steep by Bigelow

While peppermint-spearmint forward (with a little bit of that ‘wet rag’ taste), I really have never cared for the menthol taste mixed with acidic ingredients as it reminds me of medicine like Halls cough drop shudder. In my opinion, this shouldn’t be named only Organic Mint. Not bad but not my taste.

I don’t remember how this single sealed teabag ended up in my travel tea stash, but it was there and I brewed it up this morning. I had low expectations of this pyramid tea bag when I opened it, but it seems like a decent size leaf and has brewed nicely at 3 minutes. It has a bit of a sweet note, also some malt and slight astringency. I might be tempted to get a box for travel, or even try to steep this one a second time :)

National Peach Cobbler Day! Sipdown Challenge
I’ve reviewed this one before so not much else to say about it other than I think this teabag has started to lose some of its flavor. This is the first cup I’ve had that wasn’t super peachy from this tea. This was an office grab teabag but I really need to find out where I can get a box of this.

I don’t know how old this tea is since It was an office grab and I didn’t buy it. It does have a very pleasant natural peach juice flavor though which is surprising for a cheap boxed tea. I get some of the cheaper green tea flavor too but the peach flavor is really nice that I don’t mind it as much. I can’t taste the rooibos at all though.

I found it gmathis! It was hiding in a box of chamomile I had taken with me to my work father’s house a few months ago.

I really liked this blend of rooibos, green tea, dandelion leaf and peach/other flavors. The peach flavor is fresh and natural, like biting into fruit not quite ripe. It still has crunch. The star of this blend is definitely the peach but it’s tempered and rounded out by everything else. Leaving the bag in my glass past the recommended 4 minute steep time gave me a smooth and crisp green tea accented by that light woody sweetness of rooibos and a touch of something more grounding from the dandelion leaf.

What a nice no-nonsense teabag. Recommended for those times when you can’t be fussed with anything.

My work setup isn’t favorable for anything that requires attention, so I never do green teas there unless they are bagged. This is a viable option. It’s toasty rather than spinach-y and seems to be pretty forgiving on time and water temp. Perfect for this purpose.

It’s 12:30, and I just finished breakfast. Yes, breakfast. At Noon-Thirty. Don’t judge me.

Anyway, that means it’s Earl Grey time!

This is another one from that Earl Grey box I ordered from Staples. I’ve already had the regular Bigelow Earl Grey and think it’s lovely, so I was interested to try this “deluxe” version.

Brewed 212F/4min/12oz.

Taste is… meh. It isn’t very strong. Maybe I should have decreased the water amount for the tea, but then that has never been a problem with the usual Bigelow EG. Also, this is a very dark liquor. I don’t see how it could be a case of the tea being brewed too weak. It’s just the flavor is weak. Adding a Splenda to see if that helps.

It helps a smidge. The main difference between pre-sweetener and post-sweetener is it’s a more palatable “Meh”. Yinz know I like that big, in-your-face bergamot, and this ain’t it. This is a mellow, gentle EG, which as I always say, may be great for some people, not so much for me. I like to be able to taste the bergamot oil, not just have it be an aftersip thing. I will say the black tea base on this is decent, but it slightly leans bitter, even with the Splenda added.

Overall? I hate to say it, but I much prefer the original Bigelow EG. This one is smoother and subtler, but when I’m drinking my breakfast cuppa (whenever that may be) I want something strong. This misses strong by a bunch. It’s not bad tea, mind you. It doesn’t taste bad at all. More that it doesn’t taste period. I think I’ll have to save this for days when I want a cup to soothe me, rather than wake me up.

This gets a C.

This is basically just a very weak version of Harney’s hot cinnamon spice. The black tea is unremarkable with a bit of bitterness, and the spices are medium, but they’d be much better if they were stronger. The main spice you can distinguish is cinnamon, but as I said, it’s weak. I was drinking it on a long drive to stay awake, so I suppose flavor wasn’t so much a priority. But I’m fine with not having this one again.

After two uncomfortable weeks of too-early too-high temperatures, the weather broke this morning with a harmless but noisy thunderstorm, followed by some pretty delicious rainfall. This evening’s tea selection is actually driven by preference rather than “I-don’t-care-just-add-ice-because-I’m-roasting.”

I’ve had this box of Dandelion & Peach for some time now, and only recently really paid attention to the fact that green rooibos is a major player, and thanks to our CuppaGeek buddy Nichole, I have re-fallen in re-love with that particular ingredient. It gives the peach flavor some pleasant crispness. I’d expound more, but I’ve already finished the cup!

First backyard mow of the season tonight—the yard is never quite the same two years in a row: this year, it looks like sweet clover and those weeds with the little purple flowers are the winners (I had a friend who called ’em “Mousie in a Canoe.” She was right. Turn them sideways and you can see it.)

So I think the weeds and dandelions subliminally influenced my evening choice. All the same, this is gentle, mellow, and peachily fragrant. A good spring steep.

