Tag: earl grey

Miles Earl Grey

When a friend named their son Miles, someone sent them some Miles Tea – specifically, Earl Grey. Subsequently, I got sent some of the tea bags, because she knew about this mad project. I really have been able to try a range of tea!

So Miles Earl Grey comes in tea bags; I steeped one for 3 minutes and added 1/2 tsp of sugar.

Unfortunately, this is not my favourite Earl Grey. Although the taste is obviously not plain black tea, it’s not especially a citrus taste that comes through. I think this is the sort of Earl Grey that I might have liked before I started discovering the full-on citrus of something like Akbar and the possibilities of French Earl Grey. So, good for those who want something other than plain black, but not going on my list to re-order.

Chamellia Earl Grey

When we were staying in a delightful little guesthouse in NSW, our room had some tea bags from a company I’d not heard of. Naturally, I snaffled a couple of the Earl Grey to try. It’s Chamellia Earl Grey and it comes in those cute pyramid tea bags. It’s got cornflowers, in case that’s something you’re violently against.

The first teabag I steeped it for 4 minutes, as recommended, and added 1/2 tsp of sugar. I had it with breakfast aaaand I didn’t finish the cup: I found it a bit unpleasant, which was a Unknown.jpegfirst! I can’t quite define it but it was partly in the aftertaste, which wasn’t very nice.

I figured it might be that this isn’t a tea that goes well with food (which does seem weird), so I tried it again by itself and with only 3 minutes of steeping. It was definitely better that way – and I know that it was unscientific to change two of the factors, but that’s what I did. Although it was better this is still not a fabulous Earl Grey. Would not bother again – and wouldn’t have it if it was offered at a restaurant or elsewhere, either.

Cup of Tea: Princess Grey

I tried Cup of Tea’s Earl Grey a while back, and was underwhelmed. Sadly, the same is true for their Princess Grey, which I also received as a sample.

It’s described as “A blend of Darjeeling and Keemun with sparkling fresh bergamot” on the website. I am not a connoisseur of tea regions so I don’t know whether those are particularly high grade or not.

326.jpgI did not get a strong scent from the leaves. I steeped them for 3 minutes and added 1/2 tsp of sugar. The resulting taste wasn’t particularly citrus-y, either; I guess it’s a “gentle earl grey” as the website also says, but it kinda just tasted like black tea. In fact, it almost tasted a bit like a green tea, which I thought was odd… it had that, hmm, grassy note that I associate with some greens.

In fairness, I have tried this tea a couple more times, because the first taste-test was with a slightly blocked nose. However, even with all olfactory senses, this still just tasted bland. So that’s a bit sad.

Kappy’s Earl of Oz

Kappy’s Tea and Coffee Merchants sent me a couple of samples, which I was very excited about. The first I tried was their Earl of Oz, which I’m told contains Daintree grown black tea, Lemon Myrtle (bark and flower), Rosella and Cinnamon Myrtle, on top of the base Sri Lankan tea coated in bergamot oil. It’s become a favourite.

It has a strong citrus scent right out of the packet – I thought it might be lemongrass, but I guess it’s the lemon myrtle. It also smells a bit spicy, which was intriguing.

Steeped for 3 minutes, with 1/2 tsp sugar. When steeped it’s still quite citrus-y and spicy.

The taste I would describe as a bit zingy, which is the lemon I think. It’s utterly delightful and I can well imagine this one becoming a staple in my cupboard. I’ve taken it camping a few times and it’s fantastic first thing on a cold day!

Just splendid.

Tea Life: French Earl Grey

This sample came from Tea Life. Their French Earl Grey includes rose, sunflower, blue mallow flowers and the usual bergamot.

Their website recommends steeping for 3-4 min but the sachet said 2 min, so that’s what I did. The website also says you should get 2, maybe 3, cups from the same heaped teaspoon, which I wish I had noticed! Ah well, there’s enough left to have some more. Interestingly, they recommend having the tea with milk, which I think sounds a bit gross, to be honest… but each to their own. And they suggest honey rather than sugar, which I will also have to try. Experiments are fun!

french-earl-grey.jpgThere’s a lot going on in the scent of this tea. It’s super flowery, which is of zero surprise; they definitely dominate the citrus. Which isn’t necessarily a problem, but it’s not always what I want in an Earl Grey.

The taste is also quite flowery. Honestly it tastes like a lot of French Earl Greys I’ve tried. It’s nice; I wouldn’t drink it all day (I wouldn’t drink any French Earl Grey I’ve found all day); and it doesn’t especially stand out.

 

Harney and Sons: Winter White Earl Grey

Another sample, this time from Harney and Sons. LOOK AT THE TIN IT CAME IN!46477.jpg

I don’t typically go crazy for packaging, but oh my it’s so cute! I love it! This little tin has five silk pyramids inside – each is good for two cups, they say, so I made a small pot of tea when I tried it.

I am not a connoisseur of white tea, so my reflections are those of a black tea drinker. Keep that in mind if you love white tea! The Harney Teas site says this is “Chinese mutan white tea” with bergamot, and I’ve no idea if that’s good quality or not.

