- It’s mushroom foraging season!
- Sandwiches at The Gramophone
- Taking Maybelle for walks
- Ice cream at Clementine’s Creamery and A Spoonful of Sugar
- Linen clothing
Tag: summer
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The Best of It: Mid-July Edition
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The Earl Grey Year Part 12: Cremes and Classics
This installment profiles primarily exceptional blends, with one tea that was just utterly confusing. July has been busy, because I’m also partaking in the tea challenge hosted by thattealover on Instagram. And her prompts are challenging! However, I’m having fun structuring my tea-drinking in a new way. What can I say? I can’t resist a challenge.
Creme Earl Grey
Both of the teas in this section are exceptional and are getting added to my best-of long list. That being said, they are quite different; one is more outright creamy, and one has more of a vanilla/marshmallow feel. I loved both for different reasons. You of course should make your tasting decisions based on personal preferences, but I suggest trying both. They’re worth it.
Creme de la Earl Grey, New Orleans Tea Company
According to the New Orleans Tea Company website, the Creme de la Earl Grey contains Sri Lankan tea from the Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, and Uva regions, graded Orange Pekoe, produced by Orthodox methods. Of the various tea company websites I’ve visited to get as much detail as possible about the blends, this one is the most detailed. There are even more tasting notes available than I listed here! Before even experiencing the tea, being able to get that much detail impresses me.
The steeped tea has a medium body. When I smell the finished brew, I get cream, tea, and then bergamot in that order. The tasting experience mirrors the scent, with the three flavors emerging as a progression. You start with the savoriness of the cream flavor, then the bitterness of the tea, followed by the brightness of the bergamot. It’s well-balanced and exceptionally crafted.
This blend really tastes as though cream has been added to the tea, even though there’s none here. If you normally prefer to add dairy to your black tea, I recommend you try this one without at first; I think added dairy could overwhelm the delightful flavors of the tea.
Cream Earl Grey, The Tea Girl
The Tea Girl has made another fantastic Earl Grey blend. This one incorporates a combination of Sri Lankan and Assam teas along with natural bergamot and vanilla. The tea leaves are accented by jasmine blossoms and cornflowers, creating a dry cup that looks as good as the steeped liquor tastes.
The tea and cream scents dominate the aroma of the finished cup. Per the instructions, I did a 3-minute steep first, and the tea was just right. The body is rich yet light. The level of cream flavor in this blend is perfect. When I taste the tea, I pick up traces of marshmallow. To be clear, that is a compliment. I love marshmallow flavor, and the interaction of vanilla and cornflower produces that effect.
Don’t worry, the bergamot is still there even with the creaminess. While the jasmine flowers don’t come through in the flavor, I think they might have been added more for visual effect than taste. One of the things I’ve learned in my tea sommelier training is that how and when jasmine is added to tea influences whether the flowers provide more flavor or more aesthetic value. There’s no harm in either; it’s simply a decision one has to make when creating a blend. In this instance, I have no complaints. The vanilla and bergamot were just right, and there didn’t need to be yet another flavor getting in the way.
Classic Earls
This section brings one excellent tea and one absolutely confusing tea. But part of the fun is that I generally have no clue about what I’m going to taste. There have only been maybe four teas in this entire challenge that I’ve had before. So it’s a challenge full of surprises, and some of them are more interesting than others.
Blue of London, Palais de Thés
This was another tea that I received from my Instagram tea friend royal_teacups. Palais de Thés produces a number of Earl Grey variations, and after trying Blue of London, I am eager to try more from this company! I’m glad to know they’re able to make their teas available in the United States.
This tea produces a light amber body with a bright, bergamot-forward scent. Palais de Thés uses Yunnan black tea for this blend, which is one of my favorites. One of the things that stands out about Blue of London is how well-balanced it is. The bergamot and the tea come through in equal measure.
When I drink this tea, I’m reminded how one of the key components of tea blending is intentional. The best blends I’ve tasted feel naturally perfect, and yet I am aware of how much training, testing, trying, and failing went into getting each blend exactly right.
Earl Grey, New English Teas
Someone left two unopened tins of New English Teas in the break room at work, and one of them was the Earl Grey blend, so I grabbed a few bags and added them to the tasting roster. Even if a blend wasn’t on my initial wish list, I’m not going to turn down free tea!