Yeah, I’m a sucker for clearance sales—but this was $1.75 at our Natural Grocers. You would’ve bought it, too!

And I’m glad I did … the whole bundle of ingredients together make a wonderful, soft, mellow, peachy cup. It leads with the peach and rooibos, nothing gingery or “pie-y” about it. Just good ripe fruit.

So This is an old free tea sample I got in the mail about 2 years ago. I found it in a moving box recently along with a Breakfast Black tea. I don’t have much to say since I gulped this cup down rather quickly. Just let it be noted that this was really good, the best bagged green I’ve ever had. It wasn’t nearly as vegetal as most bagged green teas. Unfortunately I’ve never seen this sold in stores near me otherwise I might consider grabbing a box.

Bitter green with medicinal cherry. Bleh.

I don’t drink a lot of bagged teas these days but I saw a box of these English Breakfast tea bags during a visit to the break room at my wife’s office. I was curious about this new Steep By Bigelow tea line and “borrowed” one tea bag. This line appeared to be an upscale version of Bigelow’s standard tea bags. The label specified that the tea within was organic and Fair Trade Certified. Bigelow seems to be in an expansion mode lately as they also recently acquired South Carolina’s Charleston tea plantation and tea company. At one time, Charleston had the only remaining tea plantation in the country.

To prepare this tea, I microwaved a glass mug of filtered water for three minutes until boiling. I then instructed Alexa (of my Amazon Echo) to set a four-minute timer.

The brewed color was golden orange. The aroma was faint and like malty black tea.

The flavor was actually quite robust. It tasted malty like the aroma indicated. The tea flavor was full and easily identifiable as Ceylon. My first few sips contained just a tweak of bitterness. The liquor also seemed to briefly coat my tongue and mouth with some sort of milky texture. That twist was unexpected and strange but quickly disappeared with the bitter attribute after a few more sips. The aftertaste was light and posed no problems.

Although I wouldn’t pay more for this item than I would for the standard Bigelow English Breakfast tea bags, this was a decent blend that was perhaps a tad more flavor-fortified than their standard offering. I would have no problem drinking this tea in an office situation if I didn’t have access to my infuser.

I “borrowed” a tea bag of this selection from my wife’s office breakroom. I mainly wanted to see how this apparently deluxe version of Bigelow’s Earl Grey compared to their standard Earl Grey product. The Bigelow Steep line of teas all seem to be labeled “organic.” Some are also labeled “Fair Trade Certified” (but not this one).

When I tore open the bag’s wrapper, I could smell the bergamot. The aroma was potent and easily recognizable.

I boiled a cup of filtered water for three minutes in my “nuker.” I then steeped (no pun intended in this instance) the bag for four minutes to comply with the wrapper’s preparation instructions.

The finished color was a dark amber. There was very little aroma (bergamot or otherwise) to speak of, even with my nose pushed into the cup.

The flavor of this tea was medium-strength. The taste was mildly bergamot with Ceylon attributes quietly tip-toeing in the shadows behind it. As with another Bigelow Steep selection that I tried, this one also seemed to coat my tongue and mouth with a strange milk-like texture that remained during the first few sips. There also was a slight astringency present but not enough to complain about. The aftertaste was inoffensive.

Personally, I prefer a more robust and natural bergamot flavor in Earl Grey blends. Perhaps this is just an advantage of the loose-leaf teas that I drink 99.9999% of the time.

I initially stated that I wanted to see how this assumed higher end version of Bigelow’s Earl Grey compared with its standard product. On Amazon, a package of six boxes containing 20 bags each of the Bigelow Steep Earl Grey currently costs about $9 more than an equal package of their standard brand. Having experienced both products, I would not feel like I was missing anything by choosing the standard offering.

I can’t remember where this teabag came from, but I thought a no caffeine day was the right time to drink it.

Toasty, notes of squash, bok choy, vegetal, but not as vegetal and grassy as most bagged greens. The toasted flavour is really nice. It reminds me a lot of a genmaicha, but this is straight. As far as bagged greens go, this is the best I’ve had.

This Organic Earl Grey, from Bigelow’s Steep, is a workhorse Earl Grey. It does not delight, it does not astonish but it does, on very unpretentious terms, soothe. This modest goal, seemingly humble, is beyond the talents of most mainstream tea makers, and that Steep by Bigelow has achieved this inoffensive Earl Grey is commendable indeed.
Instead of the usual grim suspicions that yet another big tea maker has packeted and sold bags of twigs under the euphemistic advertisement of “tea,” this drink rests all fears due to its placid black tea blend which is accompanied by notes of lightly skimming bergamot.
This tea is best served on late afternoons when fuss and fanciness would only further irritate the soul.

The tea bag smells strongly of spicy ginger, but the steeped liquid is balanced between ginger and lemon. I like that it is very flavourful and spicy.