I admit it, I am obsessed with earl grey tea. Every morning is started with a cuppa of earl grey and many times I end my day with a caffeine-free rooibos version. I literally have over 40 different varieties of the stuff from all sorts of companies in my tea collection but I am always looking for THE holy grail earl grey. I think I may have actually found it!
I recently saw that Rare Tea Company released a new version of earl grey. If you are not familiar with Rare Tea Company it was founded by Henrietta Lovell. She wrote a fantastic book called Infused which recounts how tea has shaped her life and has been a constant companion through times of trouble. I can’t recommend the book enough, especially if you love tea! At any rate she created a new blend called TeaLady Grey. I was immediately drawn to it because of the addition of lemongrass. Lemongrass is perhaps one of my absolute favorite herbals and I especially love when it is added to earl grey. It helps to deepen the citrus notes of the bergamot. I ordered the tea during one of their free ship events. Make sure you are subscribed to their email because free ship events are offered several times a year.
The tea begins with a beautiful base. And really, a tea blend is only as good as the base used with it. I find so many companies start with an inferior base in hopes that the other ingredients will mask the fact that the tea leaves are not good. The base is black tea from the Shire Highlands of Malawi. It is a smaller cut leaf typical of teas from this region. The base is strong, malty and a perfect tea to carry the Sri Lankan lemongrass, Malawi lemon verbena and Italian bergamot. Because Henrietta has such a great relationship with her tea farmers she is able to secure the highest quality and freshest ingredients which translates to an exquisite tea experience. This is an absolutely perfectly blended tea and on par with all the other great teas I have had from Rare Tea Company. The layering of the citrus notes from the bergamot, lemongrass and lemon verbena create a perfectly bright and well rounded cup. If you are a fan of earl grey I highly recommend this version. This blend checks all the boxes for me and then some on what I am looking for in a perfect earl grey.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Rare Tea Co.
Description
This tea is our Rare Tea Lady’s (founder Henrietta Lovell) riff on a traditional Earl Grey; a more delicately herbaceous and distinctly lemon blend.
Instead of containing just black tea and the essential oil of bergamot that composes a traditional Earl Grey Tea – we’ve built up the lemon notes, not with more citrus but uniquely with delicious lemon herbs.
Rich yet elegant black tea from the Shire Highlands of Malawi blended with Italian Bergamot, Malawi Lemon Verbena and Sri Lankan Lemongrass.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chestnut/Adagio Teas -Ashmanra-
I have recently been introduced to LOTS of tea by Adagio, and honestly I had no idea that they had such a huge selection.
I decided to share this pot of tea with someone who has actually had chestnuts since I never have so I would be able to tell you how authentic the taste is!
My impression of the tea is that it tastes exactly like the company description – black tea with a pleasant dryness. It is nutty, but the company says their teas are safe for people with nut allergies. The facility is also gluten free.
I took it plain but it definitely could take milk and sugar if you prefer. It had that raspy dry feel on the tongue that many Keemun teas give, a cocoa powder vibe without chocolate. It reminded of the feeling when a wee bit of the “bitter” from inside a pecan or walnut shell gets in your mouth. That may sound bad but as they said – it is a pleasant bitterness.
So what about the person who has had actual chestnuts? She said it was so authentic that she was transported back to Eastern Europe at Christmastime, buying roasted chestnuts from vendors in the street. She was quite nostalgic and I am pretty sure she would be pleased to find a box of this tea in her stocking this year!
This also gave a decent resteep. Many thanks to the Sisters for sharing this one with me!
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Ever Have a Tea Make You Sigh and Say “Thank You”. . . Organic Earl Grey Cream/Tigerlily Tea
Have you ever had a cup of tea that made you sigh and whisper “thank you” to no one in particular?
No? Prepare to.
This tea is a buttery, creamy, decadent romp through Earl Grey’s castle. You walk barefoot on lush, oriental carpets. You admire vibrant paintings of rosy-cheeked angels. You wear a robe of crushed velvet.
You taste bergamot, you taste flowers, and good heavens, you taste cream.
You are fancy. No, more than fancy. You are reckless in your bourgeois ways. You are DECADENT.
I don’t really have any complaints about this tea. I almost want a drawback, so I look like an Objective Journalist. Alas, I am not a Serious Writer or a Great Thinker. I am a girl who wears mostly slippers. I pet every dog I see on the street. I want to live in a Rococo painting. And I like this tea. So there.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tigerlily Teas
Description
A remarkably heady Earl Grey tempered with wickedly delicious cream flavour. One cup is not enough!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
all photo credits/logo credits: Tigerlily Teas
This tea was purchased for personal use and was not recieved to review.
GOÛT RUSSE 7 AGRUMES/Palais des Thés
I recently found this tea buried in my yet-to-be-sampled-stash. I don’t know why it took me so long to try it. I probably saw ‘fruit tea’ on the label and disregarded it while wanting a black tea. But in fact, this tea does have a black tea base. It’s a flavored black tea.
Gout Russe 7 Agrumes from Le Palais des Thés hails from a delicate recipe that combines black tea with the tart flavors of 7 citrus fruits: lemon, lime, sweet and Seville oranges, grapefruit, bergamot, and mandarin.
Many of us have had orange flavored black teas but this takes it to the next level. It wasn’t an Earl Grey type flavor – just a straight up citrus of all sorts type flavor. I really enjoyed it. It’s terrific hot but delightful iced, too!
Gout Russe 7 Agrumes from Le Palais des Thés…I give it two thumbs up. If I had 3 thumbs…I would give it 3 thumbs up!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Palais des Thés
Description
An outstanding blend of black teas, evoking lemon, lime, sweet orange, bitter orange, grapefruit, bergamot and mandarin. Created by Le Palais des Thés during its first years of existence, this cocktail of 7 citrus fruits was later added to different base teas. An exclusive recipe. Can be served hot or iced.
Different of the teas produced in Georgia, Russian blends are the ones that have been drunk regularly in Russia since the 17th century. These latter teas, which in the beginning were blends of black Chinese teas, became more diversified at the end of the 19th century by the introduction of Indian teas at the Russian court, most notably Darjeeling. Since then it has been the custom to refer to all blends of Darjeeling and different Chinese black teas as Russian blends teas, whether or not they are scented with natural citrus extracts.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Blueberry Black/Tea Sparrow
Organic Blueberry Black by Tea Sparrow is a blueberry black tea (shocking!) comprised of organic black tea, organic dried blueberries, organic blackberry leaves, and certified organic blueberry flavor.
I have had this tea once before, cold steeped in lemonade. That time, the drink tasted mostly of lemonade but had a bit of a blue candy sweetness added in. Like those gummy sharks that are meant to be blueberry but mostly just taste sweet.
This time I made the tea as a plain hot brew, letting 1.5 teaspoons of leaves steep in 10 ounces of 200F water for 3 minutes. The hot tea definitely tastes a lot more like blueberry than the tea lemonade. However, it is not like the fruit so much. It also isn’t much like blueberry gummies. Instead, I would say this tastes similar to blueberry pie filling as it has the blueberry essence with a whole lot of rich sweetness as well. The base tea gives this a thickness that compliments that gooey filling flavor, but it can also be a little brisk at times (for my tastes, at least).
I was surprised at how this captured blueberry flavor, even if it wasn’t quite true to the berry. Tea Sparrow has mostly been a lot of misses and though the brew of this cold steeped in lemonade wasn’t bad, it didn’t really scream blueberry to me. This hot tea is definitely blueberry-inspired and it is a nice dessert-like treat.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Sparrow
Description
Tea Sparrow is a tea subscription service. Check out the site below.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
