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A sample of this arrived with my recent Harney order. I thought I’d give it a go this morning. I’m not a huge Earl Grey fan…I like it, but it’s a case of I like what I like and don’t often branch out. Well, I may have to branch out after drinking half the cup! It actually reminded me of Fruity Pebbles in taste which in this case is not a bad thing. I really used to love Fruity Pebbles when I was little so this brought me back to a more carefree time in my life. That is one thing I love with Harney & Sons teas, they always and I do mean ALWAYS evoke a memory of some kind for me. The Bergamot was a little stronger in this tea, but it was mighty tasty. I did add a hint of sweetener to this one, but not too much so as to take away from the tea. Look out only other earl grey in my cabinet there is a new sheriff coming to town!

I wanted to give this a try as soon as it arrived yesterday. But I was worried I’d be up all night as this is billed as their strongest tea! So I waited to try it on this cool (for now) July 4th morning. At first sniff of the dry leaf I worried that it was too similar to their Irish Breakfast, so much so that I took out my tin of that for comparison. Well, let me tell you they are two very different teas. This one is made from two very VERY dark black tea leaves. It says a Ceylon black tea and a strong black from India. I’m guessing Ceylon and Assam. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.

Wow is it strong! But it is good. There is a tiny hint of astringency (or I over steeped – which might be true) with my first few sips. Even that isn’t bad, usually I find to be a huge turn off. I have to say it is bold, rich, and slightly oaky to taste and I like it a lot. I didn’t add anything to this tea and I usually don’t. I’m sure this would take milk and sweetener if you were so inclined to add it. I’m glad I bought the tin…would have been very sad had I only ordered the sample size!

Lunch tea (from an hour or so ago). I’ve had it before (last October maybe) and I think this is better suited to fall drinking. I was only getting the pumpkin smell but not the taste (or any other flavors for that matter) in this one. sigh…maybe it’s past it’s prime. I’ll try again in a few months.

I love pu-erh tea! So I was thrilled to see I had tossed this sample in my lunch bag this morning. The dry leaf smells very minty and chocolaty the perfect after lunch treat. When the leaves are steeping the smell of the pu-erh comes out to play with a very earthy but not overpowering smell and taste. All three flavors pu-erh, peppermint and spearmint play very nice together. I know I didn’t say chocolate in the ingredient list. I’m thinking (and what I’m tasting) is the peppermint and spearmint brings out the chocolate notes of this pu-erh, love it!

No description on the website yet…but this was a sample with an order from Teas Etc. not too long ago. It is a strong cup of tea! I can’t quite put my finger on the flavor…whatever tanzanian black is supposed to taste like is my guess. (Helpful I know) I like it. It has a nice kick in the pants I need to get moving this morning at work. Always hard getting and staying going the day before a day off.

Thanks to Fong Mong for the sample. I steeped it for a little less than the time suggested as it seemed like a long time for an oolong. There was a slight vegetal smell to the dry and steeping leaves as well as something flowery too. The taste as others have noted was slightly sweet and floral. I enjoyed it. It was also very smooth (I had it iced since we are “enjoying” quite the heatwave in Upstate, NY! I have enough left (I hope) for a hot cup of this that I will need to enjoy in my basement!

Stopped off at the market on the way out to celebrate my momma’s birthday and noted I forgot to pack tea. So I picked this up to give it a try. I’m not a great judge of green teas, but this one didn’t jump out as being any different from most green teas I’ve had. I would think it was a Sencha green, but it didn’t say on the package…but it wasn’t terrible…very veggie!

This is GOOD, it is one from my sampler and we’ll chalk this up to another good green! I get a nice toasted flavor to this tea from the toasted rice. But I think its the matcha bringing the hint of sweet the cup. There isn’t much veggie to this tea for me and I am liking that. I did get the pouch variety with the sample, but if/when I order I would get loose. Really who knew I could actually learn to like green tea?

Well, I went into my local Teavana for the last time yesterday. I really wanted a cup of tea so I stopped in while my husband and I were shopping and I wanted to try this tea to go. Well, from the start they were on me about buying it. I passed, to go would be fine.

I’ll save the rest of the story for a blog post later…I’m still steamed over the whole trip and it had nothing to do with me, but another customer. Anyway, this tea is probably one of the few straight teas they still carry. I had it iced and found it to have the usual veggie taste to it that most greens have (I’m growing to like them), but there was also a natural sweetness to this one too which I enjoyed. I would get this tea again from another source in the future.

So I followed the directions as I now I’m not a big fan of this type of tea. I will tell you it smells fantastic, a little flowery. Which is interesting to me as I’ve never noticed that with any other Darjeeling teas I’ve tried. The first sip went straight to bitter town. Which did not make me a happy tea drinker. I’m already having a bitter day (lots to do at work).

So I added a little milk and sweetener and that seemed to do the trick to cure the bitters. Now I’m getting more of a sweet (not all from the sugar) taste to this tea! Which turned my frown around. :)