Ambessa (by Harney & Sons)

Edit Company

Recent Tasting Notes

When I first saw the name of this one, I came up short. Whaaaaat? That’s an odd name for tea, thought I. Then….oh! Old World Haarlem! So Dutch tea which means probably a little smoky with bergamot added! This made my mouth water, because honestly I have become a little disenchanted with some of my Earls and just don’t enjoy bergamot as much as I used to. The thought of bergamot with smoke, though….now I was drooling!

These are sachets, so I used my biggest mug, which isn’t very big by big mug standards but was about the right size for this. There MUST be some oolong in this (is that right, Russel?) because I have never seen black tea alone swell this much in a sachet. This is one DARK cup of tea! And oh joy, joy! This is a nice, fresh take on Earl that is definitely worth having on shelf.

The black tea base makes itself known very well, and it is a good base, too! I passed the cup around for all the teens to sniff. “Honeysuckle? Bread! Maybe a little chocolate? A little grain!”

I gave it a good, solid slurp like Michael talks about in his book. Is that the bergamot, or is there a little lemony Ceylon in this, too?

I drank mine plain, but this could easily handle milk and sugar if that was your bent. Don’t overlook this as just another Earl Grey. If you like Earl Grey tea, I think this one is with trying. I bet it would be great iced, too!

Edited to add: I decided to try it with sugar since that is how my daughter’s bf will probably drink it and I plan to send him some. I don’t usually add sugar, and personally I liked this better without it. The citrus and floral flavors are enough!

Then I iced the remaining sweet tea and…..OH YES! Very nice!

Further edited to add! – so I was wrong! I said the name perplexed me because I couldn’t think of a flavor that would be identified with Harlem in New York, so I decided it must be Haarlem and the famous smoky Dutch tea this was referring to. Well, it is probably both! The chef who designed this blend has a restaurant in Harlem! Definitely look up his bio. He seems like an amazing young man with an amazing life. Born in Ethiopa, contracted tuberculosis along with his sister and mother, adopted (his sister, too) after his mother died of the disease and raised in Sweden, taught to cook by what must have been an amazing grandmother, studied culinary arts in Sweden and France, and now has a restaurant in New York. These blends are even more special to me now, seeing all the things that each flavor encompasses for him! Bravo to your blends and your spirit! How inspiring!

Hesper June

Oooo! A smoky earl grey sounds delish!

ashmanra

Yes, not too smoky, not like a Lapsang, but almost like a rich Keemun in there? The sachet is so swollen now I wonder about oolong being in it. I should cut it open. And resteeps pretty decently, not as strong as the first cup of course, but still very drinkable!

Harney & Sons The Store

I haven’t narrowed down the exact tea blend quite yet. Flavored teas are tough. I know that there’s some Jasmine scents in there, which suggests pouchong. Also, there is certainly Keemun with a little bit of Lapsang. If you were to cut open the sachet, you’d see a lot of dark chinese leaf cuts, along with some stems, which to me suggest a formosa added to the blend. None of this is official, just my best guess from taking a look and sniff.

Jim Marks

I’ll have to look for this. It sounds like a great idea.

My “big” mug holds a full quart of liquid.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

66

I’ve never had a fresh lingonberry, but I do love the preserves that IKEA sells. Lingonberry tea sounded too awesome to pass up. Who could resist the awesomely designed packaging?

Unfortunately, I think I prefer the packaging to the tea itself. The flavor of the lingonberry is a bit too artificial for my tastes. It’s quite sweet in a somewhat unappealing cotton candy-like way. The sencha is very vegetal and maybe a bit too grassy to be paired with the lingonberry.

I’m glad I only invested in a tagalong tin. While I’d love to repurpose the full sized tin into something awesome, I don’t think I could have soldiered through all 20 sachets.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec
JustJames

oh dear! i’ve had that… where i wish the idea and the packaging had been left as my overall impression of the blend, lol.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82

I love chocolate, and I love tea, but there’s just something about choclate teas that I sometimes just don’t get. When placing my last H&S order, I picked up 3 of the 4 Ambessa teas thoroughly convinced that I probably wasn’t going to like this one. I decided to give it a try because dark chocolate, peanut, and apricot sounded like a potentially awesome mix.

