Harney & Sons

This is a sample sent to me by Russell Allyn of Harney and Sons.

The aroma of the dry leaf is absolutely intoxicating. When I opened the pouch and sniffed I could hardly believe it, and every time I put the pouch down I found myself very shortly picking it up again to sniff it some more. I did a 15 second wash of the leaves, then poured near boiling water over for four minutes.

The liquor is light to medium gold. I was halfway expecting this to be one of the roasty ones, but it isn’t. This is green and floral, but not sissy. It has a lot of presence. It is smooth and not astringent, yet it grabs your tongue with a woodsy flavor and leaves a bit of tingle while a floral note begins to hover in the back of the mouth. The floral note persists, filling the area of the soft palate. Then it travels to the upper throat and hovers there, sweetening your whole world. This is one of those teas that “quiets the din of the world.” It isn’t terribly buttery, terribly green, overly sweet, it is simply a TQY with a lot of presence and character and a great price.

The second steep is even better as the sweet taste intensifies.

Edited to add: It has been about fifteen minutes since I finished my tea and as I am sipping my water, the floral taste of the TQY is still going strong. I feel like I am drinking flavored water! Very pleasant, indeed.

Thank you, Russel, for sending this!

This tea is a favorite of Hubby and myself. My eldest daughter came to town today for an appointment and her car broke down just when I was about to start teaching. I sent middle daughter to pick her up, called the mechanic, taught, and then got some Asian food because the poor thing had to miss lunch and was about to miss supper. I asked youngest daughter to make a couple of steeps of this to go with our food.

My two eldest kids never liked tea, any tea, not even the super sweet Southern iced tea. A couple of years ago, after begging them to take sips of everything I thought would “turn” them, they both took a liking to puerh, and then matcha, two teas I would have least believed they would like.

Thus it was quite a moment for me tonight when my eldest daughter drained her cup and shook it in my direction for refills of this lovely green tea. Miracles happen, people. Miracles happen.

It helps that this tea is smooth, mellow, amazing with food, and fresh.

I really love Huang Shan Mao Feng teas. They are so excellent with Asian food. At first taste way back when I didn’t believe it would be so, since it was such a gentle, subtle tea. Somehow it still makes itself shine with food and it doesn’t “get lost” in the flavors. Instead it complements meals nicely. Two steeps of this tonight with hubby for a total of 44 ounces.

I had a late supper of Asian buffet leftovers. I made a pot of this just for me because it is excellent with food, especially Asian food, and so smooth and wonderful. One of my “if you can only have ten teas” list winners.

This was a free sample sent a while back by Russell Allyn and Harney and Sons. Many thanks!

Since we are working on the kitchen I am able to see…no, I am confronted with…the vastness of my tea collection. Oh dear me. I am really trying to finish off tins that are close to being empty, but it is also bringing some teas to the forefront that had somehow gotten pushed to the back. This is one of them.

I was looking for a good variety of teas for tea party today and realized that I have never served this green that I can recall. I really should have been drinking this more often because it is very good. There is the frosty, mineral taste that I get from some white teas and from Snow Dragon, but there is also good body and more flavor than I was expecting. Not sour, not grassy to me. This was smooth and very enjoyable with food. I think it would be fabulous with a meal.

My guest today gave it a BIG thumbs up, and she really isn’t a green tea drinker!

This is one of the teas I received from Russel Allyn and Harney and Sons.

I was pretty excited about this one, because in two of the tea shops I have visited in Raleigh lately, they have mentioned this type of tea as being a current favorite of theirs.

The dry leaf is long and somewhat thin and is a medium green color. The aroma is fairly strong. Very nice!

The liquor is light to medium gold. I am not picking up on the smoke others have mentioned, but I do get what I would call a lightly roasted walnut or pecan aroma and taste. There is a nice mineral or frosty quality to this and it feels a bit milky in the mouth. It made me think of when you are cooking a pot of rice and it isn’t quite done, and there is frothy water and rice starch bubbling up at the sides. That is a fairly good description of the aroma and texture I am getting here.

