Paul M Tracy

This is very similar to my favorite green tea, Rogue Wave from White August. Bangkok has very large, bright green leaves and huge pieces of dried coconut. However, it lacks the intensity of spice of Rogue Wave.

The leaves smell fresh and the coconut is readily apparent and somewhat creamy. The lemongrass is very subtle which I appreciate. I’m not a huge lemongrass fan. I can take it as an accent but not a main component.

The tea brews to a grassy, spicy, coconut blend. Just like Rogue Wave, the fragrance and taste are very similar to those found in many Thai dishes. This is another tea that is great iced.

The tea leaves are long, adhesive and a mix of dusty gray and gold. This smells strongly of apricot with a slight mossy note.

The leaves plump to three times their volume so save enough room for them to swim. This brews to a pale gold and still has a strong fragrance of stone fruit. The taste is clean, snappy and the fruit and floral notes hold up well. Unlike others that present themselves to be somewhat buttery, it appears this oo-longs to be more of a darjeeling.

I loved this tea! Darn you H&S, I see myself now regularly spending a small fortune with you.

The multicolored short, choppy leaves are slightly smokey with an underlying sweet grassy note.

Steeping produces a dark cup. The spent leaves have a somewhat unpleasant acrid smell. The tea itself, however, is a smokey vanilla caramel.

Many of the reviews here mention chocolate notes. I didn’t get that and the flavor of this tea is new to me; it was like a mild lapsang with a touch of vanilla. It’s of medium body with a slight astringency.

This is a bold tea and I like this one a little more than Queen Catherine. The more I got into the cup the more I enjoyed it.

I made this one iced again and it turned out very differently. I may have steeped it a little too long. It was still very refreshing and fruit-filled but it finished a little peppery. It also had a distinct horseradish aftertaste. This may sound a bit unappetizing at first but I had this with a cold salad containing slices of beef and it was actually a perfect compliment to the meal.

Vanilla. Yep, that pretty much says it all. From first opening the tin, to initial steeping through final sip it’s all about the vanilla.

What I really like about this tea is that the vanilla was more creamy, somehow more genuine, than your typical vanilla flavored food. It also develops a completely different character as it cools. My final sip was from a cold cup and I picked up a distinct bourbon note which has me thinking about including this in an iced tea mix or possibly infusing a bag or two into some gin.

Not bad for a bag tea.

I’m officially no longer prejudiced against bagged tea. I drank two cups of this one to make sure it wasn’t a fluke before I wrote this note.

The sachet smells strongly of peach and apricot and it oozes honey.

This steeps to produce a very dark cup of tea that smells strongly of fruit and honey. The cup is incredibly smooth and has a lot of body but the crisp bergamot provides a nice balance to the overall fullness of this tea. Even though flavored, the tea base remains strong.

This is going to become a favorite first-cup-of-the-morning tea.

The short, twisty, multi-colored leaves have the same sweet, biscuit fragrance I’ve been getting from a lot of H&S teas. This one is dead-on for a Lorna Doone cookie.

The dark copper colored tea has a clean tea fragrance that’s sweet but also has a slight burnt paper quality. The flavor is very mild; it’s light in body and has little to no astringency. There’s a subtle lingering sweetness.

I had this first thing in the morning but I need something bolder to kick me into gear. This would, however, make for an excellent afternoon tea.

This is another sample I received with my recent H&S order. I don’t typically enjoy bagged tea and unflavored decaf teas always seem bland. This tea, however, was different.

The fragrance of the tea is somewhat biscuity and peppery. The flavor is clean and crisp with a fair level of astringency but then has a subtle, lingering sweetness. It’s a nice contrast.

This now makes three decent bagged teas I’ve had recently from Harney and they’re starting to change my mind that all bagged tea is awful.

The leaves are dark and crumbly. The fragrance was unexpected. My initial thought was raisin bread. As I tried to dissect that further, I realized it was malty, yeasty and had notes of fig.

After steeping, the fragrance simplifies. The flavor is malty, slightly sweet and had a high level of salinity. I’m not getting much of the smokiness that has been mentioned quite a bit with this tea. I can see how this tea would take very well to lemon or light cream and sugar. It has a bit of a weak finish. However, as the cup cools, it develops more body and character.

Overall, it’s not a bad tea but it’s also not at the top of my list.

I received a sample of this in silken sachet form with my most recent order from Harney & Sons. (I didn’t realize how much I had ordered until I started unpacking the box. It was like a circus car full of clowns.)

When you first open the packet, there’s a burst of a bright and fruity fragrance with a bit of tang. This was a perfect representation of pomegranate at its most ripe state. The sachet was full of bright green rolled oolong nuggets.

Upon steeping, the leaves plumped so that the bag was almost bursting. The fruity and nutty fragrance was strong and wafted from my desk; no need to get your nose into this tea.

