Premium Earl Grey

I traded presses with a coworker, giving him the black pearls, and getting this in exchange. We both get the second steep. The wet leaf in this smells very orange today. The Ceylon Yunnan base is solid and the French bergamot smooth. A nice cup.

Trying this again today, using a lower temperature and a shorter brew time (200°F / 2 minutes), and it made all the difference in the world with this Earl Grey tea. This tastes so much better!

The black tea base is rich and strong … the blend of Yunnan and Ceylon teas gives this a robust, full-bodied flavor with hints of spice in the background and I really like how that pairs with the bergamot tones. The bergamot is not quite as strong as in some Earl Grey blends, but, I wouldn’t call it light. Interestingly enough, with the lower temp and shorter steep time the bergamot is more pronounced than it was yesterday with the higher temperature and longer steep time.

This is an excellent Earl Grey.

Second tea of the morning….. (SRP #32)

This sample was provided by Fusion Tea Room. (Thank you, Thomas!)

I have had many an Earl Grey as it is one of my favorite flavor profiles, so I was more than willing to give this one a try before it goes up for sale. This one has a mellow bergamot. I would not call it light, just mellow in that it is not super citrusy. I guess that means it leans more to the floral side. Yes. Mellow and floral, but not perfumy. The tea base is interesting. I did notice it was a little more smokey than the usual Earl Greys I drink, and then I read the description here…..it has a Ceylon and Yunnan base. The floral bergamot and the slight smoke from the Yunnan is a very good flavor match. There is also a hint of a bite/briskness from the Ceylon, but again it works with the floral and slight smoke. All in all a very well done Earl Grey. I like that it is a bit different from the usual ones I have been drinking. I think Thomas mentioned that this would be available around June 1, 2012.

Usual mug method with about 200 water and a 3 minute steep. Lightly sweetened.

Sometimes I have trouble differentiating Earl Greys. There are just so many, and the basic ones blend together. I do love them though, but I prefer blends with a little something extra to make it stand out. But I’ve been looking for a good everyday, “plain” EG so I was pleased to get this as a sample from Fusion Teas.

This smells strongly bergamot-y in the bag, but it’s more subtle brewed. The citrus is complemented by some faint smoky and fruity notes, and the black base is just as strong if not stronger than these competing flavors. It’s a particularly smooth EG, good both with and without cream & sugar. This is a good evening earl, without some of the astringency or briskness in some blends.

Liberteas Thanks for this!
It’s a really great premium EG, indeed!

I really like the black tea base, here, it’s splendid!
The bergamot is a bit on the lighter side but I am ok with that. It seems to flow nicer than most EG’s perhaps because of this fact.

There is a hint of a crusty-bread after taste to this, too, and I REALLY like that about it! YUMMO!

I thought this was a very tasty and smooth earl grey. In my experience, you must be careful in brewing it and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. I attempted to brew it like a standard black tea using boiling water but this produced a bitter tea. I tried again with a temperature of approximately 190-200 degrees Fahrenheit and it was DELICIOUS. It was a more mellow earl grey than what I am used to but it was very unique and delicious. Man, earl greys have really grown on me… I’m really enjoying my samples from Fusion and I’m thinking I’m gonna have to place an order in the future.

The scent is very strong! Okay, here’s the deal. I’m giving Earl Grey a second chance. The only times I had had it, years ago, were as bagged teas. I disliked it then, but I think I really ought to give it another shot. The leaves smell very strongly of citrus.
The tea black is really interesting. Moderately astringent and with a definite citrusy flavor but… I like it! Shocking.
I actually like it better without milk – the milk adds a nutty element that doesn’t blend so well.
I think I’m a fan though – hurray for (re)trying (old)new things!

Sample package label:
“Fusion Teas, Premium Earl Grey
1 tsp. per 8 oz. water @ 203*
Steep 2-3 min. Sweeten to taste
Ingredients: premium black tea with bergamot
Black Tea Collection”

Per: http://www.fusionteas.com/Premium-Earl-Grey.html:
“This soft, highly aromatic bergamot black tea is of the highest quality. The excellent basis of Ceylon and Yunnan is perfectly in tune with the flavoring. A light and pleasant smokey nuance accompanies the typical bergamot citrus flavor. Experience a top-class Earl Grey Tea

Ingredients: Ceylon and Yunnan Black Tea with Bergamot.
1.5 tsp., 203*, 2-3 min.”

Technique: Tea mug with Finum brew basket. 1 Teavana tsp. (2.5 g – My Weigh Durascale D2 660), 8-oz water with total dissolved solids (TDS) of 26 ppm, heated to 212*F and allowed to cool to 203*F – verified with DAVIDsTEA thermometer/timer. No sweeteners, milk or cream were added.

Introduction: The typical Earl Grey tea has a 100% Ceylon base. Some Ceylon teas used in E.G. can be quite astringent. This E.G. is different in that it also includes Yunnan tea.

