If you’re easily distracted by cute packaging, be warned that blends from NovelTeas can come shipped in beautiful, book-shaped, metal tins. At first glance, these tins can sit amongst your real books, undetected until someone realizes the titles are full of tea-related puns. Today, I’m tasting Picture of Earl Grey, also called Wilde’s Rosy Tea Blend on the Novel Teas site.
This blend is like a garden in a cup with lush rose petals and jasmine-green tea. All those flowers are a perfect match for the showy, vanity of this novel. Like Dorian, your tea will have eternal beauty since the dried flowers last much longer than fresh ones. Mind your steep times with this brew or else the roses might get a bit overpowering. Among the rose and jasmine there is just enough tart, earl grey to give the tea a backbone and remind you of the staunch and proper Victorian Era.
Any of NovelTeas blends would be a great addition to a book club, adding themed scents and tastes to the literary discussion. Picture of Earl Grey is a great blend for a garden party, or when you want your kitchen to be as fragrant as a spring garden in bloom. Just a sip of this lush and verdant blend across your tongue and you’ll feel as poetic and witty as Oscar Wilde himself.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Blend of Black and Green
Where to Buy: NovelTeas
Description:
The delicate flavorings and novel-inspired decorations of The Picture of Earl Grey™ may deceive you at first. This tin and tea provide for an exquisitely deceptive and Wildely elegant experience for any new collector. Organic jasmine green tea and a rose-blended bergamot radiate hedonism and reflect your eternal beauty as you sip.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Don Quixotea by Novelteas
I steeped one very heaping teaspoon of dry leaves in one cup of 210 degree water for about 4.5 minutes. (I decided to be generous with the amount of leaves I put in, probably because it just smelled so amazing and I was in the mood for something strong.) I could see whole cloves and bits of cinnamon bark in the dry leaves of this tea–lots of them.
I always enjoy trying out new chai blends and seeing which spices come to the front and how the chosen spices blend together and so on. This one seems to be heavy on the spice bits and relatively light on the black tea bits, and the spices include plenty of cinnamon and ginger.
After steeping: Cinnamon does seem to be a prominent flavor, going by the smell of the steeped tea. It’s remarkably light in color for a chai, with a sweet rich smell (not just spicy but deeper and sweeter) and has an orangey tint also.
First sip: As foreshadowed by the scent, some of the spices are sweet! The sweet smoothness is what I notice first. The spiciness isn’t overwhelming and doesn’t hit until the sip reaches the back of the mouth. I think I’m mostly tasting clove, cinnamon, and ginger. (There’s pepper in the blend too but not too much.)
With milk: as expected, this delivers a much more well-rounded cup. It’s still not very spicy though. My personal preference would be to steep this one much stronger next time as I consider it fairly mild when steeped to these specs. And I’d probably steep it in milk instead of steeping it first and then adding milk.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: NovelTeas
Description
Join book-lovers and tea-lovers alike and take up your arms to a cup of our traditional organic chai spices – red cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, and the root of ginger.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Cuppa That is Akin to Wilde’s Garden – NovelTea’s Wilde’s Rosy Tea Blend
“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ~Oscar Wilde
And that is exactly how I felt about this tea. I wanted to enjoy over and over and I couldn’t get enough! And as the title suggests, I feel that when I drink this tea I am enjoying this beverage in a garden full of freshly bloomed roses while the door that leads into the garden has some jasmine incense wafting out of it.
But before I get into my full review here are the specifics. This tea is made up of a lovely blend of organic jasmine green tea and a rose-blended bergamot. The site doesn’t dictate how long to steep it so I just went with my gut and steeped it for a good 3 minutes and that method seemed to work perfectly. Lastly, the price for this tea is not too bad for you only pay $14.99 for a 3 oz bag which is about $3 dollars more than the 2 oz Rose Petal China tea that I have. Now if you want the beautiful “Picture of Earl Gray” novel tea tin that will set you back $29, which includes the 3 oz bag of tea as well. As a side note, I am honestly obsessed with the tin and I will get it in the near future.
Now to the taste of the tea, which is just beautiful, simply beautiful. It does mimic a black tea with that bitter fruity taste that is the jasmine flower. But don’t fret if you are not a fan of the slight bitterness that the jasmine offers for it is mellowed out by the soft green tea that is paired with. Now to the rose flavor which pairs perfectly with the jasmine. I will just say that I absolutely love roses in my tea. So the roses in this tea were absolutely delightful. And if you are wondering what roses taste like remember the aroma of a fresh rose and that is how they taste; a weird perfumey, watery sweet. It is definitely something I urge tasting but then again I am a rose lover so I am a bit biased.