This is definitely a subtle tea, ever so smooth with not even a hint of sourness or astringency, but not as subtle as a white tea. This is quite good. This is the type of tea I like to make in my biggest tetsubin and set over a warmer to sip on all day along when I have such days!

To sum up, mellow, smooth, subtle, lightly mineral/frosty, slightly nutty, milky like rice water!

Thank you, Russel and Harney and Sons!

I was so excited to see this Gyokuro among the samples sent to me by Russel Allyn of Harney and Sons. I have never had a Gyokuro but the salespeople at a mall tea store have been tempting me to buy it by fanning the aroma at me. Heehee! It smelled so good that they had nearly succeeded, when lo and behold I received this generous sample in the mail today.

This has a delicious, full bodied green tea smell. I am not sure how else to describe it!

The first few sips were surprisely mild. I had expected it to have more heft than the Hunan Yellow Sprout tea but it was lighter in color, aroma, and initially, in flavor. This chagned very quickly as the temperature of the tea went down. The flavor became more robust, the vegetal notes more prominent. Not bitter, not astringent, not hay, but perhaps Chinese vegetables lightly cooked, a bit of butter, and a fresh green taste that makes me think of bright sunshine.

Of the three teas we drank today, this was my favorite…I think. It is rather like asking someone who loves fruit if they prefer apples or oranges. Sometimes you want an apple, sometimes you want an orange. These were both excellent teas. I loved…was fascinated by…the extreme creaminess of the Yellow Sprout, but I was seduced by the Gyokuro into drinking more and more.

My guest initially voted hands down for the Yellow Sprout, saying that the Gyokuro was too mild for her, but when she tried it again after it had cooled a bit and the flavor intensified, she agreed that it was a pretty close tie today!

My youngest daughter and I are reading The Fellowship of the Ring together as part of her school program. (Homeschool) My eldest daughter had just sent me this link that I so very much want to try – distilled tea recipe for Ent Draught! Distilled to be clear like the Ent Draught, but flavored with real loose leaf tea!

Tonight we read this passage: When they came to make their meal, they found that the Elves had filled their bottles with a clear drink, pale golden in color: it had the scent of a honey made of many flowers, and was wonderfully refreshing. Very soon they were laughing, and snapping their fingers at rain, and at Black Riders.

I don’t have the ingredients right now to make Ent Draught, but I can make yellow tea and add some White Gold Raw Honey and have some Elf Tonic! I must say this is not such a pale gold, but later steeps will be lighter. The taste is subtle, yet not hidden. Any stronger honey than this would be too much for me, but then I almost never add any sweetener at all to my teas.

The Elves can’t have left them chamomile, because the Hobbits knew it well and drank it themselves. I say the Elves left them either white or yellow tea! This is a precious brew that draws you near to enjoy its quiet beauty, which would be enough to fortify anyone against all that may lie ahead.

We had a Fathers Day cook out today with our long time best friends. Hot dogs, hamburgers, Mac and cheese, sweet cherries, blueberries, English Double Devon Cream, cream puffs, home made Cherry Limeades and Pink Lemonade. After the festivities, my friend and I settled down for a cuppa while everyone else watched movies or played Magic the Gathering.

My friend is a former coffee drinker turned tea drinker, who fell for black tea and puerh first but didn’t really like green tea. Since she really wants to drink more types, I have been trying to introduce her to some good teas that are not too astringent but still are on the lighter side of the spectrum.

I chose this one today because I found it to be rather unique. We even tried some blueberries with cream first so she could pick up the creamy nature of the tea. I am happy to say that she really liked this one, and she isn’t afraid to tell me if she doesn’t like a tea! I noticed that the tea even seemed more buttery when I had Townhouse crackers, trying to put out the fire from some spicy habenero cheese. This is so creamy, even milky, that the usual complaints that a non-green drinker might raise just don’t apply here. This has nice body and enough presence to stand up to being drunk with food.