Fast forward three months, and I’m just now trying this out for the first time. I was in a rush to go to a meeting, so I grabbed a bag of tea and my mug, and filled up using the hot water dispenser in the conference room (don’t judge!). The entire meeting I couldn’t help but wonder what ingredient made this tea so damn tasty. See, after three months I’d forgotten why I even decided to order this. As if I needed another sign that my tea hoarding is a problem!

The secret to this tea’s deliciousness is the apricots. They add a sweetness that just works so well with the other ingredients. The chocolate is very subtle in flavor but has a pretty strong aroma. I didn’t taste a strong peanut flavor, but there were definitely some nutty notes. Overall, a tasty tea.

gmathis

At first I thought the apricot thing sounded just plain nuts, but it’s perfect, isn’t it?

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

67

Sipdown! 49/365

Meh. This smelled good when I brewed it up, but the flavour is pretty artificial. Yes, it is “chocolate” and “nut”, but it is heavily overshadowed by a plasticky flavouring taste. Apparently I wasn’t a huge fan when I first had it either.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

67

Sipdown! Probably similar thoughts to last time on this one – I can taste some chocolate and nuttiness, but it’s not all that strong. The base is pretty smooth, but overall it comes across as a fairly standard dessert-flavoured black. That is, drinkable enough, but without the decadence that I really want from this sort of tea.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

67

Hmm, perhaps I understeeped this one at… 2.5 minutes, but it’s not super flavourful, and I’m not a huge fan. There’s chocolate, and maybe some nuttiness, but it’s really nothing special, which I guess I kind of expected it to be. Ah well – I’ll steep bag #2 a bit longer next time and see if that improves it.

Thanks for the samples, Sil!

ETA: Reading ashmanra’s note… apricot?? Yeah, I could believe that… kind of puts a different perspective on it for me. Tastes a bit better now, haha.

ETA again: Bleeehhh, second infusion was way cardboardy. I dumped it.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

75

Here’s today’s sipdown! I like doing one a day if I’m drinking multiple cups – feels like I’m making progress trying things out and shrinking my cupboard down to 100! (Wow. I can’t believe that a few months ago 50 was my limit of teas. Now I understand that quantity doesn’t really matter because I don’t have A LOT of each tea- it doesn’t take that much more room than it did when I had 40 teas. Except now I’m buying more tins. So… that will change. Eep. Slippery slope anyone?)

This is rather good. It smells strongly of chocolate and nut, although the tea itself is milder than I’d expected. It’s very soothing and comforting though.

Thank you Sil!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Sil

haha yeah… kittena is always like…i might have 800 teas but they’re all like 2-3 cup sizes max. YOU have more tea than me! you have large sizes….far as i’m concerned she still has more tea than me lol

Fjellrev

Haha those tins are what makes it really dangerous. For that matter I wish more companies offered ~1 oz. amounts.

Sil

I’ve stopped purchasing tea in amounts greater than 1oz. If you don’t have 1oz sizes i don’t want to shop there….unless i can split an order with a friend :)

TeaLady441

Totally! 1oz is a pretty good amount for most teas!

Maybe our stash should be judged purely on the size it takes up, or how much it weighs in its entirely! Or… I guess we could just not people for their stashes. Mwahahaha (sweeps it all out of view)

Kittenna

Haha Sil, I probably do have more tea than you, but probably closer to double the amount than triple, which cupboard counts would indicate. You also go through tea a lot faster than I do.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

84

Anytime I see a new breakfast blend, I always have to give it a try. This time was no different. Especially with a name as exciting as “Safari Breakfast” which to me translates to “before you encounter lions, you’re gonna need a cup of this.” It is a beautifully blended black tea, just as I’ve come to expect from Harney & Sons. Very strong, comparable to most breakfast blends, an all around good cuppa.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

60

1 tablespoon for 188 ml

Mild sweet black base. Chocolate flavour coming through. Slight spice flavour. Caramel flavour. Overall very mild flavour.

Thanks to Sil for sharing!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

58

sipdown! heh thanks to fiddling for this one. I wanted to try this one in the event that i loved it and needed to pick up a tin of it since it is available locally at chapters. I love the choco-nut ambessa, but as this one is green, i wasn’t to sure how i’d feel about it. Also, i’ve never had a lingonberry before so yay for new things!

