Green of London

I recently received a lovely email from Fanja at Le Palais des Thes explaining that Green of London – Earl Grey Mao Feng is now available at their SoHo/NYC Store! Exciting!!! They sent the Sororitea Sisters a batch of their brand new US release and we are VERY excited to try this!

I must say – I cannot remember if I have had an Earl Grey flavored Mao Feng before. I know I have had Senchas, as well as other types of green’s that were EG flavored but I really don’t remember a Mao Feng!

I do really like this! They hit the nail on the head for EG flavor especially with the Green tea base, here! It seems to be the perfect level of EG flavor to be strong and true but you can still taste the Green Tea base which is grassy and sweet. The Bergamot is really nice too! And there is a hint of floral flavor and it increases as I continue to sip!

This is a nice sipping tea as well as a gulping tea. I enjoyed this hot and cold. Pretty brilliant!

This is my second Earl Grey of the day, and it just doesn’t compare to the first (Lupicia’s). The bergamot’s not as strong as I’d like, and the green base just isn’t working for me. It’s quite grassy, and while grass plus bright citrus sounds like a perfectly pleasant combination—and I know it can be; I’ve had some wonderful greens with strong natural citrus notes—I’m not enjoying it here. Plus, there’s something about the aroma of the brewed tea that reminds me of stale cigarette smoke. It doesn’t carry through to the flavor, but still. I’m not picking up on the florals, but then I also can’t see any petals in my sample bag (ETA: There actually were some petals; I just have terrible lighting in my apartment). This was interesting to try, and now I know that green EGs aren’t really my thing. Thanks for the sample, Nicole_Martin!

Palais Des Thes Advent Calendar Day 10:
The sachet says to use 170F water but my tea kettle only has a 175F setting which is what I went with to brew this cup.
I prefer the Black tea version of this over the green tea one. The green tea doesn’t come through nearly as much as the one in the (Blue Of London version). I drank this one while doing some other stuff but the bergamot is the primary flavor I’m getting. I wouldn’t purchase this but it’s still not a bad cup of tea. Though I think there are probably better Green Earl Grey Tea’s out there.
Update* This resteeped very well I resteeped it using 185F water for 5 minutes 30 seconds

Palais des Thés Advent Calendar – Day 10 (from November backlog)

So this is the green tea version of the Palais des Thés “Blue of London” black tea. I find the name quite clever, replacing the “Blue” with “Green” for green tea. Cute!

Unfortunately, I’m finding this rather blah. The base tea is boring and mostly tastes of dried grass. It’s also not really strong enough to stand up to the bergamot, which ends up taking over. The bergamot itself tastes fine, it just comes out tasting a bit like bergamot water because of the base tea.

I think I’d stick to the black tea version, which has a lovely Yunnan base.

Tea #1 from Considering a new TTB

When I pulled this from the TTB I knew this was the tea I wanted to start with, I’ve been looking for a good Earl Grey Green and just so happen to love Mao Feng. I’m impressed with this tea, it manages to have the perfect balance of bergamot and green tea for my tastes. The bergamot is strong, but not overwhelming, letting the sweet grassy notes of the green base peak through. It’s a nice change of pace from the classic earl grey blends I typically enjoy.

This tea will not be continuing on.