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The interview is over and I think it went well, so I am celebrating by having my last bag of Aged Earl. I am so glad I saved my big mug for this tea so I can get a lot out of my last bag.

I am going to savor this because I don’t know when I will be able to get any more Earl for a while.

I’m not sure why I didn’t get the flavor I normally get out of this on this steeping. Oh well. The hints were still there and it made me happy to drink it. The second steep will be fabulous.

Had this before my interview to calm and focus me.

Have I mentioned how much I love this tea? This is my third (and probably final) steeping of this tea and it is lovely. I am still experimenting on how best to brew this so that I can get that similar flavor out of each steeping. I think I need to give the leaves a quick rinse first. Like 10-15 seconds. Then do my 5 minute steep then the 7 minute steep and then end with either a 13-15 minute steep.

This steep was an 11 minute steep and the flavor is still mellow and slightly creamy and dark, but not as rich as the second steep. So 13-15 minutes on the last steep should make it sing! ♥ I feel like I am an oddball with the long steep times on this one, but if that is how I like it then I am not complaining at all. It also makes me think that when I finally am able to get a gaiwan, I should try brewing this tea in it. I know that this will be coming back in my tea cabinet when I get the funds.

On a non-tea related note, I have an interview tomorrow afternoon. It is for a seasonal position, but just having a job right now would really help. So, send me luck!

As much as I liked that jasmine earlier, drinking it made me cold because it was cold. So I decided to have this one too.

This time I put in the leaf and steeped it for five minutes on the first run. I think I will need to start doing a 10 or 15 second rinse on my leaves since. This tastes nice with the hint of cream starting to come out. I have a feeling that the more this develops, the more it will be like that one time I hit it on the head.

I really like this one with a longer steeping time though. I also need to learn to let my tea cool down so I can drink it without burning my tongue. The flavor develops better when it is drinkable temperature as well.

I had a mouth-watering craving for two teas today. It was a tie between this one and my royal 2007 pu-erh. This one won out.

I love the leaves for this. They are so light and fluffy. They are just fun to get out of the bag. This is the only tea I pick out of the bag with my fingertips because it is like stroking a kitten. I thought I had accidentally picked out too much of the tea, so I decided on shorter steepings to make up for the higher leaf amount.

The first steep I had hot. The flavor profile was nice and delicate but I tasted something a little different. It wasn’t quite bubblegum, but it wasn’t fruity either. It was some sort of sweet. I want to say a light pear taste is the best way I could describe it.

I heated up the water for my second steep when my dad decided that we didn’t have anything good in the house for lunch. So I stuck my 2 minute second steep in the fridge to have it iced afterwords.

I have no idea how this will taste iced, so it will be interesting. Technically, I made it into a hot brewed flash chilled iced tea with no extra added sugar. You can still smell the jasmine even though the scent is lighter than it is when it is hot. It is so delicate it is almost like drinking water. The jasmine hits you only as an aftertaste. That strange bublegummy/pear-like taste lingers up the sides of your tongue. I figured it out! That taste is the jasmine mixing with the white tea base. The more I sip the more it is coming out.

If I had one of those soda streams, I think having this tea iced and lightly carbonated would be lovely in mid-summer’s heat.

I would most likely have this hot than cold, though it is nice chilled.

There is nothing quite like a big cup of Earl Grey to wash down a Krispy Kreme cream filled chocolate covered doughnut. It has been so long since I have had one! YUM! ♥

This is the very last of my green jasmine pearls. I am probably going to drink this for the rest of tonight because I want to make sure that my pearls unfurl all the way. Especially since it is the very last of my packet that Teavivre sent to me. I have to admit, if they didn’t send it to me, I probably would have never tried a jasmine tea.

I put in more pearls than I usually do when drinking this. I have noticed that the recommended tea scoops normally fill up the bottom of my press, so I estimated the amount. I also steeped it shorter. The result is that the tea is lighter in color than I remembered, but so much sweeter! I learned how to steep by tea better over this last year.

It is just nearing 11 o’ clock and I am already frazzled this morning. It turns out that the laundry I took out right before I left for the weekend was wet when I came back, so I have to re-wash it and make sure the dryer actually dries it this time.

It also feels like the only people that do dishes in this house is either my mom or me. Dad just got a work-at-home job again. I know he is busy, but he could at least put his own dishes in the dish washer.

I’m just frustrated today. Don’t mind my rant. I do love my parents and I still have some Earl Grey to have as a reward for doing all the dishes this early in the day.

I couldn’t bring myself to dump the rest of the leaves out just yet. I read in a tasting note that somebody had left the leaves steep for too long, but this tea developed a rich, creamy taste. Since I steeped it for three minutes last time, I’m steeping it extra long at 6 minutes this time just to see what this tea will do.

So far, the liquid is this goregous dark mahogany color. Well, maybe a couple shades lighter, but it is this wonderful color. It smells like the earth you dig up when you are out planting flowers in the garden at the beginning of summer. It just screams summer to me.

I really should have let this steep longer. It is just hinting at a nice cream mouthfeel. I love the richer, bolder flavor this brought out. It was nice before, but it now has another deep note to it. sip I want to say almost a cocoa sip but not quite. There is something there that I can’t place but it is dark.

Woah! Aftertaste is hitting the sides of my tongue when I type up my notes. Smooth and pure butter sip no, cream, sip no, heavy cream almost bordering on butter but darker.

♥ I love this! The flavor I am getting out of this right now is just amazing! ♥

It is so mellow but rich and bold at the same time. The heavy cream that is almost butter but not quite lingering taste on the edges of the tongue. I feel like royalty.

Thank you Teavivre for letting me try this amazing pu-erh. I never really liked the pu-erh and always had to tone it down with milk, but this is truly amazing.

Edit: It has now been about three hours and that wonderful creamy taste is still lingering on my tongue. Too bad I have to go to bed soon or else I would have another cup…or five.

I just finished having a culinary temper tantrum. I got really tired of not having anything in the house to eat, so I found one serving of thick noodles and put together a pasta dish with a very light sauce made of tender cooked onions, parmesean cheese, a dab of butter (which it didn’t really need in hindsight), and two tablespoons of almond milk. So it was like an alfredo sauce, but not a traditional one. It was delicious and a cup of Earl Grey is just what I need to round out the meal.