Harney & Sons

Another tea that I am not adding to my cupboard. My friend brought this at the same time as the Vanilla Strawberry Hibiscus that tastes only of red rooibos and hibiscus to me and she said it tasted like booze and dirt to her. Lol

This one she liked a little better but said it just wasn’t a favorite and there are too many other things she would rather drink so she wanted me to try it and pass it on if I didn’t want it. I passed it on to the same padawan who got the Vanilla Strawberry. At least the tins are adorable.

This isn’t for me because I don’t love mint in tea except on rare occasions, like Tin Roof Teas Moroccan Mint which is yummmm. I don’t like much ginger in my tea, just a wee sparkle. And this was lemongrass and coconut heavy which are things I like but I didn’t find this combination and balance of things appealing. I took a few sips and poured it out.

Hopefully the person I gave it to will enjoy it, or pass it on to someone who will. I am sure it is a fine tea, just not to my tastes. The only one from this collection I was really interested in trying was the Honey Chamomile, mostly to see if I liked the ashwaganda and to see if it truly has a calming effect.

I am not adding this one to cupboard because I gave it away within 36 hours of it coming into my possession. A friend purchased it and didn’t like it, saying it tasted like booze instead of tea. She gave it to me, knowing I could pass it on if I didn’t want it.

I did try it, because I just tried Harney’s Thai Rooibos and I really like it – very much. I will probably buy it eventually, especially for tea sodas.

This, however, I will not buy. It is mostly a fist in the face of very woody Robitussinesque rooibos, boozy flavor, hibiscus, and very little vanilla or strawberry to me. So many teas and tisanes use hibiscus for strawberry flavored things and it just doesn’t work for me. If I had a blind tasting of this, I would have had no idea it was supposed to be strawberry or vanilla.

I tried it hot. Then I made a concentrated syrup of it to make tea soda and…it stills tastes like Robitussin. With fizz.

Not for me but I passed it on to a new tea padawan who does lots of evening tisanes and has liked rooibos in the past.

October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea with cinnamon or clove

I have said many times that I don’t love red rooibos but like green rooibos in flavored blends. I haven’t tried green rooibos plain. I did enjoy Caramel and Rum Rooibos from Lupicia and plain Rooibos from Fortnum was okay.

I have been giving tea samples to a lady I met a few months ago and yesterday she surprised me with some samples from her Harney order, including this tea. I went for this one today because there was the most of it and I didn’t expect to like it, but it is very good.

The cinnamon reminds me of Hot Cinnamon Spice but is milder. There is no clove – hooray! There is cardamom. Double hooray!

I drank one cup plain and made a latte with the rest of the pot, and I can see myself drinking this all winter. Sometimes when I make a latte I feel like there isn’t enough flavor of the tea blend left. This one is nearly half milk and there is still lots of cinnamon and cardamom flavor.

This is definitely a good chai type blend for me, as I just don’t love the ones with lots of clove and black pepper. Yums! This will be good to sip while sitting by the Christmas tree.

Summer travel and general craziness had me fall of
My tea game
So hard. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I am ready to jump back in. This is almost like the tea that comes in tea bags. It’s a good everyday basic. I liked it. No complaints. It does seem stronger or
Like it just has that kick go it. I probably would not repurchase- but its solid.

I bought this tea because two things I have are insomnia and a lingering cough from a bout of the flu. These are two things my lifestyle simply does not allow me to have, so my battery of defenses is excessive if not largely ineffectual.

So a deep sleep blend? Add to cart. Perhaps this tea will help me sleep. At this juncture, sweet dreams seem unrealistic, because the smell that confronted me upon opening the bag is frightening. The sachets are almost as sickly yellow as me and smell like I’m about to go on a very creative journey that’s waiting for me just beyond this steaming cup of Magic Pesto.

The steep is unexpectedly sweet. The basil is unholy. I feel like the tea is reviewing me faster than I can drink it. I’m looking forward to doing this 49 more times.

I’ve taken to calling this one “Ukrainian Country,” for obvious reasons. Purchased 1-lb bag of this 3 years ago, and still have maybe the last 1/4-lb hanging around. It’s been pretty good to me, and surprisingly not offensive to me as Assam is a key component and I typically do not like Assams. Not too smoky, and has the nice black breakfast tea profile I crave sometimes. If anything is most prominent in this mix, I think I feel the Ceylon vibes most – citrusy, malty, leathery, and a touch of sweetness.

The tea leaves themselves have a strong perfumy rose smell, which I personally like. However, when taking a sip I couldn’t taste much of the caramel or other flavours. It tastes more like a weak black tea. The rosey aroma is nice though.

Sip Down and Backlog

I’ve been so backlogged with tea reviews due to new work hours; which has thrown a wrench into my whole schedule. The time I usually added logs (Tuesday afternoon-ish) is now spent working. It’s truly an odd shift. Anyway, based on my notes, “The tea has a strong, almost savory hibiscus with a hint of pepper and cinnamon. The tea coats the throat with a warming feeling, as if I chewed a cough drop. Mulled Cider would be an interesting, iced tea, but it doesn’t seem ideal for summer with the lingering spices.”

Sipdown! (37 | 103)

This was the only fruit tisane from Harney that I hadn’t tried, so I figured I’d pick up a tin when I was reordering the other flavors.

Sadly, I don’t enjoy it as much as the others. I think it must be the blueberry flavoring that’s giving me a powdery note, which I sometimes get with mixed berry teas. It reminds me a bit of Smarties, and not in a good way. Not to say it’s bad, as I did finish the whole tin over the course of 4 or 5 cold-steeped bottles, it’s just not as nice as the others (IMO). Pretty tin though!