As it turns out, this is a little too “green” for me. It might be interesting as a cold brew but hot, it’s very much a green grassy tea with a hint of a fruity taste that i can’t place, which i assume is the lingonberry. Not a bad tea but nothing i’d kill to have in my cupboard. Thanks again fiddling! appreciate the share!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

34

I was disappointed with this one, as it sounded like it would be such a hit. It tasted slightly smokey, with a hint of peanut…and then a SUPER weak chocolate note. The base tea was oily, which helped the peanut note, but it was just “meh” overall.

Tried sweetening with sugar – ehn. Didn’t improve it.
Tried with milk – brought out the nut note a bit more.

I have a couple Harney teas in my cupboard that involve chocolate that I like, so was a bit mystified at this blend. Maybe my sample was old? Who knows.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Fjellrev

Oh weird, this one always sounded a lot more promising.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

83

I tried this again today and it is definitely better with a LONGER steeping time of around 5 minutes, that helps to bring out the flavor. Raised the rating a few points this afternoon.

I liked it so much I made two cups… :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

83

I’ve been trying not to buy a lot of tea lately to focus on finishing off my stash but I did get a small order of mostly black teas and this was in it – the tagalong small tin with 5 teabags.

My first impression upon smelling this was it reminded me a bit of “Florence”, their chocolate hazelnut tea.

The tea brews up to be a light reddish brown cup and I suspect it is a ceylon of some sort. I’m finding the flavor to be a bit thin and only vaguely reminiscent of chocolate. I do detect a brazil nut type of flavor especially in the finish of this blend. I was not blown away by it but will certainly finish off what I have at some point. It benefited from the addition of some soymilk and sugar.

If anyone wants to try this I would certainly consider swapping…

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

74

sipdown! (182) my cupboard WOULD have been at about 155 today and I easily would have made it to my dec 31 goal however i received my package from Miss B yesterday and now i’m up at 182 haha. that may change a little if i get enough energy to pull my swaps together that need to go out but i’ll consider my goal achievable and just aim for 140 by the end of January. I had a rare thought that i would try to get my cupboard down by 10 every month in 2014 so that by November i’d be able to order 60 teas and still be under 100 haha. I’ll probably still aim for that, along side of my goal of not having teas older than 10 months in my cupboard. :)

I had the last couple of bags of this tea as a latte and i’m glad that i did. it makes this a MUCH better cup of tea by making it a creamier, stronger chocolate tasting tea. Not a restock for me, but it was tasty to drink.

Fjellrev

This yo-yo tea cupboard diet sounds like quite the struggle. Yikes!

Sil

Not at all. Lol it makes it fun for me :) another thing to plan and organize!

Fjellrev

haha right on, then!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

74

I need to work on some of my older tea bags so I pulled this one out of the cupboard this morning as well. I find that the strength of this one isn’t all that great so i usually double up on the tea bags. overall, not a bad brew but nothing i need to restock when in finally finish up!

TeaLady441

Twice the bags and it’s gone that much quicker! :D Win!

Sil

shhhhhhhhhhh don’t tell them my secret!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

74

backlog from yesterday

I took this with me out to visit with friends. i wanted something that would travel well and these ambessa teas seem to do well in the travel mugs. I think this tea is more of a safety net – toss a few sachets in my purse or something for when i’m on the road. I wouldn’t necessarily buy this in loose form as I think there are better. if that makes sense? It’s still a tea that i enjoy but it’s partially for the convenience factor heh.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

74

Totally forgot i had this one today until i was taking the last sip out of my travel mug. This one tastes a lot like H&S’s valentine’s blend to me. It’s likely slightly different, though not so much that I can recall what about the other blend is different lol.

Which means that suits me just fine. I’m not getting the nut flavour out of this one but that might be how i steeped it. I got distracted at work and steeped it forever. I also put in twice the normal water, assuming it was like H&S sachets even though the directions are crappy and say nothing about water volume lol

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

88

Straightforward, uncomplicated breakfast tea. Some body, no bitterness, and good with milk and sugar. A little earthy, toasty, but no smoke or flavors or nuttiness. As far as I know, this comes only in sachets, but those are handy for travel and for a day spent in long meetings. This is one of my go-to teas for when I’m not in the mood for deliberations about tea, analysis of tea, tea that comes with demands.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93

I couldn’t resist picking up this smokey version of Earl Grey.

