Earl Grey

Hi friends! I just got the SVTTB over the weekend and I figured I’d share some of the teas I’ve tried/ will try eventually. One of the ones I was most excited to try was this one. I ended up liking it a bit, not as much as I thought I would but I definitely wouldn’t say no to a cup of it should it be offered. You know? I think it was a tad astringent for me, especially towards the end of the mug. I did finish it though, super glad I got to try it!

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2024 Tea #6- A tea that energizes you

I thought of this one for this prompt.  It’s supposed to have natural caffeine added making it “3x the caffeine of a regular tea”, whatever that means, so in theory, it should energize me…  not sure if it does.   Before steeping, I do notice on the leaf in the pyramid tea bag, that there is like a matte coating to some of the leaves… that must be the added caffeine.  The flavor is decent enough, yet unique for an earl, most reminds me of grapefruit with a hint of cream.  Next time is a sipdown, not quite yet!

I was also thinking of this tea because I was looking for Angry Tea Room’s Caramel Popcorn Movie Night blend and it looked like Tea Guys used to have it.  Tea Guys have since closed and apparently had legal issues?  And Zest Tea was previously involved with Tea Guys which brought them to court?   And I thought “hey, I have some of Zest tea around here.”  A shame Tea Guys didn’t make it. But it’s also a shame I won’t be able to find Caramel Popcorn Movie Night again…

drags broken body out of the abyss

So. How about that 2021?

Anyway, to give the most vague of updates, ish happened, ish is still happening, and I am trying to deal with ish. So, naturally, I have been pounding espresso rather than tea to try and deal. But tonight, my silly butt thought consuming half a pack of cookies was smart and now I need tea to counteract the diabetic shakes.

So, here we are. This came from one of the tea boxes that I received AGES ago. Shae sent it so very long ago and I never really got a chance to review any of it. But, in my quest for a super strong black tea, I found this one at the bottom of the box. Lets see how it turns out.

Steeped boiling water 5 minutes.

Taste is… wow for something advertised as “High octane” that’s surprisingly un-bitter. Not completely un-bitter of course, plus the bitterness really lingers in the after sip. But it has a pretty decent flavor to it. I can taste the bergamot and the tea, although the flavors are rather muted. Probably due to how long it’s sat in the box in my drawer. But I can definitely say it’s pleasent to drink. A nice balance to it and a lovely earl grey flavor that has me constantly reaching back for another sip.

Also, as it’s cooling, I’m noticing more citrusy notes. Yep, for sure. That citrus is really coming through now. That’s pretty cool. I should probably mention I’m drinking this straight as, in my experience, the whole “anti-sugar shock” effect of black tea only works when you don’t add anything to it. You can’t even add splenda or any sugar substitute. You just make the tea and down it straight. Thankfully I have a huge selection of black tea for the frequent nights that I muk up my blood sugar (because, despite being a diabetic, I have the worlds biggest sweet tooth.)

Anyway, I can’t tell how potent the caffeine this is yet, other than knowing I don’t feel as groggy and awful as I did twenty minutes ago. How much of that is the black tea effect and how much is the caffeine, I have no idea. But just know that this tea is pretty dang good and now I’m going to have to try and find more.

I’m doing a few months of Sips by boxes to see if I like it, and this came in my second box. I love Earl Grey but have to be mindful of the caffeine so this may be a total disaster. I do want to give it a shot though, and since today I have a ton of house cleaning to do I thought the extra energy boost might help.

I first have to say that I love the flavor of this EG. It’s bright and citrusy and uncomplicated. There is just a touch of bitterness that feels well-placed. I’ve been a little bored with the Earl lately – either it’s dull or it’s been doctored up with a bunch of lavender. Sometimes I guess I just want a simple yet flavorful EG and this delivers.

Still too soon to say about the caffeine, but I’ll check back in.

Update – I ended up sipping on this all day. The flavor is good and it did give me a boost of energy, but the caffeine spinnies weren’t worth it.

Sipdown but apparently this was not added to my steepster cupboard so no decrease in cupboard number. However, this is two years old so I am still happy to be sipping it down.

I picked this one specifically because of the caffeine boasted by Zest Tea. Exams started today and I was extremely worried about the one I had this morning (despite only needing to pass) so I tossed and turned all night. That includes giving up on the attempting to actually sleep at around 3 am when I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe. That’s when I turned on the movie Ocean’s 8 and watched that before finally falling asleep around 5 am and waking up again at 7 am. Then I wrote a 3-hr exam from 9-12. While I debated napping, I have another exam tomorrow that I need to do some prep for so instead I turned to caffeine for my midday slump.

I brewed this up and meant to add a splash of milk but the bag folded while I was pouring and a bit more milk came out than intended. Frankly I was okay with that because it drowned out the bergamot that much more. This was ok as far as earl greys go. It wasn’t too bitter or sharp, thanks to the milk but also due to this being a touch weak overall. It wasn’t anything special but it did its job of perking me up a bit.

When there’s a ton of work to get through, you need a ton of caffeine. That’s the main reason I picked Zest’s earl grey to review today. Mondays always need a pick-me-up.

I got carried away while the kettle was brewing so the water was approx. 90C or a bit less by the time the tea sachet hit the cup – a happy accident. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before it seems so obvious. Brewing this tea at a slightly lower temperature stops some of the bitterness from the tea extract they add to get the caffeine in there. Brew it like a green tea and it’s actually a lot better tasting… although still more bitter than any other earl grey I’ve ever drank. I might try rinsing it next time to see if that has a similar effect.

I noticed fresh orange zest aroma with the classic bergamot flavour notes. Not too overpowering. The tea base is flowery orange pekoe, which has a nice body. I’m tired of trying new earl grey blends that use darjeeling. It’s too light for my tastes and the bergamot just overpowers it and ruins the tea flavour. Zest got the body right in this blend though, it’s almost like drinking an English Breakfast tea with bergamot oils added.

As always, full review with pics is up on my blog, if you want to read a bit more about my experience with this tea https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/zest-tea-earl-grey-review/