Custom - Harney & Sons

We only had one and a half teaspoons of Palm Court left today, so I suggested combining it with Rose Scented to amke a whole pot of tea. We have loved experimenting with Rose Scented and other teas!

In an effort to be helpful, I prepared the dry leaves in the basket, and youngest misunderstood which pot had the leaves already in, and she added a teaspoon of Boston before noticing that there were already leaves in the pot!

The final verdict? This was very good! Palm Court made a great base, Rose Scented added its expected charms, and there was just a hint of Boston’s flavor. I don’t know if we could recreate the pot we had today, but we certainly enjoyed it!

I tried ashmanra’s blend to kind of replicate Rosey Earl Grey. The only thing I added were a few pearls of Jasmine Pearl tea. It is good, but I think the Rosy is slightly sweeter somehow. If I try this again, I will up the jasmine a little.

Since JacquelineM and a couple of other folks have mentioned Rosy Earl Grey recently, I got a hankering to do a wee experiment. I used three tsps. Earl Grey Supreme and one tsp. Rose Scented to 22 ounces of water in my Beehouse teapot. It was delicious! I tried it hot and sans additions first, then added sugar to some of the still hot tea and poured it over ice to try it as an iced tea. That would also very good! Now I am wondering what would happen if Florence and the rose got together, and I am thinking it might be a very good thing…

When I got up this morning, the windows were all frosted over….no, wait. That isn’t frost. It’s condensation. Because I live in North Carolina and it is going to be near ninety and raining and it is as humid as an Amazonian jungle out there.

Youngest and I decided it LOOKED cold since we couldn’t see out of the windows and it was completely overcast, so we have the a/c on and are pretending we need a cup of comforting tea to warm us up.

Queen Catherine is our comfort cup, but sometimes we like to foofy her up with some Rose Scented. I usually go with a 2/1 ratio. The Rose Scented is pretty strong so you still get plenty of floral taste even Catherine is a pretty strong (but elegant) lady.

It did the job. Aaaaaaah.

Today is the first day of school for our youngest daughter, who is homeschooled, and my middle daughter who is in community college.

We have a lot of traditions. On the first day, the kids “ride their bikes to school” with their dad. They leave the house and go to the grocery store a few blocks away where they buy presents for the teacher. I get flowers, apples, and candy bars. :) This year even Sammie got a treat since he is listed as co- teacher. (That’s our dog, for those who don’t know!)

Many years, we have had to work hard to keep our traditions going. This year is no different. We set our first day of school to coincide with middle daughter’s schedule. Afterwards we found out that we need to take my husband’s mother to a dental appointment early in the morning. Daughter was only going to be able to join us because hubby was going to drop her off at school so she wouldn’t have to go super early to find a parking space. So our wake up time got pushed back an hour.

Then I discovered that middle daughter can’t buy her parking sticker today because we failed to get the van inspected – the paperwork was buried. So now we are scheduling an inspection and oil change for the first day of school. ARGH! Fortunately, everything is working out and running smoothly so far, though. Mother-in-law has seen the dentist, hubby dropped off daughter, hubby is dropping off van, I am picking him up soon, then we pick up middle daughter and head to our traditional first day school lunch going out to eat. After that we pick up the van and come home.

ETA: we have three Toyotas. I had the paperwork for the wrong one. The van is just now due for inspection and the car I had the paperwork for was done on time! So we still had to go get that done. Picking it up later! LOL!

Meanwhile at home, youngest and I have finished our Algebra 2 lesson, Biology, and Grammar and we are about to do German. Whew!

This is why I reached for the Queen this morning. With all this activity, however, I wanted to soften it and calm the mood a bit, so I mixed in a teaspoon of Rose Scented. This was perfect. I had only had Carnation Instant Breakfast when I went out to take care of the chickens early this morning, so I treated myself to a Bagel Thins with Nutella with it.

Happy First Day of School, everyone! I am going to miss homeschooling when this is over. My two eldest have graduated and one is now a microbiologist and the other an autism advocate. When youngest graduates, I am going to have to hunt down a toddler to start over again! Maybe grandchildren…..? I need someone that I can read all these lovely books to again!

