Earl Grey Cupcake

2021 Sipdown #7!

I love Earl Greys and I’m a sucker for fun things like sprinkles so I’m sad to see this one go! I’ll have to find some new fun Earl Grey to replace this one

This was one of the flavors from the advent calendar that I was the most excited for. I’m not sure it totally accomplished its goal though. It’s sort of like a very mild earl grey creme. But I’m not sure I’d even know it’s early grey if I hadn’t been told. I definitely can taste the extra desserty flavor that’s in there, but it’s more like a macaron than a cupcake. And flavors are often milder in macarons anyway. So if I think of this as being an earl grey macaron, I’d say it does a pretty good job. I’m drinking it with milk, which definitely helps bring out those flavors.

So, trying this again as my morning brew (I know it’s almost 3PM, this is just my life, ok) and I have to say, I think it was my prep that was off last time. This time I actually measured out the water and leaf (12oz, 1.5 Tsp), but sort of eyeballed it (is that the right term) on the time. It was somewhere around 2 minutes though.

Taste is so much better! No licorice present at ALL! Instead, it tastes just like the package states: an Earl Grey Cupcake. I can taste the sweetness of the frosting, and the bergamot, and the tea, all wrapped up into one. This is amazing! I think I’m going to need to order a few more pouches of this. I could drink this all day!

One of the best earl grey I’ve ever had. Nice bold bergamot flavor, with a subtle cakey note. I’ll definitely be trying this with cream and sugar next go around.

So, my countdown is all messed up by now and at this point, since it’s Christmas day, it’s a bit unnecessary. So a big thank you to all those who kept up with the countdown! :) This is the Eleventh tea in the 12 Teas of Christmas box, and I just grabbed this one because I was looking for a caffeinated pick-me-up after the holiday dinner and dessert and this was the first one I grabbed.

Not that I’m complaining – I’m loving this. I love bergamot and since I do love it, I can usually handle a strong bergamot flavor but I also like this where the bergamot is subdued because of the vanilla notes and the cake-y flavors. Very tasty and a nice way to regroup after the holiday happenings.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and that you’re staying warm and cozy with a hot cuppa!

Sipdown (836)…

One of my friends from the hard goods department at work gifted me a travel mug that I’ve been eyeing up for a little while as a birthday present; it’s something that’s going to be in stores but isn’t available for sale quite yet.

I drank this in that beautiful new travel mug on my way home today, with a splash of milk. I found it pretty nice, though admittedly a little weird to be having an EG blend at like 5:30PM when that’s typically a morning tea for me. I could have probably brewed it a little longer, because the taste was a bit thin/muted and I’m sure the milk didn’t help with that. However, I got a smooth bergamot and a finish that was very creamy and vanilla so that completed the “Earl Grey Cupcake” vibe for me.

IIRC, this is a pretty popular blend from 52Teas and I kinda see why – I don’t dislike it at all, and it’s fun for sure. However, there are so many EG vanilla type of blends out there that I find it hard to say there’s something different about this one that you can’t find in another blend of this nature.

NEEDED to have this again. So good. Just feeling so poorly. I’m now on a medically reduced work schedule but still need to work 3 days a week, which feels like 1 too many but that’s what I got. This tea is getting me through the day. Like a hug in a cup.

This is divine. And in the perfect world, I would have another huge bag or two of this left, rather than the few crumbs that I have remaining.

Another example of tea and its hard hard lessons in non attachment.

Super fab version of an Earl Grey Cream with a soft vanilla orange slant. Well, my pouch of this will disappear quickly. It’s nice to have the creamy vanilla aspect after a few days of drinking a more heavily bergamot Earl.

It’s really difficult to not sound like a shill for 52teas. Anne’s creations rarely disappoint me.

Trick or Treat! So my Halloween Wheel o’ Tea has selected this for my treat bag today, and I’m pretty happy since Earl Grey is a nice breakfast staple. Mmm… Earl Grey cupcakes! The dry leaf has a lovely bergamot aroma, but I smell a lot of sweet vanilla too, and it does smell a little like cake frosting (particularly the cream cheese cake frosting which is my favorite). I’m also loving all those pretty golden tipped tea leaves I’m seeing in the blend… Yunnan and Vietnam blacks are pretty much my favorites, so I’m expecting the base on this to be downright delightful.

I had a tiny bit of vanilla almond milk left that I wanted to use up before the carton went bad, so I ended up making a large latte, and then emptying my overflow tea into a separate cup, so I had half a cup of plain tea leftover, so I got to try the tea plain and as a latte from the 16 oz. brew I whipped up. The aroma from the spent leaves and brewed cup had a surprisingly somewhat floral note to me; the bergamot wasn’t coming off as strongly in aroma as it was on the dry leaf, and the sweetness somehow just smelled like a fresh-cut bouquet to me. The flavor still had a perky bergamot taste, with that being the promanent note in the cup, with a sweet vanilla and subtle cream note coming out toward the finish. The base tea was indeed quite smooth; I didn’t notice any astringency from this cuppa.

The latte invoked a much stronger “cupcake” element; I had a very small amount of vanilla almond milk in the cup, but it was just enough to bring out more sweetness and creaminess, emphasize the vanilla, and temper the bergamot a bit, and the result did come out feeling creamy and cakey. The smoothness of the base make this an Earl Grey I’d have no problems drinking plain, but I just found the profile a little nicer taken London Fog style.