576 Tasting Notes
I let this steep for a good eight minutes. Why? Why not?! And the flavor is definitely stronger – each taste can be ID’ed in each sip. I love this combo. It’s very unique. I did add sweetener which I think enhanced the chocolate taste. Please see other note. Also, no rating as this is my creation from Adagio.
2nd steep – I actually just poured it over ice. The liquor is a bright orange too! I hadn’t noticed that as my tea mug is chocolate brown (my beloved Fiestaware). So refreshing over ice. This is my new summer tea.
I wonder how it would taste with strawberry pieces? Or PEACH!
Holy heck, new project for me!
Thank you ColumbiaKate for the sample! This is a fabulous tasting tea! I first thought, Carrot Tea? Really? But from the first sip I’ve been hooked. A new cupboard essential!
This one tastes and smells like Sun Tea – you know, letting tea bags sit in the sun through the day and serving the tea over ice in the evening. When I lived in SoCal, that’s all we drank. And when we moved to Maryland, we brought along the custom. I remember one of my childhood friends being completely befuddled about leaving a beverage outside and then drinking it, but that was my childhood summertime thirst quencher!
OK, enough blabbing on Memory Lane. (Actually that’s what this tea should be called!) It tastes like a sip of sunshine. There is a definite “this is tea” quality about it. While it tastes like sun tea, there’s a twist – a fruit-and-veggie medley.
I could talk about this tea for hours. I am in LOVE! Move over, CHAI!
P.S. I actually had the loose tea version of this, not the tea bagged variety. I hope I reviewed the right one! :)
I just had a conversation with someone about sun tea and how it’s “unsafe” >.<. My mom has been making sun tea for as long as I can remember and when I moved out on my own, a sun tea jug was one of the first things I bought! I can’t imagine a summer without sun tea….c’mon, sun, where are you?
“unsafe” my fanny! I lived on that and I turned out just fine…well, OK, I’m a little weird, but for the most part – healthy. And a tea lover.
Yes, sun, get a move on!
Me too! And it’s somehow tastier and so much better when brewed in the sun. Meh. Cityfolk…what can you do? Always afraid of something ;) teasing
I am so ready for spring.
Another winner! It was the only green rooibos I had at the moment. I have had a great response from those who have tried this tea in the shop. It is not on the menu yet, but looks like it will be.
I was trying to resist, but that does it. I give in. You’ve given me a lemming. :)
I’m back to basics this (rough) Thursday morning. I can tell this will be a long day so this is the first of many caffeinated cuppas!
One difference – this cup was originally steeped with boiling hot water, and I mean HOT to the extreme! I was boiling water and was called away from my desk. Luckily my heater has an automatic shut-off point. (A coworker thought it would whistle like a kettle. Too bad! That would be cool.) This cup is much spicier and tastier than I can remember before, and I love the change in flavor. I can taste the nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, and others individually, all adding up to one of the best versions I’ve had. This is a great way to get going this morning!
Since I can’t drink red rooibos – headache inducer – I was hesitant to even smell a green rooibos tea. But now I’m trying samples of green rooibos and finding that it is actually a sweet, caffeine free alternative.
This one delivers a punch of orange, peach and mango. The medley of flavors creates a tropical infusion for your senses. Even though this is in tea bag format, I can still taste fresh leaves and this crisp cup.
I have to try the other flavors, but this one is a cupboard must for any rooibos fan – green or otherwise. It’s sweet and sensory. YUM!
I just ordered this from the Tea District, using up a groupon, and based on recommendations from Earl Grey fans. Lavender has always been a favorite of mine – usually as a fragrance but more recently as a tea!
This pairing seems to be popular – lavender with bergamot/Earl Grey – and with good reason. I’m not usually an EG fan, but this is the gateway tea that is easing me into EG waters.
Enough babbling, let’s talk tea. This is one of the more tastier versions of this pairing, but that could be due to steeping. I was at work, called away from my desk, you know how it goes. (I won’t rate it this time; I’ll pay better attention and put tea before my work (ha!) next time. There is something very warming and comforting about pairing lavender and citrus, almost like relaxing on a summer’s evening.
I am currently in a Quest to Find a Tasty Earl Grey: http://keenteathyme.blogspot.com/2011/04/quest-for-earl-grey.html
Got any other suggestions?
I’ll be following your quest with interest, because I too have been looking for my favorite EG. Although I love traditional EGs, I like all the different permutations as well.
