Lady Devotea

Not having the original packaging, I wasn’t sure how to steep this as it has both white and black teas in it. A quick web search and off we go with boiling water and a 3 minute steep. My quick search led me to Lord Devotea’s blog. If you aren’t already reading it, you should. A lot of wit and occasional insight :D So anyway, I learned they grow their own oranges and lavender. Back to this tea. The aroma is much as expected from the list of ingredients but on lighter side. The taste made me reread the ingredients. My first thought was light cinnamon and light pepperiness. That is what my brain translated from my first big swig. Going back and sipping slowly I first encounter natural bergamot morphing quickly into orange. Late in the sip it changes to light lavender. I mention light because I find lavender to usually be overwhelming. It fits very nicely here. The more the cup cools the more I taste the base especially in the aftertaste. This truly is well balanced and quite different from anything I have had before. There is enough depth for those who want it and there is simple relaxation for those who need it. I did add sweetener because that is how I roll.

Took with me to do errands post-V Day haze yesterday morning (we slept in—oh so glorious!—after Friday’s fun of drinking really good chai, napping, exchanging presents which excited me greatly ‘cause R gave me two UPress books on Buffy, one on gender natch and the other on the notion of chosen families, very thoughtful as a lot of my best undergrad work was on adoption theory, having a blast at the cat vid party laughing our tails off and making cat art including our own origami grumpy cats and business cat night lights and Warhol cat portraits, talking over figure skating footage and martini and manhattans, chowing down on nachos and watching silly TV, plus the usual makin’ out…woke up and cuddled, then spontaneously went to Elwood’s Shack for smoked slider and steelhead trout taco lunch before our usual running around, and the weather was the kindest it’s been in over a month, sunny with blue skies, in the 60s). Today we head to the Dali exhibit, find some hanging rods for all the tenugui art I want to hang in the living room tea nook, finish Elementary, and eat king cake. It’s been a great weekend, even if we did skip out of last night’s board game marathon at our friends’.

I am usually a bit skeptical of Lady Greys as I like the “masculine” type of bergamot, not the floral aspect but the soapy-clean one, and I often find Lady Greys too brightly fruity or floral in the ways I don’t care for. But this one intrigued me because I love lavender and hoped it’d lend a soapy cleanness like the bergamot I love. It surprised me. It is very “feminine”—R said it was nice and soft—and even looks the part, brewing up a pretty clear gold instead of brown—but it isn’t too brightly fruity sweet for my tastes. There’s a mysterious edge of creaminess, like a delicate Cream Earl Grey, and the lavender and bergamot is definitely present but never overpoweringly heady, instead light to fit the body and other aspects of the tea. It’s just right, very well balanced. I would drink it again! My favorite non-floral-heady-explosion blend so far. Would be excellent in the springtime.

I’ve said in the past that I’m not a big fan of bergamot in my tea, & even less of a fan of lavender (except in my garden, pillow, & bubble bath). Occasionally there are exceptions, & this might be one of them. I steeped a cup for Tony, since he adores these kinds of teas. He loves it! :)
I took a few sips, & admittedly, it is very nicely done! Although it’s not something I’d drink regularly myself, I have to admit that an occasional sip from Tony’s cup might be nice from time to time. The bergamot takes a real back seat here, with the orange being upfront & juicy. The lavender was included, but very judiciously, so that (I can’t believe I’m saying this Sil) it enhances the orange just right.
Tony & I both agree that the base is a little weak, but perhaps I undertea-ed it a little.
Then again, she is a lady.
Of course, some people would say I’m a lady too, but I’m probably not as refined as she was. ;)

Lady’s Night in –
2 parts Lady Devotea iced and strong,
1 part Absolute Citrus,
1 part simple syrup (i made mine with honey)
http://the-devotea.com/ladys-night-in/

Another sample, and one that I’m very sorry to be done with. Excellent cup of tea. Like Earl Grey, but fruitier. Excellent summer cup.

The new formulation uses whole oranges rather than peel, and it gives it a fruitier, sweeter taste, which melds beautifully with the dry taste of lavender. A really gorgeous Lady Grey, one of my everyday go-to teas, delicate and flavorsome both at once.

SSTTB #6.

A really nice earl grey! It was more floral because of the lavender, but the orange helped balance that out a bit. Nice and sweet, and took cream really well. Just what I look for in an earl grey.

Definitely a tea I’d consider picking up if I were to do an order. Unfortunately, I have limited myself so I probably won’t keep it. (Besides, there’s Paris in the box! My favourite EG of all.)

More sipdowns! (238)

I’m happy Sil sent me this because I was curious how I would like the lavender with bergamot, but I really truly do. It’s a nice fruity black with the lavender adding that special pop to it. It’s quite relaxing.

Thanks!

well, might as well continue with the trend of teas i don’t think i’ll like before i have a final couple of cups tonight that i do like. Let me tell you…drinking things alongside the cocktail i made for myself tonight (gingerale; rye; pama) is the way to do it! lol

Soooo the lady has lavender! OH GOODIE blarg AND Blergamot…two awesome flavours in one beautiful tea! not.
….or….maybe? Hmmm… i’m thinking that just maybe the devotea doesn’t understand flowers the way that other companies do. I’m not really getting a whole lot of lavender (maybe it’s all in the cup i saved for cavocorax bwahahahaha) so this is coming across as more of a subtle blergy, orangey tea…with a splash of what might be floral on the side.

final verdict? yeah i still don’t wanna drink this…but it’s MUCH less offensive to me than i thought it would be. I have to say that the devotea has quite a nice black base….this is what i’ve learned so far haha