New Tasting Notes
Woof. Do NOT let this stuff oversteep. I got my cup together to steep and got distracted – now it’s bitter. Blergh. Even added more splenda and it’s not helping.
I made bad tea :( I’m still drinking it, slowly and unhappily.
Preparation
I needed a comfort tea this morning. Waiting on news to see how my asthmatic cat is doing at the vet’s- he had to stay there all night because of breathing problems.
I added a little honey to the tea this morning for some extra sweetness. It hit the spot. I finished the travel mug of it before I even got to work.
I hope your kitty is feeling better.
Poor kitty!
I hope the kitty is feeling better. Our little Chihuahua has asthma too, and it can be so scary!
Thanks for your concern everyone! My cat will be in the vet hospital for a few more days. He is not responding well to the usual asthma treatments this time. And also the shots they gave him made his blood sugar spike, which made the breathing even worse for a while. Hopefully they’ll find out if there’s anything more urgent than that soon.
argh… mine is in transit and everybody keeps writing about it! lol.
oh, and hope your kit cat is on the mend! does it have allergies at all?
I love that Butiki is in NJ, which is right next door to me. I get my orders within a day or two!
Yup, my cat has allergies on top of asthma.
Oh darling magical cupboard at work, what shall we have today? Oh, jungle ju ju, you say?
It promises to get me swinging from the vines. Dunno about that but it’s not putting me to sleep which is great!
So now that I’m a seasoned mate drinker not! I can tell you I like this one in comparison to others. This is largely due to the papaya flavour. I’m a sucker for tropical fruit, especially if it’s covering something I am not entirely fond of yet. You do get good papaya flavour in this. Enough so that you don’t have to dig too deep to figure it out. I would make a second cup actually except I finished the bag, there was only enough for 1 cup. Might have to settle for 2nd steep. Hope it gives me more than flavoured water.
Preparation
I had no steeping parameters and it tastes a little weak using 1 perfect scoop, 4 minutes and near boiling water. I couldn’t find any info on the website. Why? Although it is fun to get cheeky with the description of the tea perhaps the powers that be should also bother to give some sort of steeping suggestions. After all, you are catering to the new tea drinker perhaps more so than the experienced one. End of rant.
Having said all that the tea itself is tasty. I’m sitting here drinking it instead of getting ready for work tasty. If I find enough 52teas appealing to me I could place an order and then yes, I would include this. Although, I don’t know how I feel about the “once it’s gone, it’s gone so don’t fall in love” part.
Thank you Sil for this sample!
Preparation
I like this one. I’m not so sure about the oolong, as there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of it in this tea, but as a chai, it’s very nice. Really nice and spicy, though, not as much as I would prefer. (If there’s anyone who’s found a strong chai, I wouldn’t mind recommendations) Even the second steeping is nice, the oolong flavour presents itself a little more as the chai spices get diluted.
I would buy it again, but if I found something a little stronger I would probably switch.
Wow! I’m so impressed with this one. I went to DavidsTea today, for two refills and an empty canister and asked the girl behind the counter for a fruity recommendation. Couldn’t resist the beautiful aroma of the dry tea.
Steeped is even better. I had it hot out of the pot my first cup, with a little bit of honey. It’s was so delicious, and fruity. My second cup was cooled down a bit, more room temperature and no sweetener. I made a mistake sweetening it to be honest. There’s this quirky tangy note at the end that the honey took away, and it adds to the flavour quite a bit. My third cup was cold, no sweetener. I was really impressed. There wasn’t that “cold tea” taste at all. In fact, I think it would be sooooo refreshing on ice, maybe with a bit of vodka or white wine added in at the end of the day. ;) I will be keeping this one in my regular stock without a doubt.
Preparation
Anyone who takes a glance at my tea cupboard would probably hypothesize that white tea isn’t really my thing and they would be right. Periodically I’ll read about the health benefits of white tea (less processed then black! Less caffeine to drink a pot of later in the day and not feel like the energizer bunny at bedtime! Whoo-hoo white tea!), smell a sample in the store (the white doesn’t over power the other scents, so I get lured into believing at the vary least it shouldn’t be less flavourful then a tisane), or read a great description online (yes Butterscotch tea I mean you). And then I’ll taste them, and promptly swear that I’ll never buy another white tea again (over priced, high maintenance, liars, each and every one of them!), and the tea will be set aside for guests … or my mother (sometimes I really think I must have been adopted, how can someone like white tea and hate black tea? And not just anyone, but my own – supposed – flesh and blood).
This was another buy from my Teavana Boxing Day sale it was pretty cheap for a white tea with the 75% discount and then my %15 quantity discount (I was I’ll keep how close I was to the %20 discount a secret between myself and my addiction), $2.13 for a white tea is pretty amazing, and if that wasn’t enough to sway me the promise of bergamot was.
When I opened the tea my first thought was ‘holy bergamot batman!’ (don’t judge me) the smell is fantastic, my second thought was please please don’t let the tea be a lie. Good news, the teas wasn’t a lie. The bergamot flavour was as strong brewed as it was dry. Admittedly I didn’t taste any actual TEA flavour, but I’ve resigned myself that between white tea, and, gee, I don’t know…water, there is no difference. (Sorry white tea fans – white chocolate fans too, I’m sure I owe you an apology for all the times I’ve campaigned to get white chocolate disqualified from being called chocolate – I’m sure to you white tea has a distinct and lovely flavour, or perhaps you like it for it’s lack of distinguishable palate).
I happen to love bergamot having a tea dedicated to that taste alone is ok with me.
I’ve also brewed this with a few leaves from my bergamot mint plant, which adds a pleasant fresh taste to the brew.
Ever since my first Chai Latte at Starbucks I have searched far and wide for something comparable. Finally, I have found it. Its not too spicy, or to overwhelmingly cinnamony like the Pure Chai. And its sweet enough on its own that I don’t have to add anything to it. My only gripe is there could be a tiny bit more spice to it. I do like me a spicy Chai…
Ohh this tea. How could I have neglected having a cup of this for so long? The caramel banana chamomile from earlier helped me relax, but this is the ultimate in soothing, lovely tea. It’s also helping my stomach (too much KD for dinner haha) and reminds me of skiing this winter in Whitefish with the bf and his parents, as this is the tea I took up the hill and had with lunch in my travel mug every day we went. I had a sip of this plain and immediately was like “must add honey”, as this tea is just unreal with honey. Not to say it isn’t delicious without, but honey just brings it all together. And now I am also getting sleepy. Perfect for tonight, as it’s been super cold here too, I actually had to put the heat on today, in JUNE! Silly weather haha. See previous notes on this wonderful tea :)
Preparation
this is a complicated tea, while also being simply striking.
it’s a laoshan black, no big deal…. or so one could mistake by the oversimplified name. this is not a simple anything.
long dark strands that seem innocuous until water was added. dry it smelled like leaves, steeped they became darker and deeper in smell and appearance.
the thing i am discovering about verdant teas is their quiet brilliance. this tea has a heavy dark chocolate-like tone. it’s not from an additive… but from incredible technique.
beautiful clear and untouched, hot, cold or creamed and sugared. my compliments to you verdant teas.
Preparation
Thank you, JustJames- but we have to pass along the compliments to the He Family! It’s a privilege to get to share their teas with the world, and few things make me happier than reading sentiments like yours and passing them on to Mr & Mrs. He.
well earned… i wonder how long it took for the He family to cultivate these magnificent skill sets? it also takes impressive savvy on the part of an investor to recognize the potential of such a product.
I’m not a huge fan of chamomile tea in general, I find it’s often too bland and tastes too much like hot water. But, I did like this one. While it will never be my favourite I did find some notes of rose petals and lemon that added more depth to this tea.
