Harney & Sons

Bonjour! Paris, decaf, by Harney & Sons is now on my shopping list after I enjoyed a sample of this delicious tea. It is very flavorful: vanilla, caramel, and citrus are the flavors I taste. Also, there is a special flavor that I don’t often taste when having a cup of decaf tea. The flavor is…tea! I love it!

OMG, this tea is amazing. Strong spicy aroma with incredible orange notes and gorgeous dark amber color…this tea works equally well as a stand-alone tea or as a tea latte. This has earned a spot in my fave beverages to drink. If you have a Biggby near you, save your $5 and buy this tea for about $5.99 for 20 silken sachets and make your own lattes at home.

Sipdown!

I thought we’d consumed these dainty aromatic pouches ages ago, but here we are with one still kicking around the tin 6 years later. Why this tea wasn’t put out of its misery earlier is a mystery to all.

Despite being isolated and alone in pouch, which was in a tin, away from outside all influences, this tea smells.. sullied. Like banana, cinnamon, and ((fermentation)) spirited away this old veteran for one last midnight pleasure cruise, full of smelly and sinful debauchery, before being discreetly returned by the rosy fingers of dawn to its equally rosy albeit derelict tomb of metal. Spooky stuff.

The taste paints a similar story to the smell except it’s being told to your tongue instead of your nose. RIP Jasmine Dragon Pearls.

Probably the oldest tea in the cupboard (+6yrs) and regifted to my mother, this tea is finally coming to it’s end. There’s only three more tea bags left!

Initially I found this guy overpowering, but I have to admit it’s grown on me, as has jasmine in general. I sort of wish I could brush my teeth with jasmine. I still would never steep it at the suggested 4min but the tea and I have made some satisfying compromises.

If there were other flavours besides jasmine they have long since faded away or been drowned out.

When I think of nauseating, overpowering jasmine teas this is one of them.

This pretty pink tin of twenty tea bags was given to me as a birthday gift last year. It was an incredibly sweet thought and I had never seen pearls before this. The individual sachet bags are gorgeous; the leaves themselves look like delicately rolled bits of green and white cloth. At the time, the jasmine aroma reminded me of root beer.

This tea is consistent. The jasmine is exuberantly floral. Sometimes, I pick up a pleasant “salty” sweet finish. The flavours have a tendency to overwhelm and I can’t imagine following the suggested four minute steep.

Unfortunately, this isn’t one of those teas I find myself reaching for. I still have twenty tea bags. They must have given me extra because I’ve had this at least three times in the last year.. just did a count on my gifted Paris tin and, although it says “twenty sachets”, I counted twenty-one. Lucky me!

My favorite Earl Grey thus far has been Harney’s Earl Grey Supreme so I was very interested in trying Diamond Jubilee which is a skillfully blended Earl Grey with a twist. This selection has a hint of grapefruit essence, which is a wonderful addition to the black teas and citrusy Bergamot. I initially steeped it for 4 minutes, but preferred it at 3 1/2 minutes. I liked it a lot warm, but also think it would be very nice cold, and I recommend it to Earl Grey lovers.

Smells a bit sweet and tastes almost sweet. It’s very light and slightly astringent.

Well, I had a bone-head move and totally missed the sign-ups for the 12 Days Swap thingie that many of the steepsters did! BUT…I’m lucky enough to have Azzrian for a Sororitea Sister and she was awesome and sent some of this one to me! Thanks so much!

Of course my other Sororitea Sister Liberteas is SUPER AWESOME too! I LOVE my sista’s!

SIDEBAR:

I completed the Iron Chef – STEEPSTER – Chickpeas & Tea Challenge – it’s now on my blog as well as in the forums/threads!

http://blissfulyogajourney.blogspot.com/2012/12/left-overs-spinach-rice-chickpea-dish.html

I just finished my lunch and that is what was for lunch. This tea is my after-lunch tea, today!

It smells a little like Currant and a Spice. It’s pretty nice!

It’s a medium brown in color and the black tea base is a bit mellower but the currant really pops thru on top of it. This is a bit juicy bitter but in a good way and a little peppery underneath. It has a smoother finish and I like that very much!

This is so tasty. I really like it hot (which is how I’m currently drinking it), but I think my favorite way to have this is iced. When this tea is cold all of the fruit flavors really pop, and the bergamot has a slightly stronger note. Since I’m an Earl Grey fan this is a win in my book.

I’m semi-desperate for a cup of Earl Grey right now. The Earl Grey Cream I bought from Zen Tea is sitting in my closet calling my name, but it’s technically a Christmas gift, so I can’t open it. Super sad face! I also have some Twinning’s Lady Grey tea bags which I was about to use, and then I remember that I have this!

