Harney & Sons

I wanted something a bit different tonight so I decided to blend this 50/50 with Harney & Son’s Boston. This is actually a pretty tasty blend. All the flavors are noticeable yet complementary. Initially the cranberry and hazelnut stand out followed by a chocolate/almond aftertaste. I’m not sure how often I’ll try this blend, but it made for a delicious cup before bed.

I once again started my day with this tea. I knew that I would need the comforting taste combination of chocolate and hazelnut in order to deal with the crazy 6 year olds that have just had two unexpected bad weather days. This tea was perfect!

I love starting my day with Florence. I mean, how bad can the day turn out when beginning with a cup of rich chocolate and hazelnut goodness? We are once again home from work and school today (the smallest amount of ice or snow really shuts Texas down!) so I’m expecting a long day full of delicious tea and getting caught up on my homework online.

I used to think that this tea was quite astringent, but I have changed my mind. Perhaps it is just my latest tin, but I’m not getting much astringency anymore. This tea truly reminds me of a more sophisticated hot chocolate and I have really been craving this tea for the past couple of evenings.

This tea is so smooth and comforting at night even though the caffeine can be an issue sometimes. I am just really enjoying my late night chocolate fix and now I’ll be heading to bed.

I’m finishing the last of Florence as a celebration of the end of my summer semester and mixing it with the last bits of both Rani and Makalbari Assams.
The result: Possibly the most perfect mix of caffeine and chocolate tea ever created.
Seriously delicious. Florence will forever have a place in my heart.

I broke down and had a pot of Florence tonight. I wanted to try something different so I mixed in a couple of spoons of evaporated milk. It made the tea thick, creamy, and almost like drinking a chocolate hazelnut cake. It was pretty awesome!

(Only one more teaspoon of Florence left….)

I know I said a few days ago that I would be hoarding this tea for awhile rather than drinking it but I just couldn’t resist. We picked up some cake batter ice cream at the store tonight and I had the most bizarre desire to have Florence with a scoop of ice cream. I’m glad that I gave in because the combo is really amazing. I’m going to enjoy this pot of Florence and then resume my hoarding because I’m down to one more serving of tea.

Mmm…Florence for breakfast! This will probably be the last Florence I’ll be having for awhile. I’m dreadfully low in my tin and I’m going to start hoarding it. I’ll give it a small ratings nudge upward just because I’ve really started to like this tea.

I had this last night and added a pinch of spearmint leaves to the tea while steeping. The mixture turned out pretty good with the mint only present on the aftertaste, but I’m not sure it was an amazing enough combo to waste the little bit of Florence I have left trying it again.

I’m finishing up my second infusion of Florence from last night’s Florence/Bengal Spice hybrid. I didn’t use the Bengal Spice this time, but some of the spices had fused with the leaves which made for a slightly spicier cup than plain Florence. Hmmm….I don’t know what to have next…..on to the online tea randomizer!

Second infusion Florence from last night…just tasty. I wish this tea could handle more infusions, but it is a black so I guess 2 isn’t so bad. Especially because the 2nd is still yummy!

I think I’ve fallen into quite a habit of drinking this tea every day. I’m quickly approaching the halfway mark of my tin and I haven’t had it very long at all. I just really like this tea and because I’ve been drinking it so much I believe it deserves a ratings boost.

While I was making another pot of this tea, I got distracted. Needless to say, I forgot about this tea and it ended up steeping for, um, probably about 20+ minutes. I was a bit worried about it becoming bitter, but Florence is gracefully taking my abuse. Very nice and strong but not bitter.

I’ve been drinking this much more often than I have logged it. Once again I’m enjoying it with breakfast and getting a bit of a caffeine buzz.

As I’m writing this, I seem to be admiring my new tea mug more than I’m drinking the tea. The tea is great, don’t get me wrong…but the mug…. My sister-in-law got me the cutest mug while she was on her cruise (yea, her senior class trip was a cruise to Mexico…no fair, right?) The mug is only 3 inches tall and 3.5 inches wide – TOO cute! I think it holds around 6 ounces even though it seriously doesn’t look like it.

On to the tea, I’m having Florence before breakfast…hmmm…maybe I should feel guilty but I don’t. It is just a really nice tea that is seriously growing on me. I recently added Paris by Harney & Sons to my shopping list and I am thinking that I’m becoming more and more likely to order Florence with Paris when the time comes.

Pretty good in the evening with a splash of milk.

Hmm….I must say this tea is interesting. It really reminds me of a coffee which is a good thing I suppose since I am a reformed coffee addict. It has a bitterness from the hazelnut that can become a bit too much when brewed for the entire 5 minutes so I prefer this one at 4 if drinking plain, but 5 is fine if adding milk. The first cup of this I drank was okay, but not as impressive as I expected from all the rave reviews. I have found myself wanting this tea several times in the last few days, however. Maybe it is starting to grow on me….

My cup has been cautiously sniffed. Lots of nose-wrinkling and backing away followed. I can therefore conclude that cats don’t like LS.

Good thing I’m not a cat, then. slurp

Another one from QuiltGuppy. Turns out I’ve actually had this one before. I’d clean forgotten that. And basically I’m only posting now because my brain suddenly realised that it wasn’t just any old standard LS, but a gift LS and therefore it ought to be documented. As is only right and proper.

I’ll be brief though, because there are plans for today and there are few things I want to get out of the way so that I can sit quietly and conquer the world for a while before leaving. (Civ V. Have wiped out Arabia, am in the process of making cat’s meat of Japan. After that Napoleon won’t know what hit him. Rocket artillery. Yeah.)

The aroma of this tea is pretty much what I tend to look for in an LS these days. Sort of thick and creamy with a good layer of smoke. In fact it could be rather more smoky and prickly without it hurting anything.

Strong note of fruity sweetness in the flavour, which is exactly how I like my LSs to be, but again, a little stronger smoke wouldn’t have gone amiss.

To put it briefly, this is pretty much the ideal LS, only in a Light version. All the properties and stuff about it are all correct; it merely lacks some shine to take it from nice to awesome.

The tropical white stuff is great and all but I’m freezing and it’s time for something a little more hardy. This one was another sample gift from Doulton.

I tried smelling the leaves in the little envelope, but I’m not entirely certain half of what I picked up wasn’t really just the envelope. I did find an awful lot of smoke down there though. A dry aroma, and a bit rough. Quite nice. I’m looking forward to a strong smoke flavour here.

After steeping it’s very smoky! Like really prickling the nose smoky, but there’s a sweet, almost honeyed note underneath, laying the bottom for the aroma.

Tastewise, this is very smoky! But it’s not rough as such, not the way the aroma was. It’s way smoother than you might have thought and I’m a little bit disappointed by that because I was rather looking forward to something RAWR! and it’s only a mini-rawr.

But it is a nice lapsang.

I received this one from Doulton as well! Thanks D!

This is an average tasting flavored oolong. A bit tart but juicy and pleasant. I’m drinking it hot right now but am thinking for the rest I will do it iced! It’s just SCREAM “Ice me”
:)