I think it’s a really nice gentle tea to have at night when you need something calming to help you relax, but at the same time that gentleness can sometimes be a little flat. I think if I let it brew for a little longer some of the more subtler flavours will come through (like fennel and lemongrass), and I’m looking forward to that when I next drink it.Preparation
Additional notes: So I ordered EIGHT ounces of this from a shared order that Yssah did a while back. (thank you!) Yes, eight ounces is a lot of tea for me, since I love my small samples with only a few teaspoons each… or two ounces of the same tea at the most. But I LOVED the other sample of Paris I tried. But this one isn’t quite the same as the other batch. It doesn’t have quite as much of a buttery, pastry, berry flavor. It seems a bit off… a bit tangy. I remember Yssah said Harney was taking a while to mail the order since they were waiting for a few ingredients and had to make some of the teas fresh. So I think they might not have let the tea sit a while, since they didn’t want to wait to mail it any longer, so the flavor isn’t quite the same. My guess! I heard from 52Teas that a tea might taste better after airing it out. I don’t want to air out my full eight ounces, since I’m paranoid about dust or bugs or moisture getting in the bag, but I put a teaspoon in my infuser and had it out for about 24 hours. That seemed to help the flavor a bit but it still isn’t quite the same. How sad! I still love this blend, just not as much. It just shows how even different batches of the same tea can be so different.
ruh roh. I just noticed Harney “liked” this tasting note. Maybe they have an explanation for the flavor change?
I think you are spot on to notice the differences between batches. Harney and Sons flavored teas are still made (by industry standards) on a small scale, so there’s some inevitable differences, especially year to year. This is due primarily to the changes in base tea every season (we try to keep things as fresh and consistant as possible, but seasonal weather in the growing regions make it challenging), as well as any hiccups in blending/flavoring, which which I am personally less familiar.
-RA
I didn’t think Harney was that good… that they’d be able to control the weather! thank you so much for the response and reading my tasting note.
I’m generally an earl grey purist: hot water, tea leaves, no cream, no sugar, and please no lemon juice (that’s for orange pekoe, or any of the UK breakfast teas). I feel like I’m cheating on the classic when I have my Lady Grey tea. I tried the Earl Grey Crème because it was in the DAVIDs tea advent calendar and I loved that it was creamy without having to add actual cream. I was planning on stocking up on the tea from DAVIDs but then after Christmas Teavana had a huge sale, and after the quantity discounts it was close to $1 for 2 oz, I think I got a total of 10 oz (just of this tea, don’t ask how much I got all together, it’s embarrassing). SO what all of that ramble meant was that I got this tea with really high standards. Which this tea didn’t really meet.
Not that this tea is bad, please don’t think that. It’s a good light tea, I just happen to prefer stronger teas. I find the bergamot and vanilla-esque cream taste stronger in the DAVIDs version.
A point in the pros column for this tea is I don’t think it’s possible to burn/over brew it. Throw some leaves in your tea travel mug of choice, toss in some boiling water, drive to work, and you can drink it when you get there (well you probably can, I have to pour it into a small tea cup so it doesn’t melt my tongue off).
Backlogging. I got this tea from Kittenna I while back thank you very much. Dry this smells abit fruity and steeped this smells stronger fruityness. I added some sugar. And this tastes like a light to medium strawberry taste with a little kiwi and a good pleasant white tea. I think this tea is really good.
This is a better tea for my silly anxiety looming around me tonight. I added a bit of brown sugar and it is so sweet. I forgot how sweet this tea is haha. Only enough left for about 2 cups, and I didn’t make it in my metal strainer as the bf took it with him to camp, so it was quite fun to clean out of my Finium (not). Nevertheless, this is super sweet and chamomiley tonight. Hopefully it has the desired effect, still might have a cup of MLH before bed to fully unwind. See previous notes on this delicious, unfortunately discontinued, tea.
