Holiday Tea

This is my first venture with Harney & Sons! I got a buy-one-get-one coupon for the H&S tins at Barnes & Noble, so after taking myself to the movies today, I made a little stop on the way home.

This was an absolute blind date. I hadn’t read any reviews on this tea, didn’t have a sample to smell/taste, had no idea what I was getting into. When I opened the tin, I went, “Oh.” I wasn’t expecting sachets. But they’re the good kind of sachets, so that’s OK. And the tea smells AMAZING, the cinnamon and clove really stand out. Not to mention it’s striking in appearance; black tea leaves with fiery red flecks.

I actually kind of like that they’re sachets; it’s a relief not to have to deal with the infuser, pouring out the right amount, pouring the water into the pot and letting it steep then pouring it out. I can just drop the little sachet right into the cup and boom! I can let it steep while I practice two-chord jams on my bass (can I just say, Eb minor is a REALLY pretty key?) OMG the aroma of this tea is to DIE for. It’s a warmer, more cinnamon-y version of the dry leaf aroma. The taste, on the other hand, is slightly less impressive. There’s a lot more spicy, a lot less cinnamon, and a bit of just… “I am drinking a hot liquid that has a flavor and there is an aftertaste.” I’m just going to inhale every time I sip.

Argh! It smells SO FREAKING GOOD and it looks so pretty, and then it just falls short of all expectations! Honestly, I’m going to have to give it at least another couple of gos for the smell alone. If nothing else, it’s a nice easy cup of tea that smells like the Ghost of a Christmas Past That Never Was. Or something like that.

I swear, I am going to drink a cup of this every day until I run out.

That’s saying something, too, since I only am letting myself have one fully caffeinated cup of black tea per day until this little one isn’t depending on me for sustenance any more.

But I’m also not getting another canister of this until next holiday season. It’s tasty, and smells like the holidays, and I want to keep it that way.

So, it looks like the next fully caffeinated tasting note will be in the new year (unless I get bored before then)!

This is very tasty this “morning”.

I slept through my alarm, and am still exhausted. Pain takes a lot of energy to deal with!

So now I’m off to the clinic to see my x-ray results, then to work for a few hours to hopefully manage the next step in an experiment. Not too sure about that, due to the sore, but I’ll see. If not, I have paperwork to do and I can do the next step tomorrow.

(1 tea bag for 12 oz, 1/8 tsp sugar, almond milk)

Sipdown!!

Last time I had this tea, I could not taste it properly as I drank it immediately following eating a dinner with a fair bit of spices. However, I thought I tasted a similar flavor to DAVIDs Glitter & Gold. Now I realize, that was a pretty apt description for this tea because this and Glitter & Gold are much of the same. However this is a touch less sweet, a little harder to get a hold of, and lacks my beloved sparkles. That doesn’t mean I am not really enjoying this cup though so thank you Eva for the opportunity to try this tea.

Come, my friends. Come and hear my tale. It is a story of glory and tragedy, of trust and betrayal, of successes and failures, of the kindness and benevolence of the human spirit and of its depravity and selfishness!

Let me tell you about the heroine of our tale, Jillian, who asked for some tea possessed by our villain, sophistre, about a month ago, and how she — in all of her righteousness — sent forth tea to her nemesis and lo, the wicked sophistre did get distracted by writing and guests from out of town, and when the tea arrived at her humble abode, she was glad. And yet she had sent no tea, herself.

And Jillian went without.

It is to weep!

Seriously though…I fail at post office. I think I mentioned that earlier. I had no idea Jillian was sending me anything until she got her tea, and I feel like a big’ol heel now, because here I am with a very cozy-smelling cup of tea in front of me thanks to Jillian, and the Adagio tin I promised her is still sitting on my front hall table waiting to be whisked off to Canadaland.

I am such a jerk. I’m not even a tragic villain in this story, because mostly I’ve been either consumed by writing or running around with a bunch of other jerks from out of town.

Anyway, thank you Jillian! You shame me! The tea, it will be winging its way to you shortly. (I swear!)

The tea I was most curious about at the time we discussed a trade was a Russian Caravan she had, because at that point I had not had a Russian Caravan tea. I now have A&D’s Caravan in my cabinet, but that’s the only one I’ve tried…so I’m still looking forward to this one quite a bit. Even so, opening up the little packet, it was the smell of this tea that called to my newly-awakened braincells with promises of spices and sweet fruit, and so here it is.

