Dublin Smog – earl grey tea with vanilla and steamed milk
Accents Coffee and Tea Lounge on Stephen’s Street: the comfiest couches in the city centre. The music can sometimes be a little loud, but the downstairs den feels like a homely living room.
t’s a perfect spot for curling up with something warm and creamy and bad for you and forgetting about the outside world.
The first thing you taste is a hit of sweetness from the vanilla, but then the rich, citrusy tea itself sweeps in before it can overpower. It’s layered and well-balanced, the vanilla shot counters the astringency of the tea without taking away from its flavour, and the steamed milk makes the whole thing go down easy.
A great big cup of steamed milk. Yum.
Earl Grey is actually black tea, but in a blend with added bergamot oil, which was apparently originally added to make cheap and ordinary black tea smell and taste more like the finer Chinese greens. The result is a slightly citrusy note over a rich base. Accents source their tea from Suki Teas, a Belfast-based tea company that specialises in punchy, fun flavour combinations.
Relaxing and warming and not at all suitable for this lovely sunny weather, it is however perfect for curling up with a book, a chat or a laptop for work (or if you’re like me, video games). It’s creamy and sweet and very soporific, so probably not one to go for if you’re looking for an energy hit.
There are a handful of places that stock Suki Tea (including KC Peaches), but this combo with vanilla and steamed milk is not a menu standard so you might need to ask for it specially. You can pick up Suki’s earl grey tea online at www.suki-tea.com
Though it’s a little on the pricey side for tea, this a really unusual drink and pure decadence. You’re not very likely to knock this up at home, so it’s worth coming in, curling up and paying the €3.20.
Chai lattes (spiced black tea with steamed milk and sweetener) are a very similar idea, though with a stronger taste of masala than tea.