The tea brews to a very pale champagne color and the fragrance in the cup is even more nutty.The tanginess of the pomegranate compliments the butter and nut oolong very well. The lingering aftertaste of the fruit was a little surprising since it wasn’t overly prominent in the tea.

Usually the free samples from H&S don’t do much for me but this one goes on the reorder list!

Based on some major detective work, LiberTEAS and I discovered that this tea is also served as “Desert Grapefruit Green” at the Tohono Chul Park Tearoom in Tucson.

The fragrance of this tea is incredible. The green tea base is strong with a clean, grassy, nutty, and sweet foundation. On top is a strong grapefruit that is very natural. Living in Arizona, I’m surrounded by citrus and this is just like driving past an orchard in the Spring.

The tea brews to an opaque, turbid, fluorescent green. The flavor of the green tea is rich and sweet and the grapefruit adds a perfect balance of bittersweet tartness.

The steeping instructions took me by surprise as they said to use boiling water instead of the 175 degrees I usually use for green teas. I followed Lupicia’s instructions and it turned out fine. I put this over ice and it was perfect!

You work with what the Universe gives you. I was stuck in an auto service waiting room and needed a caffeine fix. Luckily, since I have a MINI and they’re very “British” there, they had quite a bit of tea available. It was all in traditional bags however.

I picked this one because I thought it would have the most flavor even if the bag was stale or the water wasn’t quite hot enough. It was a good choice. The tea brewed very dark and the chai spices were very pungent. I wish the tea base was a little stronger but, given the minimal room available in a traditional tea bag, it wasn’t too bad.

Fortunately, they finished my car early (love MINI service!) so I didn’t have to move on to the Earl Grey. (I like EG but didn’t want to be disappointed by a bag.)

I’m not sure how this one has escaped tasting for so long. I was looking for something appropriate to try out my new cast-iron tetsubin and this was perfect.

The leaves were tightly curled and bright jade colored. Unfortunately, they were somewhat cramped by the pot’s steeping basket so I didn’t get the full unfurling effect.

The tea was very pale green with a vegetative, buttery and nutty fragrance. The flavor was very light and delicate; it’s possible that my sample may be aging. However, subsequent steeps were for longer periods and the flavor deepened. It’s buttery, slightly saline and finished very sweet.

I don’t drink a lot of oolongs but every time I do, I really enjoy them. I drank an entire pot of this one. (And the tetsubin is awesome. However, I need to build up calluses to use the iron cups- ouch!)

Thanks to ashmanra for sending me a sample of this so I could face my fear of roses in tea.

Since this was in a sachet, I can’t say much about the tea prior to steeping. Once prepared, the fragrance was of vanilla, carrot and banana, with the faintest floral note. I may be carrying the wedding metaphor too far, but the overall aroma can be summarized as clean linen.

The tea was pale amber in color. The taste was on the grassy, vegetative side with a slight astringency- but no rose. (Yeah!) While it’s a blend, everything is so well balanced that it doesn’t come off as noticeably “flavored.”

The ingredients list includes coconut and almond, but these didn’t present themselves until the cup cooled. However, they lingered providing a pleasant aftertaste.

This may turn out to be one of my favorite H & S teas. (Which would figure since I just placed a large order and didn’t include this one.) I hope they keep it around past the Royal Wedding this weekend!

This is another not-so-chocolatey entry from the ESP Emporium chocolate sampler. The picture shows chocolate chips but I don’t think this bag has been within 10 miles of a cocoa bean.

The fragrance of the blend, both in the bag and prepared, is of caramel and rose. While not unpleasant, it’s not what I would expect from something called “chocolate cake.” The flavor is a strong caramel (there are actually mini caramel chews in the mix) and there is a lingering tart, floral aftertaste. Again, the flavor isn’t bad but I really wanted something with an obvious chocolate note.

The initial fragrance leaned towards cream and berries with little indication of chocolate. Prepared, there was a subtly sweet, baked-goods aroma.

The taste was disappointing. While the tea base was of a fair body and the slight slick of coconut oil gave it a creaminess, there wasn’t much flavor. The ingredients list includes both cocoa bits and chocolate chips but I couldn’t detect these in the slightest.

This was part of a chocolate sampler pack that I purchased. I hope I have better luck with the remaining teas.

This tea appears a bit dull and flat. There just isn’t much color or vibrance to it. The fragrance is both tart and sweet with a discernable white grape note. The ingredients list includes “flavoring” and I’m hoping it’s at least natural since the grape fragrance is so strong.

This tea brews very light; similar to a white tea. The fruit fragrance remains fairly bold but the flavor is really mild. There isn’t much to the tea body and there are only hints of the grape and currants.

If you like very subtly flavored green teas, then give this one a try. If you prefer more oomph then I’d pass.

The description of this tea caught my attention. It has a lot of elements I really enjoy like vanilla and bergamot but it also had a few I’ve never tried like grenadine and tea flowers.

