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I have had this tea a few times before, but today it was sandwiched between Chocolate Delight and Organic Tropical Paradise. Though it is a very good tea, that was an unfair position for it to be in. To bring it up to the level of body and flavor the other teas had today, I had to add milk and a bit of sugar. Still, a very good tea, especially if you like coconut and a hint of chocolate. Milk and sugar make it a strong hint.

It is hard to say enough about how good this tea is. I didn’t have my glasses on and couldn’t even see it, so I didn’t know it was a oolong. Even though I used nearly boiling water and steeped four and a half minutes it is perfect. As soon as I lifted the lid on the tea pot to take out the basket, I saw the huge, full leaves and knew it was oolong tea. And the taste is that of some of the very best dark oolong tea I have tasted. It is smooth and the added flavors are natural and subdued, adding just what they should and nothing more. They are a lovely complement to the tea but they don’t attract attention to themselves.

Whee! Another tea from Jenn to try with Sandy! I will try not to drool on the keypad. No promises.

Oh. Oh. OH! BOY! Cinnamon, yes yes yes! But the frosting on top is there, and the warm, soft, almost gooey bread! It’s all here in this cup. Please remember that I am that one human being in America who doesn’t like Harney and Sons number one selling tea, Hot Cinnamon Spice. This is the perfect level of cinnamon, with the perfect additions to taste just like a fresh, warm cinnamon roll.
Bravo, Frank! And thank you, Jenn!

Sandy was practically daring me to try this, so I made a tiny cup of it. She really, really, REALLY did not like this tea! I thought I was smelling menthol or camphor when I sniffed the dry leaves, but upon making the tea I find that I am tasting only green tea and wintergreen. In fact, I could easily believe that I made a cup of green tea and stirred in a teaspoonful of Ben-Gay. Good thing I like the smell of Ben-Gay!

I have never had (or until Sandy bought this, HEARD of) Feijoa so I looked at her link to the Wiki article. It mentions hints of guava, strawberries, etc. but all I get is wintergreen. The wintergreen taste is high in the nose and softly fills your mouth but it isn’t as strong as peppermint can sometimes be in tea. Overall, I like this pretty well, and Sandy says, “You can HAVE it!”. Thank you! I shall enjoy it!

Edited to add: Since Sandy cautioned me that this tea frightened her horribly, I steeped it very conservatively, using about 175 degree water for three minutes.

It is finally time to drink the teas Jenn sent me! I have been saving out of these honeybush delights to drink with Sandy in the evenings and now she is back from Australia. I saved these so we could enjoy tea at night and not having caffeine keeping me awake.

This is Sandy’s first time having honey bush and she was pleased with it. It is great to find an alternative when you are not a fan of rooibos. This tisane smells wonderful in the package and wonderful when steeped. The dominant flavor is the coconut. Like many others, I didn’t taste much cheesecake. I think the honey bush itself has a wee minty flavor to me.

Final verdict, this is a great choice for have a cuppa after supper and still being able to get some shut eye! Thank you, Jenn! You are a sweetie!

Celebrating the return of both Sandy and the white throated sparrows! Now, Sandy we will only have for a few weeks before she is off again, but the sparrows will stick around until May-ish, and my happy meter goes up by fifty points if I can hear their sweet title voices before I even get up in the mornings! So to celebrate all this fall goodness, I drank tea with caffeine even though it was late! (Paid for it, too!)

This was the first time Sandy had Hunan Golden Twist and she seemed to really enjoy it. In fact, she took one sip and averred, “This is GOOD tea!” I think is planning to put it other order.

The leaves have a very powerful aroma but it is all natural, no flavorings. The steeped tea has a pretty strong aroma, too. Deep, dark honey and thick raisin-y sweetness, but yes, with that sweet bacon bite. (Is that maple bacon? I have never had it.).

I don’t recall ever resteeping this one, but I may give that a try this morning.

And tonight, Sandy and I will stick to those delightful samples of honey bush teas that Jenn sent! Sandy hasn’t tried any honey bush yet, so I am happy to introduce them to her, since she is the one who got us hooked on loose leaf!