We meant to try it with White Gold honey but forgot! This was all drunk sans additions.

Thank you, Russel and Harney and Sons for sending this for me to try!

This tea was provided by Russel Allyn of Harney and Sons. I would call this a sample but he sent a whole tin, and other goodies for me to try as well! Thank you, Russel and Harney and Sons!

This is the first yellow tea I have ever tried! The dry leaves had an unusual and unexpected scent. There is a pleasant, sharp tang in the aroma that reminds me of limes, though there was no lime or tangy flavor to the steeped tea. The liquor is yellow and fragrant.

Taking my first sip of this tea, I noted what seemed at first to be the light body of the tea, but almost immediately it bloomed into a rich creaminess. I can say definitively that it is a true dairy creamy taste, because just a few hours before I drank this I had dipped a sweet cherry in English Double Devon Cream. This was the same flavor, and amazingly, the same texture! I licked my lips several times because they felt sticky from the rich, thick body of this tea.

I was determined to not drink earl grey or black dragon pearls today. Absolutely determined. I dug and dug through my work tea drawer and found my Lychee tea! Perfect!

Fruity and rosy and naturally sweet. Swoony and summery. Like all the best liked things in the garden with black tea. Love.

So glad I went digging — this must be part of my hot weather rotation until the weather turns!

Oooooooh Lychee! You are sweet, fruity, and rosy. You blend so well with this medium bodied Chinese tea base. I love you and you make me smile! (I think lychee must have what jasmine has — a substance that makes me happy!)

I didn’t have quite enough for another cup, so I mixed this with some Earl Grey de la creme. Mmmmmmmm. Fruityrosycreamy! Very refreshing on a day when we arrived to the office to find our air conditioning was off because of a power failure!

Thanks again SimplyJenW for this tea. A Lychee tea is now on my radar for sure. Maybe for next spring since I have quite a few light fruity and/or flowery delights in my cupboard at present!

Thank you SimplyJenW for this tea!!!!

This is delicious. If you put a blindfold on me, I would tell you that this is a medium-ly scented rose tea! I would probably even be pretty insistent about it. I had no idea lychee tea tasted like this. Wonderful sans additions, but I can see how a little sugar might be nice with this – especially if you have it iced.

Oh Mr. Harney(s), you offer yet another completely enjoyable tea to put on my shopping list! I could see this one being a haven for hectic days.

Thanks again Jen! I love it!!!!

We are helping our oldest daughter get everything together for her first apartment, and today we drove out of town to Pinehurst, a world renowned golfing community, to buy a used bookcase she saw on Craigslist. They have a Fresh Market there, and Fresh Market has TEA!

I was surprised to see this in the cold case, though I already knew they carried a few tins of Harney’s sachets. I have never had a ready made, bottled tea before so I thought it would give it a try. They had several flavors. I chose the Black Currant.

There was a lot to like before I even opened the bottle. First, it is organic. Second, it is in a glass bottle which gets soooo much colder than a plastic one and is therefore more refreshing to drink from. Third, it has only forty calories in a sixteen ounce bottle – far less than a bottle of soda. Last, when you are hot and need to throw back a cold drink, tea goes down a lot more smoothly than soda with all those bloating bubbles, and it is GOOD FOR YOU! And that is the first thing the inside of the lid tells you when you open it. Cute!

The taste is very refreshing. The sugar is quite light, as you can guess by the fact that there are only forty calories. The berry flavor is nicely balanced with the tea, which is made from Harney’s whole leaf teas, not from instant tea or a concentrate. Definitely refreshing!

I grew up on highly sweetened ice tea but I have grown accustomed to unsweetened tea in the last few years, so this is plenty sweet for me – no sticky sugary feeling after drinking this. I feel better about what I am doing for my health drinking something like this instead of a soda.

The aroma is light and vegetal. The flavor is earthy and smooth, a bit dry but not too much. I’m not overly impressed but I can’t say anything particularly negative about it either. It takes milk and sugar well. Overall I think this is a good basic cup of tea.

