I have returned from home away from home, Black Rock City. I did have some tea experiences there, but they will have to wait until I get some photos processed.
Upon my return, our first trip to the grocery store yielded two new teas: Republic of Tea’s Good Hope Vanilla-Rooibos (so I can quit stealing it from my boss, I adore it so), and Zhena Gypsy Tea’s Raspberry Earl Grey.
The Zhena varieties said “closeout” on the pricetag, so I panicked and grabbed one of each, but then my senses came about and I narrowed it down to one, and will return for the others after payday.
Raspberry Earl Grey won out over the others, which is a bit strange. I’ll confess that I avoid fruit teas because they never seem to taste as good as they smell, and I find fruit teas that aren’t blended with real tea leaves to be seriously lacking in depth.
This infusion is a smooth, only slightly astringent Earl Grey, and the raspberry comes out in the aroma moreso than in the taste. But as you know, our sense of taste walks hand in hand with our sense of smell, so the raspberry does come through on the palate.
This is one of the few Earl Greys that I am not tempted to splash with cream and sugar. It’s uplifting, as the packaging promises, and I look forward to enjoying this one in all seasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was delicious on ice.
Raspberry Earl Grey contains 1/2 the caffeine of coffee. Zhena teas are Fair Trade Certified and Certified USDA Organic.
One last note – I’m excited to tell you that I ordered a gongfu cha set from ebay. It’ll take a few weeks to get here, so anticipation will be running high for a while.