This is one I have to buy by the pound! It is one of the few teas that nearly everyone in the house loves, and guests love it, too. The tea base is very smooth, there is plenty of tea taste, and the vanilla isn’t artificial tasting. There is a nice balance of flavor here. This is not as sweet as Vanilla Comoro, also just called Decaf Vanilla at Harney and Sons, but the tea base comes out more. I love Vanilla Comoro but even the voice of love must confess that there is less flavor in the decaf tea base, though you can get around that by increasing the amount of leaf used.

We served this at tea party today, and I must say it was not very well received. I ended up drinking most of it just to get rid of it and to allow the guests to have more of their favorite teas! I added a good bit of milk to smooth out the astringency of this tea. I didn’t do the steeping of this and the person making it didn’t know to cut the time down a good bit. I had really loved this at one time, but I am just not feeling it anymore. SimplyJenW, would you like to take in about four soon to be homeless ounces of this? I think it is one you liked.

I could not resist serving this one for tea party again today. I thought it would pair wonderfully with our low fat pumpkin dip and cinnamon graham crackers. It did! This tea evokes the holidays for me more than most teas that are trying to be holiday teas! It was the hands down favorite today at tea party. The tea base is so smooth, and the flavors are so well balanced and pleasant.

Ooh boy, did I ever need a good cup of tea today! Only four hours sleep because hubby is having acute sciatic pain and pain meds are not relieving it. He awoke at 2 am saying he hadn’t been asleep and then just talking nonsense, such as repeating “ten fingers, ten toes” over and over.

That meant back to the doctor at 8:45 am (he had gone to the hospital Wednesday night) and then the inevitable trip to the pharmacy as well as grocery shopping. A bonus there…my local grocer had Stash Holiday Chai and it was on sale. Yay!

Chilly and gray, the bottom fell out and rain started to pour. I now have a cup of Tower of London made by darling youngest, who is also reading James Herriot to me as I sip tea and munch on Pepperidge Farm Brussels cookies. I am soooo glad they sell this loose leaf now. I know you can get it by the ounce from the Millerton store, but I think if you call you can probably get it that way from the web store.

This is lightly fruity and absolutely delightful, just what I need before I hit the sofa for an afternoon, rainy day nap.

This is one of our first truly chilly mornings. There was a fire already roaring when I got up and the house is quiet because this is the last weekend before Sandy returns to her house so my girls were having one last sleepover bash with her dogs. Oh my, they are going to miss that!

I am also reading Snuff, the new book by Terry Pratchett, and Vimes just had to mention bacon sandwiches again, so being impressionable as I am, guess what I am having for breakfast? I had one unopened sample of this tea and thought it would be a perfect accompaniment.

The leaves smell awesome – pure tea plus a fruity scent. The tea itself is as I remembered – honeyed just a little, a little yummy fruity taste, sweet and smooth, but not as hefty as Harney’s English Breakfast. I am glad I have had this, as that fruity taste is beckoning and insisting that I put this on my next order. We shall see what happens as I make my way through this pot…

I have mixed feelings about this tea. I didn’t realize it was peppermint…I had Harney and Son’s Wite Christmas in mind and was looking forward to a deep, warm flavor. Still, if one has had a tough day and feels a bit bruised in the brain, I can see this tea being very comforting.

I drank the first cup plain, and got mostly plain peppermint, not too aggressive. The package recommended a bit of sugar to bring out the flavors so I tried that, and it is okay but not amazing.

I liked their Holiday Chai better, and will probably use that, Cranberry Autumn, and Boston as my holiday teas.

No notes yet.

Yes, it is that kind of day! I need fortification, so QUEEN TO THE RESCUE!

Hubby is still on couch, but yelling less. This is improvement. A herd of teenagers will be at my house tonight to dress for a zombie walk and then carve pumpkins. ( They take their zombies quite seriously and conversations around often involve planning the details of our preparations for a zombie apocalypse. ).

For all this, I need the Queen at my side. The first two cups were taken with milk and sugar but when the bagel was gone I switched to plain with no additions at all. The Queen is versatile, and my next pot of tea today will be Queen Catherine with one teaspoon of Rose Scented thrown in.

This was especially good today for some reason. Maybe I just needed a good cuppa since yesterday my hubby came home from work early with severe back and leg pain that even a trip to the Hospital didn’t do much to alleviate. We are keeping him knocked out as best we can and trying to be very quiet!

