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!
This is one of my favorites, too. And of course it was JacquelineM that got me hooked!