Most E.G. teas are also light- to medium-bodied. While my wife loves the aroma and flavor of a well-balanced EG, she typically does not find them to be strong enough. To compensate, she will increase the amount of tea leaves and/or the brewing time. However, you can only increase those two parameters so much.

Fragrance: This black tea has that wonderful classic EG bergamot fragrance.
Dry leaf: Uniform moderate length, dark brown leaves.
Liquor: Clear & coppery

2-min.: Medium bodied – I’ll give it another minute.
3-min.: The subtle aroma follows the character of the dry leaf’s classic bergamot fragrance. The flavor definitely follows both the fragrance and aroma. This full-bodied E.G. is expertly balanced. The bergamot does not overshadow the base black teas. There was no hint of tartness. The addition of Yunnan provided a very smooth sip as there was no bitterness. There was a mild drying effect on the finish of the sip, which slowly developed into a mild sense of astringency as I finished the cup.

I then tried 1.5 tsp. (3.8 g – My Weigh Durascale D2 660) / 8 oz. / 203 F / 2 min.
Using 1.5 tsp. provided a very full-bodied cup of E.G. with and an enhanced aroma at only two minutes. The sorter brewing time also reduced the astringency. How to have your cake and eat it too! (However, you’ll use up your Premium E.G. stash faster.) The mild drying effect on the finish of the sip was still present.

Lastly, we tried: 1.5 tsp. / 8 oz. / 195 F / 2 min. Now we’re talking! – Very smooth, rich, and strong without any bitterness or astringency.

Impression: This is a smooth, very well-balanced, full-bodied Earl Grey with a pleasing bergamot fragrance that does not overshadow the Ceylon/Yunnan base tea.

My wife enjoyed this E.G. enough to have four cups. She very much enjoyed the fragrance of the dry leaves. To her sense of smell, the aroma was not as strong as the fragrance. The flavor to her was not as bright as her regular classic EG. She also appreciated Fusion’s attractive high quality packaging.

Suggestions: We’d like to suggest a greater percentage of this very fine Yunnan in the base tea may further minimize any astringency and just a little more bergamot for a brighter flavor.

Thanks to Thomas Egbert of FusionTeas for kindly providing this free very generous sample.

The bergamot is STRONG dry, and still pretty assertive in the taste but less over-the-top. I’m seeing now lots of other Steepsters recommend a lower temp (I already cut the time from my normal 3 or 4 minutes to 2 based on the smell of the dry leaf). I will try that next time and see if it softens it. As it stands it’s not bad, but also not a favorite.

I want to send a big shout-out to Thomas at Fusion Tea Room for your amazing service (100 rating, I swear) and the wonderful (and generous) samples. My first review wasn’t great, so please read this one instead if you already saw that one!

This is a re-do of my first review. I am heating the water now, and I am going to ensure I have the proper water temperature. I’m going to let the pot cool for a bit, and then try again.

time lapse Yeah, because I’m not going to make you wait.

Smell: Dry, in the bag. OH MY GOSH OH MY GOODNESS OH MY……Just wow. I love the smell of Earl Grey, and I could just smell this the whole time I am waiting for it to steep. I mean, I don’t know if you can eat tea straight up, but if you could, I would want to eat this. That may be weird, but it just SMELLS SO GOOD TO ME! It’s a light, citrusy (did I spell that right?) aroma, and it isn’t too strong. It’s just….heavenly! :-) As it is steeping, the aroma isn’t as strong, but still as good. I am going to up the rating just because of the smell….

And my temp. slider won’t let me set it at 203 degrees……but 205 isn’t that off, so yeah.

Taste: Ohhh yeah, that’s perfect. This is a very smooth Earl Grey. There is NO bitter in here. None. So I take back my previous statement about Bergomot being bitter in general.Well, ok, I taste a small amount of…not bitter, but just the strong taste of tea in general, you know? But the Earl Grey! The flavor!! THIS IS AMAZING!!! And it’s amazing what temperature change can do! Two packets of sugar in the raw and this is perfect for me. And yeah, you may think my rating is high but THIS IS THE BEST EARL GREY I HAVE EVER TASTED!! It is even a bit better than my favorite, also 100 rated Earl Grey tea. I’m going to have to bump that rating down a bit, since it has been so long since I’ve had that EG anyway. I don’t think I’m ever going back to bagged tea again, not if it comes in a loose form. (Or if it is just one of those really high quality places anyway. I can do that.) I want to just ramble on. I LOVE this!

And this review is supposed to be completely honest. So here is my honesty: The first steep, before I re-adjusted tea temp, wasn’t so good. I could drink it but it wasn’t that good. But now that I have re-done it, THIS TEA IS AMAZING I AM NOT LYING!! BEST EVER! EVER!! And to know that I have CHOCOLATE CAKE HONEYBUSH BY FUSION TEA ROOM THAT I HAVE YET TO TRY? Oh……………boy.