Earl Grey Black

For those of you keeping up with the news, we were one of the 250,000 homes in North Texas without power this weekend. It was off for nearly 36 hours, and things got pretty chilly. The thermostat was completely off the scale. We got stuck heading out for emergency supplies, and had to go to the local supermarket instead. Let’s just say that the little fireplace “logs” they sell can’t heat up anything… much less enough for a good cuppa!

I managed to get some tepid water going with a teapot warmer and a tetsubin, but by the time the oolong I grabbed would steep, the water was just a little warmer than I was!

As soon as the power came back on I wanted something quick, something bracing, and something delightfully hot. This was at the front of the cabinet, so it was elected.

The best cup I’ve had all weekend!

What the – how did I not find this in my Steepster cupboard?

Well, I’ve got a headcold, which means lots of fun with stuffed sinuses, blowing my nose, sneezing, knowing I should eat but not really wanting any food, and calling the doctor because I can’t remember if Claritin D and Mucinex conflict or not. (I’ve taken Claritin D.) Fortunately, it seems to have skipped the “sore throat” part, which for me is THE WORST! I’m just hoping it doesn’t go down into my chest. That’s the second worst.

I don’t really have a medicinal tea for colds, so I’m using this as my go-to wake up tea. It’s not as high on my list as most of my other black teas, but I enjoy it and it’s brisk enough to cut through the I-can’t-smell fog. And I get to keep the better teas for when I can actually smell and taste and crave them. : )

And now to return to the least productive morning ever.

Really enjoyable this morning with eggs and toast. It occurs to me that perhaps Earl Greys are best drunk with hearty English style breakfasts. Can’t really improve upon the detail in my initial note on this.

Oh silly me, expecting my insanely high expectations of What An Earl Grey Should Be to be met or exceeded in Sin City. This earl grey sounded promising (no flowers or weird shiz), smelled average (if not slightly strange) and tasted even worse (perhaps the tea base). Yep.

Took this to class with me this morning. The chef-instructor brought in doughnuts… This was an excellent accidental pairing with my lemon curd bismark. (My favorite of all doughnuts.)

On a different note, I’ve down-graded this rating a bit. This is a good tea, but since trying it for the first time, I’ve found much better Earl Greys. I’m grading on a curve, I guess.

So I found a bit of this in the back of the cupboard, I was sure I had already finished this up. Well, nope. So I made this iced, since it is still mid to upper 90’s here in NorCal. Iced Earl Grey? Not so bad, the floraly citrusy notes are very crisp, crisper than in hot EG. Still a great aroma, still refreshing.

There is not much left, so I’m going on a Iced EG spree until this is gone. I got this tea ages ago, it can’t be good for much longer.

I’ve been on a mission to clean my tea cupboard, because I went on quite a few tea shopping sprees. I am trying to refrain from buying any more until I empty my cupboard some, but that means my “wanted” list keeps growing longer! It’s a vicious cycle…. :-)

Backlogging several lovely cups from this past weekend! Lovely Bergamot!

Just alright, my first earl grey and I’m very not impressed. Anyone have something better??

I always keep a tin full of this stuff. It’s my go-to black tea for iced tea and tea eggs, but rarely drank hot.

Since cutting back on alcohol, I’ve explored the confusing and sometimes blasphemous world of iced tea, only to find failure at every turn. It seems most of my delicious teas are truly meant to be enjoyed hot, but sometimes you just want a nice cold beverage. This tea, along with Teavana’s Moroccan Mint, saved the day, and I always have at least one pitcher of this in the fridge. Good stuff.

Thanks to T.C. for this in our swap.

This is an amazingly average Earl Grey. Not too strong. Not too weak. Nothing offensive. Just very average. Maybe slightly better than my go-to Earl Grey, which is the Stash double bergamot. Blah.