Harney & Sons

A malty, slightly smoky tea with hints of cocoa (presumably from the Keemun). Nice, flavorful, and round but a bit on the brisk side for me at a 4-minute steep. I’m going to reduce to 3.5 or 3 minutes and see if it’s more to my palate.

Prior to steeping you’re able to smell the hints of roasted rice within this matcha/genmaicha blend. It has heavy earthen tones and the dust of the matcha is visible within the metal container and gives the drink a heavily green color.

The taste is very crisp and refreshing. The blend helps mitigate some of the standard bitterness that usually accompanies green teas. The aftertaste is not very long, but it is very flavorful in of itself. Definitely one of my more favorite “tea bag” green teas (I usually am preferential to loose leaf so I can see the quality of the leaf and have a deeper infusion/steep). It is on the pricier side though. That being said, this tea company typically has very nice quality teas that can be steeped about twice, depending. I plan on steeping this tea a second time for slightly longer as well to enjoy a second cup, though the second cup might be more bitter.

So either Harney sent this teabag to me as a sample OR it’s really really old. (I’m also loving that Harney has been having free samples AND free shipping with even the smallest of orders. There is NO EXCUSE not to order from Harney! Grab a few samples of teas you’ve been meaning to try!) But this is just an “I Drank This” tasting note. I don’t like having a one-er of something and not write a note. I am certainly not the one to judge chamomile (don’t like it) and this might have been overbrewed. But this was chamomile. And I drank it.

Sipdown (634)!

Another VariaTEA share, and something that I could really easily/quickly finish off today without needing to pay it much mind. Also, it was just convenient having the teabag format at work when I was making something during our busy period today.

Honestly, this didn’t even taste like green tea to me though. Apart from the lightest bit of astringency in the finish, I’d probably have never known I wasn’t just drinking a strong tasting straight peppermint. So, not bad! Plus, bonus points for convenience.

It’s actually pretty good. I thought I wouldn’t like this. I’m not much of a fruity flowery tea person. The flavors are subtle. The caramel brings together the fruity flavors and the black tea. Delicious. The smell is very fruity and sweet. The taste is more subtle and smooth. The liquor is a reddish brown color. It’s a nice color.

I’ve grown to like floral teas. I didn’t always. I used to think they tasted like perfume. This tea is nice. Although I only had the bagged version it still was whole pearls that unfurled in the bag. The liquor is a light gold/yellow color. The flavor is good, subtle on the green, not to strong on the jasmine. It hits the nose in a good manner too. It smells sweet, floral, and just like a jasmine tea should.

While I liked this tea it struck me as a bit one note. Less complex and less layered in flavor than say a Keemun or Assam. Still it was fun to try a wild grown tea.

This is my “periodic table abbreviation” tea, HE, and we are celebrating helium, the fabulous party gas that makes all your friends sound like chipmunks.

I was so sure that Ashman liked the tea and made a giant pot for breakfast. After breakfast, he said it was too floral for him as it cooled although it had been okay hot with food. I told him it had no floral elements and he usually loves white tea. He decided it was because he doesn’t like pears or pear flavor. Ah well, he loves cinnamon but it wasn’t enough to win him over. He says he will drink it hot and doesn’t HATE it, but it isn’t a favorite and he dislikes it as it cools.

I actually like this one rather more than I ever thought I would. I do see (taste) how the pear can seem floral but I like both pear and floral flavors so….And the cinnamon is really good here and not strong like in Hot Cinnamon Spice. This is more like a baked pear dessert seasoned with cinnamon. I find it nice to sip on by itself and good with food, a versatile tea.
Guests generally enjoy it, too.

I am very excited to post my first note that is part of….

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge!

I hope I am doing this right! I have always wondered how you guys knew what to drink and I finally asked the Mastress herself. She set me on the right path!

This is far from a sipdown. Once I tasted this tea years ago I decided that it would probably be one I would always keep on shelf. So even if I finished this tin I would just get more next time I place a Harney order.

Still, it has been neglected for a while and if I understand how to do this, today is National Pear Day and we are supposed to drink a pear tea.

Breakfast was a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera so this “paired” (ha ha lil pun there) very nicely.

The white base and spices are pretty much perfect for pear. I am always surprised at how much flavor and really lovely body the cup has. Guests tend to love it, even if they are not devoted tea drinkers.

I get more cinnamon than nutmeg for sure, and I guess it is the lear itself that makes this tea round and smooth and silky. The cinnamon isn’t sharp and hot like their Hot Cinnamon Spice, not at all. It is well balanced.

