Earl Grey de la Creme

After my recent sipdown of DavidsTea’s Cream Earl Grey, I was craving it rather badly (figures), and decided to look through my giant box of teas from LiberTEAS to see if there was another variant in there, since she is fond of earl greys. Sure enough, I found one!!! So this came with me to work tonight in the no-longer-quite-so-chai-scented Timolino.

Unlike the DavidsTea version, I found this one to be much more like a straight earl grey upon the initial sip, with the cream coming more in the aftertaste. This could have been an artifact of brewing the tea a bit stronger than intended, but I don’t think so, I think the cream aspect was just done a bit differently here. I have to be honest and say that while the tea was still hot, I really wasn’t getting much of the creaminess, and was therefore kind of disappointed, however as the tea cooled, the delicious creaminess emerged more and more. I definitely like earl grey creams better a bit cooler!

Anyways, I think I’d be likely to choose either DT’s or Upton’s Cream Earl Grey over this variant (which is probably ok since I think SpecialTeas is no longer?), but all three are quite delicious. So much nostalgia for me!

Thanks for including some of this for me, LiberTEAS , and saving me from having to run to DavidsTea to get my fix! I still have enough for at least another cup; hopefully I can stave off the craving for a while longer (or perhaps there’s another cream earl grey lurking somewhere in a swap box that I have yet to track down…!)

Upping the rating a bit on this, because there are very, very few teas that I will revisit on a regular basis. So if I drink a tea as regularly as I drink this one, it must be pretty damn good.

I didn’t know this was possible, but I’ve been too sick to want to drink tea. This goes against all my ideas of what is right and proper! You’re supposed to want tea MORE when you’re sick!

But I finally got to a point where I actually wanted tea this morning, and since I’m working from home, I decided I should make a big pot of some new-to-me tea to celebrate.

Looking through my cupboard, I found my sample packet of Earl Grey de la Creme. Sounds perfect. So I got my water heating up, and opened the packet. Oh yum!! The cream and bergamot smell amazing together. Like a slightly sour orange dreamsicle. YUM!

The packet reccomended sugar and milk, and as I’ve said – I tend to like my tea sweet. So I went ahead and poured two little cups. One with a little splenda and half and half, and the other plain. Plain was nice. A little weaker than I expected, but had a hint of natural sweetness and some floral overtones.

Then I had my milk/sugar cuppa. Can anyone else hear anything over the cacophony of birds singing hallijuia? I know I can’t. N to the O to the M to the OMG – that’s just good. The vanilla and the cirtus are great together. I like this tea. My goodness, I like this tea.

This will be a definite re-order.

Oooooh vanilla! When I opened the sample packet the smell was a mix of citrusy and a creamy-sweet smell that made me think of melted ice cream and creamy caramel – can I eat these leaves? ;)

The taste is nice, the bergamot sort of pushing the cream out of the way to take center stage. It’s isn’t too pungent, which is a problem with Adagio’s Earl Grey Bravo, and it has a clean citrusy flavour with a touch of spiciness. On its heels follows the cream flavour which is a bit muted but it gives a sweet, vanilla accent to the tea.

I must thank JacquelineM for this sample. I’m not going to write a lengthy note on it because I ended up becoming disappointed. I did not start out as such, but let me explain.
I’ll start by letting you know that there is no tune to be paired with this note. We were watching Snow White and the Huntsman… the film proved to be the undoing of this tea. You see I found it to be delicious from the first sip. I have less to say about the Earl Gray part and much more of the de la Creme portion.
The Earl Gray was smokey but not as bold as I would have guessed, my assumption being that it would take something with kick to be coupled with the sweet vanilla notes that are so prevalent in this tea. The de la Creme part was so creamy and smooth that the only thing I can think to compare it to is actual cream, maybe with honey as well.
Now back to the movie…It starts out a captivating film with wonderful special effects, an intriguing character (evil queen), and an unpredictable twist on a classic tale. And here lies the problem with the drink. I was drinking happily away on this juice when I got pulled in by the movie long enough for my drink to cool just a bit. Before that happened I was sipping on it while it was still plenty hot yet once it cooled it became bitter. I’m talking hard to continue bitter. Tis a shame because it started out so good.

I am the worst swap partner ever. While I always send out my parcels and delight in receiving something in return, I rarely get to actually drinking the tea. That said, I extend endless apologies to Mercuryhime who sent me some of this as well as a handful of oolongs to try…a year ago. Oy. It all ended up in an envelope in a basket in my cupboard underneath 50 or 60 other samples. I hope to remedy my tardiness though!

Opening the bag, I’m hit by an intense citrus aroma, one I am calling lime. The lime is fab. There is something behind that though that is dusty and musty – that’s probably the bergamot. I’m not getting any creme but neither does this smell like a typical earl grey. I’m not a huge Earl fan, but I like Lady Greys and Cream Greys, so this could be great.

Steeped, I get lime and orange with a sweet creme beneath, I am reminded of those popsicles with vanilla ice cream on the inside. Creamsicles, maybe? Anyway, the steeped aroma is delish and decadent, I’m loving the vibe I get now. The first sips are mild, sweet with some light citrus in the background. The taste still holds with the steeped aroma, popsicles and ice cream! There is no dustiness from the bergamot and no bitterness from the black tea, so I’m gonna call this blend a win. I get the sense that it could become bitter as the cup cools but I’m off to enjoy it quickly. Yum, and many thanks to Mercuryhime for sending it to me!

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challengeSunday, January 24th: National Compliment Day Tea #1

Additional notes: Now this is the ULTIMATE of sad sipdowns.  I feel like I should have a funeral for this tea.  This was the perfect day in the dead of winter to really work on some favorite teas I’m clinging to.  So I looked at my Steepster cupboard, sorted by my rating, and picked some of the oldest teas around here that also just happened to be the best teas ever.   I doubt even Mastress Alita could find the source of this tea.  No list of ingredients on my Steepster Select package other than to say Company: Special Teas Etc and the Origin: Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. It also doesn’t help that a few companies were called ‘Special Teas’. Maybe I should try the Earls from the most obvious sources, that many tea companies source their teas from.  I’m not really remembering what the common sources of teas are, at the moment…  Anyway, this is the best Earl to the end and I will miss it the most.  It was time! 100 rating even while this old!
2021 sipdowns: 10

This vanilla and cornflower-blossom blended Earl Grey brings a lot to the plate. A light sweetness I presume is from the vanilla also seems to soften the often light bitter twinge from any good high quality Earl Grey.

The leaves look to be between 1/16 and 1/8 inch in length with these very pretty blue conflower-petals mixed in. It’s quite nice to look at.

While not as good as some Earl Grey variants I’ve had, I would clearly place this Earl Grey de la Creme in the top five or so.

Kudos to Special Teas.

Backlogging here. I do love this blend. Very rich and strong. Heavy vanilla and strong bergamot.

This tea is phenomenal. It tastes exactly the way it sounds. Kind of like a vanilla earl Grey. I sell it with my own tea company- http://www.tiestatea.com/collections/slenderizer/products/earl-grey-de-la-creme