bravedave

It’s a morning where there is a lot weighing on me. With a burning, burning, yearning feeling inside me, I decide to brew up some supreme. Too many companies get earl grey wrong. Countless earl greys use a cheap and poor-quality black tea base that leaves either an overly bland or excessively harsh brew. There are also earl greys aplenty where the bergamot is too dominant and the result is a perfume-like taste that destroys the blend.

Fortunately, Harney and Sons got this one right. The black tea base is pleasing and of good quality. The bergamot is subtle and in balance. There is a gentle, slightly-creamy taste to this earl grey. Harney and Sons added ceylon vintage silver tips to the mix. Not quite sure if the addition adds much. If anything, it may work to ever-so-slightly soften the tea.

While not totally blown away, in total, this is a well-formulated blend. This is the earl grey that you can drink daily and warmly enjoy. Oh earl grey supreme, you came into my heart, so tenderly.

The music is playing and my dancing shoes are tied. I’m ready to move. There are certain things in life that just simply thrive in combination. Cheese and wine being one. Laurel and Hardy are another. How about black tea combined with black currant?

Stick your nose in a canister of Harney and Sons’ black currant and you’re quickly engaged with a strong, berry-like scent. Taste this tea and you are experiencing a certain harmony. Black currant, which first originated in Tibet and later brought into Europe, provides a tart, slightly sour taste. When combined with the black tea, an inviting balance is met. The strong nature of the black tea with the tart notes of the black currant dance in lock step. Too many flavored black teas on the market have their flavoring overwhelm the tea. Not so here. Harney and Sons uses the black currant as a tasteful, nuanced enhancement. Never is the black currant overpowering. This is well executed.

For those that like lemon in their black tea, this black currant can make a nice, milder alternative. Less acidic and less sour than lemon, yet still exhibiting a well-mannered tartness. This is one of my favorite flavored-black teas. Now, excuse me while I sip some more and waltz.

As someone without much experience with the gunpowder variety of green, I decided to play some Russian roulette and brew up a batch. After spinning the cylinder and smelling the brew, one word comes to mind: smoky! The scent reminds me of a freshly extinguished campfire. This is not a warm and cozy aroma! On the outset, this bold scent has me concerned. I don’t want my tea tasting like an ashtray.

Upon sipping, I’m pleasantly surprised. This green has a fairly-strong, earthy taste. Subtlety-hidden is a honey-like hint. But that is quickly forgotten when a more smoky flavor comes barreling in. After a few cups, the blood is definitely rushing to the head. Be prepared, this is a tea that unquestionably has a strong caffeine content.

Harney and Sons describe this as a “a good everyday green tea”. I disagree. As an everyday green tea, I want something sweeter, softer, and less offending. Only some sort of adrenaline junkie would want this daily. Occasionally, for a smoky-mature jolt, this tea may work. I stumble out of this game of Russian roulette shaken, but alive to see another day.

Bland. Conventional. Pedestrian. A first-class earl grey should be an important staple that every good large tea company should strive for. Teavana with their premium prices and the self-important feel that their brand portrays falls flat here. This is a tea that is a slight step above your average teabag earl grey, but far from the better loose leaf earl greys out there. The flavors lack punch. There is no vibrancy. It’s drinkable, yet dull. Teavana should do better, and you the consumer can do better. Move along.

Ponder life’s great enjoyments. Think love. Think beauty. Think wonder. Think Teavana’s boldly-named Joie de Vivre? It takes quite a bit of hubris to declare your tea the joy of life and do it in the language of love, no-less.

On this windy and cold, brutal winter night, I sit hoping this Teavana blend will radiate some light on my evening. This fruity tea brews to a very mild yellow color. The peach-like smell has me recalling a warm mid-summer day. A glowing day that feels so, so distant. My excitement builds as I take the first sip. Bring me joy!

Upon tasting, I am quickly brought back to a harsher reality. This light and smooth blend has an interesting peachy-grape taste with a fairly-strong lemony aftertaste. It’s a tea that at first grabs attention due to the intersection of some unique flavors. But after the initial element of discovery, this tea becomes rather uninspired. Where is the joy? While not terrible, it hardly lives up to it’s haughty name. This is a tea that would likely be better served iced, while sitting poolside, with a nice colorful straw poking out. As I peer out of my window into the total eternal darkness known as winter, I’m left feeling dispirited.

I’m the type that likes a good, natural caffeine kick to help stimulate the senses and push the creative side of my brain in motion. In the local mall, I stopped into Teavana and asked, no demanded, for something with a high caffeine content. My search was for a tea that would get me bouncing around the room with energy. I was presented with MateVana, an interestingly scented, soulless creature.

I will preface this by saying, I usually don’t care for chocolate-flavored teas, but decided to give this one a shot. This ‘tea’ does not taste quite like tea. It’s a thick and rich, coffee-like brew. The heavy nutty-chocolate flavor is overwhelming, almost too overwhelming at times. One sip tastes like a nutty hot chocolate and the next tastes like a mocha coffee with a dash of vanilla. Where is the tea I ask!?

This supposed ‘tea’ did nothing for me. It neither awoken my creative side nor stimulated my taste buds. MateVana lies in some wasteland between hot chocolate and mocha coffee without any real reason for being. If you’re a chocolate lover, this tea may be acceptable to you. But, caffeine with no soul does not leave much to be energetic about.