90
drank Royal Wedding by Harney & Sons
2201 tasting notes

Honestly, I’m a little shocked that I could wait this long to try this tea that QuiltGuppy so kindly sent me. I’ve wanted to try Royal Wedding for quite a while now, but I haven’t gotten myself to the Harney Soho store so I just keep waiting and hoping it doesn’t disappear from their inventory any time soon. But yay I get to try it now!

I smell primarily a sweet vanilla-almond of the dry leaf through the sachet. Unfortunately I forgot to start my timer when I poured the hot water, so I think I probably steeped it about 3 minutes, but who really knows! Well at least I have another sachet for a proper steeping. The brewed tea is a medium amber color (actually almost identical to the amber earrings I’m currently wearing) and the slightly vegetal aroma of the white tea comes through now as a grassy back note to the otherwise very sweet smelling vanilla and almond aromas. I guess I get coconut as well, but I’m having trouble currently distinguishing it from the nutty-sweet-vanilla scent in general.

My first thoughts were this is delicious! I do get a slight bitterness/astringency from the white tea, but also a rush of vanilla-y sweetness, which only gets stronger as it cools. The primary flavors I get are vanilla and a bit of almond; it is a sweet almond, not as much a raw nutty one, but it’s light and thus not quite marzipanny. I can also detect a creamy coconut note, but for me it’s not very strong; I agree with ashmanra that it reminds me of a great cookie. All the sweetness is tempered by the ever present white tea in the background, which grounds things and keeps it from being too cloying (who am I kidding, I wouldn’t think it was cloying anyway, but for some it might have been without the substantial white tea flavor).

All in all… a keeper! I’ll definitely have to make sure I grab a tin, and I hope the run isn’t too limited!

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I am tea obsessed, with the stash to match. I tend to really enjoy green oolongs, Chinese blacks, and flavored teas with high quality bases, especially florals, bergamot-based teas, and chocolate teas.

In my free time I am a birder, baker, and music/movie/tv addict.

Here are my rating categories, FYI:
100-90: Mind-blowingly good, just right for my palate, and teas that just take me to a happy place.
89-86: I really really like these teas and will keep most of them in the permanent collection, but they’re not quite as spectacular as the top category
85-80: Pretty tasty teas that I enjoy well enough, but definitely won’t rebuy when I run out.
79-70: Teas that I would probably drink again, but only if there were no preferrable options.
69-50: Teas that I don’t really enjoy all that much and wouldn’t drink another cup of.
49 and below: Mega yuck. This tea is just disgusting to me.
Unrated: Usually I feel unqualified to rate these teas because they are types of teas that I tend to not like in general. Sometimes user error or tea brewed under poor conditions.

Location

Ohio, US

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer