Eight at the Fort

I’ve wanted to try this tea for a while now. It’s one of those teas that I always seem to forget to put in my shopping cart when I’m shopping on Harney’s site, and after I’ve placed the order, I’m like “oh yeah! I wanted to order that!” This time, it was one of the first teas that I put in my cart so I wouldn’t forget.

After brewing this (but before tasting it) I was reading through some of the tasting notes, and I wish I would have lowered the temperature a little based upon what I read. But, let’s hope it will still turn out ok…

Wow! It’s so rich and full-flavored. Very nicely rounded.

I like this much better than I thought I would, and I was pretty sure I’d enjoy it!

Tea of the late afternoon……

I have not been very good at getting to my samples, lately. There are still issues with my Dad’s health (far away from me) so my mind is a little distracted. I just have to wait for the right time to try something new so that it has my full attention for several minutes, rather than just fixing a stand by when I know my mind is not on the tea.

This one was sent to my by ScottTeaMan. He sent me a very nice sampling of things I am very excited to try. There is this one and a few Darjeelings of which I have not tasted any, really, unless you count Harney’s Viennese Earl Grey. I think it hardly counts as it is not an unflavored variety. Anyway, thanks so much Scott for sharing your tea!

Ahhhh. I really like this. I know there are several kinds of tea in this, and really, not one of them stands out. That is as it should be in a good blend. All of the flavors should work together to make a great cuppa. And this is a great cuppa. You know when you take a sip and you just feel your body relax. To me, this is the power of tea. It has the power to bring me back to a state of balance. I really wish I could tell you what this one tastes like more specifically……maybe on the next cup.

Usual mug method.

I think this is a love or hate tea. Personally, I love it. Eight at the Fort is very complex tasting…smoky, malty, robust, earthy, slightly sweet. I could go on on and on. The mix of leaves is interesting and pretty to look at. This tea also holds up to milk and sugar very well. Super tasty! The caffeine content must be fairly high, because this is one of the few teas that I get a little jolt out of.
A HUGE thank you goes out to Takgoti for including this little gem in one of our swaps. She just exudes awesomeness. :)
If you like black teas with a little meat on the ribs, than this one is perfect. Nothing sissy ‘bout Eight at the Fort. He’ll smack ya around. Plus, the name is really cool. My husband appreciated the story behind the name and I think he felt special drinking it. And that’s cool. A big win…and a place on my shopping list for Eight at the Fort.

This really is a different blend. The dry tea looks very intriguing with different colors and lengths of leaf. It has a complex aroma that includes strong black tea, grassy green tea, and premises of fruit and flower. How was it going to taste?

I got this in a sampler size from Harney & Sons and may have to invest in a full tin. Eight at the Fort develops into a very strong and delicious blend of flavors. After about half my mug, I added some sugar and milk and I think I like it better with the additions, but it’s perfectly good without them.

Harney and Sons reveals that this is “A blend of eight different teas (keemun, assam, oolong, ceylon, yunnan, darjeeling, nilgiri, and silver tips).”

I was, at first, afraid that this tea was too ambitious and that it would not work, but I should trust Harney & Sons. It works as a good strong tea that would be excellent for both morning and afternoon. And what a fantastic name!

Another sample that I’m hoping technically doesn’t break my moratorium against black/green tea blends. This one has oolong, but the only thing that’s listed in the ingredients that could conceivably refer to a green tea is “silver tips” and looking at the Harney site, I’m guessing this is a Ceylon white, not a green. At least the only tea they seem to have with the words “silver tips” in the name available on the site is a white tea.

One of the nice things about Steepster (among a litany of nice things) is that you can take a look at how others have steeped something that seems potentially mysterious in what it wants as its parameters. Since H&S steeped this at 205 for 4 minutes, that’s what I’m doing.

I’ve just had several Harney blends with Assam in them in a row, and in the sample packet, this one has a lot in common with the others in terms of fragrance. It’s got that underlying earthy, loamy smell to it. There’s a little sharpness that may be from the oolong, and something that adds a sort of fresh smell. I’m wondering if that’s the Silver Tips.

The tea’s aroma is an amazing swirl of different teas. It’s like that scene in the movie of the Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy watches out the window as various personages, animals and farm equipment fly by and (at least the people) wave. I feel like I’m waving at a malty sweet Yunnan (hi, how are ya?) and then a vaguely smoky Keemun (how’s it goin’?) and then a slightly woody, fruity Ceylon (dude, what up?), and then a fruity, toasty something that could be Oolong or could be Darjeeling or could be something else entirely (hello, hello, whoever you are!). I don’t think I’ve had Nilgiri before but I’m sure it’s flying by as well. (Thanks for stopping by!)

