Wuthering Heights

Merry belated Christmas to those who celebrate(d), and Happy Holidays to all! I’m a couple of days behind on the holiday wishes, because I was working a 12 hour shift on Christmas day and was just incredibly busy trying to squeeze in an hour here and there with my family where I could. I’ve had a couple of days off now though, and am finally settling into the holiday spirit of eating too much food (and plenty of chocolate), watching a lot of TV and drinking festive drinks.

This was a gift I received in my stocking this year – Santa definitely knows me well! It combines a few of my favourite things in tea and books, but also it’s an Earl Grey creme, and based on one of my favourite novels!! I love Earl Grey cremes, and have been sorely missing having one in my cupboard while I try to sip down some of my collection, so this feels sort of like a get-out-of-jail free card in adding one to my collection without buying any new teas. I am a very happy Nattie. The icing on the cake was finding out when adding it to the database that this tea comes from a small business based in Ann Arbor Michigan (I have no idea how Santa came across this one), somewhere I’ve never been but would love to visit as the spiritual home of yet another interest of mine. I know it was a coincidence, but I really feel like this tea was the perfect gift for me.

The scent of the dry leaf is incredible, the bergamot is present but it’s very creamy and intoxicating. Steeped, the malty black tea and bergamot come through the strongest but there’s a definite creamy scent there too. The instructions on the tin said to steep for 5-10 minutes, but that seemed like overkill so I went with a pretty standard 4-minute steep. In the sip the base is quite brisk, but not astringent, and perfect for breakfast time. The bergamot is bright and fresh, and the vanilla and cream flavours round it out really, really nicely. The cream is very present at the back of the sip when hot, but as my cup cools it’s becoming less noticeable, and more like a regular EG. I added a splash of milk, just to test it out really, and it’s equally good either way. This might not be the number one best EG creme I’ve tried, but it’s pretty dang tasty and I would be more than happy to keep this in my collection!