Paris (7 oz)

I’m in love. This tea is unbelievable. Dry leaves smell unbelievably good. I’m in love (oops, I’m repeating myself – not a good sign, I’m afraid). This tea tastes so good. It’s a black blend with hints of fruit and vanilla and … you know what? words fail. I’ll finish this tealog when I can think coherently again; when my taste buds haven’t shorted out my brain. Where has this tea been all my life?

ETA. Sorry about that. Back again. I’m going to try to write this tealog again. This is more than just a black tea. It’s blended beautifully, not overwhemingly citrus or bergamot-ist (don’t think Earl Grey, which I always do when bergamot is mentioned, this isn’t like that at all) or fake-flavorish. It’s smooth. I am drinking this tea without any other distractions, food-wise, so I can truly enjoy just this taste. It’s not Harney & Sons Florence-type dessert tea (which, believe me, has it’s own pull) this has more clarity, it’s a cleaner, fresher taste without overt sugar-sweetness. There’s a briskness and a slight astringency. Powerfully cleansing in a refreshing way though the vanilla-ish warmth is there, too. Still incoherent, I see. Try this if a sample comes your way. I hope you enjoy Paris as much as I do.

Call me excessive…but I had this again for my evening tea! I’m just crazy for it! I do think it’s a homage to Marco Polo – it’s different – more raspberry/currant rather than strawberry, more baked custard rather than cream, and not floral, so I think there is a place for both in my cupboard, but I do think dear Marco was the inspiration for it.

My husband pronounced it “girly.”(he’s not a big fan of Marco Polo either!) Hmph!

Well, you all moved me to have a sip of Paris this evening.

And you know what this tea is?

Marco Polo’s little brother.

Do you know what I love about this tea? The fact that it’s a flavored tea that almost tastes like an unflavored tea. It tastes like the flavors are inherent in the leaves instead of coming from outside agents.

But anyway, let’s get to the tea itself. Paris smells amazing. If the city smelled this good, I’d probably never leave. I’m getting lots of strawberry notes, mixed with a bit of bright fresh notes, and yeah. It’s less strawberries-and-cream than Marco Polo, but it probably smells equally amazing. I’m serious. MMMM. SMELL IT. LOVE IT.

Anyway, this one steeps up a very pretty burnt amber color, and the smell coming off the cup is surprisingly not that deep. There’s mainly the smell of black tea, and… that’s about it. There’s the faintest of berry tones in the background, but if you gave this to me without me knowing if it was flavored or unflavored, I’d lean heavily towards unflavored.

So let’s move onto the taste, because there’s some damned complex things going on here, and it’s all pretty subtle. In a wonderful way.

There’s definitely a taste of black tea. I don’t know what to peg it as, but it’s probably Ceylon? A nice, high-quality one if it is. The berry taste, even though it smells like strawberry to me, is more evocative of raspberry. It washes over the tongue then bottoms out into a bean-y vanilla flavor that’s almost reminiscent of cocoa beans. And the finish? Something citrus! It’s not exactly bergamot flavored. It’s an echo of bergamot. Like someone sprayed it in the air yesterday, and you’re still catching the tiniest wiff of it in your nostrils the next day.

Overall, it’s a similar flavor profile to the famous Mariage Freres blend, but I’d give Marco the slight edge. Marco’s quite a bit more floral as well.

But I’m most surprised at how well the flavors meld together into the actual flavor of the tea itself. If you know me, you know that I love unflavored teas that evoke flavorings of their own organically. Paris is sort of like that. It tastes like an unflavored tea that’s calling up all these flavors inherently.

The tea’s cooling down now and the bergamot is coming out a bit more to the forefront, a sparkling fresh slight-tartness that complements the slight astringency very well. It’s about evenly matched with the berries at this point. And the berries are definitely more in the aroma as well. There’s a juicy sweetness as well.

Okay, this is totally nom. And I mean totally. Thank you to the always lovely takgoti for giving me a mini-mountain of this to sip and mull over and enjoy in all its wonderful glory. And thank YOU, Steepster, for getting me to drink this delicious concoction tonight!

This one courtesy of the amazing takgoti!!

I am all mixed up today. I ate my packed lunch for breakfast, so I figured an afternoon tea is now fair game :)

The dry leaves smell fantastic!!!!

sip sip – oh WOW! Yup, this is pretty much heaven in a cup. It really does taste like Love!!! This is what the Mariage Freres Fall in Love should have tasted like if it were stronger (and in a black tea base). Baked custard and berries. I’m not getting any of the citrus. Maaaaaaybe a slight haze of it after the sip. This tea is exquisite!!! It has the Harney signature of being PERFECTLY blended. This is a must for my next Harney order (but takgoti was so kind to include enough for at least 4 more cups of Love!!!).