And delicious! I think it’s the Yunnan that gives this a fuller bodied feel than the other blends I’ve had today, Elyse and Palm Court, but rather than heading toward a stout breakfast type tea as something with this body could, it has a sort of an upswing toward a mid-range of flavor that is easy on the taste buds and the stomach. I think it’s the Oolong and Darjeeling that are mainly responsible for this uplift, but it could be the Silver Tips as well. I’m getting no bitterness, some astringency but just enough to make it interesting. The aftertaste has a little smoke, some sweetness, and a kind of bready/green note that is difficult to describe.

I’m really glad that H&S was able to pull off such an amazingly ambitious blend. In lesser hands this story could have had a sad ending. I am very pleasantly surprised at how much I like this one!

ETA: The lingering aftertaste is really lovely, both sweet and refreshing. Bumping up a couple of points for the wonderful reminder over time.

Since it went so wekk with the tropiucal explosion, why not move on to one of these poor neglected Doulton teas. Thjis one I was really excited to receive and that’s a big reason why I’m having it first. I was reallyu curioius about it the first time I saw someone post aboiut it, but then it seems to have gone ouit of fashion and I forgot about it. The brand is unavailable to me so it was one that I had given up on getting to taste.

The leaves had a really funny smell. The smoke and the silver tips were most dominent in the aroma and smoky white tea is exactly as weird a smell as it soiunds. My nose had quite an identity crisis trying to suss that one out.

I wnet and skimmed through some of the posts about it and it would appear that it would be a good idea to let the water cool off a bit before steeping, so I’m doing the same thing.

After steeping I’m getting a string malty aroma, but not really any smoke. There is a grassy sweetness to it that I can’t decide if I think it’s the darjeeling or the silver tips. I’m leanjong tiowards the former.

Okay, this is going to sound weird. There’s a certain bitter bite to this, like it’s a bit overdone. At the same time the fkavour is kinda watery as if I didn’t use enough leaf for the amount. If I used both too much leaf and not enoigh leaf at the same time, I must have got it just right.

But the flavour does seem to have two faces. The mild, grassy white and darjeeling one and opposite the slightly bitter darker astringency of assams and ceylon, and the more ‘middle-ish teas’ such as the oolong and the nilgiri aren’t really managing to bring the two together. They may be reaching out to each other but not quite touching.

I’m liking it thoigh. It’s not a revelation of awesomeness and I’m a littke disappointed that I’m notr detecting any smoke, but it’s definitely a quite nice tea and I’m glad I got to satisfy my curiosity.

i loved this tea’s eathiness. very dark and robust. cuz world leaders don’t mess around.

I ordered this tea in the late 90’s because the description really sounded intriguing. I mean c’mon son, if this tea was good enough for eight world leaders, it was good enough for me, so I ordered it. Back in the day, I really liked it alot! I’ve been meaning to reorder it for years and I finally did so.

I have been cupping this since November trying to accurately pen a review. So here we go.

Upon opening the tin, I could smell the Assam, Darjeeling, and white Jasmine. Yes, there are full, white Jasmine leaves blended sporadically throughout this blend, which was noticeable. You can actually see all of the different leaves here. In the wet leaves, the Jasmine & Darjeeling come through mostly, among the mixture of other teas.

The cup is a very dark brown, and when I stood directly over my cup, the light hit it just right and made my tea look nearly black. I watched the steam rising off of the darkness, looking like ghosts dancing on my tea! There was a decent, sweet aroma, mainly of Darjeeling, Jasmine, and Assam. Those three teas seemed to stand out in the flavor profile as well, not dominating, but more like vying for position, each wanting to be noticed. I will say the Darjeeling probably got the slight edge here. I honestly couldn’t distinguish the other teas specifically; however, occasionally I noticed a burst from a Keemun. Or was that a Yunnan?? Or a Puerh perhaps, pointedly prickling my palate?? Eight teas can be confusing to the taste buds, much like a totally tenacious tortuous tongue twister!

WWHHEEEWWW!! The key here is that this is a smooth enjoyable cup of tea. An interesting and solid-yet not stellar-blend, with medium aromatics, flavors, and briskness. Lower water temps and a little sugar may unlock more nuances in this tea, increasing my rating. If this tea is good enough for me-and it is-then it is definitely good enough for you too! :))

Cupped and Reviewed: Saturday, December 17, 2011.

