TE01: Season's Pick Earl Grey Creme Vanilla

I tried this as my afternoon tea today to really see the difference from Teavana’s Earl Grey Creme. I think this one is more creamsicle tea, and the other is more Earl Grey and vanilla. I think they both have their place, but I am leaning more toward the other…..

(I can’t wait to see if there is any difference between the Teavana and Metro……. ;) )

Help! Too much black tea today! I wanted to drink and write about Anxi Fo Shou from Verdant. But it tasted weird and sour. I think either the water is off or my tastebuds are off. Then I opened up my bag of Laoshan Black thinking I’d get one good cup of black, but had the same weirdness going on as for the Fo Shou. I had two steepings of each. Now I’m cold brewing them cause if I have more caffeine now, I think I might explode. But there’s so much flavor left in those leaves! I’m freaking out! I think it’s a good day to try that banana caffeine cure I read about. But first, this tasting note.

So I didn’t actually have this Earl Grey Creme Vanilla today, thankfully. I had opened this packet for the first time at work a couple days ago. It’s been crazy stressful and busy so I haven’t had time to write a note before now. But anyway, this tea smells amazing. So sweet and delicious. Like an orange creamsicle. It was always my favorite from the ice cream vending machine when I was a kid. Of course, I managed to spill half my sample onto the floor when I ripped open the packet, so I got to smell that deliciousness all day long as my rolling chair kept going back and forth on those leaves. Eventually, I figured out I could pick up the leaf bits with the lint roller I had in a cabinet, but then I could still smell it from my trash can.

Anyway! I can’t concentrate when I’m over caffeinated like this! So the tea! Tasted pretty good, but left an odd aftertaste that I associate with artificial flavors. Upton doesn’t always use natural flavoring, but I don’t make a big fuss about it since the majority of my diet is pretty natural, I figure a bit from the occasional tea can’t be too bad. But when it tastes funny like this…well, that’s when I wish they had gone for natural flavoring.

Overall, not bad, but I’ll be looking for a better EG Creme. The one from SpecialTeas was quite tasty. Alas…

Now for that supposed banana cure!

EDIT Okay, so, skeptical as always when hearing a vague scientific claim, I googled the banana/caffeine thing. Turns out the “science” behind the banana cure is pretty shady. Ah well, at least my banana blueberry smoothie was delicious.

Ah. There we go. This is the first in the series of Earl Greys in the Upton sampler. In my zeal to taste the lavender one, I didn’t see the little number that indicates this is the first in the group.

In the can, this smells like vanilla, then tea. The vanilla isn’t a pure, beany vanilla smell. It’s more the ice creamy/cream soda variety of vanilla, which makes sense given the word “creme” in the name. It does make me wonder whether anyone has done a pure vanilla Earl. (Note to self to be on the lookout.) Thinking back on it, I’ve mostly seen Earl Grey cremes, with or without the word vanilla included. I can smell a citrus note toward the end, which is where the bergamot seems to be hiding.

The tea’s aroma is very pleasing, creamy and citrusy, with an undercurrent of sweet black tea. I think I’m already noticing a trend here in the Upton Earls, which is that the bergamot and whatever else is flavoring the tea sit above the tea base as a foundation more than interacting with it.

V. nice flavor. Much better than the only other Earl Grey Creme I have had, which was by The Necessiteas. The bergamot is not strong at all, perhaps not even strong enough, though it does give a citrus accent to the creme that keeps the creme from running away with the tea completely. The primary flavor is the creme vanilla sitting on top of the tea.

I think I will try this at four minutes next time and see what that does to the flavor.

I don’t usually reach for Earl Grey teas, but if there’s some creamy vanilla added in there’s more of a chance I’ll try it. The bergamot is many times too overpowering.

So enter this offering from Upton provided by Alphakitty! The dry leaf smells a little chocolatey and creamy. Hmmm… that might be because there was a H&S’s Florence sample in the swap too. I’m pressing on anyway.

Brewed 2 tsp of leaf with about 10 oz of boiling water. The wet leaf smells a little like cream soda! Ok, now we’re talking! :)

I did try this without sweetener first and was pleasantly surprised there was very little bitterness. It’s very smooth, which is also something I find lacking in many EGC’s. A little rock sugar added and it brings out more of the creamy vanilla.

This is a really nice offering. I can’t say that I’ve ever had a more enjoyable EGC before. And it’s my first sampling from Upton. It’s going on my shopping list when I get around to building up enough of an order to justify a purchase – thanks Alphakitty!

