No. 514 Golden Earl

I finally caught up with my Paper and Tea order that I thought I would enjoy with my Dad over Thanksgiving. It took them 4weeks to ship my order, but it actually arrived rather quickly when it was finally shipped from Germany. I told my Dad to open it, and he tried a few, but he didn’t continue, he is used to black tea in a full pot, not individual cups.
So I get to do an advent now and this one displays the joy and heartache of Advent tea, you get to try new teas and there will be some you don’t like. If this wasn’t a Yunnan base I would not have tried it, but hey I gave it a shot. It is bergamot to start and chocolate Yunnan to finish so I am torn, do I grimace with each sip to get to the Yunnan underneath or do I just toss it? If you like both flavors, this is a very nice EG, but it’s not for me.

Paper & Tea 2022 Advent Day 18: Golden Earl

A wonderful EG! I enjoyed P&T’s Red Earl as well as their bergamot is insanely smooth and seemingly complementary to all things. The floral notes are more mellow than others, yet the overall taste is very clean and almost crisp. We’ve been drinking these completely out of order, so although Emerald Earl was day 16 (and this is day 18), I haven’t yet tried the green base. I am quite excited to get to it. This one I would happily keep in my cupboard.

Golden Earl is P&T´s most “classical” Earl Grey blend, one that is not only very fragrant but also visually very nice (tea leaves almost too beautiful to steep!). P&T indicates that this blend can be infused 3 times and although I really enjoyed the first en 2nd infusion, I believe that the 3rd is not good enough. The aroma´s are strong, with the citrusy notes coming through in a natural way. Even after the second infusion, the tea leaves maintain the typical bergamot fragrance, which I can appreciate.
I bought this tea in a tin, and I must give an extra good mark to P&T for the excellent tin design so tins can be safely stacked; the branding is another very strong point of theirs.

Sipdown (621)!

Finished this one off yesterday morning. It’s a very, very visually stunning Earl Grey. One of the nicest, highest quality tea bases I’ve ever seen used for an Earl Grey, in fact. Taste wise it’s pretty solid; brisk, tannic black tea with notes of malt, red fruit, and honey and a bergamot note that is intense (but not overwhelming/unpleasant) and bold. Really has a strong citrus peel/zest element as well. It pairs very, very nicely with the black tea used…

Really, this is Earl Grey but elevated!

Strong citrus zest explosion on the nose. The leaf is just bursting with the pleasant aroma of orange jam and honey. There’s even some minty freshness present. The leather notes are there but somewhat overpowered by the bergamot. They’re most prominent if the first seconds after hitting the leaves with the hot water. The liquor is a gorgeous deep amber color with rose gold hues. The flavor just goes on and on even after the fourth or fifth infusion.

Since I’m a designer I’m pretty visual. Paper & Tea caught my eye for it’s outstanding branding & after some research that led me to conclude that the brand posses an authentic love & knowledge for tea. I’ve never seen tea leaves this beautiful. As soon as you open the sealed envelope that made it all the way through the Atlantic, the aroma is unbelievable fresh as if just picked & packed: fresh, preticor (the way the earth smells after the rain), citrous & a hint of honey & caramel. Don’t have a point of reference for black teas from Yunnan but I feel it’s a bit less bolder than the regular blacks, but holds a nice character strong enough for a pick me up tea, the bergamot is always present but discretely & the tastes of honey & caramel comes with every zip making it almost a treat. The best thing is that this is one of the few teas I posses that holds 2 brews pretty well. The liquor is amber & gold like a sunset.