I have been saving this sample, courtesy of our friend QuiltGuppy. My mother has been in and out of the hospital the last two weeks, we got a good report this morning so it is time for something new and good! Eight at the Fort covers so many of my interests. It was originally blended for a historic meeting, one of the attendees was from my home state, and it is black tea (still my favorite.) I find this a little on the complex side, it is hard to tell the eight teas, they blend and fit together very well. Dry, it is a little on the long side for black tea. I think Darjeeling is there, that wine note jumps out. The maltyness of Assam is also easy to find. The color as noted, looks reddish like a Ceylon. I really like this, and I think it could be better than my previous beloved Prince of Wales from Twinings.
One review mentioned it is a contemplative tea, I think I will give that a try…

A great grand thank you hug to the incomparable QuiltGuppy for sending me this sample. Through QuiltGuppy’s generosity my tea selection seems so much more well rounded. Left to my own devices, it would be all foodie/ candy teas all the time. Cucumber and cream cheese tea sandwich green rooibos? Yes, please!

This tea… This tea is very interesting. At first sip I get a malty and even smokey flavor. That moves to a sweet and, dare I say it, floral tone. The black tea has a hint of bitterness to it for me. I’ve noticed that some people dropped the steeping temperature to lessen the bitterness a bit. I have just enough in my sample pack for one or two more tries. I don’t mind the slightly floral tone of this tea, but I don’t think I’d buy it. It is lovely for a try though.

Yay, my Harney & Sons order arrived this morning! does a happy dance

This tea is smooth as silk without any bitterness, and yet the flavour is distinct and not at all weak. This is a tea with presence, it knows it doesn’t have to shout to be noticed.

So after all the backlogging, I’m happy to be writing about one tea that is currently still warm in the cup next to me.

First off, a HUGE thank-you to ScottTeaMan for this wonderfully generous portion, among others. I had been intrigued by this blend for a while, and it seemed to elude my shopping list time after time. I originally fell in love with it’s backstory, and have been meaning to try for some time.

To get to the point, I’m adding this to the ranks of my other favorite Harney straight black teas, Malachi McCormick’s Blend and Royal Palm Court. It’s a wonderful breakfast tea, and perfect way to start the day. It’s brisk and bold, but has a pleasant maltiness, and full-body appeal to it. The presence of 8 different teas does not create chaos and incongruence as I sometimes fear has the same effect as wearing more than one perfume at once. These eight separate teas, however, complement each other nicely, adding depth and complexity and bringing out each other’s full potential. This would fit well among the ranks of the best solid black tea blends.

I am really enjoying this tea. The description of the blend, from H&S does not indicate the 8 teas used in the blend, but from looking at it, it is lovely, colorful and I see various types of leaves. I can definately see white tea, probably green and oolong. Assam is there.

Drinking this is like a pleasant puzzle to solve. There are multi-levels of flavor including some, but not a lot, of fruityness that brings sweet tones. You don’t need to add sugar, but try it occasionally to see if you can bring out any certain fruit flavor.

So I intended to take takgoti’s suggestion and brew this at 180, but I was too impatient for the water to cool and gave up at 190. But I can totally see how boiling would be too much for this tea. There is a hint of something at the end that I think would develop into overwhelming bitterness if brewed at boiling. But at 190, it’s totally okay. I imagine that at 180 it might be pretty much gone.

I was actually really excited to try this one because of the great reviews but I’m feeling a little deflated. It tastes… normal. It’s nice – has a good flavor, a little fruity, a little malty, a little smoky. It’s kind of a combo of all the good things that I appreciate in different types of teas, but they are all rolled into one tea. Which you would think is a good thing (and I think most people would agree) but it leaves me feeling that the tea is a bit confused.

It’s a well-done blend, I think. You get all the good out of the teas and none of the bad – no rough edges or harsh tastes. DH gives it a 4/5 star rating, so I think the sadness I’m getting from it is a personal taste thing. The tea itself is good. Just not my speed.

Ok. Something must be addressed before I say anything else.

WAY TO ROCK HARD, STEEPSTER OVERLORDS.

I am FULLY digging the new update. It’s like opening a present, that is in a box, and inside the box is another box, and in that box is a key, which you use to open a chest… I’m sure I haven’t seen everything that has been tweaked yet, but MAN ALIVE, you guys have been working hard. It is MUCH APPRECIATED. And now that I can go back and adjustate and accuratize and other made up words all the stuff I’ve logged before you’ve given me quite a pile of stuff to keep me busy. AWESOME.

So yes. Eight at the Fort. I think I need to play around with the steeping time on this because it came out a bit bitter for me. It definitely is smooth, though.

The tin has that distinct dark, almost earthiness in the scent that I have come to associate with black teas, but with an almost fruity undertone. In the infusion, that sweetness is lost to me. Looking at the tea itself, it’s comprised mainly of the dark twisted leaves typical of black teas, but there are a few sprouts intermixed that are quite downy. There are also some lighter, near lighter brown, near golden leaves.