The dry tea sachet smells very strongly of Earl Gray/Bergamot. Very similar to Harney and Sons Earl Grey Supreme.

Brewed the tea smells of a very blunted Earl Grey, only slightly citrousy. The taste of the tea is slight Earl Grey with a smokey finish. This is a good tea, not too strong, but also not too weak. The smokey flavour works well with the citrous bergamot.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Sil

How bergamoty is this? Lol

Lala

The dry tea smells very begamotty, like 9/10, but I would say the brewed tea tasted like a 2-3/10 maybe.

Lala

Do you want me to send you a sample :)

Sil

hmmmm that helps. these are in chapters so i might try it. sounds intriguing

Sil

haha i think i’m good on swaps for the time being lol. I just sent out 6? packages this weekend and i have 3 more that will be going out in the near future. Also…i totally expressposted yours lol so i technically have a tracking number for it hahaha

Lala

Thats where I got mine. Ha ha

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

71

Used one of the sachets with about 16 oz of water. The dry tea smelled like a strong Earl Grey. However after I steeped it the smokiness overpowered the bergamot. I added some sugar and as the tea cooled I could taste a hint of bergamot. Next time I might try this mixed with another Earl Grey to help fight the smoke.

Not a bad tea but not one I would buy. Glad I got to sample it.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

84

So since my first review, I’ve sipped this and found the smoke heavy from opening the tin to sipping it hot. Delicious.

Seems silly that I couldn’t find it earlier. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for smokey greys.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

84

When I opened the tin, I got fresh, crips bergamot. Brewed this up, and the bergamot is warmer now, mixed with tea and jasmine. Not getting much smoke in the scent.

First sip is bergamot first followed by jasmine. Not particularly smoky, though the base seems solid. I thought I smelt smoke when I walked into the kitchen to pick this up, but it was just my toast popping.

I think I’m getting a nuance of smoke in the aftertaste, though it might be a bite from the other flavours in the tea. It is a bit disappointing, I was hoping for a smokier blend (hmm, if not a lapsang or caravan base, why not keemun and bergamot…?). But it’s still a solid earl grey (even if I’m not a huge fan of jasmine in my earl).

I broke my promise not to buy any new teas until I’d slimmed down my cupboard. I picked up this after I’d crashed a new teashop that opened nearby (about 4-5 months ago) but which I hadn’t heard about until now (makes me feel out of the loop). It’s actually a very incredible little teashop (a lot of teashops have been popping up after Davids came to town—I like to refer to it as the “DavidsTEA Boom”—but this was a very modern-with-traditional-values shop. Gaiwans and yixings as far as the eye can see (which isn’t far because it’s a rather small space, but).

Both myself and the guy working the counter at the time were excited for this encounter. I guess more on that once I get around to reviewing the teas I picked up there.

As for this one. Harney and Sons likes to be deliciously subtle, they’re good at balance, and this is balanced, and definitely fills the craving for earl grey that I’ve been having recently. Fills that void in my earl greyless cupboard.

But I do wish it were a tad smokier. Maybe it’s there and the jasmine’s covering it. Hm.

Also’d like to try more earls with China bases.

Edit: As it’s cooled, I’ve been picking up a more prominent smoke in the base. Once it reached room temperature it was considerably more smoky; wish I could have enjoyed it more, but I had to rush out the door to class.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95

I steeped the sachet a second time – not much chocolate flavor, but there is still an intense brazil nut and apricot flavor. I can also taste the tea more now that the chocolate has faded. It seems to have the fruity-floral taste of darjeeling, though the brazil nut and apricot may be leading me astray here.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95

Wonderful aroma and rich dark chocolate and brazil nut flavor, with a fruity apricot undertone. The brazil nut flavor reminds me of Green Mountain’s Rain Forest Coffee. I added half and half and orange blossom honey, and it was a delicious lunchtime dessert! I wouldn’t drink this all the time, but on special occasions when I want to indulge my desire for good chocolaty tea.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
ashmanra

I was trying to decide what to get with my Harney order since they are offering free shipping over $25 and the gift I am buying for someone is $20. This is looking like a good choice!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.