Steven Smith Teamaker

I love Darjeeling.

Some years back, I received a beautiful tin that was filled with the tastiest Darjeeling. It was the first Darjeeling I ever experienced, and since that time, I’ve been trying to find a Darjeeling that compares. The tin has long since vanished in the “black hole” that is my art studio (don’t ask!) and the name of the company that distributed the tea has long since vanished from my memory. So I haven’t ever been able to restock my shelves with that exact brand.

However, I have found some suitable substitutes… that taste almost (if not just as) good as that first Darjeeling.

This is one such Darjeeling. It has a very pleasant muscatel essence to it – slightly spicy, musky/woodsy, with a pleasant, palate-cleansing astringency. Tannic, but not pushing the edge to bitter. Like a fine, dry wine.

Steven Smith rocks!

As I’ve noted before, until my senses return to full capacity, I won’t be offering a numeric rating to this tea – as it wouldn’t be fair. However, I do have enough of this tea to last me until I’m feeling better, at which time, I’ll rate it accordingly.

Tastes like Toast minus the butter this morning. Pretty good indeed…
SIPDOWN #2 for today!!!!

Okay so this tastes much better today than the last time I tried it! I am going to bump up the rating! This is lovely today! It rainy outside and the co-workers are all gloom and doom and this seems to help! I am getting a buttery and toasty flavor and even nutty! Still not very fruity but GOOD. :)

I’m not tasting fruit but toasty, nutty, buttery – YES. It’s Medium Brown in color and has a bit of a toasty after taste. This is a nice, average cup. I don’t think oversteeping/infusing would be wise…I think it may be bitter if over steeped/infused.

I needed a good tea for wake up this morning. The tea bag is huge and I steeped about 16 oz of tea. The tea is robust, brisk, and malty. I get more of the ceylon taste than the assam from it but its still very good.

This is a very brisk, robust, malty tea. Its a very good choice for breakfast or for waking up in the afternoon like me when watching soccer. I can taste the assam, but the ceylon really stands out in this blend. It doesn’t have too much bitterness and does have a little astringency. I was hoping to taste the keemun, but alas I just can’t find it. Sill a nice cup of tea.

This is a brisk robust tea. I can’t find any bitterness and only a slight astringency. It has a nice kick to it like a strong coffee. This blend has excellent teas in it, you can taste it. It makes a very nice breakfast blend.

OK, now I’m very confused. I fixed this the very exact way I did yesterday and today this tea is strong, bitter, and very astringent. I can hardly drink it. This is getting dumped and I’m going back to the drawing board and try a 4 minute steep. I’m dropping the rating until I can see what it wrong. The 5 minute steep is the directions on the box.

2nd try;
I increased the water to 12 oz as this is one huge tea bag and decreased the steep time to 4 minutes. This is much better than earlier. The tea is smooth and not bitter. Yet this tea just tastes like tea, a strong tea. I’m not getting any of the nuances that I get from other teas. Maybe its the blend, I’m not sure. I really expected a lot from this tea. If anyone has any ideas on how to prepare this tea, please leave me a comment.

This is an interesting blend of teas. It is brisk, robust, no bitterness, and just a touch of astringency. This tea is in a tea sachet. It is slightly floral and has a subtle sweetness to the tea. I really do like it, its just very hard to compare this tea to other teas. I can definitely taste the assam in this tea. I can say that I like Simple Leaf’s Mountain Malt and Rishi’s Golden Yunnan better but they aren’t blends.

Backlog:

One of my favorite Earl Grey teas. Steven Smith did not disappoint.

I was so happy to receive a box of this tea in one of my Knoshy boxes earlier this year.

I love the base for this tea. It’s a blend of Ceylon teas and an Assam tea. This provides a rich, full-flavored base that’s a little malty and very smooth and robust. It is a substantial base for the strong bergamot flavor.

The bergamot doesn’t taste fake or perfume-ish. It’s bright and tangy. And as I say in my full-length review of this tea – http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/08/04/lord-bergamot-tea-from-steven-smith-teamaker/ – the combination of the bergamot and malty notes and caramel-y undertones of the black tea is quite moreish.

