Cranberry Autumn

I am interrupting what is shaping up to be today’s all out attack on your update feed for reasons that I was going to list, but really are too boring to list, so I’m not going to list them and here we are.

Apparently, the things that can keep me away from the internets are to include midterms, head colds, and crazy weekends. What I think started out as seasonal allergies have segued into a full blown virus. And while you may very well be thinking that this is going to turn into an entire post about me whining, there is a point.

The point is that I got this tea in…yesterday? No. Yesterday was Sunday. […Right? Right. I had to check the computer. This is how off my sense of time is.] I got this tea in Saturday, along with some others from, when my ability to smell things had already pretty much abandoned me and I was wallowing in a pool of my misery. The tea helped perk me up a bit, but I was tired and cranky and sick and I didn’t want to try it because I figured I wouldn’t really be able to enjoy it – what with the cold and all.

But I couldn’t resist cracking open the tin and oh, but with what wondrous scents were my nostrils graced. If I, whose m’s are melting into b’s and n’s are gradually hardening into d’s, can still smell this you know it’s strong.

It’s also, joyously, delicious.

So naturally, I brewed a cup.

I have experimented with a few other teas, but I simply can’t enjoy them when I’m in this state. I also suspect that this tea is also not going to taste the same once I am again able to be going to the movies, instead of go-eeg to the boo-vies. Since this is one of the few relaxing things that I can turn to at the moment, though, I am clinging to it like Golem.

The main flavor that I get from it is cranberries. And if I’m being honest, that’s really all I can get from it at the moment. It’s tart, and reminds me of hibiscus. Which I guess it could be flavored with, but whether it is or not it works in this situation. There’s also a nice sweetness to the aftertaste that I find refreshing.

And the tin is pretty.

So yay, Cranberry Autumn, for being my sick buddy. Hopefully I’ll get well soon and then I can try you again. You know, for realz. Yes, with a z.

This one was also generously sent to me by JoonSusanna!

When I opened the bag, I was greeted with a delicious cranberry aroma! Cranberry and citrus; reminds me of the cranberry sauce my mom makes for Christmas. The brewed tea smells much the same (which is promising), and…. oh man, the tea tastes pretty fabulous as well! A great fruity black, with cranberry dominating and citrus adding an additional dimension of flavour. I’m tasting a bit of spice as well, which is really quite tasty.

Not a tea I’d purchase, but only due to having too much other tea on hand; I would certainly not refuse a cup of this! Thanks so much JoonSusanna – this tea is going to be perfect to add to my morning lineup of thermos-tolerant teas!

ETA: Interesting! Second infusion (in half the water) has a distinctly smoky flavour mixed with fruity cranberry. I was not expecting this! Quite tasty.

SIPDOWN!

This isn’t a bad tea from Harney, especially after the not so cranberry oolong that i had earlier. It’s not my favourite for sure, but it’s a good black, fruity sort of tea that does in fact remind me of autumn flavours. The hibiscus isn’t too strong for me so that’s nice.

This was my official T-Day tea yesterday.
I am drinking it again this morning, since I really did not get to sit down and enjoy a tea time yesterday.
I even shared a little with the Hubby yesterday morning. (He asked me for some after sniffing my cup)
He proclaimed that it smelled like dirt and berries…not the most attractive description unless you are my farmer husband, he loves the smell of dirt.
I was not getting any notes of dirt though.
I do get oranges and cranberries though!
I think it is a very fun and festive tea.
I am enjoying it this morning with a my homemade Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls. Yum-O!
I hope all you wonderful Steepster folks had a beautiful Thanksgiving!

This is one of the samples I got today from TeaEqualsBliss, thanks so much to her. I LOVE cranberries and I’ve had good luck with Harney’s flavored teas so far so I was excited about this one. It’s very good. The black tea is smooth and the flavors are light, but they’re strong enough to let you know they’re there while remaining natural tasting. The cranberry is stronger than the orange, and there’s definitely some cranberry tartness (which is why I love cranberries so). Good stuff, now I gotta try Boston. Thanks, TeaEqualsBliss!

Tea of the afternoon…..

I have had this sample since last Winter. I figured I had better try it now that it is the prime season for this tea. I like the balance of the cranberry with the hint of orange and the black tea base. I am guessing that Harney’s African Autumn is the rooibos counterpart to this tea. The black version is definitely much more appealing to me than the rooibos. I guess that should not be a surprise as I prefer black tea in general.

