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__Morgana__ drank Organic Earl Grey by LeafSpa Organic Tea

2037 tasting notes

In the tin, the leaves smell strongly of bergamot, but fortunately strongly does not equate to perfumey in this instance.

After steeping the tea smells sweet and malty and the bergamot has all but receded into the wings. There’s a faint, orangey smell but not a lot of bergamot in the aroma.

It makes a return in the taste, but not in an overpowering way. The tea is fairly smooth and is mild but flavorful. It has some natural sweetness, but it doesn’t taste as malty as it smells.

Basically this tastes very similar to the Blue Knight Special by TeaFountain in terms of the balance of flavors. The main difference is that the TeaFountain has a lot of rough edges, whereas they’ve been filed down here for the most part (there’s still a sneaky little bite at the back of the throat that can happen sometimes but it’s not consistent). The mouth feel has some substance to it, which I like.

It’s a very no nonsense Earl, no variations, nothing frilly. A very purely Earl Earl. But fortunately lacking the major thing that can ruin an Earl Grey for me — overpowering, perfumey, volatilely alcoholic bergamot.

Preparation

Boiling 3 min, 30 sec

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I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes