I have a confession to make… I’m not usually a fan of Earl Grey. It’s the bergamot that has made me shy away in the past. It’s just so in your face. Like an over indulged child demanding “Look at what I can do!”. I get it bergamot. You’re bright, aromatic, and uplifting. Now, please let the other tea flavors have a turn!
Surprisingly, this tea may make me a drinker of Earl Grey. The leaf aroma defiantly has that bergamot punch in the face. I know, I know, it’s Earl Grey. The aroma of the liquor is pleasing and far more subtle. The first sip is bright and lemony fresh, (Yes, hello bergamot). That flavor quickly gives way to a nicely astringent Darjeeling body, and the finish is sweet, delicate, and floral. I actually like this tea.
Am I a tea snob? No, but I do have to admit that if my tin didn’t say Mariage Fréres, I may have stuck to my “I don’t care for Earl Grey.”, guns. Have you seen the Mariage Fréres apothecary style tea jars? I want to live in them! I have a sample of Winter White Earl Grey from Harney & Sons that I’m really eager to try now. I bet Vanilla Earl Grey would be very up my alley. Hmmmm…
And who do I have to thank for my Earl Grey turnaround? Well, this will come as no surprise, but the person’s Steepster name starts with a Quilt and ends with a Guppy.
Edit: I added a little turbinado sugar and almond cream to my second cup, and I’m liking the flavor even more!
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I haven’t been a huge fan of Earl Grey in the past either. I have not tried a good quality loose leaf Earl Grey though, and I think Vanilla Earl Grey would be the best place for me to start! If it has vanilla in it, it’s worth trying :)
Viva La Tea, let me know if you want to try some of this one. I also hadn’t tried a very high quality Earl Grey, and the Darjeeling really makes a difference!
I ordered a 3oz amount of the Mariage freres wedding blend after a friend has said they were having a hard time finding a cheap source of it for a wedding…I was hoping I could reverse engineer it (as I have a talent for that kind of thing) and was dismayed to find that the tea itself is a base FOP (probably Ceylon) but that it was chemically scented with a flavor oil (no flowers/fruit and oily sheen gave that away) that smelled very much like dolly madison zingers (anyone remember those from being a kid?). I couldn’t bring myself to cup it and sent it to my friend with the words of my defeat and asked him to present it to the bride (whose favorite this tea is) as a gift for the wedding…turns out the company is very strict in thier selling policies and only sell it through a few US sources (its UK based) and they wouldn’t even discount it for the celebration of a wedding or sell it to me in bulk for repackage as wedding gifts to the bridal party…thought that was somewhat ironic…..
Kashap:
1.) I wish I had the talent to reverse engineer anything. Even if only to brag about it and use the words reverse engineer more often.
2.) Is is horrible that when you said Dolly Madison Zingers my mouth watered a little bit?
3.) I really like you.
4.) I know… just because tea is French doesn’t make it automaticly good or high quality. Merde is merde. BUT have you seen the MF glass apothecary jars??? I get that it’s just packaging but I neeeeed them.
5.) Lovely chatting with you.
no…i totally agree…zingers make me want to watch reruns of charlie brown cartoons and curl up with a cup of tea after dashing through some leaves ‘calvin and hobbes’ style….and reverse engineer is a fun injection…and its TOTALLY ok to jazz up on apothecary jars…even if its just an excuse to use the term apothecary ;)
Glass apothecary jars? WHAT? Why doesn’t my tea shop have these? I would pay obscene amounts for that! I already love their black tins and can hardly bear to part with them, but I do manage to give them to friends.
Ashmanra, lookie
http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/UK/ft+earl-grey-french-blue-glass-jar-of-iced-tea+TF8005.htm
Dean & Deluca (my stateside connection) doesn’t carry them either, but I will have them :)
Now, that’s frustrating! I clicked on the link and it says that the page doesn’t exist. How about this one:
http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/UK/lts+teas-from-the-world.html
Yes, but merde sounds so much nicer. I have not seen the glass apothecary jars, and yes, Kashyap, I rather enjoy writing apothecary. ;) I need to check out the MF jars… and I admit that I’m not thinking Mariage Frères when I write MF.
I’ve never used this site, but I contacted them about trying to get Lily Muguet, which I’ve been dying to try. (Only in Europe for now…) This one is in Illinois for the low, low price of $57.00.
http://www.porterouge.biz/category.asp?lt=c&catid=2372&pindex=all
QuiltGuppy, MF, MF, MF. Now that I have that out of my system, I have to say that $57.00 doesn’t sound that unreasonable to me. And that’s how I know that I’ve offically lost my mind.
Using the word “apothecary” makes me feel sciency in the same way I think being able to reverse engineer would :)
I think Porte Rouge has the best MF selection in the states, definitely, and the exchange rate is actually equivalent without a markup… a 40euro apothecary jar of tea on the MF translates to a $57 jar on the Porte Rouge website! (That’s one of the reasons I didn’t buy any MF teas in Paris that were available in bulk at Porte Rouge)
WAAAAH! Gee, thanks! I just googled their website and found about a dozen things that arer absolutely beautiful. And the prices are pretty obscene. I can almost guarantee you that their cast iron teapots are absolutely identical to the ones at Teavana, but cost considerably more if I am right on the current exchange rate, and I think I am since eldest daughter just got back from Europe. I would put up a brand new set of shelves to display those jars if I had them! Beautiful! Wasn’t it Rachanac who got some MF tea at a yard sale for fifty cents each because a lady had liked the black tins and wanted them for kitchen decor and then didn’t use them? (Gasp!)