My first tea loves were Ceylons before I fell in love with fujian province black and oolong teas. This one is very nice. It has great body and just the tiniest bit of assertiveness that lets you know you are having a cup of REAL TEA, but it isn’t astringent. I can drink it plain with no problem. I prefer this one over both UVA Highlands and Lovers Leap.

I love this Pure Keemun tea! Light cocoa notes with plenty of roasty warmth, it is a nicely fortifying first cup of the day. There is no pucker at all.

Today it is paired with Pumpkin Walnut muffins. The recipe is from The Fort restaurant in Denver where Clinton held his summit, the event for which Harney and Sons was requested to create a special blend. They made Eight At The Fort in honor of the occasion, a delicious tea! Be warned, this is double pumpkin compared to many recipes, but you get about sixty muffins. We used sixty ounces of pumpkin and over five cups of freshly ground soft white Southern wheat flour. I hope they freeze well! I knows the recipe says they reheat well, so…here is hoping!

This is a hit or miss tea for me, and today was a miss. I have had it and nearly swooned, and had it when it was rather unpleasant, and I am sure it is ALL ME! I did cool my water a bit to stave off bitterness, I didn’t let it steep as long as I do most black teas, but I still didn’t manage to recreate that heavenly taste from before.

Morning tea with hubby, had to make two pots!

SOB! This is the second tea this week that I will have to remove from my cupboard, and this is especially sad because they don’t sell this tea anymore! I think of it as Golden Monkey lite, but it has many charms all it’s own. It is honeyed and caramel-y, refined, delicious with tea treats, AND it resteeps pretty well. it has lighter body than Golden Monkey. Delicious, and it will be missed!

No notes yet.

I haven’t had this tea in ages, and it appears I didn’t review back when I did have it. I am still experimenting and trying to expand my tea horizons, and I want to learn to like more teas.

The first time I had this I didn’t like it. It was too…Assam-y. I love Irish breakfast teas so I don’t know why my experiences with Assams have left a bad taste in my mouth. I am giving this one another go.

Since the leaves are somewhat fine I decided to steep for only about three minutes. I have to confess I am finding this to be a lovely cup of tea. We are drinking it with Kerrygold Dubliner cheese, which always makes tea seem sweeter to us. I decided to be bold and drink this sans additions. The most surprising thing to me is that I ampicking up a fruitiness in the cup. There is barely any astringency, mostly a hearty, bold malty taste, but not too strong.

I believe I may be able to drink this after all!

I finished my tin of this today! GAH! Is that why it tasted extra good? This is a refined black tea with rich cocoa notes, though I don’t find it as full- bodied as the very similar Emperor’s Red by Premium Steap. It was excellent, and I am placing my Harney order now because I am out of this one and nearly out of three others that I really want to keep around. I will be putting in the notes to send those teas in a bag instead of a tin as I am overrun with tins. I was so glad to find that we can do this on the website! Good bye to the handsome older brother of Golden Snail! Sniff. Sob.

All day it was gray and rainy, but warm. Now the wind is blowing hard and a cold front is moving in. Our high will drop from 85 F today to 62 F tomorrow! I just had to sit on the porch, read my new book, a have a cuppa, but I have an early appointment tomorrow and must sleep. I am not wild about most peach flavored things but I got this when I was longing for fruity iced tea. Since it is decaf and I didn’t want plain tea tonight, this was my main choice.

It is pretty decent. Honestly, the scent of 50 sachets is a bit overwhelming when you open the bag, but it steeps into a nicely flavored cup. No sugar,no milk, good stuff.

I really, really wish I could have Boston, and probably would risk not being able to sleep if not for the fact that I only have enough left for one small pot. MUST. ORDER. MORE!

A favorite of youngest, this was the third tea served at tea party today. My guest was not enamored of it, youngest drank nothing else. I guess I know what to put in her stocking!

Sweet and smokey, I can smell Mr. Holmes’ cherry pipe tobacco filling the room with its lovely scent. This is a wonderfully smooth Lapsang, not harsh at all, and very drinkable both with (youngest) and without (me) additions!