Harney & Sons

This has been sitting in my stash for probably 5 years now. I got a little sample sachet with a Harney & Sons order ages ago and it’s been relegated to the bottom of my tea drawer ever since. I’m sure the leaves took some crush damage over the years, but oh well.

I’m not a fan of tea sachets so I cut it open and brewed this in a basket. Well water straight from the tap, guestimating roughly 185°F.

It was surprisingly flavorful for a decaf black, particularly Ceylon. I’ve tried a few before and wasn’t impressed, though Harney & Sons is my first venture into a loose leaf decaf.

I made this with a touch of sugar and cream, but went very very light on the cream. I was afraid I’d end up with milk that has notes of tea instead of tea with a little milk. It handles it pretty well though. In my experience, Ceylon’s don’t usually handle milk that well in the first place and that makes it extra impressive to me that this decaf is holding up. It’s quite fruity and sweet (tasted before cream & sugar.)

I was craving some black tea but didn’t want to go overboard with the caffeine right before bed and this turned out to be a pretty good choice.

From Kawaii433 a while back!  Thanks so much!  I recently saw a hojicha genmaicha mentioned, so I remembered that this is the closest thing I have to that flavor profile.  I’m surprised there aren’t more roasted genmaichas around!  That seems like an obvious combination rather than with fresh green tea.  The flavor here isn’t as quite as amazing as I would wish it to be, as it is mostly stems and not true hojicha.  But there ARE some flavorful stems available out there.  But these aren’t those.   I will definitely be on the lookout for a more flavor filled  genmaicha hojicha though!
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 8 minutes after boiling // 10 min

This one has really great reviews, so naturally I was intrigued. There is a definite apricot flavour here, very forthcoming and true. However, there is a perfume-y scent which is ruining the flavour for me. It’s hard to get past as it fills my nose when I go to take a sip of the tea. If only the flavour could remain, and the scent could be dropped.

So this was the other tea mishap of the day!  Being indecisive I just threw this one in the mug, thinking it was a plain green (the wrapper just says “Green”), but it has citrus and gingko, making this the second gingko tea of the day!  I didn’t even know I had two gingko teas around.  It was pretty good though!  Plenty of flavor while not drowning out the green tea of the blend.

My favorite “dessert” tea. It has such warm notes, smells of bergamot, citrus and flowers. A smidge of creamer and sugar makes this one of the best blends I have ever experienced.

A comforting autumn after-dinner tea. Should be enjoyed sip by sip, since the flavour is not noticeable if drunk too quickly. The pumpkin flavour is noticeable but mild, as some may prefer.

I had a lovely cup of this over the holidays at my SILs cabin in the wilds of Virginia…it was just wonderful, the spiced molasses flavor strong, but not too strong. perfect for a cold winter afternoon right after a hike up a mountain.

This seemed like a good tea to try, both my dad and I like Keemun, but this tea is blah. A fair example of Keemun, but we’ve both tasted better and I won’t need to purchase this again. It’s not bitter, and would be a good tea to blend with.

Free sample from my last order. The mint is quite fresh! This is tasty cold, though not special enough to order.

TeaTiff TTB #2

There was a single sachet of this tea in the box, which I took along to my dad’s house to brew on Christmas day. While not quite up to the standard of my all-time favorite Gingerbread Rooibos from Market Spice, this was quite a respectable gingerbread blend! Not too heavy on the ginger and with a nice sweet, buttery cookie note. And the black tea base was welcome after staying up way too late on Christmas Eve!

I’m coming to the conclusion that booze inspired tea may not be for me. This smells way too smoky for
Me and just about everyone else I made smell it lol It tastes better than it smells
Though…I can handle it. But it is not one that I would buy again. i am relieved to be out of my tin. Wouldn’t buy again but would recommend giving it a try just because of hiw unique it is

Enjoying a taste courtesy of ashmanra! Reviews on this one are so-so so far, but it’s got a decently caramelly base, and it isn’t overly salty, which is a plus for me. Not especially strong, but pleasant on a rainy afternoon.

A rose flavored black tea. The dry leaves have a cool, raisin like smell, the rose tastes natural. Many rose black teas are rose first, black tea second, this one the black tea is main character. The base is a Chinese black and I think it is a decent one, probably a blend, the flavor is fruity and a little woody. Compare to Art of Tea’s Rose Black Tea the rose flavor is not as strong but that is not a flaw.

I loved this tea and have a 1 pound bag at home. I know there are better teas out there but I choose to view this one with rosey lens. (Ayyyy)

sold for $26/1lb

https://www.harney.com/products/rose-scented?variant=29492372678

Rather “generic” black tea.
Not too sharp, but has a little tang.
Frankly, tastes like any generic cut peoke, Lipton tea anyone?

Old Tea Bag Sip Down
Part 9. Last one. For real.
This one was hiding. The bag looks fairly beaten up but not in too bad of shape. Should be decent. Oh. Ooo. The aroma coming off the liquor as the tea steeps is quite nice. Notes of earthy honey, cream of wheat, and those lovely woody Keenum notes. This is actually quite lovely. Would be even better fresh and loose but heck this is much better than I thought it would be. My only reason for rating it in the 60s is simply because it is not very strong. This could be due to it being an older tea bag, which I am fairly certain of. Beyond a small lack of character, the flavors hint at malt, some cream of wheat, a bit of lacquer, and a gambit of woody notes.

