Earl Grey Heaven

I came across this sample while I was doing a bit of organizing. My tea drawer is a mess and I need to sip down some of my samples and decide which I want to reorder. I decided to cold steep this all afternoon and while it isn’t bad I find that it leaves me feeling a little meh about it. I love EG in any shape or form, but this one just doesn’t have the flavor Im looking for. When I take a sip all I can taste is the vanilla. I need something just a bit more bold.

This tea smells like a holiday kitchen. Creamy, buttery, cookie-like sweetness. It tastes quite the same as it smells. Very strong on the cream, but with a bright bergamot to cut through. The bergamot seems very lemon-y and it is reminding me of very strongly of my favorite lemon shortbread cookies. This is a beautiful dessert tea with zero bitterness. Yum.
I take my tea without additions, but I can imagine this being beautiful with milk and sugar. I bet it would taste even more cookie-like.

Interesting. When labeled Earl Grey Creme this received an 84 average rating. As Earl Grey Heaven it has a 71. Hmmm.

OK, I love bergamot. Earl Grey is not just a tea, it is an addiction. If you mess with it you better change the name – blue cornflowers are an exception, they add nothing to the flavor and are just too cute to dislike. I hate surprises when it comes to EG. The Persimmon Tree clues me in advance that this is not simply black tea and bergamot by adding Heaven to the name. So I will not be taking off points just because there is added vanilla.

The dry scent was almost alcoholic in nature so I wasn’t sure what I was in for here. The wet leaf had a similar aroma. The cup though is very nice. It is very balanced. I know this because if you read all the reviews under both listings there are an equal number saying the vanilla is heavier than the bergamot and vice versa. How you judge it depends on which flavor you want most to taste or which you dislike the most. For me personally, the vanilla could be tuned down a notch but then it would not be balanced.

This not at all bitter. It is slightly drying. As the vanilla/bergamot fade I can briefly taste the tea base before the vanilla bean aftertaste kicks in. I thought this was one of the better EGC’s I have tried. The closest comparison is The Tea Merchant’s French Earl Grey. I recall that one leaning a little heavier on the vanilla.

Sipdown (192/194)!

Apparently I can’t type right now – my fingers are all fumbly. Anyway, this one comes from Boychik, and I took advantage of the easy sipdown this afternoon (it feels like morning, EG is morning tea). I even got another “sipdown” in from adding tea to a bunch of stuff eventually going out to VariaTEA (she’s gonna get the last of my Demain). Pressure’s on to sip down some stuff before more things arrive – I don’t exactly feel excited about maybe getting over 200 again.

Dry, this some lightly of Bergamot and strongly of vanilla. Mmm! That could certainly be a winning combination for me!

Now that it’s steeped up, it’s a little more 50/50 between the two but it really is very delicious and well balanced; a great EG Creme. I seem to be drinking lots of EG lately, I guess due to having received a fair bit of it this week (last week?) and I’m a little tired of it at the moment – so I think it may be a little while after this cup before I have some more, though.

Still, very nice.