When digging into the blend details on the New English Teas website, I saw that their Earl Grey contains Assam and Nilgiri. However, I realized I was on the British site. When I went to the American site, the Earl Grey was listed as containing only Ceylon (Sri Lankan) tea, with no region mentioned. Sri Lankan tea is certainly high quality, but I thought it was interesting that they used different teas for blends aimed at different countries, and that they were more specific about the teas used in the British version. There are many tea-growing regions in Sri Lanka! Neither the British nor the American versions of the site specified anything about the bergamot the company uses.
The steeped tea has a nice, sturdy body. The scent of tea was stronger than the scent of bergamot, and when I tasted it, I felt that the flower tasted more like lavender. I was truly confused; this really tasted like a lavender blend. I double-checked the website to see if this was a special Earl Grey that included lavender, but I couldn’t see any mention of that anywhere. I’m not sure if something was wrong with the bergamot, if there had been an error in packaging the tea, or if I’d made a brewing mistake.
When I brewed my second teabag, I did a shorter infusion time, but that didn’t help. I was still getting a strange lavender taste instead of bergamot. Nothing was worse, but nothing was better, either. Ultimately, my big takeaway from this blend is confusion.
By the Numbers
As of this writing, I’ve nearly hit my tasting minimum for July, and the month is just half over! The holiday weekend and an extra work-from-home day last week really helped! (I only do my Earl Grey tastings at home.)
I finally got to the point where I had to think about ordering more tea, and (with the help of a random number generator), I ordered four Earl Grey blends from Simpson & Vail. I deliberately added a green tea blend and a tisane to the list, so those numbers will be a little higher next time (though they’re still going to be lower than the rest). I did this not because I want to skew the results, but because I want the opportunity to try a range of blends. With Green Earls and Tisane Earls being in the blend minority, I want to be sure I try them at every opportunity.
I still need to order a few more teas in order to have enough for my August tasting quota. I probably could have filled out the entire August list with Simpson & Vail teas, because they have several Earl Grey blends. However, I limited myself to four, because I don’t want one particular company to be over-represented in my tasting list. If there’s a tea company that you’d like me to check out for a future installment, let me know in the comments!
Support the Project
Read previous installments here:
The Earl Grey Year Part 1: Four Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 2: Four Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 3: Four More Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 4: Greens and Tisanes
The Earl Grey Year Part 5: Cremes and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 6: Classics and Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 7: Classics and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 8: Cremes and Variations Part 2
The Earl Grey Year Part 9 : Four More Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 10: Halfway Point
The Earl Grey Year Part 11: Kusmi Tea
Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share!
For more tea content, check out my tea pairings playlist on YouTube.
Project References
Note: This is an ongoing list of all the reading I have done so far for this project. The bibliographic entries here are not necessarily cited in this specific post.
American Chemical Society. (1965). “Bergamot Joins Lineup Of Synthetic Oils: Glidden process breaks down ß-pinene, back-blends components.” Chemical & Engineering News Archive 43 (33), 24-25. DOI: 10.1021/cen-v043n033.p024a
Avila-Sosa, Raúl et. al. “Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) Oils.” Essential Oils in Food Preservation, Flavor and Safety. Ed. Preedy, V.R. (2015). Elsevier Science & Technology. pp. 247-252. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-416641-7.00027-4
Di Giacomi, Angelo and Giovanni Dugo. “Origin, History, and Diffusion.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. “Composition of Leaf Oils.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 227-236. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Galper, Amy. (December 14, 2022.) “Shelf Life of Essential Oils.” Cliganic. https://www.cliganic.com/blogs/the-essentials/essential-oils-shelf-life
Heale, Christopher. (n.d.) “A Guide to the Tea Grading System.” Herbs & Kettles. https://www.herbsandkettles.com/blogs/blog/a-guide-to-the-tea-grading-system
Lo Curto, Rosario. “Uses of Juice and By-Products.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 531-542. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Nishida, Kei. “What Does Astringency Mean for Tea Drinking?” (n.d.) Japanese GreenTea Co. https://www.japanesegreentea.in/blogs/japanese-green-tea-lovers-in-india/what-does-astringency-mean-for-tea-drinking
Petite Histoire. (July 7, 2023). “The [Complete & Complex] Guide to Natural vs. Synthetic Fragrance: What’s the Difference?” https://nyc.ph/blogs/inspiration/the-complete-guide-to-natural-vs-synthetic-fragrance
Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot -
The Best of It: St. Louis Summer Edition
(Okay, not everything on this list is summer-specific. But it is a list of five things I’ve been enjoying in general during the summer season.)
- Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800 at the Saint Louis Art Museum, which runs until September 1st, 2024.
- The War Figs sandwich at Steve’s Meltdown
- The Baja Salad at Taco Buddha
- The monthly Soulard neighborhood happy hours
- The Cardinals are currently both 2nd in their division and ahead of Pittsburgh. Keep it up, Cards!
- Also, Cleveland (my original home team) is first in its division, and that makes me happy, too!
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The Earl Grey Year Part 11: Kusmi Tea
I’ve decided to shake up the structure a bit for this post. In the abundant set of samples that royal_teacups sent me, she included four from Kusmi Tea. When I was looking through my spreadsheet to consider which tastings to write about for this entry, I noticed how nice and stacked the four of them were in my spreadsheet, and decided it would be a nice change of pace to devote one update to a single company’s samples.
I found Kusmi Tea to be a true delight all around, so these reviews are going to be positive across the board. However, while all the teas were good, I enjoyed some more than others, and you’ll see those preferences reflected below. All in all, no matter what your Earl Grey preferences are, you will probably find something to love from Kusmi.
Earl Grey (Classic Earl)
In my opinion, there are two true classic types of blended teas: Earl Grey and Chai. (Should I repeat this project next year with chai? Let me know in the comments!) And any tea company that sells blends (rather than exclusively plain tea) is going to include at least one Earl Grey and one Chai on their blend roster. And I also recognize that if a company has one or more fantastic Earl Grey variations, they probably feel compelled to offer a traditional Earl Grey for the customers who want the simple, classic blend.
However, when a company’s Earl Grey variations are so unique and of such high quality, I find that the traditional Earl Grey pales a bit in comparison. That’s not to say that the Kusmi Earl Grey is bad; it’s a lovely, straight-up Earl Grey. The tea smells lovely in the sachet, has a nice body and aroma, and has a quintessential Earl Grey flavor.
Ultimately, I have no real complaints about this blend, except that it just doesn’t stand out when Ksumi is already offering three other exceptional Earl Grey variations, one of which I found to be truly exceptional. I understand why they need to offer a standard Earl Grey, and they certainly blend it impeccably. If you’re an Earl Grey fan, you won’t be disappointed by this blend. However, the variations Kusmi offers are the true stars of the show.
Earl Grey Intense (Special Variation)
On the Kusmi website, Earl Grey Intense is described as, “an even bolder bergamot oil and particularly tangy lemon peel.” The addition of lemon peel puts this in the Special Variation category.
The steeped liquor is a nice amber color. Although the blend was billed as having a heavy citrus presence, the tea scent came through first when I smelled the liquor. On taste, I tasted tea first, then the lemon came through, with bergamot at the finish. In addition, as the tea cooled down, both citrus flavors became more prominent.
All in all, this was a brisk, fresh tea that made for an enjoyable cup. I imagine that this would be lovely prepared as a cold-brewed iced tea; you wouldn’t need to add any lemon to it. In addition, the flavors are balanced enough that I don’t think it requires any sweetener, whether prepared hot or iced. Between the quality of the tea leaves and the brightness of the citrus, this tea doesn’t have any bitterness. Although it’s called Intense, I think this would be a lovely blend for any tea drinker who likes Earl Grey in general.
Prince Vladimir (Special Variation)
The website describes the Prince Vladimir blend as containing grapefruit, orange, and lime in addition to the standard bergamot. This tea blend is also topped off with a bit of vanilla. Kusmi also notes cloves in the ingredient list. Obviously, with the number of additions, I consider this a Special Variation.
The steeped liquor has a nice body and an incredible scent. The clove and citrus really come through as the steam rises from my cup. When I drink this brew, I note the vanilla first, then the various citrus components, then the clove.
Although not heavily spiced, this tea reminds me a bit of Christmas. Crates of oranges were a Christmas staple when I was growing up, and of course cloves invoke the holiday season. While not overtly a holiday tea, I could see this right at home at a Christmas or Thanksgiving table.
Anastasia (Special Variation)
The Anastasia blend is my clear favorite of the Kusmi lineup. According to the Kusmi website, this blend includes lemon and orange blossom in addition to bergamot and black tea. The dry leaf is the most fragrant of these four blends, and is absolutely gorgeous, filling my whole kitchen with the scent of citrus.
The steeped liquor has a medium body, and when I smell it, I get the scent of tea first, followed by citrus. That order was consistent when tasting the tea as well. I think the inclusion of orange blossom was what made this taste extra-refreshing. It’s perfect for spring and summer, and like the Earl Grey Intense, this would be lovely as a cold-brew iced tea. I also don’t think it requires any sweetener, though if you like your tea sweet, I think honey would complement the orange blossom oil quite well.
When I finished my sample of the Anastasia blend, I immediately wished that I had more. This is the kind of tea that I could definitely drink all day long. It’s extremely sippable, with mellow black tea and bright citrus. This one is going on my best-of list, and definitely will have a regular place in my tea cabinet.
By the Numbers
I’ve officially reached the minimum number of teas I need to sample in the month of June, once again keeping comfortably ahead of schedule. And I’m now more than halfway through the tasting portion of this project!
Since I’ve only had four more teas since my last update, the proportions haven’t changed much. For reference, though I have many teas in my queue, I don’t classify them ahead of time; their category doesn’t get noted in the spreadsheet until I drink it. I prefer to update the teas as I go so the classification pie chart reflects my real-time tea drinking as closely as possible.
I’ve also now tasted nearly everything in my queue so far. I’ll have to buy a few more teas in order to meet my quota for July. I’ve enjoyed working my way through this long list of tea, and I’m also excited to add some new blends to my lineup. I have a long wishlist, and I haven’t decided what to purchase next. There are so many options for fantastic tea!
Support the Project
Read previous installments here:
The Earl Grey Year Part 1: Four Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 2: Four Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 3: Four More Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 4: Greens and Tisanes
The Earl Grey Year Part 5: Cremes and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 6: Classics and Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 7: Classics and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 8: Cremes and Variations Part 2
The Earl Grey Year Part 9 : Four More Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 10: Halfway Point
Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share!
For more tea content, check out my tea pairings playlist on YouTube.
Project References
Note: This is an ongoing list of all the reading I have done so far for this project. The bibliographic entries here are not necessarily cited in this specific post.
American Chemical Society. (1965). “Bergamot Joins Lineup Of Synthetic Oils: Glidden process breaks down ß-pinene, back-blends components.” Chemical & Engineering News Archive 43 (33), 24-25. DOI: 10.1021/cen-v043n033.p024a
Avila-Sosa, Raúl et. al. “Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) Oils.” Essential Oils in Food Preservation, Flavor and Safety. Ed. Preedy, V.R. (2015). Elsevier Science & Technology. pp. 247-252. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-416641-7.00027-4
Di Giacomi, Angelo and Giovanni Dugo. “Origin, History, and Diffusion.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. “Composition of Leaf Oils.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 227-236. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Galper, Amy. (December 14, 2022.) “Shelf Life of Essential Oils.” Cliganic. https://www.cliganic.com/blogs/the-essentials/essential-oils-shelf-life
Heale, Christopher. (n.d.) “A Guide to the Tea Grading System.” Herbs & Kettles. https://www.herbsandkettles.com/blogs/blog/a-guide-to-the-tea-grading-system
Lo Curto, Rosario. “Uses of Juice and By-Products.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 531-542. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Nishida, Kei. “What Does Astringency Mean for Tea Drinking?” (n.d.) Japanese GreenTea Co. https://www.japanesegreentea.in/blogs/japanese-green-tea-lovers-in-india/what-does-astringency-mean-for-tea-drinking
Petite Histoire. (July 7, 2023). “The [Complete & Complex] Guide to Natural vs. Synthetic Fragrance: What’s the Difference?” https://nyc.ph/blogs/inspiration/the-complete-guide-to-natural-vs-synthetic-fragrance
Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot
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The Best of It: Mid-June Edition
- Taking Maybelle on her first walk
- Taking Maybelle to the farm and watching her play with the kitten
- Getting to see Sarah McLachlan’s Fumbling Toward Ecstasy 30th Anniversary Tour
- Chicken souvlaki with Greek salad (seriously, my favorite summer meal)
- Puppy Brain by Kerry Nichols
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The Earl Grey Year Part 10: Halfway Point
Last week, I tasted my 50th tea of this project! (Meaning that this weekend I’ll probably hit my tasting minimum for the month of June.) This week, I’m reviewing two traditional blends and two special variations.
