Paris

Two fun things right now. 1) I’m logging this on the beta app. Whee!!! 2) I just chugged 500ml of this tea, because I forgot to drink it at work this afternoon and I was thirsty.

Definitely a re-buy. Definitely. But either H&S has to offer a good enough deal to make Canadian shipping worthwhile, or I have to figure out a place to park in Canada and walk over the border to the parcel place. Or find another parcel place that’s a bit more accessible. Anyone know of any just south of the Vancouver area?

Edit: Tasting note 666. :D So glad I noticed. Numbers make me happy. (I also removed the “50” rating. heh.)

Sipdown!

But NOT permanently. Absolutely NOT.

I had like 1.66 cups worth of this left, so I just dumped it all in and made one cup. It does taste a bit overleafed; for lack of a better comparison, I’m getting more of the salty end of caramel, and the floral overtone is a little more astringent than normal. Brilliant tea nonetheless.

I’ve had some hits and misses with samples lately, but I have to say I’m very happy with this, Hot Cinnamon Spice, and – it really has grown on me – Tower of London from Harney & Sons. When I was first venturing into tea, I had some doubts about H & S, honestly more out of snobbishness than anything. But I’ve gained a lot of respect for their teas, especially this one. I also like that you have the option to order loose leaf or sachets for a lot of teas, and that the sample bags FREAKING ZIP! THANK YOU!!!!!

I look forward to placing another order.

We are on vacation in Moss landing but it just started pouring down rain… boo

There was no good tea at our B&B so I was glad I brought some with me. :) I had a teabag of Paris that I brought with me, it was a sample from the International Tea Festival. All we had was hot water from a dispenser which was still not very hot. I am a whiner… yes, when it comes to tea I can be pretty whiny. I think tomorrow I will try green tea with my breakfast.

I sipped down the rest of my tin of this tea, combined with the last teeny bit of Grand Amour by Nina’s Paris. It was delicious, but now I’m sad, because both of these are difficult to replace. Paris is like the only tea I like from H&S, so it’s hard to justify shipping for one little tea. It’s the same thing for Grand Amour. My mom likes H&S a lot, so maybe I’ll just share an order with her in the future…that would at least get me some more Paris! It’s not like I need more tea right now though. ;) I just got my Golden Moon order, and I’m planning to stop by DavidsTea for some of the spring teas on my lunch tomorrow. I might need an intervention! Haha!!

Additional notes: So I ordered EIGHT ounces of this from a shared order that Yssah did a while back. (thank you!) Yes, eight ounces is a lot of tea for me, since I love my small samples with only a few teaspoons each… or two ounces of the same tea at the most. But I LOVED the other sample of Paris I tried. But this one isn’t quite the same as the other batch. It doesn’t have quite as much of a buttery, pastry, berry flavor. It seems a bit off… a bit tangy. I remember Yssah said Harney was taking a while to mail the order since they were waiting for a few ingredients and had to make some of the teas fresh. So I think they might not have let the tea sit a while, since they didn’t want to wait to mail it any longer, so the flavor isn’t quite the same. My guess! I heard from 52Teas that a tea might taste better after airing it out. I don’t want to air out my full eight ounces, since I’m paranoid about dust or bugs or moisture getting in the bag, but I put a teaspoon in my infuser and had it out for about 24 hours. That seemed to help the flavor a bit but it still isn’t quite the same. How sad! I still love this blend, just not as much. It just shows how even different batches of the same tea can be so different.

Woke up this morning and went to check the mail for my RiverTea order. Instead I saw a large DAVIDsTEA box and was heavily confused because I’ve never placed an online DT order in my life – especially not recently. I thought that maybe it actually wasn’t for me, and my landlord’s daughter had ordered it, but nope my name was on it.

Brought it inside and opened it up (still very confused), and immediately saw the little note card which read “From Keychange ”. Instantly, I realized that it must be the tea she’s sending me – a few small samples and then a lot of HS’s Boston Blend. I figured she’d just parceled it in a DAVIDsTEA box because maybe the Boston she sent was really that much? And that it had just got here really fast…

But nope, I kept opening only to see this beauty:

http://www.davidstea.com/david-s-mason-jar?&TF=69F219E5A1A1&DEID=

Remember the mason jar she was raving about? Yeah – she sent me one. Seriously, the kindness of people here on Steepster is sometimes just absolutely too much! And, totally out of the blue! I’m overwhelmed by the generosity. May Keychange receive all the good karma! ALL OF IT.