Lighter than other golden monkeys. After taste of a nilla wafer.

Sweet molasses and vanilla.

Sweet, chocolate, rainsettes. Much sweeter and maltier than other golden monkeys.

Smokey and warm. Lightly sweet. More of a traditional black tea than other golden monkeys

July Sipdown Prompt – a tea you love the color of

I had this on my wishlist because of CameronB’s review and my daughter saw it and bought it for me!

It is a beautiful red and does NOT taste like hibiscus! It is fruity and light. We drank it by itself and also mixed half and half with decaf iced tea. Both were great. Not too tart, just fresh and just right.

I enjoyed this more than other smoky blends I’ve had. It was smoky and meaty, but not too much. I could also taste a little alcohol tinge. It all went together pretty pleasantly! With milk and sugar, I’d actually consider drinking this one again, though I passed the TTB along without saving more.

August Sipdown Challenge Prompt – tea with the smallest amount left

Sipdown

I had only one sachet left so I got a prompt fulfilled and a sipdown!

I have been drinking this for breakfast regularly. The black tea base is really the main thing here, and the orange flavor is the second to me with a little vanilla on its heels. I don’t think I detected much of the ginger at all and I did not find it floral.

This is a good strength for breakfast for me, landing shy of builder’s tea and yet it isn’t one of those flavored teas that make you ask, “Where’s the base?”

Daughter who lives with us surprised me with a gift of this tea and Mango Fruit Blend. I had it with breakfast this morning. I had read the reviews and promptly forgotten what everyone said about it.

Part of the way through drinking it, it hit me that it had a strong Tower of London vibe without really being that similar. You could easily keep both on shelf for their differences.

The base was really nice for breakfast, not thin or too high-pitched. The fruits are rich and deep ones. I did not detect rose or ginger at all, but I was eating at the time, plus I had treated it to my tea stretching parameters of steeping it twice in a row and combining the two, so that may have toned down the ginger in comparison with the other flavors that were being brought out.

Very tasty, and so glad I got to try it! Mike, please make this available in loose leaf!

Created a separate entry for this, because it’s actually a different blend than their regular Indigo Punch loose leaf. Picked up a package of 3 bags out of curiosity, when reordering some of their fruit tisanes.

This one is also a bit watery when cold-steeped. even though the color is very vibrant. I get a bit of raspberry and hibiscus with an underlying pea flower floral mustiness. Hint of honey flavor perhaps?

They say each bag is supposed to make 2 quarts, but I steeped the contents of a bag in half that amount of water and it’s not very flavorful. I’ll have to try steeping this hot and icing it, to see if it performs better that way. So far, not impressed.

I really need to get back in my tea game. Still slacking. I just keep going for the coffee packets because they seem easier in the AM. This one is good. Nothing special. I found myself putting more sugar in it than the last variety of black tea I had- not good. This one can get a tinge bitter if overstepped, but nothing too bad. It’s ok though, it’s the bigger broken pieces. Probably wouldn’t go out my way to try it again.

Random impulse purchase! I was restocking on some fruit tisanes from Harney and was intrigued by this new tea. It’s reasonably priced and the leaves are big and twisty, plus I haven’t had many Malawian teas.

It definitely reminds me of an Assam, it has those raisin and molasses/brown sugar notes to it and a touch of astringency. Apricot or plum fruit leather and tobacco are present as well, and a hint of floral on the back end. I don’t know if I would order more, since I’m not really an Assam drinker, but it’s enjoyable and I’ll happily sip through the tin. Plus it’s fun to try new things! :)

After an unsatisfying experience with Black Cask Bourbon, which I expected to taste like O’Connor’s Cream was was instead a weak lapsang with a thin body, i decided not to try Japanese Whisky, especially since it seemed that sample sizes were always sold out, but Youngest sent me a number of sachets recently! Many thanks!

I didn’t read the description closely before steeping so once again I was expecting a boozy tasting tea, but this time the non-boozy tea was really tasty.

I like Lapsang, and I like it smoky. I do prefer for it to have a substantial base because otherwise it just tastes like the rinse water from an ashtray to me. It is:also awesome paired with ice cream.

So this one…this is smoky, but the smoke flavor doesn’t rise immediately into the sinuses like some Lapsangs. The smoke stays low, covers the sides and back of the tongue. There is a bit of mineral vibe on the tongue, like licking slate or shale, but not as dry. A briskness lingers after, yet there is a silky feel to the body of the tea as well on the way down, followed by the briskness that makes you want another swallow and another swallow.

Leagues better than Black Cask Bourbon in my opinion. Just keep in mind that this is not a whisky flavored tea, but rather a tea that was smoked over the wood chips of old whisky barrels. The memory of the whisky remains in the wood and flavors the tea in an entirely different way.

Nice.

Sipdown! (7 | 56)

The last of the Harney fruit tisanes! This doesn’t taste like mango at all to me, maybe a tiny bit like dried mango slices? It’s really good cold-steeped though (with a touch of sugar), sweet and fruity with a gentle tartness to it. It’s definitely on the lighter end of the hibiscus spectrum, as far as Harney’s offerings go. I’m trying to decide what fruit this actually reminds me of, and maybe it’s closer to apricot mixed with orange and a bit of strawberry? It’s tasty, and I’ll be ordering more (along with most of Harney’s fruit blends).