Harney & Sons

While my favorite flavored loose green tea is Teavana’s Sakura Allure, sometimes I just don’t have the time or patience to brew it, especially if I’m running out the door trying to get to class. This is definitely a good stand-in for those kinds of days. It tastes slightly artificial, but nothing so bad that I can really complain about. Like Sakura Allure, you can taste both cherry and the green tea base, so it wins in my book for that. Granted, it doesn’t taste as fresh as SA, but in terms of being in a rush, beggars can’t be choosers. I would buy again, if only to stand in for my SA on occasion.

See my previous tasting note for a full review.

Today I decided to experiment with resteeping, which is something I’ve never done with bagged tea. The results were quite pleasant. I got three pretty good steeps out of it. The second steep was just as flavorful as the first, but the third was a little too weak and lacked the cherry blossom flavor.

Steeping times:
1st – 90s
2nd – 2min
3rd – 3min

Cherries are my absolutely favorite fruit, which compels me to try out anything cherry-flavored.

The sachets came in an adorable tin and have a rather pleasant, sweet cherry blossom smell. The brewing instructions suggest steeping for 3 minutes. I cut that in half to avoid the bitterness that I usually detect when brewing green teas for that long.

The tea is a nice pale yellow and has a sweet smell. The cherry blossom scent seems a bit artificial and so does the taste, but it’s still quite good. The green tea is mild without a hint of bitterness.

It’s overcast and foggy today, so you would think it would finally be a day for tea… Sadly the wind is warm and super strong (it blew the magnets of the fridge earlier), so iced tea it is!

I followed brewing instructions from the Harney US website, as the NZ Harney’s instructions are lacking and confusing [US says one pouch= 1 gallon of tea (3.78 Liters), NZ says one pouch= 1 Liter (0.26 gallons). Hmmmm…]

I steeped 2 cups of boiling water for 15 minutes (at which point it tasted really bitter and I was afraid I had overstepped it) and then mixed in around 6 cups of cold. Now it doesn’t taste bitter at all and I wish that I had steeped it longer for a stronger taste. I ended up making just over 3 Liters worth (under a gallon) due to bottle size constraints. Overall, I’m quite confused as to how much water I should have used due to the contradictions. Anyone know?

This is my favorite tea on Earth. Granted, I love anything cinnamon and slightly spicy, and this is the perfect example. Needs nothing but a splash of milk for the best taste. Somehow, Hot Cinnamon Spice is slightly sweet all on it’s own, so it really needs no sweeteners, but I sometimes add a touch of honey when my sweet tooth is raging. It’s the perfect tea when I’m craving dessert, but don’t want the calories.

The citrus in this tea is nice. I can’t really catch any of the mint that was mentioned. I’m glad I only got a small amount of this one.

This tea is not for me. There have been other roobios that I loved (Paromi’s Cinnamon Chai), but there was something about this that simply did not taste good to me. Fortunatley my daughter liked it pretty well so at least the other 4 sachets will get used more than likely. It is disappointing not to like it as I needed another decaf choice for night-time.

Yesterday my errands took me to a Starbucks located in my local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Fortunately they stock a few of Harney’s special blends. After smelling the Hot Cinnamon and thinking it would be way too much like a cup of liquid red hots (am I wrong?) I decided to try the Pomegranate Oolong, which was a good choice. Oo la la, Loved it. At first it seemed a bit weak but the longer it brewed as I slowly sipped, the better it was. Smooth and delicious and the pomegranate taste was delicate and light. As I ordered a medium size and they used one sachet, in the future I might use two sachets for that amount of water. My preference is for a more robust tea so using two sachets may be the trick. By the time I got home and was still sipping I was wishing I had bought the 30 sachet canister. There are only two places in town that I know of that carry Harney & Sons and both have very limited flavor selections. This is excellent as a hot tea but it seems as though it would make splendid iced tea as well. I have on order already some of the Harney Black Current so hopefully it will turn out to be as good.

