Florence

“Giuchie, Giuchie, ya ya dada
Giuchie, Giuchie, ya ya here
Mocha Chocalata ya ya
Creole lady Marmalade”
Mostly the Mocha Chocalata ya ya. This tea has been taunting me for months. Thanks to Amy Oh I am getting to try the legend that is Florence. Flo your dry leaf smells amazing that’s for sure. Mais, Je ne vais pas dormir avec toi ce soir. The chocolate/hazelnut aroma is there but it doesn’t shine through in the taste. It’s very similar to Stash’s chocolate hazelnut decaf. It is still a really good tea I just don’t find it to be a mind blowing tea experience.

This was my first taste of Florence and I’m so happy to have finally tried it. I ordered it as a sample package and upon opening, my inner Nutella detector went off. Ooh, it’s so scented of chocolate and nuttiness that I can’t wait to try it.

I didn’t steep it too long, and I think this is one of the few that may have been better if steeped longer. But, no matter, even this way it’s really good.

The taste is a warm chocolate with a definite accompaniment of hazelnut. The tea itself has a slightly thinner mouthfeel and doesn’t coat my mouth as I would expect hot chocolate to do. (And, I know this isn’t hot chocolate, but the richness of the flavor is so true to it, that I can’t help but expect the hot chocolate experience.) Even with all of this flavoring going on, it’s still fairly easy to detect the black tea. It’s not bitter, or even astringent, which would work against the flavor. It’s really nicely paired with it. In fact, it’s so good that I’d like to try it without the flavors. One of the first times I’ve said that about a black tea!

Delicious.

Roasted hazelnuts dusted with dark cocoa. Bittersweet and flavorful.

Very aptly named. This is somehow evocative of how I imagine Florence at dusk to be like. Romantic, wistful and artful.

Sorry to wax poetic, but this tea inspires me beyond words! I love it!!!

The following is a true account with absolutely no exaggeration or hyperbole.

I got home from work and pulled my car into the garage. When I got out of my car, I smelled something sweet and decadent; I thought a neighbor was baking. I walked out of the garage towards my front door and the chocolaty smell became stronger. I saw there was a sealed cardboard box sitting there. Inside this sealed box was a sealed tin of this tea. I had smelled the awesome fragrance of this tea through metal, cardboard and from approximately 30 feet away!

Upon opening the tin, the tea was black as night and smelled strongly of chocolate, caramel and creamy-nutiness. It brewed very dark and the fragrance held fairly well.

The taste was very mild but had a lot of body with a silky cream mouth feel. As with most nut or chocolate enhanced teas, I felt the flavor was at its peak after cooling just a bit. It wasn’t as pungent as the initial fragrance would lead you to believe, but it was a good representation of the flavor characters it’s intended to present.

Part of the Nabokov prize package! (Thanks again, Doulton!) :9

Oh my. This was the first thing I smelled when I opened that prize package, and there was a LOT of tea in that little box. This was in a tin, too, so it’s slightly surprising that this won out.

But oh. I was worried. It smelled divine dry, as others have noted. It smelled even more divine after I poured boiling water over it. As it steeped, the rich hazelnutty chocolate smell pervaded the entire first floor of my house. It’s a hell of a thing to experience first thing in the morning! (Starting a day on such a note, really, how could your day possibly go anywhere but downhill from there?!? XD)

It’s delightful, yet nerve-wrecking. Smelling it, you think to yourself, how could this possibly taste as good as it smells? No way it can. No. Way.

And it’s…surprisingly light. Full-bodied, yes, but lighter in colour than expected when fully brewed. It doesn’t coat your mouth the way you’d think on smelling it. Which is actually a good thing, because it smells like one of those decadent desserts that you can only eat a few bites of before you have to doggie bag it. Because this is lighter than expected, I was able to drink the whole pot over the course of a couple hours.

Added a teeny tiny bit of raw sugar to it, but that’s it. Later, I may try a spot of some sort of milky-thing, or soy creamer. Update to follow. Man oh man, the Nutella comparisons are apt, except that’s chocolatier and this is hazelnuttier (technical terms, yes). I can’t wait to try this with my banana/Nutella crepes. :9

Man, I need to remember that Harney rocks the flavored teas! I usually stay away from chocolate-flavored teas in particular, because they’re never chocolatey enough or don’t blend well or both. Florence is a definitely exception. Florence is delicious. (On its own, or with a bit of milk – definitely no sugar needed).

The hazelnut and chocolate both come through very well, in the aroma _and_flavor of the liqueur. The dry leaves are very strongly scented, so you might was an isolated spot to store this one. This is probably as good as their vanilla-flavored tea, but I’m bumping the rating a little because anyone can make vanilla tea taste good. But blending chocolate well? Way more impressive.

P.S. This is a sample from JacquelineM, so I will definitely be adding some to my next order from Harney. I suspect it would be delicious iced as well.

ETA: The second steep was good too! Again, very impressed. Most (artificially) flavored teas lose their flavor after the first; I added another 8oz boiling water, left it alone for ~10 minutes, and came back to a mild but still sweetly flavored cup.

Tea #15 from the traveling tea box.

While I enjoyed this more than most chocolate teas, it still isn’t quite what I’m looking for. I think that the hazelnut is nice, but weaker than what I was craving. This ended up being slightly nutty with a hint of chocolate. I tried this plain, but I think I may have preferred it dressed up with a bit of milk and sugar.

Oh God the smell of this! I love the smell of chocolate so much. This is lovely. At first I thought it was a combo of chocolate and mint (strangely enough), the hazelnut isn’t roasted so I had trouble picking it up. After enjoying a mug full of this tea, though, I can safely say this is a match made in heaven. The sweet hazelnut complements the deep aroma of the chocolate so well and the chocolate lingers on your tongue long after a sip. I still don’t like chocolate but boy does it work well in teas. I enjoyed this best without milk and piping hot. What a treat! Thank you Jackie for this gift.

Hmmm..Florence…è così così.

Maybe it’s my fault for expecting more of a nutella taste, but lately things that have strong nutty flavors are not my friends. For me, the hazelnut is just overpowering everything and I am not really a fan.

It’s just not chocolatey enough for me because the hazelnut just lingers far too long with each sip. Oh well. Maybe tinkering around with steeping it will produce a better result in the future. Thanks for giving me some to try, cheetah_pita!

A huuuge thanks to Mercuryhime for this yumtastic tea!

My first taste of full on loose-leaf harney and sons and it is so delicious. I found the flavour a bit light, but I used the whole sample in my very large bodum travel mug so I’m guessing that’s why. I’m looking forward to ordering this asap.

There is no astringency, the tea is extremely smooth. The tea has a nice depth with the chocolate and hazelnut – I can’t think of a better simple dessert tea that delivers exactly what it promises.