 | "If I could adjust this blend to suit my own personal taste preferences, I would kick up the lime (and tangerine) flavors a bit. I would love this if the lime were a little stronger and maybe even creamy."
|
“Wonderful Earl Grey (bergamot) with a teasing hint of tangerine and lime. Commands a faithful following.” — The Teacup website.
When I first saw this sample available from The Teacup, I was on an Earl Grey kick and quickly requested it. Until recently, Earl Grey had never been a blend that I had particularly liked. Then one day, I happened upon a blend through Teaviews that I had found amazing and suddenly started drinking all kinds of Earl Grey and its Le Creme cousin. I am a big lover of lime and would love to find a good lime tea, but most lime teas tend to be pretty sour.
The aroma coming from my sample is very aromatic and mostly smells of a strong bergamot presence with maybe an extra twang of citrus. I steeped my leaves for 4 minutes in water that had been brought to a boil and allowed to cool a few degrees. I added a pinch of rock cane sugar to this as well as I tend to find that I like my earl grey lightly sweetened. The steam coming from cup did not allude to any twist of tangerine or lime that the description of the tea indicates, but mostly smells of just regular earl grey.
Typical of some Dammann Freres blends, the black tea base is what dominates this cup. It is smooth with just a touch of dryness brought to your palate. The earl grey taste is on the more mild-moderate side. I often find that earl grey sort of makes my mouth tingle a bit and this offers just a mild case of that. I found the extra citrus notes in the cup gave this a bit of pleasantness that I enjoyed. While, I didn’t find this to be a consistent experience while drinking the cup, I occasionally enjoyed a lime (?)aftertaste that would linger between sips. The tangerine was pretty much lost on my tongue or mistaken for bergamot.
If I could adjust this blend to suit my own personal taste preferences, I would kick up the lime (and tangerine) flavors a bit. I would love this if the lime were a little stronger and maybe even creamy. Overall, this cup appealed largely to my preference for a less strong bergamot presence. This is about the strength of bergamot that I like. The black tea base was good (though no one tops Rishi’s black tea base on their earl grey). This was a pretty pleasant cup that is worth your consideration.
— To purchase The Teacup Le Gout Russe Douchka, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular tea, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
 |
Laura Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on Laura's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by Laura. |
 |
When I drink a quality Keemun tea, a little voice in my head whispers, “Now that’s a real cuppa.†And my intellectual curiosity about all other teas is put to bed and I savor the dark, smoky intensity of ‘real tea’. It’s not that Keemun has ever been my favorite tea but it has always been one from which I receive comfort in continuity. It was the first loose leaf, unblended tea I ever tried. The memory of that first experience is probably the source of that little voice in my head. British accent & all. My first premium tea outings were in the tea rooms of London.
Green Walnut has to be one of the better tea blends that Tea Guys offer. This tea is surprisingly complex, dominated by nutty and and sweet overtones, with mild fruity flavors throughout. As has been my experience with TeaGuys all along, the names of their tea blends really don’t do them justice. With a name like “Green Walnut”, one would expect green tea flavored with walnut. While this blend does contain green tea and walnuts, one will also find almond brittle, pineapple, coconut, almonds, and natural flavors. This tea brews to a pale green color, and lacks an overly vegetal flavor, which is a good thing considering the types of ingredients blended with the tea leaves. In this case, the tea itself really is a minor player in the flavor profile. The nuts and pineapple come through the strongest. I was really impressed with how well all of the flavors melded together. This tea has a natural sweetness, but it is not too sweet, almost as if just a hint of caramel flavor sweetened the brew. I will definitely consider ordering some of this for myself. This tea would be great for those that wish to take advantage of the health benefits of drinking green tea but have not acquired the taste for earthier, unflavored varieties of green tea.
I would say I am a fan of Mighty Leaf. They aren’t my favorite, but they offer good quality blends and a wide variety to choose from. They also offer a wish list functionality on their website, which I love, love, love. For these reasons, I’m almost sorry for what I’m about to write. The ingredients in this blend are simply white tea, ginger, and lemon myrtle. No fuss, just three straightforward things that I’m quite fond of. I like Mighty Leaf’s white tea, and I love ginger, so I was sure this would be a blend for me. I only had to take one sip to know that I’d been mistaken. Don’t let the ingredients mislead you; there is no ginger in this blend, not even the slightest aftertaste. There is lemon flavor here, but it’s watered down almost to the point that it’d taste like dishwater. It’s one thing for flavor to be delicate, but this is pretty nonexistent.
If I can never get a hold of a good silver needle white tea, Bai Mu Dan (or white peony) is my standby. What I was unaware of is that the stuff could be ported to a bagged tea. By itself, white peony can stand its own ground. Of the white teas, I think it has the deepest dimension of flavor. Not my favorite, to be certain, but definitely there. An earned eyebrow arch goes to the Kalahari company for positing grapefruit as a possible mixture for it. I take that as a challenge.
Oh boy. This tea is going to be difficult to write a vaguely interesting review about because, in my opinion, everything about it is relatively nondescript. Mighty Leaf’s Brazilian Fruit smells fruity. The leaves and black and, once again, I didn’t manage to find any actual fruit chunks in it (As an aside: I’m starting to think Mighty Leaf only puts 2-3 chunks of fruit or whatever else is in the tea in every ounce, then picks those out for the pictures so it looks like there’s more. This disappoints me – I like my teas chunky). It tastes fruity. The aftertaste is fruity and slightly creamy. I can drink the entire cup without really realising that I’m drinking it, which is a good thing because it means there’s no gross aftertaste or outstanding negative flavours, but it is also a bad thing because it means there are no outstanding positive flavours, either.
Recent Comments