Earl Grey Creme

Fragrance is lovely – strong but not overly perfume-y. It is a decent black tea, and the flavors don’t feel overly artificial. It doesn’t feel too tannic, although I do get that dry mouth, astringent feeling afterwards that Earl Greys in particular seem to leave me with. I don’t get a vanilla flavor, but truly more of a cream flavor – just kind of a softening and mellowing of the harshness that can be in an Earl Grey without a real change in the flavor. It’s good enough, but just isn’t very thrilling. It wasn’t quite strong enough, although by brewing “rules” it should have been fairly strong. The flavors are all…fine…but nothing special or complex. I’ll drink it, and would be willing to buy it again, but will be very open to something better. And yes, I have gardenias in my tasting notes. That’s not quite the right choice, but maybe someone else will know what I mean.

The dry tea is uniform black full leaf with dried yellow marigold petals and has a malty, woody aroma with vanilla and bergamot orange. In the cup the tea’s aroma has less bergamot and almost no vanilla. The taste is weak, thin on the tongue at 1.5 teaspoon per cup, and unbalanced, with the bergamot washing out the vanilla. It has a mildly salty taste, is pleasingly astringent, tangy, and mildly sweet, with an annoyingly strong and prolonged bergamot finish. Afterward I felt energized but distracted by the lingering bergamot on my palate. Value: $0.20 per six ounce cup. Location and circumstances of growth and production unknown.

This was my first tea from Teavana. Tastes sweeter than the average earl grey cream, but nonetheless very tasty. I love sipping on this during the winter (as with most black teas), but I had this today iced with some milk and honey. Tastes amazing! Feels like the winter.

I found this tea to be very delightful. Unlike other Earl Grey teas I have tried, the bergamot is not as strong. It also has a creme finish which is very enjoyable. I’ll be stocking this one in my cupboard :)

I just wonder if there is another black tea that tastes similar without the bergamot and just the cream?

T&C TTB 11/23

I first made this as a latte with a pump of cheesecake syrup. I thought it was a genius idea until I tried it, something was not right. I think next time I will try it with a strait Earl. I also tried this hot and the memories of the cheesecake latte came back so I decided to wait a few days. Today I made it iced and truly enjoyed it, I got mostly creamy vanilla. I look forward to trying other EGC iced this summer.

Thanks carol who for sharing :)

Great! This is a fairly sweet earl grey and the vanilla is quite obvious. Just my kind of flavours.

Bergamot just isn’t my thing. I do prefer the “crème” blend to a traditional Earl Grey, but I still wouldn’t go out of my way to consume this tea. It came in a box set I got for Christmas. I finished the cup and didn’t mind it, but wouldn’t rush to go buy more.
The nice thing with the “crème” is it adds a sweet/creaminess that is very subtle. Makes the liquor a little more smooth on the palat.

Let me start by saying I waaayyyy overleaped this poor baby. I changed my mind about the tea I wanted. I put the leaves EG in a bowl. Later I came back to make the EG, but I forgot how much EGI had put in the Brevile. Tea for 500ml?750?1000? Well I put in an extra scoop and the rest is history. OK, really awful! So now I’ve done a resteep in a 1000ml of water. This is better but still not as good asI had hoped. I enjoy bergamot and there is just not enough for me. I don’t really taste the Creme at all. I’ll drink it or trade it but I won’t buy any more.

My usual morning cuppa, doesn’t require sweeteners but opens up better with a little raw honey or stevia leaves. I tend to like the rounded milky/creamy flavor of this EG as it softens the tea without having to add any milk/cream but doesn’t overpower the bergamot either.

If I want more bergamot I’ll switch to something like The Des Lords (Palais des thes) or Earl Grey Imperial (Mariage Freres), if I want something a little sweeter and more vanilla then the Tea Merchant’s French Earl Grey hits the spot. But for an easily purchased (local Teavana shop) and relatively inexpensive EG this is my daily drinker. I have also found it blends well with some fruity teas and anything you want to add a bit of creaminess to, for example a blueberry rooibos or what I call “Earl Cocotang”, a blend of this with a coconut puerh and passionfruit herbal.

Old, probably underleafed, but hitting the spot today with just a little bit of sugar. Thank God for work tea … especially when coffee is just not doing it.