Harney & Sons

From Tokyo to Paris in 24 hours…

The dry leaves smell, scarily, like cherry cough syrup!! Oh no! Very scary.

Once brewed that “screeching” cough syrup scent fades and turns into a super sweet strawberry jam.

First sip…is like a strawberry creamsicle. Or a strawberry & cream flavored Creme Savers candy. It’s a fruity hard candy taste with an almost creamy aftertaste.

Subsequent sips…there’s something distinctly citrusy in here—like a strawberry-flavored Earl Grey. Yep, I can sense the bergamot!

In the background, the black tea tastes smooth and a bit biscuit-y.

I think this is a fairly good cup. It didn’t “wow” me like I hoped it would. The flavors are pretty mild. But I can’t get over that initial cherry cough syrup impression. I hate cherry cough syrup with a passion! gag I think it colored my overall tasting for the worse. So this was an “average” experience, for me.

I was very excited to try this—since I love sesame-flavored Asian sweets!

The leaves brew up really “fluffy”—they expand almost like an oolong! So my tall mug looks like it’s half full of leaves after putting in about a teaspoon and a half.

The taste is florally and sweet—no green tea bitterness or astringency. I detect mostly the caramel and just maybe a hint of the toasted sesame. The sweetness reminds me of Golden Moon’s Sugar Caramel Oolong—without the steamed banana leaf flavor I always get with their oolongs.

I wish I can get more “sesame” out this—but, overall, I’m really liking the sugariness!

This is a green tea I can see myself reaching for everyday. It’s very tasty and easy to drink.

Sipdown no. 26 of 2021 (no. 646 total).

Of all the teas I have clustered around the 83/84 mark, this is the most deserving. I’m bumping it.

It’s a great example of a very drinkable every day Earl Grey. Smooth, not too much bergamot (but now I’m convinced, the right amount), aromatic and well-weighted base that gives it a medium body.

While I will always favor Earl Greys with a Yunnan base because of the depth Yunnan delivers, this is one I could see having in my cupboard long term for those days when I want an Earl Grey, but something a bit lighter. I think I either didn’t notice or had spaced that his blend also has white tea in it, which may be one of the reasons it has a smoother flavor than some others.

The dry leaf smells promising as the bergamot isn’t too strong, oily or perfumey. Once steeped, the bergamot’s aroma takes a back seat to the malty, sweet black tea. The liquor color is a light brown-orange.

The flavor is quite nice. It’s like the GM Tippy Earl Grey would be without that bakey weird thing that bothered me about the GM.

I never thought I’d say this about an Earl Grey, but if anything, the bergamot could be a little stronger. Still, it’s quite enjoyable because the underlying tea is very tastey. It’s medium-to-light bodied, no bitterness, a little astringency. There’s a citrus and sugary tea aftertaste.

I have a lot more Earl Greys to try, but this is a strong contender.

Sipdown no. 5 of 2020 (no. 600 total). A milestone!

We drank the last of this as cold brew and it wasn’t as weird that way as it might sound.

As I mentioned in the original note, if you’re looking for a chocolate mint tea, this is a nice one. The mint is a little stronger than the chocolate, but not significantly so.

I’m obviously in something of a minority here, as this tea was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Let me say first, though, that I put about 1.5 tsp in for about 8 oz of water. I didn’t find it to be weak, the chocolate and the mint were both present and accounted for and not overly subtle in my experience. I didn’t get a lot of the tea, but frankly, that’s become a secondary consideration for me with flavored teas — if I wanted a strong tea taste I’d drink it unflavored, or I’d drink something I knew to have a strong tea base presence. It doesn’t bother me that much anymore, as I have added more and more members to my pantheon of great teas, that some flavored ones are more about the flavor than the tea. Next time I might go to two tsp and see what happens. Maybe that would bring the tea out a bit more.

To me, the mint was very fresh tasting. It didn’t have a candy aspect to it, but it naturally sweetened up the tea and the chocolate so that the tea didn’t whisper to me that it wanted to be sweetened or to have milk added. This in contrast to the Herbal Infusions Chocolate Mint, which seemed to want sweetening.

The aroma of the steeped tea is heavier on the mint than the chocolate for some reason, but it’s still a nice smell. Sniffed in the sample packet, the mint is eyewateringly strong, which seems to me a good confirmation that it is v. fresh and its volatile oils haven’t dried up. It’s got that pretty black/green mix thing going on in the dry leaves. I’m biased though because black and emerald green is my favorite color combo.

This is going on the list for if/when I ever come out of lockdown and place a full order with H&S.

I have been wanting to try this for freakin’ ever and I decided today is The Day.

I expected to smell Frangelico when I opened the sample packet. OMG. It’s not a syrupy “essence o’ nuts” I’m smelling, it’s the nuts themselves. Down to their planty innards! I can almost feel their little round bodies cracking between my teeth. And the slightly bitter smell of baking chocolate. I can see why people are invoking Ferraro Roche (drool), but the thing that makes this different is it isn’t sugary like those little balls of trouble are.

