Earl Grey Heaven

I tried making this three times before both the sample and my patience had been exhausted. This peeps instead of pops, and each time I was left craving something richer and more powerful. Adding milk was the only way to salvage some enjoyment from it, but even then it just wasn’t for me.

You can see pictures and additional notes here:
http://wordsabouttea.blogspot.com/2013/08/earl-grey-heaven-by-persimmon-tree.html

Got a sample of this tea due to an order mishap, but I do have to commend the Persimmon Tree for promptly correcting it! Great customer service!

Anyway, I thought I would give this one a try, even though I tend to stay away from earl grey in general. I thought I might like this one, since it has the promise of vanilla in addition to bergamot. I do like earl grey-like teas that have something additional in them (Harney’s Paris for example).

This earl grey has very bright flavor. The bergamot was pretty strong, and very lemon-y in this case. I did get some vanilla, but for me, it wasn’t enough to round out the brightness of the bergamot. Earl grey lovers may like this one though.

Well, that is certainly fragrant. The flavour is more mild. Good, but needs vanilla. (I ended up having mine with vanilla almond milk.)

Wow this tea has a very strong fragrance brewing, of vanilla and flowers. I’m not complaining—I prefer my earls on the strong, heavily fragrant side, and able to withstand some milk or raw sugar.

This one’s strong in flavor too! Could definitely be cut with milk and/or sugar. A little bitterness but not much, next time I could steep it for slightly less time if I didn’t want to deal with milk, but it’s fine solo right now really. Sweetness and vanilla, lots of that “extract” and perfume feel. I could be misidentifying but I think I can actually see specks of vanilla bean at the bottom of my cup, and that doesn’t surprise me given the aroma and taste. The citrus comes in at the end, a nice surprise and not too tart but definitely present enough to keep you on your toes.

This is one of those Big Ones as earls go, clobbering you all-around—in vanilla, in bergamot, in everything. For me, that’s not a problem!

I feel bad rating this so low, but it’s not for me. I’m not generally a big fan of Earl Grey’s to begin with and this one comes across as too perfumey for me.

I’ll add to my sample box or something.

I’m calling today as Sipdown Wednesday because I have absolutely NOTHING to do except clean my room. So I brought my kettle up to my room and I’m picking all my teeny teas (like 3g or less) and just drinking them all day long :)

I got this from the Marco Polo TTB! Because I’m drinking such little tea leaves, I’ve decided to use the super cute tea cup that I got from the LA Tea Festival! And I threw my Perfect Infuser from DAVIDs for easy clean-up :)

https://41.media.tumblr.com/c259270736ef05e6c96257abfabc4cd5/tumblr_nz3t7aSRCP1tjj5t8o1_540.jpg

Lovely creamy yet floral perfumy aroma as it steeps!
Tastes just as it smells. I think I actually like this without any additions! Perfectly balanced and creamy earl grey. A nice creamy earl grey is hard to find. Four for you Persimmon Tea Co. You go Persimmon Tea Co.

I’m not sure I love this. I can definitely taste the vanilla, but I wish there was more or something. I wouldn’t buy this one but I’m glad to have tried it. I had been wanting to try an earl grey with cream flavor. I’ll keep looking.

Backlog:

As I was brewing this tea, I could tell it was an Earl Grey creme type of tea because I could smell the notes of vanilla as it brewed. And it smelled scrumptious!

A really good Earl Grey Creme. The strong bergamot is softened by the creamy sweet notes of vanilla. The combination of these two flavors create an almost caramel-y sort of flavor that is quite delectable.

A mellow black tea base, but it is still smooth and pleasant and adds a nice background flavor for the bergamot and cream. Mild but not so much that the flavor is lost.

A really enjoyable cuppa.

From the Lewis and Clark TTB.

The dry leaf is rather fragrant. As soon as I open the packet, out goes the aroma. The flavorings in the tea itself are strong – particularly the bergamot – but not at all off-putting. At first I can only taste the bergamot, and then the vanilla comes through, in the aftertaste. Unlike in other Earl Grey’s I’ve had, there is no unwanted super malty interference from the base tea, so I didn’t feel the need to add milk or sugar, which is a big plus.

Marco Polo TTB

I lost the note to this when my computer died and the only thing I remember is that this reminded me a lot of The Tea Merchant’s and DAVIDsTEA which are my favorite EGC’s. So I guess this would now go in that category also.