The fragrance was a strong berry-and-bergamot. The leaves were dark and crumbly and the add-ins appeared shriveled and faded versus just dried. It wasn’t as vibrant as pictured.

Once prepared, the tea had a strong candy-like smell; think candied apple without the apple. The taste was vaguely tart and subtly fruity with a lingering vanilla aftertaste. There was also something completely unidentifiable-possibly the tea flowers?

This was an odd one but it grew on me. I really liked the flavor and fragrance but it could have looked a little better. I’ll probably try another bag later in the year to see if there’s any difference in that regard.

The twisty, medium-green leaves smelled of black cherry. There was also a strong presence of pipe tobacco. This created images of old English estates.

The brewed tea was a light copper color and it had a strong, sweet and creamy fragrance. The flavor had an initial bite then became what I can only describe as a “classic tea flavor.” When you think of what tea in general tastes like, this is a great example. That’s not to say that this tea is boring- just consider it friendly and predictable. I really liked this and see it becoming a staple.

I just received my first order ever from ESP Emporium. It happened to include two different varieties of Darjeeling; Margaret’s Hope (SF) and Marybong Organic (FF). I thought it would be a fun experiment to prepare them side-by-side and compare and contrast them in my reviews. The text of my reviews for both teas will be the same but the score reflects how I feel about this particular tea.

First, let’s talk about initial fragrance. Margaret was clean and crisp with notes of pepper and grapefruit. (This is a second flush?) Marybong leaned towards being sweet and biscuity.

Margaret’s leaves were dark and crumbly while Marybong’s were a mix of older and newer, bright green leaves.

Both teas were prepared at the same time using the same steeping parameters.

The fragrance of Margaret was bright, crisp and citrusy while Marybong wasn’t very fragrant at all. I detected a bit of hops but not much else.

Finally, the taste. Margaret was initially very smooth but then you get this final punchy astringency. Quite a pucker! This has a really complex profile. Marybong, on the other hand, was more even tempered. It was mellow and was a consistent drink to the bottom of the cup.

Up until now, I had always considered myself a first flush kind of guy. Margaret has changed my mind. I really enjoyed the fragrance and complexity of flavor it offered over Marybong. However, Margaret might be too aggressive for some. For them, the consistency of Marybong would be a better choice.

I just received my first order ever from ESP Emporium. It happened to include two different varieties of Darjeeling; Margaret’s Hope (SF) and Marybong Organic (FF). I thought it would be a fun experiment to prepare them side-by-side and compare and contrast them in my reviews. The text of my reviews for both teas will be the same but the score reflects how I feel about this particular tea.

First, let’s talk about initial fragrance. Margaret was clean and crisp with notes of pepper and grapefruit. (This is a second flush?) Marybong leaned towards being sweet and biscuity.

Margaret’s leaves were dark and crumbly while Marybong’s were a mix of older and newer, bright green leaves.

Both teas were prepared at the same time using the same steeping parameters.

The fragrance of Margaret was bright, crisp and citrusy while Marybong wasn’t very fragrant at all. I detected a bit of hops but not much else.

Finally, the taste. Margaret was initially very smooth but then you get this final punchy astringency. Quite a pucker! This has a really complex profile. Marybong, on the other hand, was more even tempered. It was mellow and was a consistent drink to the bottom of the cup.

Up until now, I had always considered myself a first flush kind of guy. Margaret has changed my mind. I really enjoyed the fragrance and complexity of flavor it offered over Marybong. However, Margaret might be too aggressive for some. For them, the consistency of Marybong would be a better choice.

I received a small sample of this from LiberTEAS (thanks once again!)

The initial fragrance was a bit musty in the package but, once allowed to breathe, it became cleaner and moss-like.

I “over cooked” this a bit, but it still turned out pretty awesome. (I love a forgiving tea.) The color is copper but approaching garnet. The fragrance mellowed to something that was earthy and I also detected a slight salinity. Finally, the flavor was very mellow and even. Sometimes pu erhs have a mushroom (fungal) taste but this had notes of vanilla and caramel with just a faint metallic after taste.

There are simply too many great pu erhs to try that I don’t see myself repeating a purchase of any single one. However, if you like finding and sticking with a few of choice, give this one a try.

The tulsi and chamomile were an odd pair here. At first, it started out slightly bitter and sour and there was a strong grassiness. The subtle flavor of the chamomile was lost.

As the cup cooled, it took on a more mellow and slightly sweet flavor. The fragrance of the chamomile was never very strong, but over time you could at least tell it was there.

This was OK for a bagged tisane, but I’ve had some really good chamomile lately so I’m biased.

This tisane smells faintly of mint and cinnamon and introduces a bit of citrus upon steeping.

The taste was, frankly, very thin. There was a slight mint-citrus flavor and a tangy finish, but overall it was very weak and not very flavorful.