And this is just the smell of the dry leaves, which, by the way, are dark dark dark and look almost soft and beautiful. I’m coming to recognize this as the signature of an awesome flavored black tea.

The liquor brews lighter than I’d expected for some reason. It is, interestingly, a sort of hazel nut color. The “true nut” aroma of the hazel nut seems to have mellowed some with steeping, and blended into the chocolate. Mmmmm.

And the taste is a lot like the smell. It’s quite wonderful plain, but the lack of sweetness in the chocolate seems to beg for milk and something to sweeten it. I was happy to accomodate it. With just a small amount of sweetening, the flavor becomes downright lush. The chocolate moves from the unsweetened taste of baking chocolate to the bittersweet of dark chocolate. With more milk, it would probably move further, all the way to milk chocolate. Three, three, three drinks in one! The hazelnut is an accent; a strong, Italian one, that provides a middle note during the sipping and a reminder on the back end.

I was only in Florence for a few days many years ago, but I loved it. It was unseasonably cool when I was there in the summertime, a welcome contrast to the heat of Rome. My memories are, primarily, of clear blue skies and flowers in window boxes everywhere I turned. I remember going for a run along the Arno, the Uffizi (of course), and the adorable little bed and breakfast we stayed in with its old fashioned cage of a lift and its roof garden where we ate in the morning. I still have the pocketbooks and coat I bought while I was there. Mostly I remember being young and in love, the future stretching ahead like the clean pages of a new journal, waiting to be written.

I’m not sure how much it is the name of this tea that makes me want to buy a pound of it immediately, and how much is how it actually tastes.

Ah youth.

Yes!! Red Hots Candy/Big Red Gum/Cinnamon Altoids deliciousness!! If you like cinnamon at all, you must try this. This is sweet cinnamon black tea at its best. There’s a hint of orange and clove that just heightens the flavor. This is so sweet that I think they’ve added sugar or some kind of sweetener—but no?

Either way, I love it and must get a full tin soon! I find cinnamon very soothing and warming in the tummy (I have stomach aches alot), so this is perfect for me.

Lost a few points today. I decided to have some more of this today since it is the Steepster Select. However, the Ginger was too pronounced that it almost drowned out the delicious coconut flavor. Maybe it was just the one bag but I was sad, and my tongue slightly burned by Ginger. :-(

Okay so this one I saw while at Barnes and Noble and thought I wonder what everyone else that tried this tea felt about it on Steepster? So I jumped onto the Steepster website on my iPad and it seems people really liked it, so bought it. So what did I think you say?

Yummy, it actually tastes a little spicy like a Thai tea would taste I tasted the Ginger the most. The coconut was very much on the backend and it was very faint.

Moral of the story… I love Steepster and my iPad (haha) they helped me make a delicious decision. :-)

Wow! This tea is great.

First, the aroma while brewing is sweet, fruity, and floral. Really wonderful, but strong enough that I was worried that the tea might be overdone and there would not be enough of an oolong taste.

I was very happy with my first sip tasting a really well balanced oolong. It had nice peach and butter overtones and a weaker floral note as well. What’s more is that the peach flavor isn’t artificial. It’s simply a hint of fruityness that sweetens up the brew.

Yes, the tea does weaken on the 2nd and 3rd steeps, but it is still very good (just not excellent like the 1st steep). But, the wonderful taste from the first steep more than makes up for the weakening.

Relogging. Rabs knew which Earl Grey B&N SBUX Cafes use so I am transferring my tealog to the correct tea. This tealog occurred the afternoon before the previous tealog.

Alicia suggested I try making a London Fog with A&D’s Earl Grey a few days ago. Some googling revealed what this was and also that it was a popular drink at Starbucks. Yesterday I happened to be browsing the Barnes & Noble with my friend Abbi and decided to try one there when we decided we needed beverages to browse with.

I think this was the Harney & Sons tea pyramid tea bag that was used in it. I got it with 2% milk and it was quite hot but drinkable after I let it sit for an appropriate amount of time so it could steep. I left the tea bag in the entire time and I could tell the tea was strong and well-caffeinated. I could taste the earl grey (good strong black and good citrus) and the vanilla and it was creamy. A nice alternative to a coffee drink while at the B&N.

Ruth sent me a few bags and I am drinking it now. Smells like a honey vanilla or something. It’s a good juicy taste – black tea and honey, again, for some reason it seems a little creamy to me too…regardless, it’s yummy!

I’ve tried a few cherry-flavoured green teas, and to be blunt most of them have been pretty nasty. This one smelled promising – a mix of light florals and fruity cherries – but then all the other crappy teas also smelled great in their dry form.

The first thing I get when I take a sip is the green tea – and it’s a nice green tea, smooth and almost a little bit buttery. There’s a subtle cherry notes half-hidden somewhere in the middle of each sip. While I’d like a tea named CHERRY Blossom to maybe feature the cherry bit more prominently, I endlessly prefer this to getting an overdose of fake-cherry-cough-syrup flavour. At the end of each sip are some light floral notes that linger a bit on the tongue; nothing bold or perfumy, just enough to let you know that they’re there.