Eight at the Fort makes me wish I knew more about black tea, or tea in general really. I can’t even begin to pick out what the hell is in this because it’s very well blended and makes for a solid, singular taste. It’s certainly is going to have me jumping for a while trying to figure it out. I think that I’ve been drinking so much stuff that’s flavored lately that I’ve lost a semblance of what some teas taste like as a standalone. As it is right now, the tea doesn’t really taste like anything to me. Just…tea. It’s not an unpleasant taste by any means, I just don’t have anything to compare it to.

The aftertaste has an extremely pleasant, grounded sweetness to it that is reminiscent of some of the subtler dark chocolate I’ve had. It’s not obviously sweet like Hershey’s, you have to wait for it, and when it comes it’s not overwhelming. It’s just there, and it lingers in the recesses of your mouth before leaving as quietly as it arrived.

Right now, I like this tea. With some adjustment and attention, I think that I could REALLY like this tea. If anyone has any suggestions on steep times or temperature or whatnot, by all means send them my way. I didn’t steep it as long as the packaging suggests, but it’s already bitter for me at 4:30, so I’m thinking I don’t want to go much longer if any longer at all.

A blend of eight different teas (keemun, assam, oolong, ceylon, yunnan, darjeeling, nilgiri, and silver tips). A great “pick me up” blend for this dreary Sunday morning here in Millerton.

It’s an interesting looking tea. You can really see the different components: the long green leaves, the short brown ones, and the tiny dark brown leaves. Once wet it looks like fall leaves in my strainer.

It brews up into a red-brown liquor with a pleasantly sweet mixed with a lightly smoky fragrance. The taste begins with the light smokiness of an English Breakfast tea with the addition of a floral aftertaste and a slight toastiness. It is a surprisingly complex tea but without any astringency or bitterness. Very nice. Much thanks to takgoti!

Bought a sample of this – youngest child aka the tea addict says BUY A TIN! This tea has a wonderful aroma – I could sit here sniffing the leaves for the rest of the afternoon but I have to go to the gym. (We had eclairs with our tea this afternoon so it is especially important!) The dry leaves are interesting to look at – black, straight leaves, thin lightly curled ones, and green ones that aren’t green tea I think but maybe darjeeling? At least when it is steeped they look just like my 1629 Blend Darjeeling from Southern Season. It was initially astringent, which I don’t like, and might mean I should steep it for less time. I added milk and a little sugar (my friend added only milk and was satisified -she’s a no sugar gal) and it was deeee-licious! This one is a keeper! Plus, I LOVE the history behind it. And my kid wants it, so…….

after seeing a posting from a fellow Steepster, I decided to revisit this to remind myself how it profiled.
First I suppose is the question of its pedigree, as is the case with all blends. As my fellow tea lover Angrboda noted, there appears to be a distinct flavor break, so I thought going back to the leaf was the first step.
Dry Aroma: bright and soft on the nose, complex dark fruit, notes of blueberry, spice, tannic aroma reminiscent of Ceylon tea with a soft floral mulberry hint.
Wet Aroma: dark berry, peach, steamed fresh green beans, hints of citrus
Appearance: this is where the sleuthing comes in. From the color and the levels of oxidation, look of the leaves and the presence of stem, leave, and a few buds, my guessing and palate seem to point at a couple of components – Ceylon FTGFOP1, light mix of Darjeeling TGFOP, bud tips seem to resemble Ceylon silver needle or perhaps some other bud tip Indian white tea, and a Chinese ‘Congou’ style black tea. I don’t think there is an Assam, mostly because the tea has a more Darjeeling spicy profile and less the rich, malt-pepper that the Assam tea exhibit. The white tea buds that are few, lack the heavy ‘hair’ that I usually expect to see from Chinese white teas so I think maybe it comes from that.
Cup: the liquor is a beautiful deep reddish-orange, very common for Ceylon, Chinese Congou, and Assam. There is a hint of smoky subtly that is very like bohea congou and adds to the complexity and depth. Tannins and fruit, slight hints of muscatel and citrus, clean finish and accented aftertaste of smokiness and brisk spice. I great cup for a brisk day and a contemplative mood.

Eight at the Fort by Harney & Sons is a bold, straightforward black tea. Paired with heavier foods, e.g. Chicken Gorgonzola and Pesto Tortellini, the tea’s flavor profile did not get lost in the palate. Instead, the complex yet pleasing blend of Yunnan, Assam, Keemun and others complimented the food well.

My surprise came in preparing Eight at the Fort: the 5-minute steep time was ideal. I also enjoyed this tea with a very rich tiramisu, so I drank it sans cream and/or sugar. It’s a tea that adds sensibility to indulgence.