Edit to add: After drinking the whole pot, I am not so sure on this. The first few cups were good, but by the end of the pot I am not liking it as well. It is reminiscent of hibiscus even though it is possible there is not any in there. In thinking about it, cranberry and orange flavoring could be kind of like the tartness I do get from hibiscus….. Final verdict…not for me.

(from the website) Ingredients: Black tea, cranberries, orange peel, natural orange oil, and artificial cranberry flavor.
No hibiscus. I am guessing I just don’t do well with this flavor combo……

Steeped the usual way….

I love love love the cranberry flavor in this tea! It is wonderfully bright, zesty and just tart enough to be the perfect cranberry flavor. It mingles with hints of orange and a great black tea base.

In the leaves their are whole dried cranberries! I was impressed to see the dried fruit in there…I wanted to eat them. I’m not sure if they add to the taste but they made the brewing experience enjoyable. This may be my go to morning cuppa for the rest of the month…or at least the week. Very good cuppa.

Yesterday, I received a lovely gift package as part of a swap and a tin of this was part of the gift. I was very happy to receive it, it is one that I haven’t yet tried but have wanted to.

The black tea base is pleasant – robust and solid. Strong enough to serve as the first cup of the day – which this happens to be for me. I love the cranberry and orange pairing. It gives it a sweet yet tart/tangy kind of taste that is very appealing, and yet the flavor does not overwhelm the black tea. A nice balance.

I am really enjoying this tea. It’s bold without being bitter, and the hit of cranberry and orange is just right. It’s just what I needed to wake up this morning. I would definitely recommend it to any and all of my friends in the US.

Too bad I won’t be getting any more in.

We placed an order with Harney on 4/8/2011. Today is 4/25/2011. Our order still has not shipped, and all e-mails are either left unanswered or forwarded to another department who takes a turn not answering any of them. The only semblance of a response I’ve gotten from anyone is simply “International orders take longer to process than domestic”, which simply isn’t good enough. Other companies seem to be able to handle the processing times just fine without letting them take this long. We’ve canceled our order and won’t bother trying them again. There’s nothing they make that we can’t find here, in the last few weeks we’ve discovered tons of little tea shops in Toronto.

So for my friends in the US, I highly recommend this tea. For my Canadian friends, it’s good, but very much not worth the hassle. Thanks for letting me try this, QueenofTarts, I might have to see if I can find it locally.

I was able to try this because LiberTEAs is so awesome! Thanks girl!

This was more smooth than I thought it would be and I think that is a plus! I could taste the cranberry – not very bitter cranberry, I might add, and a bit of citrus, too. 3

When I first smelled this right out of the package I thought I could smell grape in addition to Crans and Citrus.

I ended up liking this just fine and dandy! It’s yummy hot or cold!

The perfect accompaniment to our apple-themed potluck/tea party!

So, my master plan for this tea was to brew up a gallon iced and sweetened in the same way I normally make my iced tea. and serve it with Thanksgiving dinner. It’s why I decided to take the leap and buy 4 oz. (well, that and I had a gift card to Amazon, so that made it pretty cheap).

But of course when I got it in today, and it was 50 degrees outside, iced was not going to be the first way I tried this. Boyfriend (hater of flavored teas that he is) actually sniffed the dry leaf and asked for some, which surprised me because I actually would not have wanted to try this based on the dry leaf smell. It had hints of orange and cranberry and black tea, yes, but there was something off about it; and the steeped tea retained that ‘off’ odor.

The flavor is pretty much what I hoped it would be, though; black tea with hints of cranberry that get a little more tart as it cools. I didn’t get so much of the orange, but I think that the tart/bitterness could be from rind pieces I saw floating in the mix. Unadulterated it was a good balance of tea and fruit, so I added some sugar (since I will be sweetening it a little bit) to see what happens when I do.

Straight up, this turns into black tea and cranberry juice! The tartness is still there, but it’s a good tart – the tart you feel when you’ve had cranberry juice or cranberry sauce. A realistic tart, I guess is what I should say. I could almost see why people assumed there was hibiscus in it, but it definitely is just the cranberry behaving like a cranberry.

So, to sum: I think the only thing I wasn’t fond of where this was concerned was the smell. And in iced tea scent tends to be weaker so I’m thinking my original idea of a Thanksgiving iced tea was pretty freaking genius. I can’t believe it’s only 2 weeks away!

