Ok, sorry for the Jean-Luc Picard reference, it felt obligatory. I have notes on several different Earl Grey teas, and I thought it would be fun to spread them across a week...thus, Earl Grey week is born.
Earl Grey is one of those ubiquitous teas that everyone seems to know. It's probably the most well known flavored tea; the unmistakable citrus, pine aroma and taste come from the peel of the bergamot orange, a citrus plant native to southeast Asia, but also grown in Italy and France. There are several different stories regarding how Earl Grey tea was introduced to England, all of them probably apocryphal...Prime Ministers saving Chinese emperor's lives and whatnot. What is fact is that Earl Grey tea was first given as a gift to the eponymous 2nd Earl Grey in the early 1800's, and spread throughout England's upper class from there.
Earl Grey was originally solely blended from Chinese black teas, but these days I find it's mostly Ceylon, which is probably less finicky and better suited for blending than Chinese black. The bergamot aroma is unique, sort of like a cross between Seville orange and fresh white pine needles. (As an aside, you can make an herbal tea by boiling white pine needles in water. It's startlingly high in Vitamin C, and must taste horrible.) A good Earl Grey will have mild floral notes from the tea, which should blend with the bergamot, rather than simply get lost in the mix. The tea should have a bite of astringency, and plays well with the addition of lemon, though to be honest, I usually add milk. It's not as traditional, but it goes well enough. Earl Grey is a traditionally an afternoon tea, and the bergamot aroma is pretty relaxing. I find the tea a bit too "tangy" for a morning cup, but others' mileage may vary.
Truthfully, until my wife discovered Cream Earl Grey earlier this year, I hadn't had a cup of Earl Grey in a long time. Earl Grey was one of my first favorites, along with Irish Breakfast, when I really started drinking tea, but I got burnt out on the citrusy/piney taste quickly. Cream Earl Grey offers a slightly different take on the tea, with the cream offering more sweetness and that velvety texture to balance out the bergamot "tang." Cream Earl Grey, as with several different Earl Grey variants, has cornflower petals blended in with the tea. I cannot for the life of me figure out if this is simply ornamental, or if the cornflower actually adds to the taste of the tea. They're a nice shade of blue, anyway. The tea has a long, smooth finish, and leaves a sweet, creamy aftertaste.
Cream Earl Grey is a great cup of tea, and has become a fast favorite in our household. Though traditional Earl Grey doesn't feel like a breakfast tea, we can drink the cream variant any time of day. Score: 92 (A-)
Stay tuned for more Earl Grey variants: Russian Earl Grey, and Baroness Grey!
No need to apologize for dropping Star Trek references. That's just how you roll.
ReplyDeleteMy workplace stocks free teabags for some Bigelow varieties: English Teatime (didn't it used to be English Breakfast?), Green, Orange and Spice, and Earl Grey. In the afternoon I occasionally have a cup of Earl Grey with milk. It's okay.
Huh, Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" just started playing in my head.
ReplyDeleteWe have Bigelow teabags at work as well...I think they're an office/breakroom universal. In fact, if your workplace gets office supplies from Staples, we probably supply them to you. I'll use Bigelow teas in a pinch, but I'm not a big fan...they brew up kind rather astringent.
Even with all these cool variants, Earl Grey is still a sometimes tea for me. The bergamot gets kind of cloying, and the taste sometimes sticks for hours.
I would be ashamed if you _didn't_ make a Picard reference when writing about Early Grey. I've also had the Bigelow tea, but I think I enjoy the Twinings version better. Of course, both of those are probably worse than the Tea nerd equivalent, but the Twinings Early Grey has been a constant for me, even when I didn't drink much tea...
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