fleurdelily

So I slept in late, and when I awoke, my order from Harney was on the doorstep. My day was off to a great start, was very excited to get my goodies, I ordered lots of trial sizes, and a tin of guayusa. Given that guayusa is supposed to be well endowed with caffeine, I gave it the honor of first brew. I used 2 tsp in my 1 liter polish pottery teapot. It made a nice color, about the color of strong mint. It has a vegetable scent… kinda grassy, or maybe yard waste— depending on your mood first thing in the morning.

After drinking my cup, and noticing my energy picking up, my words comming a bit faster, I’d conclude it makes a fine first brew. Yes, this stuff has potential. The leaf is tiny, shredded like confetti. It does tend to scatter on the countertop. This tisane also has flavor— and I like it better than chamomile, which I’ve never seen the attraction, but the husband likes chamomile…I associate it with sickness, upset stomach, recovering from the flu, or for people who can’t have caffeine, something you use to make do or otherwise go without…. but I digress… this is guayusa, not lame old chamomile. I am not at all sorry to have bought 4 ounces, it will definitly get used. Taking a liking to it, and Wide Awake Now!

Though, I must tell you, this is my second order from Harney, and it’s great fun to anticipate getting a parcel, and track it’s movements across the country until the day it finally arrives, like being a kid again, counting down the days to my birthday. So I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed. In the first order they threw in a few teabags to sample. But today, all they gave me was one lousy teabag. One. Chamomile. Why did it have to be chamomile? because they can’t sell enough, they have piles of it laying around or something? Underwhelmed. Anticlimactic even. Pooey on your lousy chamomile. Husband can have it, next time he feels sick.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

Tea bags – with strings – individually wrapped – 10 in a box. Each tea bag contains enough leaf for a 1liter pot. I drank this pot without milk or sugar. This is not a strong tea in flavor, but it makes a nice dark brew — much better color than the Tregothnan Afternoon blend. The overall impression I get is a fairly generic grocery store all-purpose black tea. It’s serviceable, but nothing to write home about. It doesn’t offend by being too much of anything. {and after the trouble I went through to obtain it, that is somewhat offensive}

Brewed in a 1 liter polish pottery tea pot. Used one tea bag, just as I did with the Earl Grey, but the soup was so pale, I wonder if I should use more? Using the same standards that produced success when brewing the Earl Grey and the Classic, this time I ended up with a pale cup. On the one hand, that may be the point of “afternoon” tea, but when I compare it to my personal favorite brand, Ahmad, I can only say that this tastes exactly like hot amber water. No flavor. So either I need to add more tea, or I need to stick with my Ahmad. Tregothnan Afternoon tea does not impress—just as well, since it’s not easy to obtain. I bought it on a lark, because of it’s provenance, and I really didn’t have high expectation for flavor anyway. Tourist tea. That’s all it is.

One sachet will brew a 1liter pot. Individually wrapped tea bags with strings, 10 in a small box. Packaging not very attractive—which is not necessarily a bad thing, as some american tea companies are all about the packaging, and less about the quality of the leaf. Be careful when opening the packet, it’s a tight fit, my first attempt resulted in ripped tea bag. Of course, I brewed it up anyway using a mesh filter. That incident did allow me to view the contents, and it is a very fine texture, as most english brands are. Second attempt, paid strict attention to the top selvage and was successful. (Yay) Once you get past the packaging, the opened packet has a lovely aroma. I drink my black tea without milk, I like to taste the stuff unadulterated. I don’t add milk or sugar to Earl Grey anyway… and this has a smooth mouth feel, does not dry out my tongue. Less of a lemony note than Ahmad Earl Grey, which is my daily tea, my standard of comparison. I also brewed it a rather long time, as I got distracted during dinner time, and walked away. No problem, I have discovered that most British tea blends are rather gracious about overbrewing — they will still turn out fine. And if you think brewing it was almost too tricky for me, you should have seen me ordering it! Apparently, my bank feels that my visa is safest if I don’t use it at all. They wanted the last 4 of my SSN “for security reasons”… luckily, I have two Visas, or I would not have any tasting notes for Tregothnan. I am still trying to find the magic combination that allows me to try Fortnum’s tea. I refuse to pay $150 for 12 oz of tea…. but that is another subject entirely. Give me time, I shall surely find a way, this Yank may be slow, but she gets there eventually.