Consequently, right before I went to check the mail I started steeping a sachet of this, which Keychange also sent me. My first taste was when I was sick and I feel like I wasn’t really tasting it properly so I wanted to make a cup now that I can taste it ‘correctly’.

Except, then I received random good karma mail and I forgot I was steeping anything because I was so overwhelmed and I immediately had to go to (Tre’s) computer, and write her a thank you note and post in the ‘What Did You Recieve in The Mail Today’ thread and by the time I remembered there was tea steeping in my kitchen it had been like 20 minutes…

So…

This is insanely bitter to the point where I don’t really even taste the bergamot. Plus side #1 is that I can taste some caramel. Plus side #2 is that I still have a sachet of this left, so I can go make another cup (and this time be diligent in steeping it correctly). And finally, plus side #3 is that since there’s only one sachet left I can make it a sipdown.

So, I think I’m going to go do that! And then, I’ll likely make something in this beautiful mason jar.

I honestly forgot I had this one in my cupboard. An unopened tin just sitting there waiting for me to notice it. Well, today I did, and I made myself a travel mug of this lovely before heading out the door this morning. I like the caramel paired with the citrus flavors. I also like how it is super flavorful but not super heavy.

Dear Paris,

I’m sorry I ignored you. Please forgive me. I shall not make the same mistake again.

xoxo,
Veronica

Since the last time I logged into Steepster, we welcomed Leif into the world!!! (pronounced Layf) It was a surprise cesarian section, so I have been spending a lot of the time in the bed with Leif in my arms. I haven’t been able to make it downstairs to make tea yet. But on several occasions my husband has surprised me with a cup of this, always announcing how long it’s been steeping when he hands it off to me. So now I suspect I’ll always associate this lovely tea with this lovely period of my life. :)

Sipdown!! (131)

I find I am hot and cold with this blend based on how prominent the bergamot is with each cup. Sometimes it is just way too present while other times this is a caramel vanilla with a nice citrus finish. Today’s cup is the latter and though it is pleasant, I think I am ready to say goodbye to the Earl. Thank you Cavocorax for supplying me with ample amounts of this tea but I think our love/hate relationship has come to an end.

ETA: 1000th Tasting Note!!!

Paris is one of my two favorite teas from Harney & Sons (the other being Indian Nimbu). Before I placed my most recent order with Harney, my youngest daughter had asked me if I had any “Paris” teas, and this was the tea that immediately came to mind, so I was sure to put a sample package of the tea in my cart when I placed my order a couple of weeks ago. So my youngest and I are enjoying a cup of Paris this evening!

This cup reminds me of just how superior the loose leaf is to the sachets. Having visited Myrtle’s tea room several times in the past few months, this tea (in sachet form) is the tea that I always order because I prefer sachet to loose leaf when I am at the tea room. Why? Because they used to brew the tea loose in the tea pot – which is what you’re supposed to do, I know! – but since there was always at least 3 or 4 cups worth of liquid infusing when the tea brewed, the loose tea remained in the teapot while I would enjoy my tea time at Myrtle’s, and while the first cup would be splendid, the second cup was less so, and by the time I got to my third cup, it was so bitter I couldn’t enjoy it. So I learned very quickly that it was best to order sachet teas which I could easily remove from the teapot when the tea was brewed to perfetion when I had tea time at Myrtle’s. (Trust me, tea time at Myrtle’s is worth overlooking this little issue.) And since Paris was offered in Sachet form, this was the tea that I would order.

But this cup of tea is better than the tea that I usually drink at Myrtle’s … I can definitely notice a difference. Oh, the tea is still nice at Myrtle’s (but really, I go to Myrtle’s for the ambiance and the food rather than the tea, which I can brew better at home), but, this is superior.

And ahhh! I love it.