Harney & Sons

So it’s been an eventful past few days, Sam (the gf) came back from CT, and that was good. It’s really pretty funny considering with any previous girl I would be freaked, but I completely trust her….ANYWHO work has been constant, in these economic hard times I should probably consider that a blessing, no? Now on to the actual tea :P

I got this box in the mail yesterday, having ordered 3oz of this and a sample of Florence (which I’ve read is supposed to be amazing). So I opened the box, and lo and behold! Not only has H&S sent me my order, but also an additional FIVE samples to try! Gee, way to know how to get me spending more money eh? XD So this tea smells amazing, and not so amazing at the same time. I agree with ru0 that it smells like strawberries, but you also get that musky grassy green tea smell. Well I put a couple teaspoons in my Aladdin infuser mug, put some water in, and roll out the door. I swear I only had it in there for 3 minutes, but with me who knows? The taste was too bitter at the end, so I’m thinking that I either put too much in or steeped for too long. I also only did a quick wash on my mug from my previous tea, Moroccan Mint. So the mint flavor got in too >_< I’m wondering if I just dislike that fresh vegetal taste, or if it’s all in my head? That would leave me out of most greens and oolongs though :( any suggestions, or anyone suffer this same thing? I always smell like a spinach-y smell with greens/oolongs!

I truly enjoyed this tea but the whole time I was drinking it I kept thinking it is missing something. Every sip kept trying to pull a memory out of me but because it was missing that ingredient I couldn’t quite grab it. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the flavor and am very happy my dear husband and daughter thought of me and bought the tea set. I also got the Holiday Spice Black Tea but I haven’t tried it yet.

Stormy weather today…stayed home a little late this morning rather than driving through storms to work, and had a second .. and then a third … cup.

I have always found this tea to have a jammy-ness, bold tea with a big sweet fruity kiss :) No sugar needed, naturally sweet. Mmmmm, good tea when you are playing hooky for an extra hour!

I had the bagged version of this tea which I know full-well isn’t the same as drinking it loose-leaf, but all the same I think I got a good idea of what this tea is about.

Right away I can smell the pungent, citrusy scent of bergamot and it’s quite prominent in the flavour – crisp, but not too bitter. I tried drinking the tea plain at first but I found that the astringency of the tea base along with the bergamot wasn’t the best combination. So I added some skim milk and found that I enjoyed it more that way. It brought out a little hint of sweetness in the blend which I liked and smoothed out the bergamot.

It’s a decent earl grey. but nothing overly special in my opinion. I’m not about to swear off all other earl greys just because I’ve tried this one. :D

What better salve for the melacholy than a heady, fragrant vanilla concoction?

Delicious vanilla aroma and flavor, nicely balanced with black tea. Although I usually take my tea without anything in it, I do prefer a splash of half & half to enhance the already slightly creamy brew. Hold the sugar, though, I am not a fan of over-sweetened drinks and this one is naturally just a bit sweet on its own.

Playing catch up. Sometimes I spend so much time indulging in lovely teas that I forget to log the moment…

I have way too many teas in my cupboard and so I don’t get around to visit each one that often. But I really should make a point of visiting Queen Catherine on a more regular basis as this is truly one of my faves for black tea. Tonight, I sweetened it just a tad with some cane sugar that is infused with real red raspberry juice, produced by a small Indiana company called “The Salt Girls”. (This sugar is good enough to just eat) Might need to have one more cup…

MMmmmmmmm … caught a chill on the way home from work today, and a cup of Queen Catherine was just the right thing to chase it away!

I was not much of a black tea fan until I savored this one. Now I can’t get enough!

This is definitely a tea meant to be sipped and savored. It’s very smooth and has an almost silky mouthfeel. (Hehe I used the word “mouthfeel” for the first time in a post! I love that word.) I adore the chocolate and hazelnut combination. These flavors do not mask or overpower the black tea, they are all there, and are quite merry together.

Thank you Liberteas for sending me this sample!

Backlog: I finished off the last that I had of this tea this evening. YUM! Here’s my full-length review: http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=15005

I am feeling so much better than I was over the last few days. I don’t know if my taste buds are still 100% yet, so I am going to be tasting a few teas that I’m familiar with to see if I am getting the flavors that I remember before I move on to some of the newer teas that I have.

You can read my full-length review of this tea here: http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=15005

I am not getting very much of the cranberry or the orange flavors at this point, so I am guessing that my taste buds still aren’t 100% yet. Even so, this does taste good!

The song I chose for this tea is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7INs-vTick My favorite song from the Cranberries.

I really like this one a lot. Here’s my full-length review of it:

http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=15005

Sweet, but not too sweet. Delicious. Hint of tart. Nice!