It’s perhaps not my ideal cherry-flavoured tea, but I found it enjoyable enough.

Finishing up the last of the small amount I had. I didn’t even have quite enough for a pot so I ended up with about 1 tsp Vanilla Black and 1 tsp Assam. The combo is actually quite nice. The vanilla is nice and strong without being over the top and the strong black tea is holding its own. If I ever end up with more of this, I will probably mix it half and half with a stronger black tea because I think it is much better this way.

I think I like this best hot and plain. Hmm…interesting considering my usual for black tea is automatically milk and possibly sugar.

Drinking this with just a tad of clover honey today and it is going great with my breakfast! It isn’t the best tea ever, but I do believe that it may be the best vanilla black I’ve had. So far, each time I’ve had this tea, the vanilla flavor has been strong and present, but also allowing the black tea to shine.

I’m continually searching for a vanilla tea that is heavy on the vanilla without tasting artificial. This tea smells great, very much vanilla and caramel covered tea leaves. It also smells amazing while steeping, but I’m concerned that like every other vanilla tea I’ve had this will fall short.
I added my customary splash of milk and drop of sweetener that all my black teas I drink at breakfast have the priviledge of receiving. The tea does taste like vanilla. It is pretty nice and does not taste artificial. This is probably one of the better vanilla teas I have had, but I’ll have to see if the strength of the vanilla continues throughout the rest of the sample I have. Other vanilla blacks seem to be hit and miss throughout the bag. This rating is based on the cup of tea I’m enjoying now, but is subject to change in the coming weeks.

This is one of the many teas that crossed the table this weekend. Liquid Red Hots candies is the best description I can give. If you want a tea that will make you wave bye-bye to the sugar bowl, try this. It is so sweet that one person actually told me it was good but had too much sugar in it. There is no sugar. None. Zip. Nada. Not any. The cinnamon blend is simply that sweet, and reminiscent of Penzey’s Cinnamon Blend if you have been fortunate enough to cross paths with it. (Their Vietnamese is our favorite cinnamon, though. ZING!)

Well, I see I never removed this tea from my cupboard when I gave away the last of my loose leaf, but that’s okay because someone gave the gift box for Christmas! Now I have it in teabags and I must say I think it is not nearly as strong. Maybe my tastes have just changed.

I served this to a friend who loves cinnamon earlier today and he loved it.

Tonight we are under a winter storm advisory – ha,ha it is raining here and all the snow is staying an hour to the north of us. Nevertheless, the folks who came in for writers’ group tonight started asking for tea immediately upon coming in the door because of the wind and rain. I made this one first because it is so warming. There were only three people drinking tea at first and yet I had to make a second pot of this almost immediately!

This box of teabags will be gone in no time, and I will have to replace it again because even though I don’t really drink it, not being a fan of Red Hots, so many people who come over love it that I need to keep it on shelf. I understand it is Harney and Sons number one seller.

This tea smells absolutely identical to Penzey’s own blend of cinnamon.

I want to begin this tasting note by apologizing to the entire tea drinking world. Apparently I am the only person ANYWHERE who doesn’t care for this tea! I have never liked red hots, the candy one sees ubiquitously around Valentine’s Day, and that is all I taste when I drink this. I respect all of you who love it, I just can’t bring myself to do so. And get this….I have somehow ended up with three tins of it! One was bought as a gift for a friend whom I haven’t seen to deliver it (I already know it is her favorite so I am not giving away something I don’t like just to be rid of it!), one I bought for myself to try, the other came in the tea chest and I wanted the chest and the other three teas but not this one! I do like to make tea and grind my own cinnamon in it, but that is MUCH milder. A friend says that the organic cinnamon tea from A Southern Season is milder than this one and, in her opinion, therefore better than this one. We’ll see. I may give it a try.

Haven’t had this one in a long time. I asked my random tea generator (my twelve year old daughter) what I should drink today and she said, “Uva Highlands!” So here we are.

This is a rotovaned tea, so I figured it could only withstand a short steeping. I pulled the leaves out at three minutes and I think that was just right for me. It is described by Harney and Sons as a bright, brisk tea, and I would have to say that is accurate. This is a pick me up tea, not like a bold and well-muscled breakfast tea, but it is NOT a sit-and-sip-and-meditate soothing cup…to me. It is an eye-opener. My tongue is tingling. I thought I wasn’t getting the wintergreen aspect, but it really came on as a long-lasting aftertaste. A fun cup for this morning, but not a favorite. I like teas that wrestle me out of bed and into my day, or that pat me on the hand and say, “There, there” when I need it.

I can taste the malty Assam and the smoky-piney Keemun in almost equal measure. This is very smooth, with no bitterness or astringency. It doesn’t seem very strong, though. So, instead of a kick-starting jolt, this seems to ease you into the morning.

A calm, easygoing morning blend. maybe just a tiny bit ho-hum for me!