Raspberry Earl Grey

I am so behind on tasting notes! I have officially vanquished NaNoWriMo and am currently at 55k, but I’m only finally getting to the third and final arc of my book so my writing is far from over. As such, I’ve been devoting all my writing time to it and not to Steepster, though I have tried to keep up on everyone else’s tasting notes and threads!

I got this in a very generous swap with Dinosara. Raspberry + earl grey? Hell yes, sign me up! In the bag this smells intoxicating, super yummy and fruity. Since I got it I’ve tried it both cold brewed and hot, and I like it equally both ways. Cold brewed the raspberry is very prominent and quite authentic and juicy. Hot it has a rich black base, strong for an EG but I don’t mind it. The bergamont is subdued but nicely citrus-y both ways, and it’s distinctly an Earl Grey. This is definitely a tea I could see adding to my permanent rotation since I don’t have a solid fruity EG—maybe I’ll have to try out some of Ovation’s other blends before I make a decision!

I ordered this ages ago, tasted it, and decided I wanted to let it “meld” for a while since Ovation blends their teas to order. Then I promptly forgot about it, until I decided to make a cup today to try it out before I sent most of it out in a swap. I have cold-steeped this once in the interim as well, and it turned out nicely.

Last time I found myself not fond of the bite of the assam base, and without clear flavor profiles. This time I will say that the flavors have mellowed more and I get pretty decent raspberry and citrus notes. It’s not super bergamotty, but it is enough so to definitely be an Earl. The black tea still has a kick to it, but not overly so. Tasty enough, but not one of my faves.

Thank you Dinosara for including a bit of this in our trade! Sadly, I heard yesterday that Ovation will no longer be in business. I really wanted to try many of their blends, and this was the only one in my stash, so I thought I’d try it this morning. The idea of this one just seemed dreamy. Earl Grey and raspberry?!? I steeped for four minutes in boiled water that I had let cool for a few minutes. I didn’t really smell any bergamot and I didn’t really taste any bergamot. There is a slight hint of raspberry. I really like the black tea base though! It’s a nice malty, medium flavored black tea. The steep color is a coppery brown. I’ve REALLY been on a malty tea kick lately. I wish I could drink malty teas every morning. I keep thinking of Golden Moon’s Sinharaja but I only have a little left of that one (that Momo kindly sent!) and that stuff ain’t cheap. I might have to splurge on some when I run out though. It will be one of my treasured teas. Anyway, I like this one but it isn’t the best representation of a bergamot tea. I wish I could try more of Ovation’s teas though!

I think I’m done with this tea. I don’t know what it is, but blech. I tried it without any milk this time and the bergamot is soooo strong and bitter. I just can’t deal. So yeah, I have a lot and I’d like to get rid of it. January will see it on the Get Rid Of It thread, I think.

Tea #16 from Traveling Tea Box C

This one bites back! I have to admit, I love raspberry whenever I can get the flavor without those horrible seeds, so I was very curious about this blend. I followed the directions on the bag, but I think less leaves and a slightly shorter steep would have helped. This is somewhat intense, with more briskness than I anticipated. The raspberry is also not very distinct, and falls into more of a vaguely fruity category.

My first tea from the ’Here’s Hoping’ Teabox. It’s a very good choice, if I do say so myself!

The bergamot is not overly strong, but it allows the raspberry to be the star of the show. I like that the raspberry is a fruity flavor rather than a candy one. So the taste is mostly of raspberry with the bergamot being a lovely end note. It’s absolutely delicious! The black tea base is strong, which I also like. I wish more EGs were paired with a strong tea base!

I’ll definitely resteep this tea later today. I wish I had known how good this was before Ovation went out of business. C’est la vie.

Tea #7 from Traveling Tea Box C

For some reason, I found this to be a little harsher than the lavender earl grey, which leads me to believe I may have very slightly overleafed my cup. Regardless, this was quite an enjoyable cup of tea. The citrus and raspberry components came through quite well and stayed around for the second steep. I would have preferred just a tad more raspberry flavor to better balance out the flavors.

This is what I was hoping Numi’s Berry Black would be and I am so happy that Ovation Tea chose to omit hibiscus flower. The floral “perfume” side of bergamot is missing, leaning toward the fruity lemon side, which is particularly enhanced by addition of orange peel. I’m not sure of the tea base; maybe Ceylon, maybe Keemun. The tartness of the raspberry hides the pure flavor of tea from my palate. I followed the instruction to brew for 5 min but I will go back to my usual 3 min next time. I do detect a dryness/astringency that might be diminished with a shorter brew. Today, I made two separate pots, one of 52teas EGC and this raspberry EG. Yay for finding another way to make EGC last longer.

The Ovation EGs I got were very sharp in taste when I first got them. I decided to give them a while to settle down, they made their way to the back of my cupboard only to reemerge now. Now this tea seems a little on the weak side. I added a little sugar which rounds out the raspberry. The EG flavors are pretty muted which gives the raspberry a little room to come out. Adding cream knocks out the flavors a bit and leaves it tasting more like just a black tea. Not super exciting, but better with just sugar.

TTBC Rd2

I wanted to like this tea…really, really wanted to like it. I enjoy tart fruit flavours and have a longstanding love for the Earl, but the two seemed to clash dissonantly in my cup.

Perhaps it was a mistake with brewing, but this was definitely not the tea for me.