74
drank Tippy Yunnan by Harney & Sons
226 tasting notes

This tea looked promising: unusually short for Yunnans but certainly unbroken leaves with a definite presence of golden tips. Unlike many Harney and Sons’ teas it even had a dry leaf aroma of raisins, pears and malt. This aroma quickly transformed itself into some generic overripe berries in the wet leaves and subsequently mysteriously completely vanished from my resulting cup of tea (3 minutes per tea spoon, Western style).

The tea itself was eminently smooth and unispiring: some (honey? apricot?) sweetness plus some bitterness (cherry? chocolate?) There were probably some notes one can recognize via extreme concentration but why on Earth would I force myself into doing it?
In short, some very generic Yunnan that does nothing to charm you outright or even show a promise worth exploring via gongfu.

Oh, and as all other basic Harney and Sons teas it needs a looong steeping time to acquire a decent taste with disernable elements and there is NO possibility of steeping it one more time: it produces something utterly undrinkable despite it deceptively dark color.

I was attracted to Harney and Sons’ teas because of their price – about $5 per 100g after discounts. And yes, they are about 2-3 times cheaper than basic offerings from Yunnan Sourcing and Teavivre but this advantage is negated by the fact that you can steep those more expensive teas multiple times and gongfu them as well. And oh, they also taste MUCH better and are way more complex. And they actually offer you the info on harvest date and location. So in the end Harvey’s teas provide you with about an equal number of tea cups – that have very little smell and taste quite basic – as direct-from-China web vendors. I can still see Harvey’s advantages for the fanciers of flavored blends or basic teas to mix with milk and sugar but that is really not me.

Flavors: Apricot, Bitter, Cherry, Honey, Pear

eastkyteaguy

Harney and Sons’ strength with regard to black teas actually lies in the teas they source from some of China’s lesser known provinces with regard to black tea production. I have had some excellent teas they have brought in from Anhui, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces. I have never tried any of their Yunnan black teas though, as I just stick with vendors like Whispering Pines, What-Cha, and Yunnan Sourcing for those teas.

Bluegreen

Yeah but these teas are also more expensive. And I am hesitant to buy expensive teas without any information on the harvest date and location. I decided that I can overlook that for their super-cheap offerings but you get what you paid for.

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eastkyteaguy

Harney and Sons’ strength with regard to black teas actually lies in the teas they source from some of China’s lesser known provinces with regard to black tea production. I have had some excellent teas they have brought in from Anhui, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces. I have never tried any of their Yunnan black teas though, as I just stick with vendors like Whispering Pines, What-Cha, and Yunnan Sourcing for those teas.

Bluegreen

Yeah but these teas are also more expensive. And I am hesitant to buy expensive teas without any information on the harvest date and location. I decided that I can overlook that for their super-cheap offerings but you get what you paid for.

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Bio

I like to drink teas to recreate a specific mood, or just to take a break at work. The world of tea is so endless, patiently waiting for exploration and rewarding you in many ways big and small.

I am looking forward to years of playing with tea leaves, gaiwans, cups, and YouTube videos.

My ratings:

90 or more – a very good/excellent tea, I can see myself ordering it again.

80-89 – it is a good tea, I enjoyed it but not enough to reorder.

70-79 – an OK, drinkable tea but there are certainly much better options even in the same class/type.

60-69 – this tea has such major flaws that you have to force yourself to finish what you ordered.

<60 – truly horrible teas that must be avoided at all costs.

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