I bought a tin of the Paris sachets over the weekend at my local Fresh Market store. After reading all the positive reviews online here, I was excited to brew it up! Definitely, I am in the process of learning what flavors I prefer in teas. While this was a well blended tea, there is a taste in it that is not my preference. Its the same taste I pick up in the Vanilla Comora by Harney so I am presuming its the vanilla. While my favorite coffee creamer is vanilla, that does not seem a preferred flavor for me in tea. It is puzzling to me as I KNOW that I would love eating a vanilla flavored cookie with most any tea! If anyone has any idea what I may be tasting in these two teas other than vanilla that may be a common flavoring please let me know. I wanted so much to like Paris so it is a bit disappointing. I still have lots of others I want to taste by Harney & Sons and others. Does anyone have any samples of the Diamond Jubilee tea? I can trade for something in my cupboard!

I experienced this tea at a corperate function today, and I was definitely glad of it! They had a small selection of teas from H&S, but I thought this Sencha would be the most refreshing. It’s the first time I’ve sampled a Sencha, and I was looking forward to trying it.

The tea in the bag looked quite dull to start with, but it smelt good. It was quite grassy as someone else has mentioned. When brewing a hint of nut was also released in the background. The taste was similar, although the nuttiness at the back came out more to balance the grass. The wet leaves were a fantastic emerald green colour. I did feel the bag hindered the flavour a bit though, whether it was the general tea in a bag production or the steeping.

I was impressed with this first try of Sencha. I have some loose leaf to sample soon, and I expect a more natural flavour. I’m excited to try multiple uses to see how the flavour changes.

One other thing about my experience, there was lots of bits on the outside of the tea bag before I put it in the mug!

The last time I had this tea was about five years ago. I gave it an 80 rating then.

I guess my standards are higher these days. The cinnamon in this is appallingly artificial-tasting to me now. Remember those Atomic Fireball candies that burned the crap out of your mouth? The tea tastes like that. (Only without the blistering.)

I also want to note that it’s very easy to oversweeten this. There must be stevia or something already in it. I see a few other people mentioning it, so I know it’s not just me.

And a lot of the cinnamon grit gets through my steel mesh infuser.

Bleh. Never again.

I picked up a sachet of this tea at Fresh To Order in midtown, but instead of drinking it there, I put it in my coat pocket for later. I’ve tried almost all of their Harney & Sons offerings now.

This seems like a good idea for a cold winter’s night. Even though it’s a pyramid-bagged tea, it still has large visible chunks of orange peel and cinnamon bark mixed in to the not-so-crushed black tea leaves. And the aroma is fantastic. Seems like it’s going to be very spicy, which is great because I hate it when a cinnamon tea is stingy with the spice.

Whoa. This is very spicy, but not enough to burn afterward. The taste instantly makes me think of my grandmother’s house. She always had those decorative cinnamon-scented brooms and they made her whole kitchen smell that way. This tea is like drinking that smell. Plus a hint of orange. And shockingly, I can actually taste the black tea they used as a base shining through. It’s pleasant! I would certainly drink this again, but I don’t think I’d purchase it again… despite its tastiness, it’s a little too plain for me.

Yup, still like this tea, thanks JoonSusanna! Nice cranberry flavour, though it’s getting old and really should be used up sooner rather than later (story of half my tea cupboard).

Made this up in a travel mug on Tuesday, didn’t drink it until Wednesday (today-ish). It was pretty tasty though! I really like this one, I must say. It was mostly cranberry today, but delicious cold.

This one was also generously sent to me by JoonSusanna!

When I opened the bag, I was greeted with a delicious cranberry aroma! Cranberry and citrus; reminds me of the cranberry sauce my mom makes for Christmas. The brewed tea smells much the same (which is promising), and…. oh man, the tea tastes pretty fabulous as well! A great fruity black, with cranberry dominating and citrus adding an additional dimension of flavour. I’m tasting a bit of spice as well, which is really quite tasty.

Not a tea I’d purchase, but only due to having too much other tea on hand; I would certainly not refuse a cup of this! Thanks so much JoonSusanna – this tea is going to be perfect to add to my morning lineup of thermos-tolerant teas!