I emailed Porte Rouge about the Lily Muguet tea and they were very quick to respond and say that they have it and it should be on the website this weekend. :D ((big smiles)) I’m going to give them a try.
Ashmanra, yard sale MF? What a weird and wonderful happenstance.
QuiltGuppy, you are some sort of tea shop Svengali! Lily Muguet wasn’t on the website, you ask about it, and poof it will be available for purchase this weekend? Yay you!
I haven’t been a huge fan of Earl Grey in the past either. I have not tried a good quality loose leaf Earl Grey though, and I think Vanilla Earl Grey would be the best place for me to start! If it has vanilla in it, it’s worth trying :)
Viva La Tea, let me know if you want to try some of this one. I also hadn’t tried a very high quality Earl Grey, and the Darjeeling really makes a difference!
I ordered a 3oz amount of the Mariage freres wedding blend after a friend has said they were having a hard time finding a cheap source of it for a wedding…I was hoping I could reverse engineer it (as I have a talent for that kind of thing) and was dismayed to find that the tea itself is a base FOP (probably Ceylon) but that it was chemically scented with a flavor oil (no flowers/fruit and oily sheen gave that away) that smelled very much like dolly madison zingers (anyone remember those from being a kid?). I couldn’t bring myself to cup it and sent it to my friend with the words of my defeat and asked him to present it to the bride (whose favorite this tea is) as a gift for the wedding…turns out the company is very strict in thier selling policies and only sell it through a few US sources (its UK based) and they wouldn’t even discount it for the celebration of a wedding or sell it to me in bulk for repackage as wedding gifts to the bridal party…thought that was somewhat ironic…..
Kashap:
1.) I wish I had the talent to reverse engineer anything. Even if only to brag about it and use the words reverse engineer more often.
2.) Is is horrible that when you said Dolly Madison Zingers my mouth watered a little bit?
3.) I really like you.
4.) I know… just because tea is French doesn’t make it automaticly good or high quality. Merde is merde. BUT have you seen the MF glass apothecary jars??? I get that it’s just packaging but I neeeeed them.
5.) Lovely chatting with you.
no…i totally agree…zingers make me want to watch reruns of charlie brown cartoons and curl up with a cup of tea after dashing through some leaves ‘calvin and hobbes’ style….and reverse engineer is a fun injection…and its TOTALLY ok to jazz up on apothecary jars…even if its just an excuse to use the term apothecary ;)
Glass apothecary jars? WHAT? Why doesn’t my tea shop have these? I would pay obscene amounts for that! I already love their black tins and can hardly bear to part with them, but I do manage to give them to friends.
Ashmanra, lookie
http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/UK/ft+earl-grey-french-blue-glass-jar-of-iced-tea+TF8005.htm
Dean & Deluca (my stateside connection) doesn’t carry them either, but I will have them :)
Now, that’s frustrating! I clicked on the link and it says that the page doesn’t exist. How about this one:
http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/UK/lts+teas-from-the-world.html
Yes, but merde sounds so much nicer. I have not seen the glass apothecary jars, and yes, Kashyap, I rather enjoy writing apothecary. ;) I need to check out the MF jars… and I admit that I’m not thinking Mariage Frères when I write MF.
I’ve never used this site, but I contacted them about trying to get Lily Muguet, which I’ve been dying to try. (Only in Europe for now…) This one is in Illinois for the low, low price of $57.00.
http://www.porterouge.biz/category.asp?lt=c&catid=2372&pindex=all
QuiltGuppy, MF, MF, MF. Now that I have that out of my system, I have to say that $57.00 doesn’t sound that unreasonable to me. And that’s how I know that I’ve offically lost my mind.
Using the word “apothecary” makes me feel sciency in the same way I think being able to reverse engineer would :)
I think Porte Rouge has the best MF selection in the states, definitely, and the exchange rate is actually equivalent without a markup… a 40euro apothecary jar of tea on the MF translates to a $57 jar on the Porte Rouge website! (That’s one of the reasons I didn’t buy any MF teas in Paris that were available in bulk at Porte Rouge)
WAAAAH! Gee, thanks! I just googled their website and found about a dozen things that arer absolutely beautiful. And the prices are pretty obscene. I can almost guarantee you that their cast iron teapots are absolutely identical to the ones at Teavana, but cost considerably more if I am right on the current exchange rate, and I think I am since eldest daughter just got back from Europe. I would put up a brand new set of shelves to display those jars if I had them! Beautiful! Wasn’t it Rachanac who got some MF tea at a yard sale for fifty cents each because a lady had liked the black tins and wanted them for kitchen decor and then didn’t use them? (Gasp!)
I emailed Porte Rouge about the Lily Muguet tea and they were very quick to respond and say that they have it and it should be on the website this weekend. :D ((big smiles)) I’m going to give them a try.
Ashmanra, yard sale MF? What a weird and wonderful happenstance.
QuiltGuppy, you are some sort of tea shop Svengali! Lily Muguet wasn’t on the website, you ask about it, and poof it will be available for purchase this weekend? Yay you!