89
drank Florence by Harney & Sons
109 tasting notes

Brew temp was 208

It’s in the water.

So many times I read how important quality water is for good tea. My parents neighbor-who knows less about tea than me-was going on about it this weekend. Myself, I have been using filtered water for so long, I can’t remember drinking tea made with straight tap water. So there I am at my parents house making this new tea for dessert last night and something was not quite right.

It was the water.

Unfiltered tap water that I had grown up on and thought tasted pretty good was overpowering this wonderfully aromatic and sweet tea I had just bought earlier in the afternoon. I could taste the potential here, but rather than enjoying the tea, I couldn’t wait to get home and try it with better water.

I’ve been looking for a dessert tea to have besides masala chai (which I enjoy, but not every night) and mint chocolate tea-which doesn’t go with everything and I get tired of anyway.

This is one of those teas that I knew as soon as I smelled the dry leaf, I would love it. It smells just like you would expect-of hazelnut and chocolate. This tea tastes almost like coffee to me. At least what I think I remember coffee tastes like as I have never really been a coffee drinker. It’s smooth and kind of heavy, it’s hard to believe it’s straight and translucent. Zero bitterness. Liquor is a nice shade of chestnut. As advertised, it tastes like chocolate and hazelnut. The flavoring is so natural. It’s really sweet and rich with nothing added. I imagine it would be exceedingly decadent with soy milk/cream and sugar added-which I will have to try soon. Water problem solved

Masala chai has some serious competition here.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
Scott B

This is not nearly as decadent with vanilla almond milk and sugar as I thought.-although nice for dipping an oreo in! Fortunately, it is plenty good and needs no additives. Still, might try it with plain soy at least once.

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Scott B

This is not nearly as decadent with vanilla almond milk and sugar as I thought.-although nice for dipping an oreo in! Fortunately, it is plenty good and needs no additives. Still, might try it with plain soy at least once.

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Bio

Started drinking tea for health benefits maybe 5 years ago-exclusively bagged tea. Usually went for various Celestial Seasonings type of stuff. I bought a tea infuser at a gourmet shop once and then I realized there was almost no loose tea available. Eventually tiring of bags, I started ordering loose tea online and I have never gone back. Initially, I was exploring all the wild and exotic flavor combinations, but now I mostly drink straight teas. I still enjoy blended teas-but prefer those without “flavoring”. Hope to learn here and find some new teas I might not otherwise find. Am a vegan, so “milk” generally means “soymilk” to me. If it’s almond, rice, or coconut, I will mention that fact.

I am new here, and new to reviewing tea. Many of my initial reviews will be from memory and may not be very detailed at all. I hope to write more informative reviews on current and future teas.

I won’t let external factors affect my rating of the tea-such as slow shipping, too expensive, etc. I’ll mention any customer service problems in my reviews. I also won’t let my mistakes in not following the seller’s recommended parameters affect a rating. I can’t believe people who say “I forgot about it and oversteeped it” and then give it a rating. If I brew outside the parameters, I will wait until I brew it right before I give it a rating.

TEMPORARY RATING SYSTEM- Don’t hold me to these numbers and descriptions-like George Bluth, I like to tweak.

90+ It’s awesome, right?? I’ll probably try to keep it on hand.

80-89 – I really like this and will buy it again at some point, but there are so many teas to try!

70-79 – This is a pretty good tea and I may buy it again based on my mood, what tea store I am buying from, and what kind of deal I can get.

60-69 – This is okay. I finished the bag. I would drink it again if offered, but would not buy it again.

40-59 – IF I finished the bag, I recall this tea thinking “Why in the hell did I finish the bag?”

1-39 – Did not finish the bag. Maybe not even the cup. Tea was given away or discarded.

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