Sugarbird Sweets & Teas

The more I drink this creamy Earl Grey, the more it grows on me. I have been drinking pretty much a cup a day of this blend, and it is very comforting, full flavored and tasty. I will probably stick to my plan of trying other Earl Grey blends before I buy this one again, but I will be enjoying this one while it lasts!

Bought my second tea from this local tea company at the Farmer’s Market this morning, and this one is far superior to the first one I tried. This is a vanilla Earl Grey, and that scent translates well from the dry leaf to the finished product. The base tea is nothing special, but there is a really nice amount of both bergamot and vanilla, and all of the flavors combined are pretty spectacular. I haven’t had any cream Earl Grey tea yet, but this tea makes me think I would like that variety. I don’t know if I would buy this again, since there are so many different EG’s I have yet to try, but I am looking forward to drinking more of this tea.

I picked this tea up at a farmer’s market in LA – Sugarbird is available throughout the city, and one of my favorite sandwich places uses them for their iced tea, so I thought I would give them a shot. They had several options available, but this one appealed to me the most, so I picked up an ounce.

It has taken me several tries to brew this mixture of white and green tea correctly, but I think I’ve finally got it dialed in. The dry leaf has a muted fruity smell, and that translates pretty well to the taste of the hot tea. The flavor is very delicate all around. White tea is the predominant flavor, with hints of sweet and tart from the strawberry and acai in the mix. The green tea seems to be giving it a bit more body than a white tea would ordinarily have, which is nice. As it cools, the fruit flavors become more dominant, and they aren’t artificial tasting in any way.

I’ve cold brewed this tea a couple of times as well, and it makes a decent, if light, iced tea. I’ll be trying again with some more leaf to see if that improves the flavor. Overall, though I do like the concept of the tea, I won’t be picking this up again. It’s pretty frail and finicky, and for me, there’s not enough of a taste payoff to make it worthwhile. But I will probably try a couple more blends from this company in the future.