I’ve had a big learning experience since my last post. I was exchanging some messages with The Tea Girl, and she explained to me that one of the reasons she does her Earl Grey blends in more limited quantities is that bergamot oil is so quick to lose potency and flavor, more so than other oils. This makes me wonder how many teas I have felt were just so-so, particularly the bagged teas, were due to the bergamot oil being past its prime. The good news is, I’d be willing to give almost all of these teas a second chance; so far, only one has been memorably bad. So if it wasn’t a perfect tasting experience this time around, there’s always the opportunity for another tasting.
Traditional Blends
Earl Grey, Søstrene Grene
This tea had an incredible aroma when I poured the boiling water into the cup. The scent that wafted up in the steam felt like aromatherapy. The steeped liquid smelled lovely, too. Ultimately, though, the taste was a bit of a letdown. The bergamot just wasn’t as strong on my tongue as it was on my nose. The black tea felt a little thin as well.
I always like to go to a company’s website and read their description of the blend to get a feel for what they were going for. However, while Søstrene Grene does have a few loose-leaf teas for sale on their website, none of them are Earl Grey. Since I did receive this tea in bagged form, I searched for bagged teas as well, but all that came up was Celestial Seasonings blends. So I wonder if this was discontinued, or perhaps a promotional item. (I even worked my way through the Danish website with the few tea-related words I’ve picked up, and couldn’t find any Earl Grey.)
While Søstrene Grene is a company that clearly embodies hygge culture, in perusing the website, they’re clearly more of a general housewares company than a tea company. While an all-purpose shop (either brick-and-mortar or virtual) can offer excellent tea (and many do), I often feel that the lack of focus on tea itself means that tea from general stores is often a bit lacking.
Earl Grey, Twinings
I admit that while Twinings is a powerhouse in the tea industry, I haven’t had a cup of their tea in years, in part because I’ve done so much of my tea-buying from specialty shops. I couldn’t tell you the last time I bought tea in a grocery store, which is usually where I see Twinings being offered. But when I was in New Orleans in April, my hotel room had an assortment of Twinings teas available, including some bags of Earl Grey. So I added those to my tasting queue!
I admit that, just as with many huge businesses, I have a bias against huge tea producers. I also have a bias against tea bags that only contain fannings or dust. (Loose-leaf sachets are another story.) But my experience with the Twinings Earl Grey reminded me to check my snobbery once in a while. Because yes, while many big-name tea companies don’t always produce quality tea, some of them (like Twinings) are huge names because they produce such a quality product. And fanning- and dust- grade teas put in bags, while different from loose leaf, aren’t necessarily bad. A company focused on high-quality tea is likely to produce a nice tea bag.
I honestly enjoyed my cup of Twinings Earl Grey so much that I have added it to my list of teas to buy again! It was a nice-refreshing cup. In addition, I followed their instructions for a 3-minute steep (as a reminder, if there are brewing instructions, I always follow them for the first taste), and found it to be perfect, which is rare for me. Usually I steep for 3 minutes, but on subsequent cups go for 4 or 5. Twinings really has their blend nailed down if they can get a tea bag that only steeps 3 minutes and yet I, who prefers my tea extra-strong, found it perfect.
(I also appreciate that their instructions say “do not microwave.” I am generally live-and-let-live about brewing techniques, because taste really is subjective, but microwaving tea is one thing that I will always be a snob about, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.)
Special Variations
Sir William Smoky Earl Grey, Sibyllan’s
On the Sibyllan’s website, the Sir William blend is described as containing, “Seven different Chinese tea varieties, mostly black and green.” I understand them wanting to be vague about the specifics of the blend, because this is truly a special tea, and it makes sense that they want to protect their recipe.
The level of smokiness tells me that at least one of the seven teas is lapsang souchong; I haven’t yet seen or tasted a smoky Earl Grey that didn’t contain it. With the inclusion of six other teas, though, the lapsang is not overwhelming. Lapsang souchong is such an intense tea that in the tasting samples for my tea sommelier course, this tea is placed in a vacuum-sealed bag, and we’re instructed to keep it away from the other samples in our tasting box after opening. But in the Sir William blend, all of the different teas work together well.
However, the number of teas creates such a complex base that I feel the bergamot is fighting to shine. There is already so much going on with the different teas that the bergamot never gets a chance to stand out. It’s not absent, but it is competing with everything else. While I do love a complex tea, this one might be a little too complex for my taste.