For tea party today I had my daughter mix these two teas. She used two teaspoons of Queen Catherine and one of Rose Scented, both by Harney and Sons, in a 22oz. Beehouse teapot. I think the proportions worked very well. Queen Catherine is always good, and so smooth, and the rose aroma in this is really peppery spicy rose aroma. I am glad JacquelineM suggested mixing these this way. It is delicious! I should try it mixed with even more black teas. My tea guest was having this for the first time, and she really liked it.

Just for JacquelineM, I put this together before leaving for a wedding in Charleston, SC. She suggested the pairing, so I used one tsp. of each, thinking that my mug was 12 ounces. I found out later that it only holds ten with the infuser in it, but it didn’t do any harm. The extra leaf didn’t make this bitter or too strong.

The first thing I noticed was how peppery the rose smelled, just like what I get from some Yunnan teas. I didn’t notice this when I made Rose Scented plain, but picked it up when I mixed it with Mao Feng yesterday and today with Queen Catherine. Perhaps it was there and I just didn’t notice the first time I made it.

The tea itself is very, very smooth. I added no sugar or milk but it is sweet and good. The rose has taken a back seat, almost too much so. I picked it up more in the aftertaste, but as I continued drinking I tasted it a little more. Perhaps a better ratio for blending this for me is 2/3 rose with 1/3 other black tea.

For the last half of this mug, I added sugar to see what effect it would have. I actually DISLIKE it with sugar! The light rose was all the sweetness this needed.

For my morning cup, I think I still prefer to make Queen Catherine or English Breakfast (100% Keemun) and add milk and sugar. For an after breakfast cup, this is VERY nice. I don’t think that I prefer it over the Rose Scented by itself, but changing things up is good!

So Jacqueline, the final verdict is…..Rose Scented tastes great mixed with Queen Catherine, and no additions needed!

I was inspired to finally try mixing these in hopes of finding the perfect ratio. The Chocolate Mint tea was almost all mint, so I hoped that mixing with Chocolate would bring a bit of balance. I used 2 teaspoons of each in a 22 oz. Beehouse teapot. I thought I should add a bit extra of the Chocolate Mint since there is an abundance of mint leaves in there and I wanted to be sure to get a full measure of tea leaves as well as the mint leaves. I liked it well enough plain, and a friend who had a couple of cups with me (a coffee drinker absolutely new to tea) really liked it, only adding milk.

After it cooled a bit, I tried another cup with just milk, then tried it again with milk and sugar. With no additions, I don’t taste much chocolate, even though I have added Chocolate Tea. I guess the mint is overpowering it, though in the mixture the mint was cool and refreshing but not quite so strong as before. With milk, it mellowed a little, and with sugar, I think I began to taste a little more chocolate, but still not as much as in Florence. I may try again using 3 tsps. Chocolate/1 tsp. Chocolate Mint. Or I may even let jacquelineM inspire me and I will add chocolate syrup!

Tea of the evening….

I did my own version of this tonight. My teapot requires three perfect teaspoons for the perfect pot of tea, so I added 2 Decaf Paris and 1 Vanilla Comoro. I guess I was looking for a more berried version of a decaf tea. Somehow, I do think I need to go the other way and do 2 of the Vanilla Comoro and 1 of the Decaf Paris. The way it is now, it is just a slightly more creamy and vanilla version of Decaf Paris itself, because the flavors in the Decaf Paris are generally the stronger of the two. Black Currant, Vanilla, Caramelly-creaminess, and the bergamot notes add just a hint of brightness. I am not sad I tried it this way and will thoroughly enjoy this pot. More testing on another evening!

Usual teapot method with above ratio for 3 minutes. Slightly sweetened.

This was my first cup of the day around noon. I know! I was moving slow today. I tried more vanilla comoro this time and it didn’t seem to work as well as I would have hoped it would. It was ok…kind of a funky flavor that I can’t put a finger on. Oh well back to the drawing board and on to another tea.

I picked up both of these teas when at the Millerton shop yesterday as one of the women in the tasting room suggested these two played very well with one another and were a great way to end the day. So I’m giving it a go this morning (we got home very late last night…too late for tea making.