A couple of weeks ago I received a book in the mail from GMathis. There was a note that said that the setting was as important a character as the characters themselves.

Ummmmm…I may have to add that the food in the book is a character unto itself. Oh, the description of Paola’s garden, the cooking! Swoon!

On my first day, I made it to page 135 and found myself in a food frenzy. I made a loaf of fresh bread, sliced some of our garden tomatoes, made an herb butter, and sliced all the remaining Gruyere in the house and placed it on a slate. To go with it, a pot of this fresh pear tea.

This is a white tea base with cinnamon, nutmeg, and pear flavor. It tastes warm and cozy while staying on the light side. The later cups in the pot of tea are speckled with bits of cinnamon, so I told my husband who has a thing about dregs to keep his shirty on because they were delicious bits and not bitter bits. He was glad to hear it.

It is still blasted hot here, though we enjoyed two evenings that were a little cooler. This is my third tin of this tea and I am once again looking forward to having when real sweater weather hits.

As for the book, I desperately want a Paola in my life to love and mentor me but I am too old I suppose since the protagonist is in her twenties. I shall have to endeavor to BE a Paola for someone instead.

I can’t believe I am first to review this. This was the new Harney release I was most eager to try, and I am not disappointed. I often drink it for breakfast, but it is perfect for any time of day to me. I don’t need help waking up so I donkt require a lot of caffeine in the mornings, so white tea suits me just fine.

From the first taste, this tea has reminded me very gently of Christmas, but I can enjoy it any time of year. It is the nutmeg that makes me think of fall, cool breezes blowing the leaves around, excitement of the season changing, family and friends gathering…it is such a cozy tea. Yet I have only had it in summer! Can’t wait to have it in fall. That will be a while where I live….

Reordering when this gets low, and I am already down by half.

I enjoyed this tea with a little bit of lemon and a spoonful of local honey. The subtle taste of peaches was remarkable.

So I was and still am figuring out the Lupicia Group order details with Tea-Sipper. I was steeping this and didn’t hear the timer go off. It’s very over-steeped so much so that even the Coconut Milk eggnog didn’t help it. This was the last of it so now it’s a sipdown.
If there’s ever an ok time to oversteep your tea this much it’s definitely when your in the process of ordering more teas to try! Haha This tea is quite good when it’s steeped properly (: Unfortunately I haven’t seen it on the Harney & Sons website for quite awhile even though I bought it only last year. It’d be a shame if they discontinued it.

I remember reading great reviews about this tea, being tempted but passing on it since it had been only available in sachets at the time. Recently I saw it offered as loose leaf and immediately ordered – this tea has not disappointed. I always liked the famed Paris from Harris and Sons but felt that it was just a bit understated and underpowered. Tower of London seems to address all of my little peeves about Paris perfectly.

It is floral, sweet and bergamoty. Lush, decadent, tempting. I usually do not add milk and sugar to my blacks since they get inevitably hopelessly overpowered but this tea strangely tastes as if milk and sugar has already ALREADY been added to it and just in the right amount. This blend is by far my favorite Harney and Sons tea.

I had one teabag of this as a freebie from a Harney order, so I didn’t want to sip it down without writing a note. It’s definitely not Harney’s best. An okay black tea… I was surprised to see it’s a keemun, as it mostly tasted like Ceylon with a hint of Assam. There is a bright, fruity note with a bit of a kick. But not enough kick for me if it’s a ‘breakfast’ tea. Both steeps tasted the same. I DO appreciate that I was able to try it for free though! Thanks Harney!

English breakfasts is an odd type of teas: it can come seemingly from any country and run the entire gamut of all possible black tea flavors. This one consists of Keemuns and is rather mild, which I like.

For starters, unlike many of its brethren, it has some perceptible flavor of sweetness, malt, spice, and crushed blueberries. Rather pleasant. The taste is not super complex but also agreeable: honeyed sweetness, malt, pepper, wood. You need to steep it for a while and there is no possibility to get anything decent for second steeping.

The power of branding is a funny thing: I would definitely be disappointed if I bought it as a Keemun, but as an English Breakfast it tastes OK to me.

Unlikely to reorder anyway: there are tons of teas that have more personality.

Generally, I am not a big fan of budget Indian/Ceylon/ Kenyan Assams (too bitter, too simple) but this one tasted surprisingly good for me. The taste has enough complexity with floral, apricot, baked bread, malt and honey-sweet notes. The bitterness is present but it is not extreme and blends well with other flavors. This tea is certainly can be enjoyed without sugar or milk and works best as a morning tea.