Elaine’s Blend has an earthy, dusty aroma and a medium-dark color. Its flavor is smooth at first, round, and dry with a slightly bitter finish. I needed to add milk and sugar to soften the bitterness, though it remains rather dry. Perhaps five minutes was a bit too long for steeping. I will try four minutes for my next pot of Elaine’s Blend and let you know how it turns out.

Argh, steeped it too long and got it bitter. Loved the pineapple scent. This may be the pineapple flavored tea of my dreams, if I don’t mess it up. Waiting to rate until I can do it justice.

I’m not going to score this one, because I knew going in that I was unlikely to enjoy it. I just hate chocolate teas. They all just taste really chalky to me, and I’m not sure why I keep trying them and expecting something else.

I figured I’d give Florence a try because if I ever liked a chocolate tea, it would be a Harney & Sons blend, especially one with hazelnut in it. Also, because I love the idea of teas that capture the essence of places, because I am a nerd.

And I really, really wanted to like Florence — especially once I smelled it, oh my gosh does it smell wonderful — but it’s just not happening, and after two days of trying to force it, I am throwing in the towel. I am done with chocolate teas. I give up.

That said, if you do like chocolate or hazelnut teas (and don’t actively loathe one ingredient), I could see this tea being really amazing. So I’m not going to spoil that for someone else by giving a low rating.

Finally drinking the cold steep of the sachet from last night. I like it even more this way! It seems sweeter and even creamier now.

The green tea also seems a bit more complex with this, like ScottTeaMan commented on my note from last night, this stuff gets better the longer it steeps! If it wasn’t so horribly hot right now I’d love to give this another try with like a 5 minute steep hot, but I’m burning up at 10pm as is! Also not sure if after a day of steeping the sachet has any life left in it, so it’s probably for the best.

I may consider getting more of this in the future, if the future ever includes having way less tea. Yesterday my boyfriend told me I was going to live forever because of my tea drinking and I’ll probably need forever to get through everything.

Thank you for sending me this sachet, Ian!

I’m having it hot first, and the sachet is now cold steeping in the fridge. I am trying that whole cool off with hot tea thing since I’ve not felt comfortable since running around playing with a neighbor’s dog. My dog did NOT like that but he doesn’t play at all anymore, unlike this puppy!

The smell reminds me of coconut lemongrass soup, sort of like Exotica did, but a bit creamier.

First I was kind of iffy about it, but as it’s cooled, I’m liking it a lot more. Lemongrass and ginger can be pretty overpowering, but the vanilla and coconut aren’t lost. It’s very refreshing, and I think it’ll be even better tomorrow iced!

As can be seen by my prior notes on this tea, I gave my tin to my daughter a year ago. A few weeks ago she called and told me her new favorite green tea was Chun Mee from Tazo. “Didn’t I give you a tin of Harney Chun Mee?” said I. “Um, I don’t think so. I don’t know.”

So today we drove her home following her first LASIK treatment and there it was on the counter, abandoned and ignored. I think the fact that it is loose leaf scared her off. She really only makes tea bags and matcha. So I pulled out her Krups electric kettle, set it for 174F, and steeped for three minutes.

And you know what? It was a lot better than I remembered. She loved it, and says she will definitely be drinking it now. I showed her the easy way to make it with the brew basket that came with the Krups.

The main reason I gave it to her in the first place was that it tastes very similar to the green teas she bought in Budapest and loved, so I thought she should love this one as well. Today she remarked on how “bright” it tasted and that she really prefers unflavored greens and has trouble finding ones that are not bitter to her.

This has held up very nicely indeed.

I drank this tonight with my daughter. It still just isn’t my bag, and the Harney version has less of the sweet aftertaste that makes up for the sourness of this green. My daughter didn’t mind it, though, so true to my lasting tasting note, I have pawned it off on her. LOL! She said she liked it well enough, so it is a happy ending for all.