I steeped the tea for 5 min (3-8 minutes recommended), and since I don’t know white tea I started with zero sugar.

It definitely doesn’t smell as strong as a black tea might, and the colour is of course paler. There’s some hint of citrus in the scent. Their site declares that “the bold citrus dominates the aroma, but takes a step behind the mild nutty flavours of white tea”… which is basically a contradiction, as far as I’m concerned, but I’ll never have a job describing food.

The best way I can describe the flavour is ‘delicate’. I don’t think I’d be pairing this tea with food – certainly not strong flavours – since it would be completely overwhelmed. It seemed closer to some green teas I’ve had than to black. I didn’t get much lemon in the taste. I added a small amount of sugar and it cut through a slight bitterness. I still didn’t get much lemon – but I also don’t know what a plain white tea tastes like, so maybe that would make a difference.

I liked it, and look forward to drinking it a few more times, but probably won’t rush to buy more.

The Tea Makers: Earl Grey Supreme

Also sent as a sample, along with their Mary Grey Special.

I feel that The Tea Makers should call this their Earl Grey SUPREME because woah that bergamot. This is a cornflowers Earl Grey, for those of you who care. Eary Grey 3.jpg

The dry leaves are super bergamot-y; after 4 min of steeping and 1/2 tsp sugar, the steam was wafting bergamot through the kitchen.

This is a very Earl Grey tea. It’s not overwhelming or overpowering (… to my tastebuds), and there’s no oil like the T2 version, but you definitely have to like Earl Grey to like this tea. So I really, really liked it. Things I am discovering: I like to notice the citrus in my Earl Grey! I don’t want to be thinking about whether it’s there or not! It’s not as strong a tea as the Akbar, but it is more citrus-y. This is a very nice one.

Cup of Tea: Earl Grey

Cup of Tea kindly sent me a few samples of their Earl Grey when I was in the UK last year. The first one I’m trying is their High Tea Co. Earl Grey. They sent me a sachet with enough tea for probably three cups.

I steeped it for three minutes (3-4 is recommended) and added 1/2 tsp sugar – less sugar is something I’ve learned about myself through this process! I’ve always just automatically added a whole tsp in the past.

The dry leaves didn’t have much scent, and neither did the steeped leaves. There’s just a whiff of citrus. Sadly for me, this is reflected in the taste of images.jpegthe tea, too. It’s a nice enough tea but for my tastes it’s not much of an Earl Grey. Their website describes it as “strong, lemony and invigorating” – I didn’t get much lemon, but I guess it’s invigorating? Not sure how you’d classify that, to be honest.

Interestingly, there seems to be more than just tea leaves and bergamot in this tea (I thought I could see cornflowers), but it’s not listed in the ingredients.

I’m looking forward to trying the Princess Grey and the Tippy Golden Earl Grey.

 

The Tea Centre: Earl Grey Special

This is another tea from Alison, who also gave me The Tea Centre’s French Earl Grey.

The Tea Centre describes this as similar to Lady Grey: the ingredients include lemon peel, cornflowers, lemongrass, safflowers, calendula, and jasmine. And it’s a very pretty pile of leaves and flowers, in its dried form. Thanks to the petals, it smells quite flowery – perhaps even more so than the French Earl Grey, which I think is interesting. I didn’t pick up on particularly lemony notes, so it didn’t strike me as a very close relative to Lady Grey.

9398765430110.jpgSteeped for three minutes, with a little sugar. The flowers were the dominant note here; as with the scent, it didn’t have much of a citrus tone for me, either of bergamot or of lemon, and therefore doesn’t quite hit the Earl Grey spot for me. It’s quite nice and drinkable, but it’s not going to be a favourite.

Chocolate mousse… with Earl Grey

I was tagged on Twitter in a discussion about a chocolate mousse recipe that included Earl Grey tea, because unsurprisingly this is something I’m getting known for. The recipe itself is here, at Food52. Also unsurprising is the fact that I didn’t quite follow the instructions to the letter. First, I had no orange, so I decided to use French Earl Grey, on the basis that I have a lot and that it has a slightly more complex flavour, so the zest wouldn’t be missed. I also made half of the recipe, because it was just me home for the weekend. Perhaps more crucially – and I’m fully accepting blame here – where it calls for a blender, I used my food processor. Now, I don’t have a proper blender. It’s not something I’ve ever missed. I have a stick blender but I don’t think it would do the job required here any better than the food processor.

Using the food processor did mean a bit of splatter when blitzing the chocolate and the Earl Grey water. It wasn’t quite so bad when I added the egg white.

A number of the commenters on the site say they got ‘chocolate soup’. Mine wasn’t quite that bad but it certainly didn’t quite set as mousse-y as one might hope. I don’t know whether that’s the processor vs blender issue, or just the recipe not being great. It was tasty enough – I mean, I ate it; in fact I kinda ate both serves for one dessert… and I got the flavour of the French Earl Grey coming through, too; it wasn’t just chocolate. But I’m not in a hurry to use up chocolate for this recipe in future.