Palm Court

Special thanks to ashmanra for sending me this sample which is making my morning quite delightful!

Most often I drink single black teas instead of blends, because I find I don’t care for the blends. However, this is delicious! I am just getting used to drinking black teas straight, and if I can drink a black tea without dumping milk and sugar in it, I find that to be a good sign. ;-)

This is a very rich and round tea. Others have said it’s a blend of assam, ceylon, keemun and oolong. I am not picking up on smoky flavors but I am definitely getting the oolong here in the finish. This would be a nice breakfast blend for myself although I could also see serving it as an afternoon or evening tea. It’s exceedingly smooth and elegant and would go well with sweets or heartier fare. I can see wanting to have this in my cupboard at all times, so now I am kind of bummed I just placed an order with H&S a few days ago!

I couldn’t help myself and I googled the Palm Court, it looks rather posh:

http://www.fairmont.com/theplaza/GuestServices/Restaurants/ThePalmCourt.htm

I couldn’t tell if they were serving this Harney tea from looking at their menu, but it does seem like quite an experience! Dreaming….

Tea with lunch…..

Today, lunch was a ham sandwich on Italian bread with colby jack cheese, mayo, and a ripe tomato. And Palm Court Tea.

Assam, Keemun, Ceylon, and Oolong. Compared to my Supreme Breakfast this morning, it is definitely lower on the malty taste, but there is a bready taste that comes from the Ceylon in this blend. I am also getting a toastiness that is not present in the Supreme Breakfast, and I am guessing that comes from the Oolong. All of these flavors are seamlessly woven together in a well rounded cup of tea. I am pretty sure this will not make it to a breakfast tea for me, but it is still fabulous. I need the super punch of maltiness in the morning.

On an interesting note, my receipt from the Millerton Shop noted this tea as Palm Court (Titanic). I think that means this is the same as Titanic Blend.

Usual mug method.
Rated just a tad higher than Titanic because I like it better in loose leaf!

Thanks to Ashmanra for this sample!

I sampled this w/o knowing the contents in the blend. So my first impressions were: mild breakfast tea, smooth, not astringent, no need to add sugar, no bitterness. After checking out this site, I learned the secret: the oolong must be masking the bite of any assams. Really, I did not detect any chocolate notes present in the keenum.
Also, really not very smoky either.

As I have been on a sugar avoidance kick and am looking for morning alternatives to assams (which in my opinion just need sugar and milk), this is a pleasant alternative. But I still miss my sugary, milky assams…..

On the one hand, how can I not drink something that is served at the Plaza? I spend a lot of my time homesick for New York, so anything that invokes NYC is going to call to me. On the other, I do have this thing about multiple kinds of tea in the same blend. I suppose I can make a distinction here though as there’s no green tea in this. Technically, the green/black moratorium doesn’t apply to black/oolong. I’ve had another black/oolong blend recently that worked fairly well, can’t now remember what it was.

The smell from the sample packet is Assam and Keemun. There’s a teensy smokiness, and a general impression of hearty earthiness.

The liquor on first glance appears to be heavily influenced by the Ceylon as it does have a twinge of red in the burnt orange, but it’s got more orange in it than I’d want in that sweater I’m looking for. The aroma is interesting. It gives the impression of being somewhat simple, but if I sit with it a while, that seems deceptive. There’s more complexity here than meets the initial sniff. I’m getting some smoke around the edges, some malty sweetness, and something sort of vaguely buttery that may be from the oolong. It’s generally smooth but there are little sharp peaks to it that make me think of the crests of waves.

It’s flavor is deceptive as well. Initially it seems fairly one-dimensional, but it’s a nice dimension. It’s somewhat astringent, and feels medium bodied to me. As I drink it more, though, I’m getting some stone fruit notes, some smoke, a tad of sweetness, and something that is almost biscuity.

I know I’m predisposed to liking this because of the name (I can be pretty gullible sometimes) but I do think it’s worth more than just a second look.

_{Brew temp 208}

This is an interesting blend. It seems every sip features a different tea. I taste the Keemun and Ceylon the most, but I also taste the Oolong. Not noticing the Assam as much except for maybe the tannins. Very smooth and non-astringent. I would consider this a mid-morning/afternoon tea for me. Very relaxing and enjoyable. Not a must have, but I’d probably buy this again in the future.

Slight smoky, malty fragrance coming from a ruby black liquor. There is a powerful yeasty taste and a fair amount of bitterness. I’m really not tasting the oolong in this but it does have a nice complexity to the middle-taste (that taste you get immediately after swallowing as the liquid evaporates from your tongue but before the after-taste).

It’s an ok tea.

