Grey Line Black Tea

Haven’t been reviewing much because stupid busy and also have been drinking favorites as comfort and to de-stress. :)

This is still a superb EG for bergamot lovers. The tea is super smooth, the leaves are big and beautiful, it’s just an extremely well done tea. I got to sit down with Tyler from Hugo Tea last week in his new digs and have some tea and chat about the local and global tea scene. He’s a passionate and knowledgeable guy and it was a very pleasant afternoon. I hope their new location works out for them – at the very least because it’s close to me! :) And more importantly because these hometown boys need to be supported in their efforts to bring better tea to the public.

As an aside, why does Yunnan Sourcing hate me so much? Just last night I closed my eyes and hit the purchase button on a large tea tray, a cha hai and a large gaiwan from Umiteasets and today YS puts their teawares on sale. >.< I don’t think they would have been able to get here by the time I need them without ridiculous shipping but still… And I’m still waiting for some of the gorgeous cups they posted to FB a long time ago to be listed on the site to buy. That’s what I was holding off on in the first place or I’d have ordered a tray from them before now. But I need a large gaiwan for June 6 so I had to go ahead and buy now… le sigh. Ah, well. I need to drink up some of the huge splurge purchase from them anyway.

And I can see the bottom of this tin of Grey Line, too. That will have to be remedied!

Rebranded as Hugo Grey. Opening the back was a little overwhelming-bergamot bambed in my face. I opened it again a day later, and the peppery yunnan black base came through. Here are there notes:“grapefruit peel | applewood smoke | lemon zest” and that is more accurate in tems smell. In terms of taste, it’s doubtless Earl Grey, but with a scotch caramel body accented by cocoa, caraway, and pepper notes amidst a malty body. It could be a little drying like biscuit, but also pleasantly bitter sweet.

My only criticism is that the bergamot is a hair too strong. Otherwise, this tea does resemble some higher rated teas like Whispering Pines Earl Gold, which is impressive to say the least. This one is good western or gong fu. I’d love to see it in sachet form for the convenience of having an affordable high grade leaf.

The last night of the play!
Thats always a bittersweet sort of thing, sad to be leaving, but fun to have free time again.
It was a really good experience, and I’m really glad to be back into theater. Its been too long.

I haven’t had this one in a long time and by the looks of it, I have never logged it. This is a STRONG cup of EG. I have also had this one for quite awhile so I know the strong cup I am tasting is actually a lot less strong than it use to be too. This packs a berg punch. This morning it is quite a delicious tea. A pretty solid base, could use a little more upmph, but solid. Looks like Hugo teas might be changing it up a bit…. Full Steam looks to be no longer and the current black tea is out of stock. Hmm will have to check the coffee shop down the street and see what they have in store.

Look what came in the mail today! A short while ago I made a comment that bergamot wasn’t my thing, but maybe that was in the past the Earl Grey teas I’d tried were lower quality, the cheap grocery store bags. Many thanks to Nicole for sending me some high quality tea samples with bergamot for me to try. This is my first Steepster swap and I am pretty excited for the opportunity. I set my kettle to boil, reached into the envelope and blindly picked a sample to try.

I used 1 teaspoon of tea to 10 ounces of water, and steeped for only 2.5 minutes. This tea brewed up to a lovely dark amber color. I couldn’t smell it, of course, so I’ve no idea how strong the bergamot smelled. I sipped. Full bodied. Smooth. Not sweet, but perfumey. I think that’s the bergamot. It may be an acquired taste. I will certainly try another cup of this, and this time increase the amount of tea and the length of steeping. And meanwhile I have three other teas to try! Thanks, Nicole!

Earl Grey is one of my favorite teas and this does not disappoint. I enjoyed the very strong Bergamot scent that you get just by taking off the top lid, let alone exposing the tea directly. It does not however overpower the tea and is very delightful, as its can says for feeling stately, wearing top hats and building empires. I try to have at least a cup of this everyday late morning before lunch, while I build my empire at work.

Thank you TeaTiff for the swap a while back! I tried this one a couple days ago. I always seem to have Earl Grey on gloomy days… maybe that’s why it’s called Earl GREY. I used just boiling water and that seems like it might have ruined the bergamot just a little bit. I should have waited a few minutes. Otherwise a nice bright, fresh, crisp, strong bergamot on the perfect base for an Earl. I’ll try it again steeped differently!
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

Anytime anybody sends me a sample of an earl grey or plum oolong, I give them to Tony. He loves those types of teas, & I don’t. His main standbye is Ahmad’s Earl Grey, of course, he tends to eye my samples with suspicion, hahaha. So I slipped him this one for his first cup of the day, taking a sip so I could comment. The Bergamot is fairly light, & there is a lingering woody aftertaste.
Tony said it was ok, but he likes Ahmad’s better.
This is a sipdown, from Tony’s cupboard, not mine, LOL.

SSTTB

So I brewed this up and as I pulled out the steeped leaves, I immediately realized I screwed up as the smell of bergamot (or to borrow from Sil, “blergamot”) filled my nose. Darn it. Oh well, I already made the cup so might as well give it a try, right?

Luckily this one isn’t too bad. It is fairly subtle although more floral than citrusy. Not for me given I am not a lover of the Earl but it is still fun to try all the teas.

This is a generous sample from TeaTiff – thank you so much.
I love good quality EG and this tea is the best of both worlds: my beloved yunnan black base and bergamot. It’s strong flavored but nothing artificial about this tea. Deep dark smooth and balanced. 205F 3.5 min produced excellent cup of afternoon tea. Resteep is good too. While bergamot loses its punch but still present. And Yunnans are famous for multiple resteeps.
It is comparable to American Tea Room EG Shanghai.
Thank you so much TeaTiff for the opportunity to try this tea.
On my wish list it goes along with Full-Steam.