So, this is a little different for me – not because I’m new to coffee leaf teas and certainly not because I’m new to Earl Grey but just because this is the first tea I’ve ever had from Wize Monkey that was loose instead of in sachet form.
I have to say, I’m more partial to loose. I think I will always be more partial to loose over sachet. The leaf cut just seems nicer in general, too.
Anyway; this was my “something to sip on while cooking” tea that I made in one of those little “teapot for one” type of vessels where it’s literally like a teapot and a teacup built to stack on top of one another and be individual sized. It was the perfect size for me to sip on while I was doing my meal prep. I under leafed and under steeped a little bit, since it’s a little bit late for me and I don’t want to feel buzzed on caffeine right before bed. I mean, I know that there’s not a lot of caffeine in this – but there’s SOME and that’s enough for me to be cautious about it. I also added in a smidge of vanilla agave both because a London Fog coffee leaf tea sounded nice, but also because I thought the extra flavour of the sweetener might help compensate for the softer brew due to my out of the ordinary steeping parameters.
This was really delightful. I know I say, what feels like, all the time that I am NOT an Earl Grey fan and I stand by that statement as a general blanket statement for my opinions on like 90% of all Earl Grey/bergamot things. However, when I find one that I’m into it’s generally quite delightful. This is one of those quite delightful kind of EGs for me. It’s not TOO MUCH bergamot (maybe because I was so light handed), and it’s soft and sweet, with more of the citrus popping out to me than the florals which I often find harsh and perfumey.
Actually, think about it literally right now and in this moment…
I think of the 1/10 EG blends that I find pretty solid the majority of those are either “Earl Grey with a twist” (some other additional flavor like, say, chocolate) OR have more of a lighter base outside of the traditional black tea base – such as this tea with the coffee leaf or DT’s Vanilla Bergamot which was a white tea base. I wonder why the EG I’m drawn to is more delicate like that? Does it highlight the lighter, bright citrus elements more? I’ve never really thought about it too much. Someday I’ll have to do a more conscious study of that, I think…
