Harney & Sons

I’m skeptical that this is the correct listing for this tea, but whatever. This was a sample WAY WAY back from LiberTeas, back when I didn’t have much tea. So it’s like… 7 years old, I’m sure. However, it was actually surprisingly tasty. Light and sweet – it’s likely the full leaves contributed to the retention of flavour, as did the smell-proof bag it was packaged in. I’m actually looking forward to the last cup or two of this tea as it was so enjoyable! I can only imagine how delicious it was 7 years ago.

I love a good cinnamon tea, but until this one, I’d always had cinnamon tea from Sri Lanka – the difference being in Sri Lanka, they lace a good black tea with cinnamon oil. Here, it seemed to be cinnamon spice was added to a fairly mild black tea. The result here was overwhelming. The cinnamon was simply too strong against a weak black tea background and was harsh in the mouth – sweet, spicy, and lingering.

Another Harney sample from Ost. This one doesn’t need milk at all. It’s malty and dark. I like it!

I got a sample of this from Ost. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a breakfast tea, but they’re nice to have occasionally. I’m not too familiar with the right words to describe a black tea, but this tastes kind of similar to golden monkey teas I’ve had in the past. My steep time was a little shorter than usual to avoid bitterness. It tasted nice alone, but I added milk and sugar because that’s my preferred way to consume black teas. I don’t usually want this much caffeine at a time, so I won’t restock, but it tastes good if this is the sort of thing you want.

Sipdown 114/395!!

Gosh I’ve been gone a while. I don’t know what it is about today that’s making me want to just curl up in a ball with a book and a pot of tea, but I am going with it. Since today was feeling so autumnal I had to go with this tea, it just encapsulates the season and my current mood so well. From the second it started brewing it was everything I’d hoped it would be; rich and fruity, warm, cosy and inviting. The scent drew me in immediately. I’m not a big fan of cranberries or cranberry juice so I wasn’t sure what I would make of it, but they actually pair really really nicely with the citrus, adding a lovely berry-type fruitiness to the orangey notes I’m getting. It could be summery with such bright fruity notes, but instead it’s a perfect autumn symphony in a cup. Absolutely no additives necessary, it is sweet and strong and full-bodied without being remotely astringent. I am enjoying every cup of this pot of tea and will be sad when it’s gone. Thank you Marzipan for sending me such an elegant hug in a cup.

A nice balance of white tea and vanilla and mint flavors.

I had a bag of delicious Teavana mango black mixed with limeade twist a long time ago, and I bought some limeade twist on eBay and a tin of this to try to recreate that flavor. I strongly dislike the limeade twist on its own, and it pretty much overpowers this tea too, so I guess I didn’t succeed. I don’t love fruity black teas, and I didn’t love this one, so I guess that fits. I didn’t buy it to drink on its own, so I won’t leave a rating. I’ll just say that this tea is pretty weak compared to other teas of this variety.

I got this as a freebie in my order a good while ago. I decided I’d finally give it a go.

The instructions say to steep it for 15 minutes. I definitely made a face when I saw that, but I went along with it. 2 cups of boiling water, 15 minutes, raw sugar, 6 cups of cold water. The result is pretty much just your standard iced tea. The instructions say to serve it over ice, but you don’t necessarily have to. It is a bit smoother and more savory than your average Lipton or whatever. Would probably benefit from a slice of lemon. Eh.

Unrelated: Just so y’all know, Joy’s Teaspoon is going out of business and all their teas are on sale. I feel kinda bad for never placing an order until now, but…

This one is from Ost. Lately, I haven’t been loving fruity blacks, but this one is pretty good. The black tea is all right, and the fruity flavor is pretty strong and nice. Hard to say what fruit it’s meant to be. Maybe apricot? I have enough for another cup or two, which I’ll enjoy, but I won’t order more.

