Grounded Premium Tea

I definitely don’t think myself an expert at all but a cup of this today didn’t go amiss. Warm, sweet and malty, this is a comforting cup and stands well straight.

Pearls aren’t a go-to for me, but I received these as a sample from Grounded and wanted to make sure I gave them a fair review. The only other pearls I’ve tried were from t2, and Grounded’s are a lot more subtle—more pearls per cup required!

WELCOME TO A DELICIOUS MOUTHFUL OF BACON TEA!

For real, it’s been a while since I’ve had some lapsang souchong, but I can’t remember other brands I’ve tried being quite this preposterously smoky.

This is divine, from start to finish. A real single malt whisky of teas.

A big beautiful mug full of this delicious brew got me through a rough morning after, if you know what I mean.

I’m not sure exactly the combination of events that left me feeling like this today but I’m going to point most of the blame at 1. staying up playing DnD until 3:30am and then 2. overindulging at the market this morning (I didn’t expect there to be both bagels and doughnuts left by the time I got there, a blessing and a curse).

In any case, I didn’t want another cleansing green like the other day, but I wanted something… similar. Same same but different. What a picky cow.

Reaching for a lovely and delicate plain black, however, was the right idea.

After a couple of days of lattes it felt time for a nice clean green, so this afternoon I reached for my samples from Grounded and the Dragonwell called my name.

This steeped tea is such a vibrant yellow, wow! I was surprised to see such a crazy colour.

I’m definitely not a green connoisseur and I’m generally not even drawn to them but this was just what I was craving this afternoon, so that’s interesting. It tasted spot on from what I’ve come to expect from a good green leaf. Great job, Grounded!

My sample of White Peony Rose was very pretty to look at while it steeped, but the flavour was just all white tea. Lovely white tea, at that, but nothing came through from the petals. Brewed at 85°C for three minutes or so.

Grounded let me know that they’d recently emboldened their Bold Breakfast, so I had to give it another try…

And it’s definitely a much Bolder breakfast these days! Yum. This is full of guts, even with a heaped tsp of leaves in a mug around 12oz big. Both black and with a splash of milk, I’m a fan, and a couple of cups of this really helped with the wake-up process this morning.

Great job, Grounded!

My last cup of this sample this morning. It was a nice breakfast tea but I wasn’t overwhelmed; good while I had it but no urge to restock.

Forgot I’d run out of fresh milk prior to making this, but I did buy some almond & coconut long life milk the other day. LUXURY.

Setting your alarm for 8:30am when you start work at 9am is a bit silly. It also means you can’t go through your morning aeropress ritual. Thank gosh for gutsy breakfast teas. This one is just perfect with a splash of milk and no sugar!

I got up easily today so I didn’t have any coffee… but then by lunch time I realised I needed some caffeine pretty badly. Thanks, Bold Breakfast. You really stepped up to the plate. And with only a dash of sugar you have a bit of grunt in you today!

A lot gutsier with a higher temperature and some more leaves… but that’s probably understandable? I added too much sugar though :( wasn’t quite a teaspoon but still too much for this lady.

Today, my first tea from my first Mr. Earl box! Well technically yesterday—I loaded up the timolino with some of this too before hitting the road for the day, but today I’ve got to sit down and get a proper taste for it.

The 85°C steeping note got my curiosity up, because this tea is literally just black leaves + other black leaves + some more black leaves. I did as I was told both yesterday and today but I think with the last scoop I’ve got I’m going to try at just off boiling. I’ll admit that I steeped for longer than advised both times, 3-4mins advertised and I went for around 4-6.

I’m getting lovely black with a touch of maltiness, but not the real grunt of boldness I was expecting from such a name.