Now as I drank this delicious tea I was instantly reminded of the beginning of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Mr. Oscar Wilde himself:
“The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.”
All in all regardless of if you are a fan of Wilde or not this tea is delicious and refreshingly different compared to the other rose teas that I have tried. I am now officially a lover of this blend and I look forward to seeing what else the brand comes out with! My hopes are that there will be a Jane Eyre or a Lovecraft inspired blend.
See you for the next cuppa!
Kara
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: NovelTeas
Description:
The delicate flavorings and novel-inspired decorations of The Picture of Earl Grey™ may deceive you at first. This tin and tea provide for an exquisitely deceptive and Wildely elegant experience for any new collector. Organic jasmine green tea and a rose-blended bergamot radiate hedonism and reflect your eternal beauty as you sip.
Inspired by Irish author Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ it makes a great gift for the book lover in your life.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
The Picture of Earl Grey from Novel Teas. . . . . .
I may not be the best person to review this tea as I don’t read piles and piles of books like some people do. I do, however, appreciate the literary connection with this tea. The tea at hand is The Picture of Earl Grey™ from Novel Teas which features their WILDE’S ROSY EARL GREY Blend.
To be honest I had to do a double take with this one. I really and truly thought I was drinking a heavily flavored ROSE Earl Grey Black Tea but I was mistaken. It seems The Picture of Earl Grey™ from Novel Teas is actually a combination of organic jasmine green tea and a rose-blended bergamot radiate hedonism and reflect your eternal beauty as you sip…of so the product description on the website says.
I will say the rose petals were very large, very floral in both aroma and taste, and were quite colorful! The rose was the primary flavor in this tea…hands-down! Then I could pick out a fairly solid Earl Grey likeness to the tastes on the tongue.
The Picture of Earl Grey™ from Novel Teas was inspired by Irish author Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray and goes perfectly with THE PICTURE OF EARL GREY TIN that is also sold by Novel Teas.
This is a highly flavored twist on an Earl and I have to say I enjoyed it! I can’t wait for another cuppa
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Novel Teas
Description
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
The delicate flavorings and novel-inspired decorations of The Picture of Earl Grey™ may deceive you at first. This tin and tea provide for an exquisitely deceptive and Wildely elegant experience for any new collector. Organic jasmine green tea and a rose-blended bergamot radiate hedonism and reflect your eternal beauty as you sip.
Inspired by Irish author Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ it makes a great gift for the book lover in your life.
Caffeine: Moderate
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
CervanTea’s Tea Blend – Man of La ManChai – DonQuixoTea from Novel Teas
The tea of many names! CervanTea’s Tea Blend – Man of La ManChai – DonQuixoTea from Novel Teas! Novel Teas says this is their delicious and adventurous brew of organic and traditional chai spices including red cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, and the root of ginger. It is a full bodied tea experience. I would have to agree. This is a solid chai!
It’s not too over the top but it’s not too weak in the spice department either. It’s JUST RIGHT. The cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, and ginger are all equally wonderful. The black tea base was of medium strength and sang in unison with the spices. CervanTea’s Tea Blend – Man of La ManChai – DonQuixoTea from Novel Teas was pretty impressive and a solid chai to have on hand for when you are craving it or to share with friends.
And speaking of sharing with friends there is a matching tea tin from this company! The perfect partner to CervanTea’s Tea Blend – Man of La ManChai – DonQuixoTea from Novel Teas.
Taste and share the great adventure of Miguel de Cervan Teas. NovelTeas’ spicy black chai is an invigorating ode to western literature’s favorite knight errant, Don QuixoTea™ and this tea was inspired by the first modern novel by Spanish author Miguel Cervantes Don Quixote of La Mancha. Their organically-spiced blend makes for a delectable first addition to anyone’s NovelTeas Library. They encourage book-lovers and tea-lovers alike and take up your arms to a cup of their traditional organic chai spices.
The tea tin itself measures9.4IN X 6.3IN X 2.4IN and makes a great gift for any tea lover or any book lover.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Novel Teas
Description
This is our delicious and adventurous brew of organic and traditional chai spices: red cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, and the root of ginger. It is a full bodied experience, one ideally served with cream, exceedingly so with sugar.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!