The Earl of Lemon

I will admit right off the bat that the only reason I tried this tea was because I’m an Adventure Time fan. (Earl of Lemongrab, anyone?)

The scent was pleasant and lemony, but the tea was… meh. (I suppose I could make an “UNACCEPTABLE!!!!” joke, but it’s not that bad. It’s just… well, “meh”.)

The tea itself was extremely bitter, to the point where I had a hard time drinking it. The lemon flavour did come through, though, and it was nice enough, although it wasn’t enough to offset the bitterness of the tea.

Definitely won’t be trying this one again.

So excited to get a sample of this! And oh my goodness it’s really tasty! I don’t normally like earl grey but this is very mellow and mostly lemon and creamy tasting! I am really loving it.
Now if only DT would bring it back!

Soft lemon flavour with a slightly creamy finish.

A sample from ashleyelizabeth. I thought I’d logged this one, but apparently not! I’ve been experimenting with leaf and brew time for a few days, because somehow I just can’t seem to get this one quite right. *ashleyelizabeth*’s recommendation was for 1.5tsp of leaf in 98 degree water for 3-4 minutes. Unfortunately, I get a fairly astringent brew with little lemon or earl grey flavour when brewed this way. I cooled the water more and shortened the brew time, and that helped a little — 170 degree water for 3 minutes is where I found this most to my liking. There’s a light lemon flavour and a light creaminess, maybe the tiniest hint of earl grey. Sadly, this one isn’t really doing it for me. I’d try it again in the future if I got chance, though.

Got a sample of this from Janelle ages ago, but I’m just trying it now. I’m very bad at trying tiny samples. Like what if I squander them and I never get to truly taste the tea? I worry about that too much I think. But I have more tea than I am comfortable with and I need to fix that. Soooo…
This one is interesting, although I’m usually not a huge fan of white teas. I like the lemony earl-grey-ness, but there a note in there that I don’t really like and I can’t quite place it. I guess it’s either the “freeze dried yogurt” (never tried a tea with freeze dried yogurt before) or just the white tea that probably isn’t super fresh, since this tea has been discontinued I think? (totally not complaining, just speculating.)
I think I should try the rest of it iced, probably.

Queued post, written April 20th 2014

Here’s a tea that MissB shared with me. I used the whole sample in one go and shared it with Husband. He found it very pleasant indeed, but he’s biased when it comes to lemons. :)

At first when I poured water on it, the liquid was very green. Almost as green as a kiwi! I picked the pot up (glass) and went to show it to Husband, and although it was still quite green then, it had yellowed some so he didn’t see the full effect. I’ve noticed green teas often do this. They’ll be actually green when you pour water on but then they turn yellow or golden in colour. It’s still fun while they’re bright green though. :)

I’m afraid I rather quaffed it while looking at pictures of dresses. My mother in law turns 60 later this year and would like to make her party 50s themed. I’ve been searching high and low for a rockabilly dress which doesn’t cost a fortune and which it sounds like fits. I think I’ve found one, so I’m very much looking forward to it arriving. I don’t want a pencil skirt. Rockabilly complete with petticoat or nothing! Anyway, this was rather a distraction from tasting the tea properly.

I’ll try to write what I recall then. I assumed it would be bergamotty what with it being called something with ‘Earl’ and there did seem to be a little bit of it, but not very much. Just as a sort of background thing adding depth and a hint of a floral note to the lemon. The lemon was at the forefront and it was a fresh, fruity sort of lemon rather than a sour one. In fact I’ve still got a lemon-y sensation at the very tip of my tongue.

It was really very nice.

Only a couple of cups of this guy left and I’ve enjoyed every one of them!

I had my third or fourth last cup tonight as I shuffled the tea pantry around a little, made some room, got a couple more T2 boxes into canisters, etc. Found yet another instance where a past guest (who knows which one) opened up a new/sealed box rather than choose from literally more than thirty already opened and canistered teas. I don’t fucken understand some people, for fucksake.

Never mind. It still smelled pretty fresh so now it’s airtight and in a canister. Sigh.

Only eight T2 boxes still sealed now. Oh wait and the limited editions still sealed… so… six more. Fourteen. Ugh, I disgust myself. But at least I’m being strict with myself and throwing out teas I just don’t care for (I put a bunch up on the swap thread but if they have no takers in a couple of days then they’re in for the same fate).

I’ve got some sample packs on their way to me from another new little Aussie company called High Tea with Harriet, so I’m looking forward to trying those, and then I’m going to buy a bunch of samples from Kettle Town too (I know there’s one coming up in a Monstrositea subscription soon so I’m holding out to see which one first). Very excited about supporting little Aussie companies and getting away from big bad T2. Baby steps getting bigger. Maybe.

While it was “on sale” in the web specials section of David’s I decided to buy 250g of it. Sure, it’s not my FAVOURITE tea, but it’s pretty darn good. Going through my tea stash I was trying to figure out how many of the teas I currently own would be good iced, so I’ve been trying them one by one. This one I thought would be a terrible idea, so I kept putting it off “for another time”. Well…that time has now come. Deep breath. I can taste the grossness already.

AND STEEPED.

AND ICED.

AND WOW.

I must say, I was totally wrong on this one. I thought some others that I liked hot would be really good iced, and was wrong. I thought this one that I like hot would be really terrible iced and was wrong. I think I’m about 0-for-5 in my iced tea experiments. lol. Apparently I’m not good at this.

Icing this tea really brings out the flavour of the lemon. I thought the creaminess would be gross iced, but was wrong. It actually adds to the flavour, almost like I’m drinking tea-flavoured yogurt. It’s a strange sensation, and one I would definitely impose on my mouth again. The white tea doesn’t at all taste bitter or astringent (unlike Daydreamer in my iced tea experimentation; yuck), and it doesn’t have the same cheek-pinching astringency as what a black tea would. I really like it.

Verdict: will do this experiment again until it’s “too cold” for iced tea, then back to having this hot! Yum! An all-season tea (rating increased).

Was not entirely impressed by this one, and I doubt it’ll be on my re-buy list the next time I pop up to DavidsTea. The creaminess (enhanced by my usual sugar + milk, no doubt) was a little too… something. Nothing good. :\

Wasn’t overlt impressed by this tea. No specific reason, it just didn’t do anything for me.