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Queen Catherine from Harney & Sons
72

This definitely isn’t the first time I’ve brewed up a cup of Queen Catherine, but it may very well be the first time I did so without screwing it up quite badly. This is part of a swap with Simply Jen W from probably a year ago now. Clearly, punctual tea drinking is not something I put on my resume – though I do appreciate all swaps and samples, very much so!

This time I used a teaspoon of leaves, steeped around 3 minutes and have a much more pleasant seeming cuppa. (Last time it got busy at switchboard while it was steeping and I had a 15 minute steeped disaster). This is an odd duck. It doesn’t quite smell like black tea, there is another edge to it. It smells as if it should be bitter, but the first sips yield a slightly sweet liquor. Again, it’s not quite plain black tea, there is something different here. There is no bitterness (a bonus in my book!) but there’s not really a lot of character either. As it is, I would have no porblem drinking this but I can’t imagine craving it either.

Thanks for the chance to sample, Simply Jen W!

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Bio

I am a lover of many things, but my prized possessions include my records, tea and books (not necessarily in that order!) I embrace local food and good cooking as much as I can, and place great value on time with family and enjoying the bounty of nature. While I live in a city at the moment, my heart lies in the country and I am to be married there this May under my grandmother’s apple trees.

I am drawn toward good Chinese blacks, enjoy some herbals and the odd roasted oolong. Greens and whites can make me nauseous, but I will have flavoured ones on occasion. While I don’t yet enjoy puerh, I desperately want to. Chamomile and coconut are the devil though, I wish they didn’t exist. Mint has been a particular favourite of mine since childhood, and I enjoy both flavoured and pure teas pretty equally. If it’s well crafted and delicious, I’m there!

As for ratings, I try to only log teas once or twice because I drink a lot of the same ones repeatedly. My rating is based on my perception of the tea at first tasting and is adjusted if anything notable occurs in subsequent cups. For some reason, I don’t really like to rate things below 60 even if I don’t like them, but I’m TRYING to use more of the scale, rather than just the top half.

86 – 100: WOW. I need this tea on hand at home, work and with every relative or friend I tend to visit.
76 – 85: This is a solid tea. I enjoy it, and would recommend it to others.
61 – 75: Just okay. I can drink it, but I don’t necessarily want to. Will try again if I have to, but life is too short to waste on average tea.
41 – 60: Bleh. Might finish it, but it’s not to my taste OR just doesn’t impress me at all.
0 – 40: No thank you, please. Take it away and don’t make me finish the cup.

Location

Canada

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