Paris!!! A wonderfully lovely tea with bergamot as well as vanilla and lots of stone fruit notes. It’s light, sweet, and downright tasty. The bergamot isn’t as strong as I normally like in my EGs, but today it is just what I’m craving.

Tea of the morning. This is a fun twist on the normal Earl Grey. I like the citrus notes, the vanilla, and the kick of caramel right at the end. I also like how everything is toned down a little. There’s lots of flavor, but the base tea is also present and very tasty as well.

I honestly forgot I had this one in my cupboard. An unopened tin just sitting there waiting for me to notice it. Well, today I did, and I made myself a travel mug of this lovely before heading out the door this morning. I like the caramel paired with the citrus flavors. I also like how it is super flavorful but not super heavy.

Dear Paris,

I’m sorry I ignored you. Please forgive me. I shall not make the same mistake again.

xoxo,
Veronica

I had this tea earlier today. My Harney order arrived, and that combined with the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box has put me in tea heaven. Angels singing and everything.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve had this tea, but it is as good as I remember. Wonderful vanilla and caramel flavors with the bergamot giving the tea a shininess that is down right delightful. I’m so glad this one is back in my cupboard.

I had this one hot and then resteeped it and set it in the fridge to cool. Either way this is delicious. When it’s hot I get more of the caramel and bergamot flavors. As an iced tea, it’s all about the fruit and vanilla. I added a little sugar to my iced tea, and my oh my, I could drink this all day!

Actually, I can’t drink this all day because this is a sipdown. However, I will be ordering more of this when I place my next H&S order. That won’t be until this fall, but that’s ok since this is a tea that’s easy to enjoy year round.

Tea of the morning as chosen by my daughter. I infused it in the french press so that I can make a second infusion for iced tea. This tea is outstanding iced.

Today the tea seems to be more bregamot-y than usual. A whole lot more citrus action going on. I’m really enjoying it, but my girl put a bit more sugar in her cup. The added sugar seems to have done the trick because she happily finished off her mug of tea at breakfast. I’ve had two mugs of this myself, and I must say I’m feeling ready to face the day.

Merry Christmas, Steepsters!

I’ve been enjoying this tea for much of the day. I’m glad I held off on rating it because this is so much better than the sample I had tried a few weeks ago. The mix of fruit and caramel is delicious. It has a smoothness that took me by surprise (I’m not sure why, but it did.), and had me sipping cup after cup until I realized I’d had far too much caffeine. No matter… it’s the holidays, so I can sleep in late and spend tomorrow trying a new tea… or two… or three….

My Harney order arrived today, and while the tins (Boston and Paris) are two of my Christmas gifts, I figure the samples included in the box are fair game. As luck would have it one of the samples is Paris, so I get to try my new tea early and still stay on the nice list!

Sigh… I think I under steeped the tea. It has a slight lemon flavor, but I don’t taste the fruit or caramel at all. I’ve never had this tea before, but given all of the amazing reviews there has to be more to it than this. Looks like I will be waiting on Christmas for this tea after all.

I’m going to hold off on rating this one until I’ve tried it using loose leaf. No sense in giving a poor rating when I’m pretty sure the mistake was mine.

I tasted Tower of London side by side with Paris, and they are quite similar, at least in my opinion. I’d be curious to know what others think. Tower of London is supposed have a bit more of a honey taste, but both have bergamot, vanilla, and fruit. I detect caramel in Paris. I think anyone who likes one would like the other. As for me, I’m not sure which I prefer, maybe the Tower of London. I prefer unflavored black teas, but this is a nice change of pace and is growing on me now that I’ve had it a few times.

Made this with coconut milk and added a little knob of fresh ginger and turmeric, sweetened it with raw honey.
Yummy. Starting out my Monday right, ya’all!
Have a great day!

Best Decaf Ever! Been looking for a good decaf earl grey and I found it. The taste is better than some non-decaf earls. Smooth tea base, but enough punch to be passable. Moderate level of quality bergamot oil. I’m so happy to have found a good decaf!

My friend Amanda got me a lovely black tin of this for Christmas. It smells fantastically like cranberries and, when brewed, produces a tea with a yummy cranberry taste that lingers and doesn’t taste fake or anything. Plus, I love Boston, so this is a great tea.

This is a great tea to introduce someone to pu-erh. It is pretty tame compared to many other pu-erhs. It is slightly earthy and slightly smokey and never bitter.