First things first, Merry Christmas Steepsterverse! I hope you all enjoyed your yesterdays and/or your this mornings and will continue to be full and happy throughout the day. It’s only 2 PM and I’m already stuffed. Must be holiday times!

As it’s a day for merriment, I’ve decided to break away from my current dive into the backlogs of my tea drinking and log something that I drank this morning. I couldn’t tell you why I haven’t logged Paris before, because it’s a very good tea. I steeped it just in time for present opening, and if something can hold my attention during that madness, you know it has to be good.

I’ve never been to Paris. I would love to, and it’s on the list, but it isn’t something I can check off yet. I guess more specifically I want to go to the French countryside because I’ve heard that people are much friendlier once you get away from the city, but I don’t think I could visit France without spending at least a day or two in Paris. That being said, beyond four-odd years of school French, I have not a clue what makes this tea worthy of being dubbed “Paris.” What I can tell you is this.

It is very flavorful. There are many berry flavors floating around in it, laced with just a hint of bergamot, and this keeps the flavor very “up” and refreshing. I think of a breezy, sunny day on a grassy hill, with nothing between you and the sky while the scent of berry bushes waft coyly in your direction. It’s a wonderful image to be conjured up by a tea. But at the same time that this tea wants to float away like a cherry red balloon against an impossible blue, it’s grounded. And it’s grounded by something warm and familiar, that feels like it’s been around much longer than you have. For me, it wavers somewhere between pipe tobacco and vanilla.

All of this blends together wonderfully in my cup. The taste of the tea is there [I’d say Ceylon, but I’m still relatively new at this picking out black teas game and not too good at it] but it’s a backup singer, not a front man. It’s happy, but it’s not a crazy, ecstatic, wild kind of joy. It’s reserved, perhaps refined – curtailed in just a bit to keep your mind mellow enough to truly appreciate what it is that’s going on in the moment instead of having to look back on things once the euphoria wears off.

It’s easily one of my favorite teas from Harney & Sons, but the flavor is strong and specific enough that I can’t drink it every day. I tend to pull it out when I want something cheery and warm, like when opening up packages with my family around the tree.

I bought a sample bag of this with my last H&S order, but was waiting to try it until I received an e-mail regarding allergen information from the H&S team. Good news! None of the teas I ordered contain any of my food allergies – perhaps my reaction was to something else I had that day. I’m glad that I can get back to tasting these teas worry-free. I ordered this because the description said it included bergamot. I’m a huge fan of Earl Grey, so I was curious to see what other bergamot-infused teas taste like.

The smell is fantastic, very fruity. The taste is fantastic as well. It tastes very different from the Earl Grey, but in a good way (as in, let’s not put either of these two teas down!). The black tea itself is robust, but not in an overwhelming way. I can taste berry flavors, maybe blackberry? And there’s just a hint of citrusy bergamot goodness. I missed the bergamot on the first sip, but it’s there, just very light and unassuming.

Verdict: yum!

The light lemony scent is present in the dry leaves, but when brewed is sweet and nutty.
The liquor is a beautiful amber. I was also thrilled to discover that what I thought was just a twig in my leaves was two leaves and a bud, which opened on steeping.

The taste is sweet and nutty like the scent, with a bright edge from the bergamot but no noticeable citrus flavor.

I added about 1.5 tsp white sugar and a healthy splash of milk (I’m a heathen I know). To me, most flavored black are better with sugar and cream/milk. I find them comforting.

Overall impression – I bought a tin of this tea because I enjoyed it so much at the tea house. I’m not disappointed!

On occasion I like to treat myself with things like new shoes, some jewelery or a single serve sachet from Harney & Sons. I’m glad that yesterday I did that latter, because this is one of the nicest teas from this brand I’ve ever had! Its a lovely delicate and incredibly smooth black tea with a hint of currant. Perfect for light morning tea with cucumber sandwiches and shortbread. Also to sully this infusion with milk would be a crime so please don’t!

Take note other companies: After being able to purchase a single cup worth of tea leaves to try, of a blend that sounded more interesting than delicious but it was only $1 so I didn’t mind risking it, I’m going to buy a 200g tin of it next week!

A new tea for this Friday morning. Very aromatic, smells almost fruity but the taste is more mellow, bergamot softened with vanilla? Nice.