February Sipdown Prompt – a tea ordered online

Sipdown

This tea was ordered online by me for me. Ashman liked it, which was a bonus because he doesn’t like fig flavor, figs, or fig jam. He loves strawberry tea, though, so I guess the strawberry and vanilla in this complemented the fig nicely enough for him to like it.

I was happy to get a couple of sipdowns today, but noticed that Harney and Sons has a brand new strawberry vanilla black tea and it is testing my resolve sorely. I hope to stay strong and maintain my buying ban for a little while longer.

I made a large pot of this for breakfast and we had about 16 ounces left over, so I poured the still warm tea into a jar, added the amount of sugar it would have proportionally when I make tea by the gallon with one cup sugar, and set it to chill. I was impatient to try it, so even though iced tea is always best the next day I served it with lunch.

Ashman and I both enjoyed it very much. The sugar really brought out the fruitiness and since it was 77F (25C) here in late November, it was really refreshing. If they made this looseleaf I would consider it for a bulk buy to make tea by the gallon in summer.

I had this with breakfast today and made a cup for Ashman late this afternoon.

After finding that Salted Caramel Black Tea, another recent release from Harney, was more of an afternoon tea than a breakfast tea, I thought this one might be the same.While it isn’t strong, it is not as subtle as Salted Caramel, either.

This is strawberry and fig but I think it was more fig than strawberry. The flavor is a lovely dark berry one rather than a bright or tart strawberry. The base is not super prominent but sufficiently well balanced. I will enjoy this one, but I think when I want a fruity black tea, Lupicia is the star for me right now.

I will drink it happily and I think I will also try it as a sweet iced tea. It seems to have a Fruits d’Alsace vibe and I loved that one as a sweet tea, so this should do well that way. Ashman said he enjoyed it. I doubt it is a repurchase for me, though.

A flavored white tea. I had high expectations but this tea is just not interesting, it’s basically a white earl grey. The rose in there is purely added for the aesthetic, the petals provide no flavor. I will not call it a bad tea but this is not one I would gift or drink. (Their Earl Grey Supreme is currently sold for $10.5/4oz)

sold for $9.5/2oz
https://www.harney.com/products/wedding-tea?variant=49422539078

Sipdown!

We each had a mug of this with lunch and this afternoon I made a big pot. For the pot I used two sachets and added a big pinch of Queen Catherine since this is a weak, thin base. It was enjoyable with some Fortnum & Mason Florentine Cookies.

I suppose it is possible I would repurchase someday but while the caramel aroma is wonderful and the flavor is good, the base itself is weaker than I want it to be. It is easily remedied by adding a pinch of a good, plain black tea base that you enjoy, though.

I am reviewing this here instead of under “random” in case anyone buys this tea and feels the same way I did about it. The base was a bit weak and more of the afternoon than breakfast tea variety, but also it lacked bassy notes that would have amplified rich caramel instead of detracting, making it taste even richer. Instead the caramel was strong in the aroma and adding half and half just accentuated the weakness of the tea for me.

It isn’t a horrible tea and Ashman liked it, it just didn’t live up to my expectations so here is how I have doctored it up. I opened the sachet and since Harney sachets are supposed to be measured for 12 ounces of water, that should be one and a half teaspoons. I added another one and a half teaspoons of Teavivre’s Premium Keemun. I almost used Queen Catherine but wanted to guarantee plenty of oomph.

I steeped it at 190F in respect for the Keemun at 3 minutes with about 20 ounces of water, then resteeped the whole shebang the same way and combined. Big improvement.

This made for very pleasant pots of tea that we have enjoyed at both breakfast and lunch. The caramel is lighter but present, but the base tea now has some body and bass notes to ground it because dadgum it caramel should be rich and not watery.

This is giving me very much the same vibe as Cozy Comfort from Simpson and Vail but that one is vanilla instead of caramel.

November Sipdown Prompt – a tea that disappointed you

I feel really harsh labeling this tea that way. It just came today and Ashman and I had it with dessert after supper, breaking our no caffeine after 3 pm rule.

Ashman liked it from the get-go, saying that it smelled really good when I gave him his cup. And it does smell good. It tastes good, too. So why am I disappointed?

I was expecting it to be decadently rich in every way, but the base feels so thin to me. It had a bit of a metallic or mineral note, so maybe Ceylon?

The caramel tastes like the caramel note of Paris, so that is really good. I don’t taste salt but I think it would be weird if I did. The vanilla lends a lot of comfort to the aroma.

Sipping it by itself, it just fell a little flat for me. While we were eating our kokakia from the Greek spaghetti dinner it was fine, because it didn’t draw any attention to itself whatsoever. (You get a .01 second glimpse of me and Ashman buying it in the video on the WRAL news for Wednesday night. I’m in a grey and white hoodie, left side of screen, ha ha.)

I thought maybe they intended for it to be drunk with milk and sugar to make it really dessert-y, so I added a little half and half and sugar to the tiny bit still in the pot, but it almost just emphasized that the base was weak. Maybe sugar alone would be better. Maybe I can mix it with a plain black tea of more heft and like it more. Maybe I will change my mind and fall in love with it. Time will tell.

This might end up being Ashman’s easy breakfast sachet.

Tomorrow – Alice In Wonderland.