Day 17 of the 24 Days of Tea
Well, after having a terrible sleep Sunday night, I had the best sleep ever. I can thank my neighbour and our bottle and a half of wine last night. I hit the pillow and woke up feeling rested. I skipped over to my Advent Calendar and opened up number 17. I exclaimed with delight at the fact that it was a) a black tea and b)it was an Earl Grey. I will put a disclaimer though. I am not a huge fan of EGC blends. I find they take away from the classic and if done wrong, can feel fake. It’s like putting Audrey Hepburn in hippie attire… BLASPHEMOUS! No no, she belongs in her little black dress, with large sunglasses and glamourous necklace.
At first sniff: I smell what all EGC have in them to make them smell of “cream” or I guess what people feel smells like cream. I smell the vanilla and bergamont dancing with each other and something else I can’t peg.
At first steep: I brewed it stronger and added half and half and stevia to the mix. I get the creamy feeling, but I feel the bergamont is lost a bit. I can see this tea catering to the sans bergamont crowd who shy away from EG because of it. However, I feel let down. I get more creamy vanilla from this than lemony creamy delight. Side note: Tea companies need to make vanilla teas with Mexican vanilla, after hoarding a whole bunch from my last trip and shamelessly (read begging) people who go there after to bring me back more bottles, I’m convinced it smells the best. Sometimes I put in 1/2 tsp of extract in my vanilla teas and boy does it just enhance. I didn’t do that in this case, but seriously Mexican vanilla… mmm.
I’m kind of at a standstill on how to rate this tea… I don’t want to unfairly rate it, but it didn’t wow me either. I enjoyed my cup this morning, and it was a nice treat, but I am on the fence about purchasing it. So many companies do EGC, it’s almost a necessity to have a sip off.
