I brewed this tea western. 2 tsp / 300 ml. Ball strainer. 4 minutes.
A tea from derk. Highly rated here, but I will go lower a bit. It is a decent EG for sure, but there is something I miss. More below.
I slept finally fairly well, but not much. Waking up in 8 am sounds much better than 5 though. I wasn!t really sure which tea I wanted, but I wanted something good, if possible black or green. I did not want to make an oolong, which is kind of strange, because I really started to like oolongs recently. Maybe that bad experience with last one changed my mind somehow? I don’t know.
Anyway, I took two teaspoons of this very aromatic tea into my ball strainer. It is very dirty as I was using it very often, so tea stains everywhere, even I washed it in hand and throughly. I should buy a new strainer, maybe some big one, instead of those ball ones. The tea looks pretty! It is indeed with long leaves, no BOP or just some dust. It is full leaves, just curled. That is always a good sign, and honestly, I am not sure if I saw something like that for Earl Grey before.
As I said, it is indeed very aromatic, even derk packed it twice in airtight packs. If she didn’t made it, I think all teas would get slightly EG aroma.
After four minutes of steeping I took the strainer out, and result was copper oclour brew. It was really nice to watch, although it is “only tea”. Aroma was certainly citrusy and mostly the bergamot I notice, but there were also base tea qualities as for example the maltiness.
When sipped, an explosion of citrus fruits came into my mouth, following with malt. As I brewed it probably too strong, it was drying. But the caffeine boost is so amazing now, I am almost shaking, adrenaline bit rushed in my blood as well. Only downside today is that everybody is at home today, but nieces and my brother (they went skiing), so I can’t really focus on school stuff I really need to finish today. Another brother took home office, so I can’t use his big screen, which is annoying because of huge Excel files I need to make. They have around 1300 rows, 10 collums and 4 sheets.
Anyway, this tea just missing one thing I like on my favourite EGs and it is bit smokiness in taste. It isn’t bad, just missing just this one.TL;DR: Great Earl Grey, high quality leaf, with explosion of citruses and bergamot mostly. I miss bit of smokiness only.
Big thank you derk!
Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus Zest, Citrusy, Malt
Preparation
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This one sounds so good! If you don’t mind me asking, what is your favorite Earl Grey? I love the idea of some smokiness with the bergamot. I’ve never had that before.
I love tea care packages from friends! I coo and paw over them like Gollum and his Precious. Sounds like yours was a real treasure box.
Shae: My favourite I found recently (but from tea bag) was Fortnum and Mason EG. Maybe their loose leaf is bit different. My tea bags were quite old as well, so I am not really sure. And first one I really liked was Impra Tea Company, but can’t recall it much, as it was maybe 10 years ago?
gmathis: yeah, just the shipping is nightmare and annoying postal workers even bigger. But derk sent me nice collection of teas and I hope I sent good ones too!
Shae: Harney and Sons sells a smoky Earl. https://www.harney.com/products/ambessa-the-earl-of-harlem-20-sachets-tin
Martin: I will look for these – thank you! I’ve heard of Fortnum and Mason but not Impra.
Ashmanra: I picked up a tin of this to try but haven’t opened it yet. I don’t think I realized it was a smoky one!
I am not really sure if they still exist! I haven’t heard of them in ages and apparently their teas are not available here as well. But as I said, I m not sure if it is smoky at all. And mostly, I do not mean heavily smoked. just a tiny bit :)
This one sounds so good! If you don’t mind me asking, what is your favorite Earl Grey? I love the idea of some smokiness with the bergamot. I’ve never had that before.
I love tea care packages from friends! I coo and paw over them like Gollum and his Precious. Sounds like yours was a real treasure box.
Shae: My favourite I found recently (but from tea bag) was Fortnum and Mason EG. Maybe their loose leaf is bit different. My tea bags were quite old as well, so I am not really sure. And first one I really liked was Impra Tea Company, but can’t recall it much, as it was maybe 10 years ago?
gmathis: yeah, just the shipping is nightmare and annoying postal workers even bigger. But derk sent me nice collection of teas and I hope I sent good ones too!
Shae: Harney and Sons sells a smoky Earl. https://www.harney.com/products/ambessa-the-earl-of-harlem-20-sachets-tin
Martin: I will look for these – thank you! I’ve heard of Fortnum and Mason but not Impra.
Ashmanra: I picked up a tin of this to try but haven’t opened it yet. I don’t think I realized it was a smoky one!
I am not really sure if they still exist! I haven’t heard of them in ages and apparently their teas are not available here as well. But as I said, I m not sure if it is smoky at all. And mostly, I do not mean heavily smoked. just a tiny bit :)