This is very nice to wake up to this morning… normally about this time, I’m headed back to bed for an “after I get the little one on the school bus” nap, but, I wasn’t up as late last night as I usually am, so I feel well rested at the moment… hopefully this tea will help me shake the last remnants of sleep.

It tastes so good. So much better than I ever anticipated. This is one that I would never have purchased for myself but I am so glad that a friend gave me a tin because it really is delightful.

Pleasant cranberry flavor that isn’t too tart, sweet orange notes. Very autumn-ish and delish!

The more I drink this one, the more I’m liking it. It has a very smooth flavor, the cranberry is not too tart, and there is a very pleasing sweetness to the overall cup. Fruity, but not too much. A very good balance between fruit flavor and tea.

And just because I am enjoying this more than before, I increased the ratings a bit.

Yesterday, I received a lovely gift package as part of a swap and a tin of this was part of the gift. I was very happy to receive it, it is one that I haven’t yet tried but have wanted to.

The black tea base is pleasant – robust and solid. Strong enough to serve as the first cup of the day – which this happens to be for me. I love the cranberry and orange pairing. It gives it a sweet yet tart/tangy kind of taste that is very appealing, and yet the flavor does not overwhelm the black tea. A nice balance.

NOT backlogging — I drank this tea a few hours ago!

We got Indian takeout (cauliflower and potatoes, spinach and chicken, and lamb with onions and bell peppers) earlier this week and I really wanted a cup of Hot Cinnamon Spice after dinner. But, it was nighttime and I was all no-caffeine-this-late so I did not have one even though I knew I was going to be up late that night.

Tonight, I ate the leftover takeout while my husband was at work and then had a mug of Hot Cinnamon Spice cause I knew I was going to be up late and I really wanted one again. I steeped it up in a real big mug cause I knew it didn’t resteep and I thought I’d be wanting quite a bit of it and might get out of making two mugs this way. It was quite good, but I think I could have used more leaf.

So I’m bumping up the rating 5 points cause I really love this tea to an 88, which is on the high end of the great range (80-90) cause it’s nearly awesome (90+).

Which brings me to be bit of a brief ratings rant. This makes this tea my highest rated tea. (Yes, I am a hard grader.) But I have other teas that I like better than this one. But those teas are plain blacks and such, which I’ve rated in the mid-80s, cause I’m sure as my tea drinking career progresses, I will have better examples of these teas. I try to drink a tea and rate it as far as where it goes on my words scale (awesome, great, good, and so on down) then place it numerical on whether it’s towards the higher or lower end of each category. I do this instead of ranking teas compared to each other in general or with in a certain kind of tea. I trusted that it would work fairly well on lining teas up with how much I liked them and it has so far. But this tea definitely falls where I put it for me on my liking scale. It’s just odd for me that it’s higher than teas I like more. But I feel they should also stay where the are for what they are. This discrepancy bothers me a bit. But I don’t want to change it. I’m trying to tell myself it’s okay because it takes into account somewhat how much I like a tea for whether it’s a good example of a darjeeling, sencha, flavored black, or whatnot. Anyways, this did not end up being a brief rant. Sorry to write so much. =)

Backlogging. Yesterday.

I made a pot early afternoon for my husband and I. I was curious to see what he thought of this tea as he’s liked some flavored black but I haven’t tried him on anything but fruity ones yet. And cause frankly, I really liked this tea when I tried it earlier in the week and I wanted more. I steeped it for the full five minutes recommended and think it’s fine like that, not too strong or overpowering. It could go 30 seconds less but more than four minutes, I think. As for my husband, I expect him to like it or really dislike it. He liked it but didn’t comment enthusiastically as he has on others.

Backlogging.

Mmm… This tea is good! I’m sure I’ve had it before at the B&N. But my mom gave me a 4oz tin that my grandma had given her as a gift and she hasn’t liked. The dry leaf smells exactly like Red Hots. The tea is lighter in color than I’d have thought and it smells only faintly of cinnamon and sweet. This tea tastes like sweet cinnamon! Which I love!

I only steeped it for four minutes cause the smell of the dry leaf was so strong and I didn’t want the tea to end up overpoweringly undrinkable cinnamon-y. However, the taste didn’t come out very strong. I think it could easily handle five minutes. The resteeping was lightly cinnamoned water.

I’m giving this tea a high (for me) 83 right off (80-90 = great range) and will likely raise it later on.

This tea is one steep only.

Very tasty, I love how the flavors are just barely there!

Ohhh soooo good!!!! It reminds me of Nutella but can definitely taste TEA! Flavored to perfection! Great balance of flavors and tea! I think I am going to go make another cup, I am seeing the bottom of this teacup way to fast :)