Mélange Ladurée, Ladurée Paris
This Earl Grey blend came to me in a giveaway package I won on travel_withmycup’s Instagram page. In addition to bergamot, the Ladurée Paris signature blend contains vanilla, cinnamon, rose, and clove. While this isn’t billed as an Earl Grey blend on their website, because of the addition of bergamot, I’m considering it a special variation.
Mélange Ladurée is a complex blend that encourages you to slow down, concentrate, and savor it. When I tasted it, I got the vanilla and rose first, followed by clove and cinnamon, with bergamot finishing off the tasting experience.
I have to say that my personal preference is for simpler blends with fewer add-ins, but I still respect the composition of Mélange Ladurée. I appreciated the progression of the tasting experience, with flavors unfolding over the course of each sip. If you love a tea blend full of different flavors, you will love this Earl Grey.
By the Numbers
While my blogging pace hasn’t quite kept up with my tasting pace, I’m nonetheless proud to have reached the halfway point of Earl Grey sampling! That’s the most important part to me. After all, if I’m not drinking tea, then I don’t have anything to write about!
Since I’m officially at the halfway point of tasting, I thought it would be fun to compare my very first category pie chart with the current one. When I made my first blog post, I’d only sampled eight teas, and only had four categories. In fact, one of the categories no longer exists! (If you need a refresher about what happened to the Lady Grey category, you’ll find it in Part 2.)
At the halfway point, two other categories make a small but mighty appearance: Tisane Earl Grey (bergamot blended with rooibos or other herbs), and Green Earl Grey (bergamot with green tea). I have not ended up creating a category for White Earls because so far, I’ve only tasted one Earl Grey that had a white tea base. I created the Green Earl category because I thought that would end up taking a larger percentage than it has so far. Given how few Green Earls I’ve found, and how many fewer White Earls there are, white tea doesn’t get a separate category.
While classic Earl Grey blends still make up the bulk of what I’ve tasted, the Special Variations aren’t far behind. At this point, my categories are fixed; I don’t plan on adding more. It’s interesting which versions of Earl Grey are easy to find, and which aren’t; I had honestly expected more Creme Earls to show up in my queue. We’ll see where the next 50 cups of tea take me!
Support the Project
Read previous installments here:
The Earl Grey Year Part 1: Four Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 2: Four Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 3: Four More Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 4: Greens and Tisanes
The Earl Grey Year Part 5: Cremes and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 6: Classics and Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 7: Classics and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 8: Cremes and Variations Part 2
The Earl Grey Year Part 9 : Four More Florals
Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share!
For more tea content, check out my tea pairings playlist on YouTube.
Project References
Note: This is an ongoing list of all the reading I have done so far for this project. The bibliographic entries here are not necessarily cited in this specific post.
Avila-Sosa, Raúl et. al. “Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) Oils.” Essential Oils in Food Preservation, Flavor and Safety. Ed. Preedy, V.R. (2015). Elsevier Science & Technology. pp. 247-252. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-416641-7.00027-4
Di Giacomi, Angelo and Giovanni Dugo. “Origin, History, and Diffusion.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. “Composition of Leaf Oils.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 227-236. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Heale, Christopher. (n.d.) “A Guide to the Tea Grading System.” Herbs & Kettles. https://www.herbsandkettles.com/blogs/blog/a-guide-to-the-tea-grading-system
Lo Curto, Rosario. “Uses of Juice and By-Products.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 531-542. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Nishida, Kei. “What Does Astringency Mean for Tea Drinking?” (n.d.) Japanese GreenTea Co. https://www.japanesegreentea.in/blogs/japanese-green-tea-lovers-in-india/what-does-astringency-mean-for-tea-drinking
Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot -
The Best of It: Maybelle Edition
- Having a puppy for the first time
- Puppy zoomies
- Puppy paws
- The puppy smell
- Sweet puppy snuggles
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The Best of It: Mid-May Edition
- Getting to eat a fantastic meal at Sam’s Steakhouse
- I’m excited to participate in the Soulard Rummage Sale this weekend
- I’m also excited to be resuming work on Haiku Girl Summer, which features an incredible slate of guest editors this year.
- The container garden on my back patio (which I somehow haven’t photographed much yet . . .)
