what it smells like in the little perfect tea maker I have it steeping in. In my cup I get a hint of vanilla, the rest is all earl grey. Which isn’t bad, but I had hopped for more of a vanilla creme flavor as was advertised in the name on the tin. Still yummy! This is also the third earl grey (I think) in my quest to like this type of tea.

I love how this one smells so I’ve been anxious to try it – it’s vanilla-creamy with a splash of creamsicle-like orange. And I’m a sucker for anything orange, so yeah. Post-steeping the smell is awesome. It reminds me (what I remember) of SpecialTea’s Earl Grey de la Crème, which I really enjoyed (though it has been years since I’ve had it).

Additive-less, the initial sip seems a little sharp but the aftertaste is sweet and creamy. Mmm. A few sips in, the sharpness evens out and I’m left with smooth, creamy, sweet but not overly Earl Grey-y tea. The citrus bit pops up mostly at the end of the sip and is nice and bright but sweet in a way that doesn’t really scream citrus fruit so much as fruit-like candy. It’s nicely sweet but I almost want to add sugar to fully realize the dessert potential of this tea.

Ultimately, this falls more in the dessert tea category for me than Earl Grey category, but that’s okay because I like the dessert tea category a lot. I have a feeling I’ll really fall in love with this one when I put in some sugar and milk (and thus the rating might go up).

Thanks to mrawlins2 for this beauty. The creaminess is addictive. The bergamot is perfectly balanced. I added some rock crystals in the brew basket and a splash of milk. I thought I had found the earl grey that Jean Luke Picard enjoyed, but honestly this is probably the one on the captain’s shopping list, it is so enjoyable because it is NOT perfumy in any way and there is absolutely no bad after taste. If you are still looking for a drinkable earl grey, give this one a try.

I think the last time I had a Cream Earl Grey it tasted odd ~ gladly this one is amazing! The bergamot is strong, but tempered greatly by the rich creamy flavors. This is also a pretty good tea base that doesn’t go bitter easily. I’m quite glad I put this on order without sampling first!

This just might be be my ‘go to’ (so far, just quote me on this January 2012 day) Earl Grey. I mean, why bother drink a plain Earl Grey after this one? At least, for me anyway. The bergamot is not too strong and the vanilla-creme flavor stands out….but shouldn’t it? If it didn’t, then why make an earl grey Creme Vanilla tea?
It doesn’t need sugar at all…but I guess when i’m feeling it..I could make a strong brew, add some sugar and soy milk and go to town

Thanks to kimlovestea for this sample :)

A really lovely cream of Earl Grey. Neither the vanilla or bergamot is too overwhelming, a nice touch. Smooth. Really well done.

Now back to Fringe. So addictive.

Thanks Raul for the sample! I love sharing some interesting teas with you.

I’m not going to compare this to the other Vanilla Creme Earl Grey I recently raved about. I want each tea to have it’s own note & it’s own review. Having said that….

I love this tea! The smell is overwhelmingly vanilla. For me, that is not a problem. I love vanilla. I love it strong. And I love Earl Grey. Nothing better than a good strong cuppa Earl Grey to get your day started. And this one is just perfect today!

I had enough for one tea filter bag to take to work & have for breakfast. I’m already done with one cup & headed for a refill. I expect to get at least two more cups…otherwise I am going to be sad.

I love the taste. Very smooth & creamy. Very strong on the vanilla, but again, I love it. I hope it doesn’t seem overbearing to others. The strong wonderful aroma is still lingering in the air & that makes me love this tea even more.

I’m definitely going to have to order this tea to have on hand.
Hey, there is no such thing as too much Earl Grey!

Ohhh man this is good. Like some of the other Earl Grey teas in the Upton Earl Grey tea sampler, this one also smelled pretty darn intense, but was less crazy once brewed. The flavour of this one (and the smell too), I prefer much more than the Lavender one.

This was really quite good. Next time I will make sure the water is fully boiling but yeah, this stuff rocks. Pretty strong Earl Grey smell but chill enough once you brew it. Tasty stuff.