drank Earl Black by 52teas
1018 tasting notes

Day Four

Before steeping it smells like pomegranate and black current juice. After steeping it luckily mellows down a bit and I’m able to pick up more of that vegetal, buttery white tea. Instead of following the packet instructions, I steeped “a small spoonful”, in my Perfect Mug, in low temperature water for about 4 minutes.

I can pick up citrus qualities from my cup, although it’s nowhere near as extreme as my Silk Road Earl White- a tea with a real overload of citrus and bergamot. Earl Black is more like a tame, almost flat, juice that may have seen a squeeze of citrus; just enough to give it a sour note.

It has a similar body to Big Apple from David’s Tea. Buttery mellowness, a little bit of fruit pizzazz, and some other notes that indicate that all the ingredients at one time or another came from a plant. The texture is oily. Astringency is almost nonexistent. Somewhat pasty, flaky, doughy when it cools down.

Comforting buttery qualities make me really like this but it isn’t a Super Adventure 9000+ Tea. The oil may seem ill-fitting with the fruity flavours at times, too.

I’ve never had a blackcurrant tea so I am personally highly amused and won over by this, although bergamot and strong flavoured it is not. The tea was also pretty lackluster on second steep.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 4 min, 15 sec

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Bio

I started my Steepster loose leaf adventure back in 2012. I can’t say I’m completely new anymore, but I still view oolong as a magical, extraterrestrial creature that unfurls in water.

Favourite Flavours/Ingredients:

-Vanilla, Maple, Caramel, Cream, Toffee, Nougat, Marzipan
-All Citrus: Lime, Grapefruit, Lemon, Bergamot, Orange, Yuzu
-Anise, but not licorice
-Ginger or Clove-forward chai
-Rosemary
-Grass/Marine/Vegetal/Nutty Green teas
-Florals: Rose, Lavender, Jasmine…
-Musky and/or Woody Incense-like stuff: Sandalwood, Frankincense, Eucalyptus
-Berries: Blackberry, Raspberry, Currants, Blueberry, Elderberry
-Bananas, and most fruits actually.

Less Preferred Flavours/Ingredients:

-Stevia and most sweetners
-Cinnamon-forward chai/blends
-Apple & Cranberries
-Mango pieces (love mango outside of tea though)
-Coconut pieces (as a sub/filler ingredient)
-Metallic or overly artificial teas
-Cocoa Nibs, 95% of the time.

Subjective Rating System 3.0:

90-100: My absolute favourite tea. I’ll impulsively buy in large quantities and hoard like a dragon.

85-89: A favourite tea. I’ll try to keep this one around when it’s practical.

76-84: A good tea, but not one I’m likely to order again.

70-75: Alright, but I may have a few problems with quality, consistency, ingredient chemistry and/or personal preferences.

50-69: Average to mediocre cup.

11-49: Varying levels of undrinkable tea. I don’t give a lot of these ratings out, since I tend to grab tea I know will appeal to me.

1-10: Nightmare tea from the chaos realms. This tea is the embodiment of the primordial swamp, the unholy abomination that is a chimera. It’s very gross and I’m almost positive it doesn’t exist.

Location

BC, Canada

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