- The blooms in my Soulard Beautification Committee street corner pot
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The Earl Grey Year Part 9: Four More Florals
During this challenge, I’ve tasted a few incredible blends. Most of what I’ve tasted are teas that are enjoyable but not mind-blowing. Even if I didn’t love a particular tea, I wouldn’t be opposed to sampling it again, or enjoying a cup if someone offered it to me. I’ve been lucky that there are few teas I’ve tasted that I would never want to drink again.
I think this installment of the project features the first tea that I would not want to drink again under any circumstances. (Okay, I would drink it if I was dehydrated and it was the only liquid available.) Unfortunately, this tea is from a company I’ve been buying from for years! But it goes to show that not every company can get every blend right. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. Just because a company on the whole does a good job doesn’t mean they master every blend every time.
But while one of the floral blends this week was unpleasant, the other three were exceptional, with one becoming a new favorite. As we move from late spring into early summer, it feels like a good week to celebrate the Floral Greys out there.
Earl Grey Lavender, Adagio
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, Adagio Teas was the first company from which I ever purchased loose-leaf tea. I’ve been buying from them since 2006. So I’m clearly a fan. But this tea did not work for me at all.
I was put off just from the smell of the dry leaf. The scent was shockingly sweet, and the lavender smelled artificial. While there are clearly lavender flowers in the blend, they didn’t smell like the lavender currently growing on my patio. Things didn’t improve when I smelled the steeped liquid. The artificial lavender smell was overpowering, and I actually didn’t want to drink the tea at all.
When I did start sipping, all I could taste was a strong, artificial lavender, followed by intense sweetness. (I did not add any sweetener to this tea.) I got through one cup, and that was all I could handle. The sample size makes about 10 cups, meaning I have a fair amount left. I might try a cold brew version to see if that improves anything, but honestly, I’m not optimistic.
Fear not! While this tea wasn’t a winner, Adagio has a number of other Earl Grey blends. I haven’t tried them all yet, but their Rooibos Earl Grey and Earl Grey Green both make enjoyable cups of tea.
Dronning Louise, Chaya
My friend @royal_teacups sent me the Dronning Louise (Queen Louise) blend made by Chaya, a Danish tea company. I’m fortunate to have included this tea in my roster, as I would not likely be able to get it here!
The Dronning Louise blend consists of Keemun tea, rose petals, and natural bergamot. Their website also refers to it as Chinese Spring Tea, and it definitely evokes the spring weather! In my neighborhood, roses are blooming, and this tea has a floral brightness that I see reflected outside (at least on days when it’s not pouring rain).
This is a remarkably complex blend. The rose and the bergamot harmonize well, and stand out on the palate. The Keemun tea is quite subtle by comparison. This is a tea that demands you stop and pay attention. You can’t just gulp it mindlessly while going about your day. If you want to appreciate the full nuance, you have to make time to savor your cup.
Given that I don’t generally care for rose-scented tea, I was honestly surprised to enjoy the Dronning Louise blend as much as I did. However, the flavors are balanced quite skillfully, and I think that’s why it works. It manages to be floral without tasting like perfume, and that’s not always easy to manage.
LalalaLavender Cream Earl Grey, The Tea Girl
I started following The Tea Girl, a Canadian tea blender, on Instagram a while back. I was excited back in March when she posted about her spring tea offerings, including a few Earl Grey blends. So I was quite disappointed when payday rolled around and I went to her online shop, only to discover that she is currently only able to ship within Canada! Yet a few weeks later, I came home to discover a packet of samples from The Tea Girl in my mailbox, including an assortment of Earl Greys, plus two others. I’m thrilled I got the opportunity to try them.
The first blend I tried was the LalalaLavender Cream Earl Grey. Although I’m partial to a longer infusion time, I followed the recommendation to steep for only three minutes for my first cup. I like to make sure I’m experiencing the brew the way the tea maker thinks is best, and then adjust for my own preference on subsequent tastings.
While the lavender taste was admittedly a little strong for my taste, I commend Sarah (the actual Tea Girl) for her ability to avoid that overwhelming astringency that can occur when lavender, citrus, and black tea combine. (While I enjoy an astringent cup, there are times when it can just be too much.) I’m guessing that balance is due to the lavandin varietals of lavender that she uses.
There was enough tea in the sample for another two tastings; I did a second with a four-minute steep, and one that steeped for five minutes. Unsurprisingly, I liked the five-minute steep the best; I felt the tea had more time to develop, and balance out the floral elements. That, though, is strictly personal preference; your mileage may vary.
