371 Tasting Notes

81
drank Earl Grey Special by TeaFrog
371 tasting notes

♫ Earl Grey Special: it’s for everyone!
Earl Grey Special: come and join in the fun!
With magic everywhere
A world for us to share
With friendly faces hoping that you want to meet us there
For Earl Grey Special
It’s about to appear —
It’s about to appear! deedle-ee deedel-ee deedle-ee deeee!
Earl Grey Special!
Shout it loud and clear:
Earl Grey Special! ♪

Yes, I know I’d posted that in the comments of Ewa’s note on Devonshire Earl Grey by Upton, but it tickled me so much that I wanted it to be it’s own note. Yes I have issues.

I finished off my sample today using my JOEmo and was surprised at how sad I was to see it go. It’s quite a nice Earl Grey and will definitely be part of my “someday” order from TeaFrog. NE

Preparation
155 °F / 68 °C 8 min or more
Ewa

Pfft, I don’t see the issue, I reuse my material all the time :D On a kind of weird note, the deedle -ee part made me think of the song “Two Ladies” from Cabaret, which was kind of a weird mental leap to make what with the fact that your song is from a children’s show :P

Rabs

Oh, that is disturbing O.o

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86
drank Lapsang Souchong by Adagio Teas
371 tasting notes

Le sigh…

I realized that I haven’t had this tea in about 2 months due to my overflowing tea cupboard (and bookcases). I actually picked up some decorative picture album boxes this weekend to use for sample storage. I also broke down Doulton’s Shakespeare box and took it to the recycling bin at work yesterday. I actually don’t want to think about that right now cuz it’s makin’ me a bit sad.

I really wondered what I’d think of this tea due to the fact that it’s been so long since last I had it. I became quite excited to have more of this as I pulled out my sample tin. After all, last time I had this I was winging the temp and this time it’d be accurate. Oh yes, it’s still yummy — if not yummier. It still seems to have captured the essence of a cozy campfire. Still a TG for me. Off I go for steep #2!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85

I’ve had tea from my recently purchased Earl Grey Cream from GTC and held off doing another review until I could confirm that this tastes different from the sample that I had. I’m dropping points as a result (originally a strong 95). It’s tasting like a basic Earl Grey without the cream or coconut. There are the decorative coconut shreds in this, but again it tastes like an Earl Grey. There’s just no sweetness to it. :(

I have a feeling that Daniel will hop on and comment about a return, but I won’t return this since it’s still a really good Earl Grey. I’ll also try this in my pot (vs. my JOEmo) to see if it comes out sweeter that way since it could possibly have flipped — with my sample I loved this in my JOEmo, but a normal brew was just fine. NE

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 8 min or more
Daniel Mann - Georgia Tea Co.

That’s weird, it’s from the same batch that I sent you the sample from. I didn’t change anything, maybe I didn’t mix it well enough? Hrm. I’ll send you some more.

Daniel Mann - Georgia Tea Co.

It’s a learning process, I’ll get it right!

Rabs

Thank you so much! And don’t feel like you have to send a lot (a small sample to confirm whether or not I’m insane is all I’d need).

I wish I knew what happened too! I tried shaking my bag thinking that maybe all the sweeter stuff had sank to the bottom. It just seems like a ghost of its former self :( Still good, but I miss the sweet almost doughnut-ish taste/smell. Maybe my previous sample had somehow been “tainted” (in a good way) by the Snowflake during its shipment in the baggies? Is that even possible?

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100
drank Rosy Earl Grey by Teas Etc
371 tasting notes

frou-FROU! frou-FROU! frou-FROU!

If you don’t want a song virus in your head, then please stop reading:
I have We Will Rock You in my head with the chorus of “Cup of, cup of FROU-FROU.” That’s as far as my mind will go this morning except for “you got tea on your face, you big disgrace…”

It’s gonna be a looong day.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
__Morgana__

They’ve been playing all Queen all the time at my son’s pre-school and they all know all the words! There’s something ridiculously amusing about 4 year olds singing “mud on your face, you big disgrace”

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75

I received more of this as a free sample from Daniel Mann. This made it possible for me to try it the way it was intended — iced! I cold brewed this very colorful tisane. Oh yes, it’s definitely better iced. Still Twizzlers-like to me, but there’s still a little bit of tartness sneaking around in mah mouth. For me this is still a solid 75. NE

Preparation
Iced

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85

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100

My morning/after work tea today! The first steep is decent, but I practically inhaled it in order to get to the much better (like crazy-better) second steep. Steep 1 is the baconish smoky steep and rather straightforward. If that’s how the tea tasted for each steep, then my rating would be in the 70s. Steep #2? It’s so similar to Black Dragon it’s eerie. I loves me this here tea. TG

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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90

This tea is just rockin’ my world tonight. I got home from the aforementioned craptacular day at work and decided to finish this sample off since it looked like it mainly had the rooibosses (rooibossi?) left in the mix. Which also worried me since I’m not the biggest rooibos fan. But less caffeine was the focus this evening.

Holy mackrel is this good! It’s like all the flower power was hiding amongst those chippies. It’s tasting divine and I’m just sort of sinking down into my chair. I’m almost tempted to bump up the rating, but I’ll hold off for now. I believe that I may have to purchase more of this once I finally go off of my lockdown and get through most/all the GTC samples that I recently received. TG

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 5 min, 0 sec
Doulton

I hope that you feel better asap!

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85

Ah, my precious is back! Unfortunately it was a very rough day at work so I didn’t get to enjoy it all that much. It really seemed like GTC’s plain Earl Grey today, but I wonder if it’s because I just tried their plain Earl Grey so it’s super-fresh in my mind, or if it’s because I was running around all day long doing someone else’s job. Ahem.

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 8 min or more

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67

This was another one of the samples that I added to check out GTC’s basic black collection. Eh, it is what it is. I’m trying to remember this from earlier this morning — it was a hectic day. It was a bit on the bolder side, but nothing stands out in my memory. What keeps popping into my head is that it’s a wannabe Golden Monkey. I have more that I’ll sample again in a more zen-like state of mind and hopefully will be able to write a decent review. 2 decent steeps occurred. NE

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Ricky

Wanna be Golden Monkey, hahaha.

Angrboda

You wanna be a golden monkey, Ricky? :p

Daniel Mann - Georgia Tea Co.

It’s English Breakfast Xtra Fancy, same grade as the Irish Breakfast. Nothing special, just one of those staple tea’s you gotta carry. Our Golden Monkey is awesome though.

Ricky

Ahahha, I guess it does sound like I want to be a golden monkey from that context. You’ve got me! I want to jump from one tree to another picking out tea leaves and peaches. I mean err bananas.

Rabs

ROFL! Y’all are the best :)

And now I’m kicking myself for not adding a sample of Golden Monkey. Ah, there shall be a next time :)

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Profile

Bio

Proud all-around nerd, designer, fibromyalgia manager, and Assistant Library Director/Creative Director.

After being a barista for almost a decade it wasn’t until 2010 that I discovered loose leaf tea. Now I’m hooked.

I’m quite loose when it comes to tea prep. I also ended up using Steepster to find my “daily” teas which I mostly have accomplished.

There’s really nothing remarkable or noteworthy of how I rate teas. I do take it a tiny further step to help clarify the muddled middle grounds for myself. TG is a definite repurchase. Anything below that is less and less likely.

TG=Teagasm
NE=Nice Enough
M=Meh
GA=Gods-Awful

Location

Midwest, USA

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