It smells good dry, but I think it smells wonderful when it steeps. The heat really brings several of the spices to the fore in the nose. It tells me there’s citrus here, and I believe it…but it’s the clove-riddled citrus you might remember if your teachers, like mine, had ever had you make one of those clove-studded oranges for the holidays when you were a kid in gradeschool. Cinnamon is easy to detect, and while I would not have fingered almond as a taste present in the tea, I think I find it after I swallow. I could probably have stood to have it be more prevalent in the overall profile, but I’m somebody who douses themselves in almond oil on a regular basis in the bath, so I admit I may be biased. It’s sweet on the sides of the tongue, and there’s a lingering, spicy warmth on the middle and over my palate. There’s even a cozy warmth in my throat and belly that has nothing to do with the temperature of the tea, but instead with the spices involved.

It’s becoming pretty clear to me the more H&S teas I try that they really are exceptionally good at determining the best ratio of flavor to tea. I have yet to try a cup from them that was particularly intense, but I can also say with certainty that I’ve been struck every time by how balanced the flavors have been, not only with themselves but with the tea base.

I could feel a creeping headache coming on when I woke up (yes, when I woke up at 10pm. Just trust me)…but I’m getting close to the bottom of the cup now, and it’s going.

As a tea that reminds you of the holidays goes, this one without a doubt hits the mark. I can easily see myself keeping a little tin around of this, so I may actually add this along with Florence to my ‘will order’ list. Yay!

Thanks to Jillian and her INCREDIBLE supply of patience for sending me tea when I’ve been so dodgy about my end of the bargain!

One of the teas my boyfriend gave me for X-mas (I suppose I’ll keep him afterall ~_^).

The tea, both dry and when it’s brewing, smells likes one of those oranges with cloves stuck in it (is there a name for those?). The liquor is surpringly light, starting with a slightly sweet, orangy flavour and ending with a bit of light, gentle spice (I’m thinking cloves with a bit of cardamon and cinnamon).

My fiancée surprised me with a box of this for Christmas. I LOVE everything from Harney & Sons and was really excited to try this one. I think I must’ve not steeped it long enough the first time I made a cup, because it was very weak and I was a little disappointed. This morning I decided to give it another go, because you just can’t give up on Harney & Sons. I made sure that I timed it for exactly five minutes and the result is much better. There is a taste of orange and light spicy taste is noticeable in the background. The flavor is really light – this is definitely not an “in your face” type of tea. If this was decaf it would be perfect for a cup right before bed. Since it’s not decaf, it will be good as an afternoon cup by itself. Not one of my favorites, but I’m happy that I was able to try this one!

-Standard teabag.
-Teabag smells like spicy orange and clove. Tea liquor aroma is spicy.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Fruity citrus flavor with a clove cinnamon finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Fair tea. Mellow flavor, mostly of citrus.

Its in the 90’s today. Its just barely fall. Naturally I decide that this would be the perfect time to try this Christmas tea.
It certainly smells like a holiday fair, all cinnamon and clove-y. Nice smell, very atmosphiric.
Somethings gone a bit wrong in the taste portion of this. I cant make out what the flavor actually is. I get a clove-y after taste, but the subtler flavors hinted in the smell are not there.
Thanks to Josie Jade for sending this my way.

It may be the end of April, but we’ve got frost here. That’s right: FROST! So I decided to try a tea that I might have otherwise saved. This holiday tea is a delight for a chilly morning. It’s not heavy-handed at all, as some holiday teas can be. It’s got some restraint with the cinnamon (how I deplore the unrestrained use of cinnamon!), and genial highlights of clove and orange. It’s nice to taste a “holiday” flavored tea that has such a good blend.

I think this is a good afternoon or evening tea and it would be great for festive moments. Right now I’m feeling about as festive as a lump of clay drying out on an unused and unloved potter’s wheel, so this might not be the moment but I can taste how the nose and mouth must be willing to meet the tea on positive terms. This tea is lifting me up a bit! Well-done!

Thank you so much to LENA who sent me this tea.

I’ve had this at least twice but apparently I haven’t written a tasting note for it yet. So this time, as an experiment, I cut open the sachet and measured the tea to see how much was in it and how much water I should be using. It turned out double the amount I use in a standard mug. So I used a big mug this time. What prompted this was that I remember the tea being overly strongly flavored before.

This first steep was eminently sipable so I think it was the right track. Still most heavy on the clove, I can also definitely taste the almond and think I can find the cinnamon. The citrus I cannot taste except maybe in that I detect a juicy quality. So while this tea is a bit bitter from the clove, it’s not at all astringent or drying. The second steep was light but spiced and drinkable. Both mugs were consumed while studying with some gaming in between.

I’m rating this a 68 (upper end of my nice range) for now while I tinker with it.