Home – 12:30 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 20

So this was interesting. This was actually a tin of sachets, because I have a weakness for Harney’s lovely “HT” line of colorful tins. Plus I can always refill with loose leaf later, and Harney has nice sachets so it’s not an issue. However… These sachets were definitely defective. I took two out and put them in my pot while the water was heating, and then noticed that one of the sachets left in the tin was mostly empty. It had completely split open along one of the seams and the tea had emptied into the tin. Upon further inspection, about 70% of the sachets were already split open, and the other 30% had at least one gap in the seam. Luckily, the two that I had put into my teapot were the latter, so I was able to take them back out without spilling loose tea everywhere.

So I emptied all the sachets into the tin, and now I have loose leaf. XD Obviously it’s not a problem for me, since I prefer loose leaf anyway. But I wonder if I should email Harney & Sons and warn them about this batch… (shrugs)

Anyway… For some reason I really strongly dislike the base tea that Harney uses for these flavored black teas. I don’t remember it being an issue before, as I think I used to like Paris at least. But now it just tastes like chalk to me, and combined with berry flavor it tastes like berry Tums.

Nope.

Going to pass this on to someone else, and not give it a rating (as clearly I have gone quite mad).

After the hibiscus disappointment that was Organic Passion Plum, I’m a little hesitant to try this. It’s the same, finely ground style of herbal.

The water changes to a dark hibiscus magenta again. It shouts over all the other ingredients, even the raspberry. Overall, the flavor is tart and fruity and kind of reminds me of children’s cold medicine. I find myself missing the plum version’s cinnamon. This one just isn’t for me. And I usually love raspberry teas! I’ll probably make a big batch to drink as iced tea around the house just to use it up.

I think I’ll be going back to Teapigs herbals…

did not like. not one bit. made me sad. tasted super fake. Harney & Sons teas are among my favorites, not dissing the brand, just this particular tea. ew.

oh, now, THIS is good! not quite a subtle as some other apricot flavored black teas i’ve tried, but more robust – i think the underlying tea might just be better. haven’t tried it iced, the others might be more for that. this one makes a lovely hot cuppa with a spoonful of sugar.

My first thought about this tea was “…This is going to go straight through my infuser.” It’s ground so fine! Sure, that ensures a lot of flavor, but it’s also messy. Maybe I’ll use a filter next time.

As it steeps, the water turns deep magenta. Oh. Hibiscus. Though luckily, I mostly smell sweet fruit. Like black cherries and plums with a hint of cinnamon. Hmm. Reminds me of something Tazo used to make, only it was blackberry.

I’ll spare you the rest of the review. The tart hibiscus dominates this tea. Those tempting plum and cherry notes are hardly present at all. It’s just bright, sour, loud hibiscus. With cinnamon.

I think this came in the SF Tea Fest goodie bag.

The dry leaf inside the sachet looked quite dark and shiny and smelled like anise, pine, seaweed, grass and a nutty note. The brewed aroma was very similar and also had a pungent umami presence. Following Harney’s brewing recommendation, the very pale yellow-green liquor tasted of grass, seaweed, nuttiness and wood that was a little bitter on the sip. The finish was sour in the back of the mouth and drying, reminding me of granny smith apple skins.

This seems like a pretty solid sachet. It was easy drinking and I was able to get two steeps. I don’t think I’d seek it out but if offered a cup, I would gladly accept.

Okay, this was one of my first sipdowns of the month. At the time I decided to crack this tea open, I had actually been looking forward to trying it for some time. I understood it to be a throwback tea, the sort of Taiwanese oolong that was popular in the United States prior to the introduction of many of the higher end teas that are more popular and widely known among serious American tea drinkers today. Naturally, I was curious about it. After working my way through my sample pouch, I can honestly say that it was kind of what I expected it to be, dark, roasted, and simpler than many of the Taiwanese oolongs to which I have grown accustomed over the years.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 3 grams of the loose leaf and stem mix in approximately 8 ounces of 205 F water for 3 minutes. This infusion was then followed by two additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were 5 minutes and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected a woody smell emanating from the dry leaf and stem mix. After infusion, I noted cinnamon, peach, malt, and honey aromas. In the mouth, I detected notes of cinnamon, honey, malt, wood, brown sugar, prune, toasted walnut, and roasted carrot that were underscored by delicate hints of peach. The second infusion did not see the nose change all that much aside from the introduction of subtle roasted carrot and toasted walnut scents. The tea liquor was also largely the same in the mouth, though I began to note subtle impressions of minerals and somewhat stronger peach notes. The third and final infusion saw minerals come out on the nose. Notes of minerals, wood, and roasted carrot dominated the mouth, though I could still detect some fleeting impressions of toasted walnut, brown sugar, malt, and cinnamon in the background.

All in all, this tea was pretty simple, but also pretty decent. I would not choose it over any of the higher end Taiwanese oolongs that are readily available these days, but this tea was still pleasant and an educational experience to boot. Drinking something like this also gave me an appreciation for just how much the American tea market has expanded over the course of my lifetime. We have gone from more or less only having access to oolongs like this to being able to hop online or truck over to the nearest tea shop and pick from tons of unique and high quality Taiwanese, Chinese, Indian, Nepalese, Vietnamese, Thai, Kenyan, and Ceylonese oolongs. I remember drinking teas like this at Chinese and Taiwanese restaurants as a child, and though a tea like this would not be something I would reach for regularly today, it is the sort of tea I would choose to knock back on a cooler afternoon or evening when I am not in the mood for something complex or exotic requiring patience and consistent focus. In other words, it was an appropriate beverage choice for this time of year, especially for a late evening at work or a lazy weekend afternoon. In the end, I cannot justify giving this tea a high rating, but for what it was, there was nothing wrong with it. Try it if you are curious about historical tea styles that were widely consumed in the U.S. and other Western countries prior to expanded access to higher quality teas.

This was a freebie in my last Harney & Sons order. Love those little bonus sachets.

Now, mint teas are always a little weird for me. Sometimes if the mint leaves they use aren’t very high quality, I taste pickle notes. I know that’s weird, but I don’t like pickles. While I can sort of smell it before I take a sip, I luckily don’t taste it.

This tea surprises me with the lingering minty tingle. That’s new. Or maybe I’ve just been drinking really cheap mint. It’s very refreshing! But it also smothers the lemon verbena. I can’t really taste it at all, even on the exhale. I was sort of looking forward to that. But I still like this.

This is the most powerfully minty tea I’ve ever had. It’s wonderful on a cool day after drinking too much coffee.

I wouldn’t recommend this tea to anyone because of its intense seaweed flavor, in my opinion it isn’t refreshing. If you love love love seaweed, go for it.

Sipdown! (16 | 89)

I really need to get cracking on sipdowns this month! I guess I’m still at more than one per day, but I’d like to be at two per day, if I’m honest.

This is one of those ones from Harney where I feel like I’m missing something… A lot of other people seem to really love it, but for me it’s sort of just meh.

It’s supposed to be cranberry almond I think? There’s a tiny hint of cranberry tartness here, though I would like a lot more. Perhaps a bit of marzipan at the end of the sip? Mostly it tastes like a very musty and earthy base tea to me…

Oh well, I’m glad to not love them all, hah! And yet I always feel compelled to order another sample and give it another try… (shrugs)

Work – 11:00 AM

This is a sample from my Harney & Sons order.

So I have decided that I just don’t like the base tea that Harney uses for their flavored blacks… I thought maybe it was the bergamot, since the other two that I had similar reactions to are Paris & Tower of London. But this tea doesn’t have bergamot, and it still tastes weird and floral/chalky to me.

It’s a shame, I was looking forward to a good cranberry tea.

I guess I’m just a weirdo, everyone else loves these blends. :P

I received a sachet of this from Tabby in a recent swap. I haven’t tried that many white teas as the ones I have tried have been too delicate tasting for my liking. I generally prefer a stronger flavor. This was very nice it has a strong enough flavor for me. The dry leaf smelled like Vanilla Comoro but after steeping it. The taste is quite different leaning more towards a creamsicle flavor. It’s quite nice but nothing I feel the need to buy. Apparently I need to seek out more flavored white teas to try. I didn’t get any grapefruit notes from this tea but orange instead. It was still very enjoyable though.

Earthy, but quite good.