Did I send you Metro’s Earl Grey Cream? That has been one of my top sellers.
Per the spelling, The British Earl IS “Grey” and Gray is a color.US. or Grey is a colour. British.
The Best Earl Grey tea however is a "Greyt’ quest. I have several yet to try. But Steven Smith’s Earl Grey, which I tasted at his booth at the food show, is right up there, In my opinion.
It is not canonical, but my favorite earl grey is Lady Grey. Many companies do versions (bergamot, with other citrus particularly orange) many much fancier (Kusmi makes Anastasia for example) but for my money the best I have tried yet is plain old Twinings original Lady Grey. Have you tried yet?
@ColumbiaKate – yep, that’s actually my next tea to try today. Thanks for the input on the spelling debacle. I always thought it was “Grey” for the same reasons…
@cteresa – Lady Grey is quite nice! A friend of mine who loves EG recommended I try it and I liked it. I’ve only had it once though. I liked the name “Lady Grey” because it reminded me of one of my favorite ghost stories! :)
I’m also a non-fan of EG but I’ve found that a rather strange ordinary enough brand, NUMI, has this “Aged Earl Grey” with aged bergamot… and I delight in it. The aroma knocks me out, and drinking it is actually a pleasure instead of a polite thing I tolerate when somewhere they are serving whatever random “fabulous” grey they think I’ll find irresistable :) Funny thing about lavender, which I’m allergic to in terms of the flowers being airborne (but can consume in creme brulee—my favorite use for it—or other foodstuff), I LOVE places that take a few fresh buds and put them on top of packed fresh ground espresso just before brewing. Makes a kick butt cup o’ joe (when the espresso is good, which is rare by my snootier-on-coffee-than-tea standards… and most consider me snooty on tea except for “candy teas” that are not real “tea” persay :D)
The more I try this tea, the more I like it! The tip for my flavor preferences – which are strong & spicy – seems to be using almost boiling water and steeping for at least six minutes (or the length of the cup). I add a little bit of Splenda to balance the flavors, but this one gets better each day.
Thanks, Clare, for sending me this sample. This became an instant essential within one sip! Talk about a tropical vacay in your teacup, this is the winner! I’m a nut for anything pineapple (even on pizza, I’m from SoCal) and the flavor in this tea is outstanding. I taste a hint of papaya, too, which pairs well with one of my fave fruits. The green tea base is light and refreshing, so the tea flavor doesn’t crowd the fruit flavors. Overall, this is just a refreshing tea!
LOVE pineapple on pizza. It goes on almost all of ours.
I also like to add strawberry slices in the summer – with the pineapple, maybe a couple banana peppers too. :) But hey, I saw a steak&cheese pizza being advertised the other day!
We made a pizza with garlic olive oil, loose sausage, more garlic, spinach and cheese recently. That was a good one, though not that unconventional. We do a homemade pizza once a week…Thank God for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer!
Great to hear I picked another good one. I love pineapple on pizza as well. Something about warming that flavor brings out the sweetness of it.
We get ready-made pizza dough at Trader Joe’s and do Calzones at the Teahouse. All kinds of fillings. Last week it was the thin sliced ham and pinapple with the tomato sauce and cheese…this week vegetarian.
I can’t remember who sent me this sample with other assorted teas – Meghann M? JoeCool (Nichole)? Sorry guys – too many tea packages! But thanks to whomever shared this from her stash! UPDATE: Thanks, QuiltGuppy!
For something called “extreme” this didn’t really seem so… sure, it tasted like vanilla, but I wasn’t that impressed with the taste. It does taste like vanilla & green tea, and the vanilla is of the regular soft-serve ice-cream variety, not so much in flavor…
I don’t know. But this was just a sample to try, so it’s not like I would never order from American Tea Room again…
OK, I’m upping my rating on this one. When I arrived at work today I reached for my usual chai wake-up blend, but my tastebuds wanted this one! I steeped it for the length of the cup – as usual – and the aroma of the chai is amazing! (I had to give out a couple bags to coworkers, but I’m slowly converting them to the cult that is tea… lol)
This is such a wake-up, pick-me-up, great-way-to-start-the-day blend. I do prefer the green tea chai version that Tea District also offers, but I do tend to prefer green tea over black teas.
I’m actually brewing a second cup – not using the same tea bag; resteepability isn’t very evident here, but then again I “soak” to the end of the cup anyway. I love more flavors and a spicy aftertaste, so I would need a new bag anyway.
This is quickly becoming a favorite!
