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This came as a sample in my American Tea Room order. It’s fine, but no stand out as gunpowders go. A bit on the light side, with some hay notes. I have yet to find anything from ATR excellent enough to justify their prices — with the exception of Brioche, obviously. That’s how they keep getting me to come back.

The description of this sounded pretty intriguing, so though I already have H&S Earl Grey Supreme established here as my house earl grey, I sprang for a tin during the black friday sale.
How do the two compare?
1. I think Earl Grey Supreme is still technically the better tea. Something about it just tastes higher quality.
2. The Victorian London Fog is noticeably finicky to make. If you set a timer, you’ll be fine, but I have a bad habit of wandering off like a space cadet, and I appreciate teas that can be a little more forgiving.
3. Having said that all that, when it turns out right, the London Fog is really delightful. The light vanilla and lavender notes are a delicious accent to the earl grey. And there is a bit of nice cream flavor too.
I don’t think this tea is going to supplant the Earl Grey Supreme any time soon, but it’s well worth trying. And really when you think about it, there’s nothing wrong with keeping a back-up earl grey around ;)

Got this as a sample in my recent order. There were no notes that really jumped out at me in this tea — as the name suggests, it is kind of a general flavor of the season profile. A little spice, maybe a little citrus? Still it was a very cozy, pleasant tea with a well-matched base, and I wouldn’t at all mind having more.

Drinking this classic tea while I cyber-shop for more tea. Living the dream.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. If you’ve been online much lately, you’ve probably already seen the Net Neutrality posts, but just in case not, this site gives a run down: https://www.battleforthenet.com . Basically the FCC is trying to use this holiday season to throttle the internet. I hate to bring politics onto Steepster, but I’m not sure we’ll even have Steepster for long if this goes through.

The cardamom in the bag smells SO STRONG, but actually there’s just a nice hint of it in the tea. I think I might prefer this to the chai, but I can’t decide yet.

So I don’t particularly get vanilla in this, but it is a nicely balanced chai. The spices are present but not overwhelming, and the base is smooth. A good tea to have around now that it’s gotten chilly.

This came as a sample in my order. It’s a nice enough black tea with a hint of sweetness, but I do not taste caramel, and honestly, I never do taste caramel in caramel teas. I don’t know what they’re going on about. The only tea I’ve ever had that tasted caramely was Je T’Aime from Nina’s Paris, but it wasn’t really billed as a caramel tea, per se. And then they went and messed up the recipe, so that one’s out too now.
Caramel: The Phantom Flavor

Pretty basic lemon tea, but I do like this one a lot better than the Devonshire Cream. Still experimenting with the steeping parameters.

Just got my first order in from Amitea. I think I’m going to try this again with a shorter steep time, because right now the base is way overpowering the flavorings. I get just a little hint of vanilla and cream. It’s pleasant enough, but I’m getting astringency far more than I’m getting the richness and smoothness of Devonshire Cream.

Hooray, got a small order in from NMTC, so the cupboard doesn’t feel quite so bare now. This was a little sample they threw in. It tastes very much like English Breakfast, but a bit lighter and mellower. It’s fine enough, but probably not going to become a staple around here.