Earl of Bengal Tea

Delightful! Today has been a fantastic mail day – I got two packages of tea (and these orders arrived SO fast!) and a package of art goodies, as well as good news from my bank… and NO BILLS!

This is one of the teas I received today… and it’s delightful. It is a lighter version of Earl Grey, in my opinion, because the bergamot is a bit lighter. But along with that, it has a crisper, cleaner taste than some Earl Grey teas I’ve encountered. It doesn’t taste heavy or oily or soapy… just beautifully bergamot-y!

YUM!

I acquired another bag of this and am having a cup now…see previous notes…but I am going to share the rest of this with Amanda and Wonks!

Alright, having another go at this one. Reduced steeping time to 2 minutes, and the temp down to 200*. The odd flavor that I was thinking was “dusty” is still kinda there, and there’s still astringency (quite a bit for only 2 minutes), but I think what I’m getting now is more…meaty? Proteiny? It’s so hard to find the words for it. It’s much more palatable at this time/temp…I’m still not really getting much bergamot taste, though.

Okay, after thinking on this tea, it reminds me of those paper tasting strips in my genetics class. Did anyone else do that? They’re little strips of paper that have chemicals in them…some people can taste these compounds, some can’t, and the ability to taste each different compound is, apparently, a single gene trait. I don’t remember which ones we did, but I do remember being the only one who had to run out of the room to rinse my mouth out after trying one of them.

Okay, back to the tea…I did get a better cup this time around, and, in fact, actually finished the pot. I think I’ll shorten the steep even more next time around.

(And a big thanks to LiberTEAS for taking the time to help me out with this blend. You’re awesome!)

My second Earl Grey of the day, and third in my tea bag sipdown today. I’m not sure, but I feel like this one is suffering in my rating because of how much I enjoyed my cup before (Charleston Plantation’s). There is a unique black tea base to this one, and while I do enjoy it, I’m not loving it the way I did the other. When I added a half teaspoon of sugar the lemon flavour came to the forefront, making it a much lovelier cup, however it still isn’t perfect to me. Sippers who like unique mild twists to the classics should definitely look into this one. I do like it, but as I said, I just liked my cup before more.

What I do like about this one though is how quality the tea is for a bagged tea. I am seriously enjoying the quality that Teatulia puts into their teas!

This in an interesting take on an earl grey. A bit too much bermot for my taste though. I actually felt like I had oil coating my mouth and throat.

Next up on the tasting adventure is Earl of Bengal, a blend of Bergamot and Black Tea, I made this when resident Earl aficionado was home, so he got to help me taste, and by help I mean he split the cup with me. The aroma of the teabag is pretty much all citrus all the time, the sharp slightly lemony aroma of the Bergamot is so potent, I only detect the tiniest hint of malt. After steeping, the tea is a perfect split between Bergamot and malt, one does not overpower the other, and at the finish there is a tiny hint of cocoa.

The taste is distinctly malty with a mild Bergamot taste. There is a hint of tannins and it is quite brisk, the Bergamot, even though it is fairly mild is present throughout the entire sipping experience, it is lemony and goes well with the malty black tea. I did find myself wishing it was stronger in the Bergamot department, and of course Ben wanted lots of Bergamot, but his love of that citrus goes into insane levels, so maybe take his opinion with a grain of salt.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-teatulia-tea-review-feature-part-two.html