ETA: Interesting! Second infusion (in half the water) has a distinctly smoky flavour mixed with fruity cranberry. I was not expecting this! Quite tasty.

Down and dirty, this tastes just like a Red Hots candy. Another comparison would be cinnamon Altoids, but stronger. If you HATE cinnamon this is your personal kryptonite. If you merely like or tolerate the stuff then proceed with caution. This was my first experience with Harney and Sons, and I found this stuff above average for a bag tea, though admittedly it is tough to get an accurate read on the tea base on this because of the strength of the cinnamon. A decent anytime tea, and a pretty good holiday tea, also.

Despite being male and fairly indifferent to flowers – a 2010 visit to the Royal Hulticultural Chelsea Flower Show stands as one of the most tedious days out in recent memory – I have always loved the paradoxically pungent and delicate, earthy and transcendental fragrance of roses. I read once that the mystical scent of rosewater or rose otto is sufficient to open the third eye of a latent clairvoyant . . . I can attest to this, having been lost in thought for several moments with no awareness of the passing of time from smelling roses, transported to gardens in France or the Home Counties, or to bazaars and mosques in 1001 Nights. Even just the merest hint of rose, and I am lost in nostalgic memories of my Granddad’s Czech & Speake cologne or my Nan’s rosewater perfume and tonics.
But I digress.

It is a particularly balmy Summer’s day here in Sydney and I am sitting with a lukewarm cup of rose-scented tea. The rose fragrance is particularly strong and is only recommended for anyone partial to rose or floral-scented teas and suits the sweltering heat. The colour of the tea is a dark saffron, and flavour of the tea-base is full-bodied with hints of honey but otherwise fairly underwhelming. I would have loved a nice, nutty Keemun taste rather than the nondescript tea on offer here.

The tea does leave a somewhat acrid, chemical acrid aftertaste which leaves my tongue somewhat numb and tingling. This was particularly noticeable with the Twinings Rose Garden tea, to the extent that I found it really unpleasant and I put it down to Twinings usual poor quality of recent years. Perhaps this aftertaste is inherent in the rose petals themselves and a necessary trade-off for the fragrance so I won’t lower the rating for this, but I will have to deduct points for the uninteresting and flavourless tea base.

Appearance: large cut green, bi colored
Aroma when Dry: coconut, slight sweetness, vanilla creamy
After water is first poured: sweet coconut grassiness
At end of first steep: lemony, nutty creamy coconut
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: very light yellow– green
Staple? Would be if the brand was not so liberal about artificial ingredients.
Time of day preferred: afternoon, evening
Taste:
At first: grassy coconut, chased by creaminess, hints of lemongrass
As it cools? Coconut changes texture slightly, grassy notes heighten, texture gets silky, creamy, still no ginger notes
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? Tried part of the cup also with milk

Without milk:
Lingers? Yes, smooth grassiness, hints of the lemongrass stay longest

With milk: gets velvety, almost fluffy, lemongrass fades, coconut and vanilla most noticeable
Lingers? Yes, creaminess hints of sweetness stay

Second steep(8 min): lighter creamy, grassy, lemongrass notes heighten
Still lingers,lemongrass mostly, coconut notes closing

Third steep 3-5min: still creamy, lemongrass gets a bit bolder

I love whites, I really do.

This tea was interesting – not at all what I was expecting when reading the ingredients. It was quite dark for a white. I got a large note of white chocolate, and then marzipan which will have been the almond, vanilla and mint. Zero cardamon, which is probably what threw me off the most since I was expecting it warily.

Certainly a tea that could be enjoyed year round.

This is my husbands favorite tea, so I thought I’f try it. Not bad, though I am not usually an Earl Grey fan. Pleasant citrus flavor, nice light tea. Plus, I LOVE the tin it comes in.

I got a good 4 steeps out of this today! The lemon is most prominent in the first two steeps and then fades away leaving behind a very pleasant green tea taste.