Cranberry and orange are definitely not my favorite flavors on this planet, especially not when put together, so this is something I wouldn’t look for normally. Chris_s gave me a large sample of this, so I got a chance to try it.

It smells like candy in the bag. Once brewed, it has a nice non-astringent black base and I can taste a light orange flavor in the background. The cranberry is more like a craisin (sweetened cranberry) and there is something both candy-like and lightly floral that I cannot put my finger on. And, I agree with TeaEqualsBliss that there is also a grape flavor to this. I kind of like it, but its not really my thing. If you like cranberries and orange and candy, then you will probably love this.

I’ve been enjoying my Shui Teas so much that I haven’t had anything new to log for a while. I was feeling a little disconnected from Steepster so, in honor of Fall (even though it’s still 106 degrees here) I thought I’d give this one a try.

This tea (in silken sachets) has a bright fruity fragrance that deepens to an almost bitter citrus. This is true before and after brewing.

Once brewed, you’re left with a garnet colored tea. The taste is mildly flavored. From the fragrance, I expected a high level of bitterness or tartness but there’s just a subtle pucker after a slight fruit flavor. I would prefer that the tea base be presented a bit stronger, but overall this wasn’t bad.

The leaves of this tea are broken grade and very dark. I don’t visually note the presence of actual cranberry pieces but they’re there, along with orange peel which I can pick out scattered throughout. The aroma is pungent and wonderful, eluding to a deeper level of subtlety not seen.

Once brewed the leaves produce a deep, dark colored brew Harney & Sons notes as mahogany. The aroma is lighter once brewed with notes of citrus tart and a light sweetness you feel begging you to consume it.

When drinking I noted this brew’s relatively smooth liquor where I’d anticipated something a bit brisker. A pleasant surprise. The sweet and tart flavors seem to swap places in the mouth as they battle for prominence. It’s at once energizing and calming.

First tea log;

I got a small tin of this back from the lovely Tabby, being one of her favorite tea’s and a snowy march evening I thought I’d run at this first.

I ran the water all the way up to boiling then let it sit for a good 5 and a half minutes in a flush stainless infuser, the first thing I noticed was the sharp scent, all deliciously tangy with the heavy scent of the black tea behind it, I almost felt bad dropping in a small amount of agave sugar.

The taste of it is really hard to put into words, especially this late at night, simply put on a snowy night in what should be spring, it makes living in new england almost bearable, the sweet touch of cranberry and orange is perfect over the black tea, I LOVE black heavy mean tea’s so I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this but it really is quite a perfect contrast, just tart enough over the lovely body of the black tea.

Highly recommended for anyone who hates snow, and or just wants a nice cup of tea.

Going to try tomorrow without the agave honey, which might of been a little too much sweetness.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: boiling, 2 cups
Tool: my grandmother’s Bee House Ceramic Round Teapot
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: citrus, cranberry
Steeped Tea Smell: orange, cranberry, black tea
Flavor: cranberry, black tea
Body: Full
Aftertaste: sweet orange, astringent
Liquor: opaque dark brown

Purchased at the tea lady booth at the NW tea festival.

It’s a nice solid fruity black tea, I am enjoying it.

Pictures: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2011/02/harney-and-sons-loose-leaf-black-tea.html

It brews up into a pretty brown tea with a sweet cranberry fragrance. Surprisingly, the tea taste is paramount and the cranberry and fruit tags along to add flavors, but they’re just side dishes. I can definitely see serving this on Thanksgiving with the pie.

This is a nice mix of tart and sweet perfect for this first real Fall day in Upstate, NY. The cranberry and orange flavors as I said mix well with the Ceylon black tea base. It also goes down super smooth. So much so I need to make a fresh cup! I hate when I drink tea that fast…need to slow down as I only have a little left. I’m also really wishing I had a cranberry or orange scone to go with this.

This seems to be one of the rare black teas where the flavors actually work to enhance the tea, rather than just screaming “I’m a fruit flavored tea”. I can’t really pick out the individual cranberry and orange flavors – I can just taste that there is a little something extra in this tea. I love that they didn’t add any spices to this blend (unlike a lot of autumn and winter teas). If you’re looking for a good slightly fruity tea, this one fits the bill. Prepared with almond milk and stevia.