First cup of the day. I’ve lost a little of my love for Earl Greys, I think because there are just so very many out there. I’ve yet to explore the world of cream EG’s, and this may be the beginning of a beautiful thing! This tea leaves smell like a creamy and sweet lemon dessert. The tea itself has a black tea and vanilla aroma, with just a hint of bergamot. The flavor is more robust than I was expecting, with a really strong lemon note. The light, creamy vanilla citrus flavor comes in the aftertaste. Adding a little milk seems to soften all of the flavors nicely. This tea reminds me of a light, airy dessert. Thank you, Mercuryhime, for this sample!

Birds have built a nest in a vent outlet just above our back porch. From inside, it sounds like the birds are right in the wall between the kitchen and bathroom. All of the chirping can be a bit annoying, but it is funny how every time we make a loud noise inside, it sets all of the babies off chirping like crazy. I hope that they are ready to leave the nest soon (and it sounds like they are!) so we can close up that vent! :)

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell like creamy and sweet lemon. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and vanilla with a hint of bergamot.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark orange brown color.
-Strong malty and lemon flavor and finish. Light creamy vanilla citrus aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A soft and creamy cup. Reminiscent of a light lemony dessert.

Thanks to mrawlins2 for this beauty. The creaminess is addictive. The bergamot is perfectly balanced. I added some rock crystals in the brew basket and a splash of milk. I thought I had found the earl grey that Jean Luke Picard enjoyed, but honestly this is probably the one on the captain’s shopping list, it is so enjoyable because it is NOT perfumy in any way and there is absolutely no bad after taste. If you are still looking for a drinkable earl grey, give this one a try.

This smells interesting in the tin (I bought the sample set). I couldn’t tell what it smells like in the little perfect tea maker I have it steeping in. In my cup I get a hint of vanilla, the rest is all earl grey. Which isn’t bad, but I had hopped for more of a vanilla creme flavor as was advertised in the name on the tin. Still yummy! This is also the third earl grey (I think) in my quest to like this type of tea.

I love how this one smells so I’ve been anxious to try it – it’s vanilla-creamy with a splash of creamsicle-like orange. And I’m a sucker for anything orange, so yeah. Post-steeping the smell is awesome. It reminds me (what I remember) of SpecialTea’s Earl Grey de la Crème, which I really enjoyed (though it has been years since I’ve had it).

Additive-less, the initial sip seems a little sharp but the aftertaste is sweet and creamy. Mmm. A few sips in, the sharpness evens out and I’m left with smooth, creamy, sweet but not overly Earl Grey-y tea. The citrus bit pops up mostly at the end of the sip and is nice and bright but sweet in a way that doesn’t really scream citrus fruit so much as fruit-like candy. It’s nicely sweet but I almost want to add sugar to fully realize the dessert potential of this tea.

Ultimately, this falls more in the dessert tea category for me than Earl Grey category, but that’s okay because I like the dessert tea category a lot. I have a feeling I’ll really fall in love with this one when I put in some sugar and milk (and thus the rating might go up).

Oh my gosh! I bought some teas from MissB and also asked for some samples of others and suddenly there was a sample explosion of way more samples than I expected! It is very appreciated. thanks so much! That means I should really be working on sipdowns… my collection seems ridiculous right now but maybe 2/5ths of them only have 1-2 teaspoons left. I’m going to try strictly sipdowns OR trying new teas for the moment… not so much old favorites I have a lot of. SO I apologize in advance for the continuing avalanche of tasting notes. :D I had to try this one first, as I saw in a tasting note that someone mentioned this one tasted like SpecialTeas Earl Grey de Le Crème. Now, if there was a catastrophe, and there was only one tea I could save from my collection, the Crème would be it… my ancient one ounce package that only has a few teaspoons left. Of course, it was an old Steepster select tea that another Steepsterer generously sent me. Here’s hoping this one has the same magic…

Steep #1 // just boiled // 3-4 min
This one is lovely, but I can tell right away it isn’t the same blend as the SpecialTeas, unless both of these blends had different batches I wasn’t able to taste or something. The SpecialTeas had crisp bergamot, very strong. This one has an almost candy-like lemon myrtle flavor to it. Different than most Earls I’ve tried, but good! Of course the cream aspect makes it taste like a lemon donut or something. The black tea bases are also very similar, but also not quite the same. I think the SpecialTeas has more of a briskness to it. A different blend than the SpecialTeas, but not terrible and a nice change! The second cup was the same as the first.. it’s odd that it reminds me of a lemon cookie (or the lemon donut that was in my dream last night!)

This just might be be my ‘go to’ (so far, just quote me on this January 2012 day) Earl Grey. I mean, why bother drink a plain Earl Grey after this one? At least, for me anyway. The bergamot is not too strong and the vanilla-creme flavor stands out….but shouldn’t it? If it didn’t, then why make an earl grey Creme Vanilla tea?
It doesn’t need sugar at all…but I guess when i’m feeling it..I could make a strong brew, add some sugar and soy milk and go to town