Harney & Sons

I bought a whole pound of this ages ago, and probably shouldn’t have; though it’s a good decaf, it’s now gone a little flat. Thanks to a suggestion from jacquelinem, I think I can salvage what’s left—a few hunks of brown rock sugar restored its depth of flavor a bit.

Still in search of the ultimate unflavored decaf black tea that has the flavor punch of its counterpart, but this one still qualifies as highly plausible.

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This was a sample from my recent order. It smells better than any of the teas I bought from Harney & Sons — a rich tea and bergamot aroma. I am feeling a little tired this morning and hopefully this tea will do the trick of making me alert and ready for this beautiful Friday. I’m so looking forward to the 3 day weekend! Just have to get through today.

There are no steeping instructions so I’m playing this by ear. It turned dark REALLY fast, so I’m not steeping it for very long. I can’t detect any bergamot in the tea itself — just a strong black tea smell. I’m looking forward to trying this! Oh darn, the bell rang… luckily it’ll stay hot in my thermos and I can try it when I have a spare moment. Hello first graders!

Whew, finally got a moment to breathe, drink my tea, and log it. This is pretty standard Earl Grey — nothing to write home about. I do not think I would buy it because there are so many other Earl Grey choices out there. For example, Revolution Tea’s Earl Grey with Lavender! Yum…

Just a note of continued appreciation for this one. I love Golden Monkey so much, and Harney’s is still the most consistently delicious one that I’ve found. Sweet honeyfruity which turns milky on subsequent steeps. Fantastic resteeper. Good at any temperature. Wonderful with a croissant!

I am very low, and I just checked — there is some available to purchase. It’s pricey, but very much worth it to me. Heaven.

The dry leaves smell like berries – I’m reminded a bit of the aroma I get from the dry leaf of Republic of Tea’s Black Raspberry Green. I really enjoy the Black Raspberry Green, so I consider this a promising sign. Once the tea is brewed, it still smells fruity. I’d say the aroma is more reminiscent of currants than of berries at this point. That’s still good – I like both berries and currants.

The flavor of the tea, though, is not particularly strong on either currant or berry. Bergamot definitely seems to be the dominant flavor. The base is quite smooth, and it does come through reasonably well. I don’t taste much in the way of berries, but I am getting a mildly fruity aftertaste – more on this later. I’m not getting any vanilla whatsoever, nor do I notice anything that particularly strikes me as caramel. There is that sweet, fruity aftertaste that I don’t entirely care for – I almost feel like I’m left with a sticky coating in my mouth, as if I’ve just eaten something sugary. Maybe that’s meant to be the caramel? I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea with caramel flavoring before, so it could be that my expectations are a bit off. I’m not usually a huge fan of teas with more dessert-y flavors, anyway.

I really want to like this one, but this particular mix of flavors just isn’t doing it for me. I definitely prefer plain Earl Greys for those times when I need a bergamot fix, but I’m happy to have been able to try this tea as it’s one I’ve been curious about for some time. Thanks to ToiToi for the sample!

So I totally wasn’t planning on drinking tea tonight because I don’t have a good collection of decaf teas and I have up be up early tomorrow buuuut I drank some hot apple cider and it was the NASTIEST THING EVER. It was way too sugary and gross. I think because I’ve been so accustomed to drinking tea, all that sugar was no good. I had like two sips then I gave up. It was gross.
HARNEY TO THE RESCUE. Jasmine is caffeinated. I don’t care. I NEED this tonight.

I got this as a sample in my recent order and decided to try it tonight as I wanted something new and a caffeine free tisane. My family used to grow Lemon Verbena and I always loved the smell. It’s a wonderful herb! I never thought of making it into a tea, though.

I’m not loving the smell of the mint and the verbena together – they kind of clash in my nose. I hope they mesh in the mug!

So far it’s a very mild blend. Not too minty, not really overly lemony either. This would be good with chamomile. My roommate is trying this tea with me tonight. He’s not usually a tea drinker, let’s see what he thinks. “Fine, but a funky aftertaste.”

That sounds about right. There is a light sour taste that lingers, which is somewhat cooled by the mint. I don’t know, I think I prefer these two ingredients separately.

Brrrr… it is a chilly and grey morning here in the bay. I am very much looking forward to my first cup of the day. Black tea and stone fruits sound delicious this morning.

Opening the little tin, I’m getting a strong artificial smell, much like the Paris tea I tried yesterday. I wish Harney & Sons used natural flavoring, or threw in dried pieces of the fruit instead of adding an artificial note to their tea.

The tea immediately turns a golden color and the smell changes to include the aroma of the tea itself. My room is starting to smell like fruity tea! I’m running a quick errand while I wait for it to cool.

It tastes okay. I’m not super blown away, but judging from the smell I did not think I would be. I really prefer natural flavoring. If you like fruity teas and aren’t so biased against artificial flavors you might like this tea. It’s a nice blend.

Mmmm… the dry bag smells like frosting! That’s a good sign. I was very disappointed to discover that all the teas I ordered from Harney & Sons were artificially flavored. I must have overlooked that on the website when I was ordering! I’m bummed. I’m trying them anyways, of course! Not worth pitching a fit over, but I wish I’d known before I ordered.

I decided to try another tea after my first one did not quite hit the spot. This was the only white tea in the bunch and I wanted to try to get a little less caffeine this afternoon.

I’m not going to lie, I totally bought this because of the ‘Tea for Marriage’ angle. Let’s hope it brings a little luck my way in that regard! I am looking expectantly at my ring finger as I type, hahaha. Oh well, a watched pot never boils! Unlike this tea water, which is more than ready to go.

Mmm… the warm tea smells less like frosting and more citrus-like. It tastes very much like lemon and vanilla, which are not flavors I usually like in my tea but I don’t mind them in this tea. I keep getting caught up on the artificial flavoring thing, though. This tagalong tea tin is beautiful and would be a good wedding favor. If you love vanilla frosting or lemon then this tea may be for you.

Mmm, I’m interested in this tea — never tried it before. The fruity smell of the tea was strong in the bag but after steeping the aroma of the tea itself came out more. It brews up to a lovely reddish-brown.

I’m so happy to report that the fruit is not as strong as it originally smelled. That would have been too much — I’m still getting used to fruity tea. This is a fine black tea blend! The fruit taste is there, but barely. I think with sweetener it may come out more, but I don’t usually sweeten my tea. This tastes fine by itself.

If you like subtly fruit-flavored teas, then give this one a shot!

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Not as smoky as I was anticipating (makes sense though; my intro to smoke teas was a very hardcore lapsang souchong served at Crumpets and this is my first keemun-on-its-own); brewing it smells more like toasty chocolate than anything, with the smoke sneaking in on the chocolate note’s coattails. The smoke’s subtlety is really quite nice here because the bigness of the toasty chocolate aroma complements it so well.

Does taste rather bitter (which kind of works actually, with the chocolate aroma…makes it seem like an almost painfully dark bar of chocolate). I’d steep it for a minute less next time and see if that makes it perfect.

Made this one as a cold brew. Brewed for about 26 hours. It is very strong bergamot. There is definitely a lemon taste (like lemon juice) and I get a peppery taste that you get with the rind of a grapefruit. I am super happy with this one hot or cold.