Rose Hill Earl Grey, The Tea Girl
The Rose Hill Earl Grey blend was the item in The Tea Girl’s spring lineup that I was most excited to try, and most disappointed when I thought I wouldn’t be able to obtain any. And this is coming from someone who, just about 300 words ago, said she didn’t like rose very much. But I was swayed by the Instagram photos. The dry blend is particularly gorgeous, and yes, it was so pretty I just had to drink it.
Fortunately, I was not disappointed. The tea managed to exceed my already high expectations. This blend is definitely getting named in my best-of long list, and if you live in Canada, you need to order some while it’s still available. There was a nice balance to the scent of both the dry leaf and the steeped liquor. I perceived the scent of rose first, followed by black tea, and then bergamot, but they all flowed naturally. I didn’t have to search hard for them. That flavor progression is reflected in the steeped liquor as well. The experience is much like the way a fine wine gradually unfolds on your palate.
I wrote in my tasting journal, “This is the only rose tea I would stock on a regular basis.” I will be keeping an eye out for the day that The Tea Girl is able to ship outside of Canada, and once I can, I will be ordering a large quantity of the Rose Hill Earl Grey.
By the Numbers
As of this writing, I’m one tea tasting ahead of schedule for the month. It’s possible that I’ll reach the halfway point by the end of May! I currently have just 15 untasted teas left in my queue, but I think I’ll wait until June before ordering more. Last week I did a full inventory of all the tea at my house (not just Earl Grey), and the number was embarrassingly high. So in addition to this project, I’m focusing on drinking up some of the older teas in my collection before I buy anything new. (Because let’s be honest, what are the odds that I go to a site to get Earl Grey and I only get Earl Grey? Pretty low.)
One of the things I’m surprised to discover is how few Earl Grey blends there are based on green tea. I haven’t added one to my queue in a while! There are a few on my wishlist, but even if I added those, I can see that Green Earl Grey blends are likely to be the smallest proportion of blends I taste. I assumed I would come across them regularly, because citrus and green tea go well together, but I was way off!
I was tempted to do a side-by-side comparison of my original pie chart to this one, but I think I’ll wait until I hit the 50% mark. That, I think, will be a more interesting point of comparison. Do you have any predictions for either the 50% comparison or the 100% comparison? Let me know in the comments!
Support the Project
Read previous installments here:
The Earl Grey Year Part 1: Four Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 2: Four Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 3: Four More Classics
The Earl Grey Year Part 4: Greens and Tisanes
The Earl Grey Year Part 5: Cremes and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 6: Classics and Florals
The Earl Grey Year Part 7: Classics and Special Variations
The Earl Grey Year Part 8: Cremes and Variations Part 2
Enjoying this series? You can support my tea wishlist here, or contact me if you have samples you want to share!
For more tea content, check out my tea pairings playlist on YouTube.
Project References
Note: This is an ongoing list of all the reading I have done so far for this project. The bibliographic entries here are not necessarily cited in this specific post.
Avila-Sosa, Raúl et. al. “Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) Oils.” Essential Oils in Food Preservation, Flavor and Safety. Ed. Preedy, V.R. (2015). Elsevier Science & Technology. pp. 247-252. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-416641-7.00027-4
Di Giacomi, Angelo and Giovanni Dugo. “Origin, History, and Diffusion.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. “Composition of Leaf Oils.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 227-236. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Heale, Christopher. (n.d.) “A Guide to the Tea Grading System.” Herbs & Kettles. https://www.herbsandkettles.com/blogs/blog/a-guide-to-the-tea-grading-system
Lo Curto, Rosario. “Uses of Juice and By-Products.” Citrus bergamia: Bergamot and Its Derivatives. Ed. Dugo, Giovanni and Ivana Bonaccorsi. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. pp. 531-542. https://doi.org/10.1201/b15375
Nishida, Kei. “What Does Astringency Mean for Tea Drinking?” (n.d.) Japanese GreenTea Co. https://www.japanesegreentea.in/blogs/japanese-green-tea-lovers-in-india/what-does-astringency-mean-for-tea-drinking
Twinings. (n.d.) “What is Bergamot?” https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-bergamot
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The Best of It: Summer Events Edition
- Attending Haiku North America
- Seeing West Side Story at the Muny
- My first Cardinals game!
- Seeing the corpse flower bloom at the Missouri Botanical Garden
- SerbFest
