Breakfast Earl Grey

Traveling Tea Box Tea!!!!

This is a pyramid bag and the leaves look very broken. Pleasant bergamot scent :) I used 8 oz of water since Ricky’s note said the recommended 3.7 oz produced a bitter brew. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting much.

The minute the water hit this, it instantly became dark!! I was preparing myself for a STRONG BREW and I got out my half and half and sugar. I steeped for 4 minutes and after adding my milk and sugar it looked more like coffee than tea! Yikes!

Once I took a sip I was so very pleasantly surprised! No bitterness, very nice tea flavor and the bergamot is soft (I wouldn’t want it any other way in the morning – I save the super bergamot ones for afternoon). I am really enjoying it! if you want to have some tea bags around for portability and convenience, this one from Lupicia is excellent!! This company is definitely going on my radar for future orders – they have some EXTREMELY unique teas! ORZO CIOCCOLATA anyone!?!? (ancient barley from Italy which tastes like hazelnut and chocolate – gotta try it!) and being the froofy lady I am, I squealed over the sugar charms – how nice to have for company!!

I decided this may be a good one for resteeping, so I gave it a shot (another 8 oz water and 5 minutes steeping time). It is weaker tea wise but a little more fruity – still very tasty and enjoyable.

I love when my preconceptions are completely and totally wrong :)

tea 294. i’ll be at 300 teas tasted before the week is up.
this sample bag is from TastyBrew. (thank you thank you!)
bold and unflinching. yet earl grey-ey sweet.
sweet dry bitter sweet wet warmth.
http://instagram.com/p/ZQvff2Ic7h/
i want to write a thoughtful note about this tea. but today i am a bit sullen.
sullen due to beauty.
just blame the fandom. and how bittersweet it can all be.
the way it both magnifies and obscures real life. and makes me want to be honest. perhaps live more like a character in a book. which i know sounds completely immature. and dramatic. but i don’t mean it that way.
good fiction, good art, good poetry, good tea, anything that distills down the experience of living.
anything that helps define the internal complexities.
these things can help us be in the moment.
they inspire me to live in the moment.
that’s what i mean.

Moondog – Bird’s Lament
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvXROes0ar8

Sample package label: “5202, Breakfast Earl Grey”

Per, http://www.lupiciausa.com/product_p/13355202.htm:
“Earl Grey made with broken leaves brews up a robust taste. Perfect to enjoy with milk.”

“Water Measurement: One 5.0 fl.oz (150ml)-cup
Water Temprature: Boiling water
Brewing Time: 2 – 2.5 min.”

Per Victoria at Lupicia Customer Service:
- The base of their Breakfast EG is a single Ceylon tea, not a blend.
- Their bagged tea is “the exact same as their loose tea.”

Technique:
5-oz water with total dissolved solids (TDS) of 27 ppm, heated to 212*F, 2.5 min.

1 tea sachet, without sweeteners, milk or cream.

Fragrance: This tea has a stronger fresh lemon Earl Grey fragrance than their 5201 Earl Grey. There wasn’t any hint of artificial additives.

Dry leaf – Dark brown leaves

Liquor – Clear & dark coppery

Impression: This is a smooth, well-balanced Earl Grey with a fresh mild pleasing lemon aroma. Finally, another EG with more body! There was no hint of bitterness or astringency. As the cup cooled, there was no hint of tartness. This Earl Grey resteeps well at 5-min.

My wife enjoyed this Lupicia EG more than their 5201 EG. She especially liked the stronger Bergamot fragrance. This EG tea has come the closest to her liking. However, she noted that there was a vegetal aroma / flavor not expected in a classic EG. I asked Vitoria what might contribute the vegetal hint to this tea. She wasn’t sure and said “Perhaps it’s because it is a broken tea?”

At this point, it has been 10 Earl Greys & counting! We would welcome any suggestions for a stronger Bergamot, fuller-bodied, invigorating breakfast version of the classic EG.

Thanks to Lupicia for providing this free sample.

This is a really good Earl Grey. I love the “Earl Grey” from Lupicia (with Keemun), but I really like this one too. The bergamot is a bit lighter here and it gives the cup a crisp taste. Very pleasant and smooth.

I grabbed a bag from the Traveling Tea Box and am drinking it now. It’s extremely dark in color and it’s VERY Bold Black Tea Taste and you can tell it’s an E.G. but it’s very light on the Bergamot. The item I need to point out more than once is the fact that it is VERY Bold…wow! That was surprising, actually. I think if I would have steeped any longer it would have been too much…even for me…

The dry leaves smell totally awesome, I love the intense bergamot fragrance! I would really like to use them as potpourri! :P

When brewed the bergamot fragrance is very much softened, however. The breakfast tea base is, as always, too strong for me. There’s hardly any bitterness, it’s just that I prefer Earl Grey with a fruitier black tea base.

I wish I still had some of Lupicia’s regular Earl Grey blend, so I could compare the two teas. Off the top of my head (tip of my tongue?) I can’t say for sure what the difference is. I think Earl Grey had a stronger bergamot flavor than the Breakfast blend does but that is based on a fuzzy memory.

This is a gentle, more sedated Earl Grey. The bergamot is definitely there, but it’s very balanced with the black tea. Just the sort of thing you want in the morning, when you are just waking up.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed by this cup. When I opened the package I was surprised with a refreshing citrus note that was expected with a earthy Ceylon scent…but the broken leaves and tea dust threw me for a bit of a loop. Obviously I still granted the benefit of a doubt, because I’ve been pleasantly surprised by worse in the past…but to little avail. After letting steep at the appropriate time…still nothing. A bit of the normal earl grey flavor but it left quickly along with my expectations. The combo of tea dust, non re-steepability, and poor taste just really put a damper on the experience:(

TeaTiff Traveling Tea Box | No. 3

I love Earl Grey. It’s the tea that brought me to tea in the first place. It’s a comfort. I was glad to see several EG options in the box, many from Lupicia. I’ve ordered from Lupicia a couple of times, but they always seem like such a treat anyway. This Breakfast Earl Grey steeps to a very deep, dark, and thick brew. It almost looks syrupy, but it isn’t. The taste is strong, maybe a touch bitter, but all evened out with the addition of milk. Not one I’d likely purchase, simply because it’s no different than a typical Earl Grey. It doesn’t stand out in any way or set itself apart from the rest. It’s very enjoyable though while I’m drinking it, so being just-as-expected here certainly isn’t a bad thing.

Backlog and sipdown!

Had a bag of this from a while back; I believe it came as a free sample with a Lupicia order. Either way, ended up drinking it at work (oh, speaking of that, I now have a job where I can actually brew tea during the day, which is pretty exciting and gives me hope that I can get through a lot of different teas that I don’t like to put in travel mugs, because I won’t have to do that) and added some milk/sugar to make it extra tasty, which it was. Plain, it probably wouldn’t have worked for me, just a bit too strong. If my Book of Tea has a packet of this, I may get to try it again, and write a tasting note a bit more promptly.