Countess Grey

Thankfully I’m feeling much better today. Whether I’m actually improving or it’s just all the new cold medication I have now, I don’t know, but either way I’ll take it. I thought I’d dig into another one of my samples from SimplyJenW. Thanks! I know these Countess/Lady Grey teas are usually more of afternoon type blends, but I don’t follow the “tea rules” anyway, heh.

The dry leaf smells very orangey, with perhaps a hint of brighter bergamot backing it up. Steeped, I again get that orange aroma, along with some black tea. The orange is pretty fresh and juicy smelling. The flavor pretty much follows the aroma pretty closely. Primarily orange, but with just a hint of the brighter bergamot in the background. The tea base is smooth and pleasant, with a bit of maltiness, but it’s not a very strong component of the sip. This reads as a nice orange tea with a little something extra!

This pot of tea has been a long time in the making….

EDIT TO ADD: Their delivery service is appalling. I cannot in good conscience give this tea a good rating. Service = 0, the tea was about an 80. I loved the tea gift from my friend and wanted refills. See the places section for Fortnum & Mason – online for my review.

First of all, a dear friend was making a trip to London this past month where she usually stops at Fortnum & Mason. I asked if she would mind picking up some tea for me. After perusing the site, this is the main one I chose. It is a light and citrusy twist on Earl Grey. I really like it (which is good because she bought a big tin)! The bergamot is light and it almost tastes like there are lemons in there! Refreshing! Kind of like Lady Grey from Twinings but better.

24 oz teapot, 4 1/2 actual teaspoons tea, freshly heated water, 4 minutes. Lightly sweetened.

The other part of this was my new electric kettle.
Aside: I did buy an inexpensive plastic one on vacation last week because we did not have a kettle of any kind at the lake, and I was not wanting to pour boiling water on the counter every time I made tea (pouring boiling water from a saucepan is tricky and somewhat dangerous.) The plastic electric kettle was cheaper than the stovetop one at the store. Now, I have a serious electric kettle dependency…It is so fast! I am saving the plastic one for travelling.
Back to the story: I ordered the Adagio VarieTEA last May as a gift for my birthday and it arrived today. Thoughts on the Adagio kettle> Pretty slick. I was a little concerned when a few reviewed it on Adagio’s site and complained of leaking. So far, no issues, but if I had them, I am pretty sure Adagio would make it right. The buttons on the front are just touch sensitive and don’t really press. The only plasticy parts on it are the handle and a removable filter near the pour spout which is out of the way of the heating water. I am guesssing this gets pretty hot on the outside, and it was heavier than the plastic one, which is pretty much expected. The fill guage is under the handle and not super easy to read, but it works. All in all, I am happy with it, as long as it does not leak. I like that it has several setpoints at 150, 165, 180, 195, and 212, and a keep warm feature.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 10 (sachet)

I am not making a note for the tins advent because I already have, this year and last.

This is one of the sachets I was most looking forward to because it is not duplicated in the tins advent. I was looking forward to trying it for the first time only to come on here and discover that I tried it eleven years ago!

I usually dislike any Earl Grey on a Ceylon base, but this is is the exception. I think the bergamot in this one is stronger than their Classic Earl, Earl Green, and Victoria Grey (VG was mostly lavender to me.) It is the orange flavor that makes a big difference in this one.

Talk about citrusy! This one really is, and I liked it very much. It isn’t shy. I changed things up a little. Since I was really looking forward to it, I didn’t combine two steeps as usual. I made one steep in my Kamjove, poured a small cup of tea, and resteeped. So the resulting second cup of tea was heavier ln resteep and less an equal blend.

Surprisingly, as much as I liked that first steep, I liked the milder second steep even more. It had such body, almost an oily texture, I have no idea how or why. The bergamot was turned down, the base and the orange were a little turned up. While I don’t feel a need to have any Earl Grey on my shelf usually – Paris and The White Duke fill the bergamot bill for me – I wouldn’t mind having a tin of this.

Thank you SimplyJenW for this tea!!

Mmmmmmmmm! Orangey! It’s like a very orangey instead of bergamotty Earl Grey, and it’s absolutely delightful. Very smooth tea base that lets the flavoring shine. And the flavoring! It’s so natural. I tastes exactly like the juices and oils that squirt out of an orange when you peel it.

When one has been through an earthquake (albeit minor) and hurricane (albeit minor) in one week, one needs a little something zesty, punchy and DIFFERENT to put everything back in its place, and this tea is absolutely perfect for this purpose. Bonus: this was a kind gift, which makes it 29834092840 times as wonderful, imo.

Thank you Jen! Another one I adore!

This is a fantastic blend. The citrus is quite strong as soon as you open it (which I like), and is prominent in the taste. I only steeped it for 4 minutes, though I think it could’ve stood a little longer. I had it with one milk. Will add more notes for sugar/steeping time.

This is certainly one of my favourites.

I was in London a few weeks ago, and went to one of my “tea heavens”—Fortnum & Mason. I picked up this gem and let me tell you, it’s pretty perfect.

It’s slightly citrus-y, complemented by bergamot. The nice thing about this one is that the citrus-bergamot flavoures don’t overpower the tea. Seriously, this is one well balanced blend.

Happy to have it in my cupboard now, so I have a little cup of London every morning!

Adventageddon Day 10 – Tea 3/4

Double digits, baby!!

Today I pretty much just continued my fandom catch up from yesterday, though this time with some comics I picked up ages ago and just haven’t had the time to sit down and read. My favourite thing from the day was honestly today’s bright and zesty jam from Bonne Maman. It was lemon and yuzu, and it tasted like sweet and zingy sunshine!

When I saw the F&M tea today was an Earl Grey I knew they would work well together. I didn’t actually look up what the “twist” on the EG was until just now writing this review, but when I smelled the sachet I could tell it had some kind of extra citrus added to it. I actually thought it might have been lemon, but that may have been me projecting the flavour of the jam onto the tea. Turns out it’s orange! Regardless, I enjoyed this much more than the lasy Fortnum Earl Grey in the advent – the classic. This was fresher and a bit sweeter, with less of that metallic sort of twinge I found off putting.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0sEWVnuQOF/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsmLXW05n8Q

Advent Day 7

This is a pretty light EG. It is very smooth and has a bit or orange in the finish. Not super exciting. Something you can drink while doing other things and not be distracted by.

Very citrusy tea. Surprisingly a little bit bitter.

My absolute favourite earl grey.