There’s a lot going on in this tea. I also think I get different flavors every time I drink it. It’s a blend made up of: Keemun, Assam, Oolong, and Ceylon. I initially tasted a lot of Assam, which made me think I should cut the brewing the time (I usually just go for three minutes with Assams), but then the strangest thing happened…

I was sitting in class with a big thermos of this, trying to wake myself up. All of it sudden, it tasted like a pure Keemun. I kept wondering if I had brewed a Keemun instead in the morning (let’s face it- mornings and me aren’t the closest of friends). I didn’t think about it for the rest of the day. The next morning I pried my eyes open and made sure I brewed the right tea… same thing happened.

Maybe the teas weren’t evenly distributed in the blend I received. Regardless, it’s not a bad tea, but it needs to make up its mind!

Saturday Sample Sipdown #4 (I think I was on #4…)

This one is from Rachel! Thanks, Rachel!

The initial aroma of this while it was steeping led me to believe that it would be very bitter & that I wouldn’t like it.
Interestingly enough, it doesn’t really taste the way it smells. It’s smooth, pleasantly bold, slightly astringent, and there is a brightness to it as well. I feel that it’s lacking something, like a little depth, right in the middle of the flavor profile it’s a little ‘hollow’.
Having said that, it’s not bad!

Haven’t yet read the lable to see whats in it, but I’m thinking its a good blend; I’m guessing mostly Chinese and Indian blacks. My first impression when sipping it is that I should be getting hit with a smokey flavor. Its not smokey, but it has good body and would carry smoke well, so I’m expecting it. hmm, just read the can…it doesn’t say what’s in it other than “black tea”. Enough astringency to know you’re drinking tea, without creating bitterness. Fairly heavy body. Complex flavors.

Strong tea aroma for the dry leaves, light and crisp, too. Steeped, it is a very good tea. I tasted assam pretty strongly I think, but since I have not had many oolongs yet, I think I may also having been tasting the oolong as well. We took it with milk and a little sugar. It is smooth, no bitterness, low astringency in spite of being rated as a 2 on their scale. A light clean cup. I liked it for afternoon tea time, but would not want it as my hearty breakfast cup.

The scent of the leaf is bold and winy – it reminded me of opening a bottle of a good dry red wine.

The liquor is dark and red. The flavor is very bold, and I taste mostly Assam with some overtones of Ceylon and something else. Very little bitterness, and the fermented grape smell persists after brewing.

A hearty blend of four teas (Keemun, Assam, Oolong, & Ceylon) makes for a delicious cup that you can enjoy while commemorating this tea’s creation for New York’s Plaza Hotel’s Palm Court.

I was feeling really tired (even after two cups of Florence) so I decided to open my sampler pouch of Palm Court another Harney and Sons Tea that I have been dying to try based on the reviews from fellow Steepsters. I opened the pouch and the smell of Tea hits me bold just Tea smells (but they are good tea smells) and so I think this is going to be just what I need to wake me up and get me going. I take my first sip and I think wow it’s pretty good I really don’t know how to describe the flavors other than they taste like tea a strong black tea, I can say I smell the oolong which is never a disappointment as I love me some oolongs but the other teas are I think Assam and Keemum which I have never tried on their own so I cannot give a tasting note on that portion. It’s full bodied and so I thought this tea needs a little sweetener so I then added a little german rock sugar (I normally do not add sugar to my teas) so then I took another sip and I think WOW that’s sweet maybe I overdid it with a teaspoon of sugar it’s pretty sweet now so I do not think I can give an accurate review of this tea at this time because of the sugar but I will say that it does seem to be waking me up which was the point after all. Oh and I almost forgot the color of this tea is beautiful, it’s a red orange color I am so glad I bought this glass mug because I did not realize all the beautiful tea colors I had been missing out on the colors really bring a new dimension to the enjoyment of Tea! Back to the review as with all the teas I’ve tried from Harney’s this seems to be of outstanding quality and the brewed leaves unfurl and you can see the different types of leaves quite nicely.
This might sound weird but this tea now that I have sweetened it would probably be really good iced. Hmmm come on summer months I am ready to start icing me some teas!

This tea has a pleasant, subtle aroma and rich, dark color. The taste is very smooth, not bitter, with an only slightly dry finish. There is a very, very slight sweetness to it, but hardly noticeable. This is not a terribly intriguing blend but it is not bad at all. It is a straight-forward, uncomplicated, medium-bodied cup of tea. It takes cream and sugar well. There are more interesting blends available, in my opinion, but this is not bad.

An enjoyable, simple blend with a hint of smokiness. Add a dash of milk to soften the edges.

Bland but pleasant

This is my very favorite tea blend, ever. I always feel very civilized when drinking it, and it’s definitely the blend I pull out for company.