I get berry and vanilla notes from this tea. The smell and taste is helping wake me up this morning. This is a very nice tea and I like it a lot.

I’m officially back on campus and to Steepster as well. I haven’t had a good cup of tea since I left. I fell off the drinking-tea wagon, once I realized I had few choices from among the bagged teas available at home. I wasn’t able to check out any of the local tea shops as I had anticipated, because my car broke down within the first week of vacation. Not fun. So rather than survive on iffy (if not downright terrible) tea, I chose to go without it.

But I’m so glad to be back here, with old favorites and new-to-me teas in the cupboard. For tonight, I wanted something robust and flavorful. I chose this one. The first steep wasn’t very robust, but I think I didn’t add enough leaves. That was remedied on the second steep. I’m getting the full force of a rich, fruity taste as well as a very light bergamot essence. (@takgoti, I couldn’t taste the vanilla you said you had found, but maybe on future sips…) All in all, this was a perfect way to climb back on the tea wagon. I’m glad to be back!

This is a nice tasty fruity tea. Lots of berry notes but I can’t put my finger on just one. I don’t get lemony or bergamot from this tea, just berries. I get a hint of vanilla but not a lot of it. Its a nice flavorful tea.

great as usual. added sugar and milk/half&half. Having for breakfast with a pecan pastry. :)

I had this tea first thing this morning. This is such a very delicious tea. The berry and vanilla notes really make this tea fantastic.

This tea just smells great when you open the tin. I can smell vanilla and berries. When brewing this tea I get the smell of a bowl of berries with vanilla on them. It tastes just as it smells, wonderful. This is not a strong tea. Its very mild with all kinds of flavors. I thought I tasted plum on my first taste, then it settled down to berries as it cooled. I like this tea. Without all the tasting notes on Steepster I may have missed this tea. THANKS!

a great cup of tea as always. Having it with biscuits & jam for breakfast.

Loooove this tea. Bergamot is my Achilles’ Heel when it comes to teas. I simply love that flavor. This is perfect for curling up with prose & poetry by some of my French faves – Proust, Duras, Baudelaire. Transporting.

Very refined- a sophisticated flavor- this tea has a perfect name to mstch its subtle flavor- Paris! Perfect in the late evening- not sure if I would want this as a first cup in the morning…. i

No single flavor predominates- sort of a subtle citrus flavor but not predominately lemon or orangy, subtle vanilla flavor and little bit of bergamot…

I love this tea! People who smell it want to try a cup, even if they aren’t tea lovers. Soothing, warm vanilla flavor makes this my comforting cup. I drink this when I want a tea that feels elegant.

This was a decent tea, I was a little disappointed. I guess I expected more after reading the colorful description on the Harney and Sons site. To me, this just tasted like an average Mango tea. Specifically it reminded me a lot of the mango tea sold by Adagio. I even put this side-by-side with the mango tea from Adagio and took a smell to make sure. While the Harney Tea did have a much richer “tea leaf” scent to it, I still came away feeling like the “fruit” essence of those teas were pretty similar. After reading the description on the side of the tin I honestly don’t think there is a single bit of mango or mango flavoring in this tea. It just seems that whatever combination of fruit essences Harney and Sons used to craft this tea just reminds me of mango tea. I’m not a big fan of mango tea, so this one did not work for me. I’m going to try a few more brewings on it though (maybe alongside a pot of the Adagio mango for comparison). If I change my mind I’ll revisit this review.

Craving a black tea? Paris always hits the spot!

added a bit of sugar and almond milk. It’s ok, but I think the thicker and more neutral dairy milk is better for bringing out the depth and richness of this particular blend…

I’ve had this tea several times, but finally have it in my cupboard. Very flavorful with berry notes (raspberry?) with a hint of citrus. A delicious afternoon cup—

This was the first tea that I ever tried and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

I think there is a little more than a hint of Bergamot in Paris, but there is a fruity/chocolaty taste.

Great black tea. Very aromatic and very smooth. I got this with the Gift of Three Towers, which I highly highly recommend.

love it love it love it. I was told by a coworker that it smells like something called Caravan, an old standard recipe that I would like to try.

such a tasty tea. drank this during class today and someone told me my tea spelled like vanilla pancakes; i think thats a compliment :)

This is one of my favorite. We served this at a historical event here in Bayport. Everyone wanted to know the name of the tea and the company. Great tea!!!!

This tea took a little while to grow on me, but now it’s one of my favorites. Trying to find a place near me that sells it since I moved across the country.

This is my favorite tea! Hands down!!!!

Personal favorite