I really love the extra Vanilla flavor that comes out of mixing these two together! I’m also glad I went with her suggestion of how much tea to use 1tsp of Decaf Paris to 1 1/2tsp of Vanilla Comoro. Actually I think it could use a little more Vanilla Comoro, but the way I currently prepped it keeps the flavor of Paris out in front too. Naturally I wanted both flavors to rock out and that’s just what this mix did.

I did later add a little sugar and some very vanilla silk milk which really knocked all the flavors up a bit for a really nice first cup of the day.

Tea of the afternoon……

Since I had all of the components of this blend created by Jenn, I had to give it a try! The only sub I had to make was Harney’s Valentine Tea for the Chocolate tea. This is good! I get the black currants and chocolate, and then the vanilla just smooths it all together. I will definitely be mixing this up again!

Teapot usual method…..

I have to tip my hat to the lovely SimplyJennW who coined her custom blend of Harney & Sons Vanilla Black and Black Currant “Hobbit Tea”. So, keeping in that vein, I’ve added Harney & Sons Chocolate Tea and cacao nibs to create Bilbo’s Dark Side. Bilbo’s Dark Side is regular Hobbit Tea with a tad, a touch, a smidge, a bit of evil chocolate.

Tea of the morning…..

I did alter the ratios just a little to incorporate some of Harney’s Rose Scented at the recommendation of Dinosara last time around. Since my math brain is a little fuzzy this morning, the ratios are 1Rose Scented:3 Vanilla Black:2 Black Currant. I know it sounds crazy, but I usually do 3 perfect teaspoons (or 4 1/2 actual teaspoons) per pot. That works out to be 1 scoop Black Currant, half a scoop Rose Scented, and 1 1/2 scoops Vanilla Black. Are we utterly confused, yet?

I do like the addition of the rose. I am not sure it is totally necessary, but it is Rosie’s Hobbit Tea, after all! I would definitely make it this way again. And it is reminiscent of that favorite Mafia tea blend!

My first attempt at this… My ratio is one part Black Currant to two parts Vanilla Black. I definitely like this. I might give a one to one ratio a go, but I am thinking this is pretty close.

24 oz teapot, 1 1/2 tsp Black Currant tea, 3 tsp Vanilla Black tea, freshly boiled water, 4 minutes. Lightly sweetened.

Now I need a name for this. I hate to steal the brilliance that is Christa Y’s name, but am looking for something that is equally as cool. I am thinking along the lines of Liz Bennet, Spymaster……. You know, the original M, which is just short for Mrs. Darcy.

Or maybe this will be my Hobbit Tea. I can picture Rosie Cotton Gamgee making this tea for her friends. I am leaning toward this one…Rosie’s Hobbit Tea. What do you think?

Second breakfast tea…..

I just noticed the last few pots of tea I have made have been a little on the strong side… And then I remembered that the difference coincided with my replacing our water filters. Let this be a lesson that better filtration on the water makes it so you need less tea! Or that you can simply taste the flaavors in it better…..

Good, but as I said, a little on the strong side even though I was careful not to do heaping spoons. I have just a little over an ounce left of this blend. It is still rosey and wonderful.

Mmmm. Tea of the late, late afternoon. The rose is so sweet in this blend. It has me contemplating switching to this from my beloved Rose Congou from Upton. I guess I have a while to contemplate……about 1 1/2 ounces of this and over 8 of the other…..

I had a few ounces of Panyang Congou sitting in my cupboard. After trying Rose Scented with Queen Catherine (which has PC in its blend), I decided a little punch of Rose Scented was the perfect addition to move this tea along. It is good on its own, but great with a little rose. Ratio is somewhere between 2:1 and 3:1.

Tea of the morning….. This is really good! The rose notes are subtle, but it perks up the Panyang Congou just enough to make it a tea I will drink often, rather than once in a while. (Yes, I have a thing for tea scented with roses, and I never would have thought that would be the case as rose scented things almost always turn me off…) I will be sad when my blend is all gone…I premixed this one…, but then I will just go back to the Queen with Roses. I need more room in my cupboard for new tea! I find it funny that I don’t like Harney’s Rose Scented as much on its own, but find it invaluable as a mixer.