I would recommend this Earl Grey to anyone who appreciates a good Earl Grey!

Today while running around, I got to the point where a stop for tea was required. I could feel the beginnings of that lack-of-caffeine headache. Here in the Pacific Northwest, there is a starbucks at nearly every corner (seriously, if you miss the starbucks at this corner, you don’t need to turn around, just keep driving and there will be another one within a mile). But, I don’t like starbucks, and I like Teavana even less. So, hubby was nice and took a detour and took me to Brewed Awakenings where they serve Steven Smith teas. I don’t like that they serve the tea in paper cups because I can taste the paper, but, at least I got some good tea on the go. It would be better if they found a better way to serve it, but, at least I don’t have the caffeine headache now.

I do love this tea, definitely one of my favorite Earl Grey teas out there.

I am finishing off the last I have of this tea – looks like I’m going to need to place an order with Steven Smith soon as I can’t be without this tea for very long. I do have a lot of teas at the moment, enough to keep me busy and my mind off this one, but, I’m sure there will be a time soon when I want more…

It’s beautiful, as always! Smooth, rich, and delicious. A lovely way to wake up.

Time for my Earl Grey!

This morning, I decided to find one of my favorites! Even though I’ve been drinking and enjoying other Earl Grey teas lately, this one stands out above the rest. Smooth, rich, and delicious.

Absolutely delightful.

I’m enjoying this tea right now… I’ve posted at least a couple of tasting notes on this one, so I don’t know that I need to go into it again… Lovely bergamot flavor, the black tea blend is delightfully rich and brisk and smooth all at the same time. I love this tea!

I feel like slowly… but surely… my taste buds are returning to normal. I’m not 100% yet otherwise, and I don’t even think that my tastebuds are quite at 100% yet either… but they’re getting there.

On to the tea! Nice and bold flavor. The Assam’s malty flavor really seems to be standing out today, which brings to mind Numi’s Aged Earl Grey but much, much better. The bergamot doesn’t seem quite as strong today, but I am sure that is because my taste buds are not quite as strong as they usually are.

Even with the impairment, this tea is still so good!

This is one of my favorite Earl Grey teas! My review of this tea recently published on the Tea Review Blog … wanna read it? http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=11470

The blend of black teas is what gives this tea its well rounded flavor. It tastes full and pleasant, brisk yet smooth. It has a malty character that plays to the qualities of the bergamot very well.

It is such a delight to have this in my teacup!

I’ve had a few different Earl Grey teas lately, and they’ve all been quite good. This is definitely one of my favorites. I don’t know if I like Lupicia’s Earl Grey better… one of these days I’ll have to do a side by side on the two and see which one I prefer. But, even if Lupicia’s is first, this one would probably be second. Although… I’ve not tried A&D’s Earl Grey yet (Maybe I’ll try the sampling that Doulton sent me later today), so… that could change after tasting that one.

Wow… I feel like I’m rambling!

OK… what makes this Earl Grey so great? Well, it’s the blend of tea, for one thing. Not just a Ceylon, but, an excellent blend of Ceylons as well as a delightful Assam that provides a very pleasing malty touch. Bold and brisk, yet, smooth. A very well rounded blend.

The bergamot flavoring is strong but not perfume-ish. It’s been flavored perfectly.

YUM!

This is probably my favorite “non-LiberTEAS” tea in my cupboard right now, if not my favorite, it’s absolutely in the top 2!

It is pure heaven in a tea cup… and a few years ago, if you were to tell me that I would someday say that about an “unflavored” green tea with a vegetative character – I would have told you that you were nuts!

But I sooooo love this tea. Buttery, vegetal, sweet … so good. Multiple infusions to follow!

I’ve always been a fan of chamomile blends, and this is one of the best I’ve ever tasted. It’s sweet with a faint mint-like aroma and has a pleasantly syrupy liqueur. (No sweetener necessary at all.) The chamomile blooms are huge, and all the ingredients seem to be of excellent quality. This brew left me relaxed and refreshed.