East Frisian

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea
Flavors
Astringent, Malt, Earth, Bread, Toast, Bitter, Nutty, Honey, Lemon
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Kosher
Edit tea info Last updated by Shae
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 5 g 11 oz / 312 ml

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45 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Tea of the morning…… (SRP #26) I have had this sample in my stash for quite some time. I have been putting it off because I am fairly sure I am not a fan of this strong of tea. Due to my fear of...” Read full tasting note
    85
  • “If this isn’t East Frisian weather, dunno what is (rained all night, hasn’t let up, endless cold and damp and dreary dark…ETA now there’s even a flash flood warning!). I think I like this better...” Read full tasting note
  • “My coworkers and I just went in on a Harney and Sons order so that we could get free shipping, and this was one of the teas that my coworker ordered. He kindly gave me a generous sample. It is...” Read full tasting note
  • “This nice strong tea has a rich malt from the mixed CTC and Broken Assams and the vibrant brightness of Ceylon and Darjeeling. Steep 3 minutes for a great morning blend, or more for a tea that...” Read full tasting note
    87

From Harney & Sons

Fortify yourself with East Frisian, our popular full bodied black tea blend of Darjeeling, Ceylon and Assam. It’s named for East Frisia Germany’s cold, wet, and dreary North Sea coast the ideal spot to drink hot tea. And the East Frisians do! They consume more black tea than anyone else in the world. Kosher.

Ingredients: Black tea

Details: East Frisia in Germany consumes large quantities of tea, so they are large customers for tea merchants. This blend was passed onto us by Bernd Wulf, thus its nickname is “Bernd’s Blend.”

Dry Leaves: The lighter leaves of Darjeeling and Ceylon bring some color to the darker Assam leaves.

Liquor: The liquor is dark brown with a reddish hue.

Aroma: The aroma is hints of malt, and citrus.

Flavors: The tea flavors are a canvas for the cream and crystallized rock sugar the East Frisians they add.

Caffeine Level: Caffeinated

Body: This is on of the most full bodied tea that we offer. The East Frisians like to thicken it by adding cream. And of course, crystallized sugar.

Brewing Time: 4 to 5 minutes

Brewing Temp: 212° Fº

https://www.harney.com/collections/all/products/east-frisian-tea

About Harney & Sons View company

Since 1983 Harney & Sons has been the source for fine teas. We travel the globe to find the best teas and accept only the exceptional. We put our years of experience to work to bring you the best Single-Estate teas, and blends beyond compare.

45 Tasting Notes

85
985 tasting notes

Tea of the morning…… (SRP #26)

I have had this sample in my stash for quite some time. I have been putting it off because I am fairly sure I am not a fan of this strong of tea. Due to my fear of super hard core black tea, I did go with a super short steep time for me. Only 2 minutes when my usual is 4. It totally worked!

I am pleasantly surprised by this one. I get the Assam in a non-bitter form, plus the softening of the bite of the Assam with Darjeeling. Then, there is a hearty breadiness with the Ceylon. Really quite enjoyable, and I am sure those of you who can handle a very hearty tea can easily handle this tea steeped full on. For me, I will have to stick with the ‘hard core blacks for wimps’ steeping method. Although I don’t like milk added to my tea, one day I might give almond milk a go. I am still pretty sure I will probably stick with hot and sweet.

Usual teapot method with a 2 minute steep.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

Good discription! I think I’d try cream and sugar in the A.M. to soften the tea and see if butterscotch maltiness develops. I’m going to look for this one!

Daisy Chubb

So brave! Good call on the 2 minute steep.
#26… this sample thing is going awesome so far by the sounds of it!

SimplyJenW

It is good to be at #26. Bad thing is, I have hardly made a dent. :o/

LadyLondonderry

You know I add a splash of almond milk to just about all black teas, but it’s really a must for the hard-core ones! :-)

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612 tasting notes

If this isn’t East Frisian weather, dunno what is (rained all night, hasn’t let up, endless cold and damp and dreary dark…ETA now there’s even a flash flood warning!).

I think I like this better than the other one I tried months and months ago, from S&V if I recall correctly (part of Nicole’s super generous “Take it away!” samples). It was good unadulterated, and the second cup prepped the “sky, water, land” way was also delightful. Held up much better to the sugar and cream. There is a roasty bitterness at the end of the sip that unadulterated might be a little too much for most—this rather resembles standard morning coffee to me, but combined with that unmistakable Indian tea flavor. Sort of the best of both worlds in terms of contributing to one’s restoration, stimulation, and warmth on a wet, dark day like this.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
Brooklynsheep

Oh, you did the East Frisian tea prep! I’m an East Frisian tea fan too – I almost look forward to those blustery cold days so I can enjoy that kind of tea all the more. Neat that you tried it straight, first. What kind of cream and rock sugar did you use? Do you think that adding more rock sugar would have balanced the bitterness of the concentrated tea in the “land” layer?

ifjuly

just whatever generic cream my local supermarket carries, and i’m naughty and don’t use rock sugar but raw (don’t mind that it affects the taste of the tea bc i only ever sugar my tea when the caramel-y raw sweetness is what i want). as for more sugar maybe helping, the EF style of prep is cool but for me would’ve meant the hit of sweet you get all at once would’ve been too much personally (it almost was anyway). but it’s fun on these kinds of days for sure!

ifjuly

do you have recs for cream and sugar? curious.

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1112 tasting notes

My coworkers and I just went in on a Harney and Sons order so that we could get free shipping, and this was one of the teas that my coworker ordered. He kindly gave me a generous sample.

It is worth it to read the description of this tea – I had no idea that the East Frisians consumed the most tea per capita! In fact, I didn’t even know where East Frisia was (DESPITE suffering over all those maps in World Geography). I will always remember it now because I have something I love associated with it. Yes, that means this tea. It’s GOOD!

If you like robust Indian milk and sugar teas, you’ll like this one. It reminded me a lot of the Simple Leaf’s Mountain Malt – strong, dark after steeping three minutes, a bit bready. But the Ceylon and Darjeeling give it a bit of lemony fruity lightness I don’t get from MM. This tea is also pleasantly astringent, most likely from the Darjeeling. You either like that or you don’t, but when I’m chilly and tired – I love it.

This was such a pleasant surprise! I would have never, ever tried this on my own. Now, here I am ready to order a tin when my Mountain Malt runs out :) Here’s to tea and tea friends, and expanded horizons!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
ashmanra

I tried this one when a German lady at our church said she drank East Frisian tea and loved it. I am glad you found something to take the place of the now unavailable Mountain Malt. It is sad to lose teas we love!

Angrboda

I thought it was the irish who consumed the most tea…

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87
168 tasting notes

This nice strong tea has a rich malt from the mixed CTC and Broken Assams and the vibrant brightness of Ceylon and Darjeeling. Steep 3 minutes for a great morning blend, or more for a tea that holds up to milk and sugar.
-RA

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
ashmanra

I just read about how the Germans serve it with rock sugar and a cloud of cream that doesn’t get stirred in. Last night when I was buying your Organic Black Currant tea I also bought some cream to try tea that way!

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34
220 tasting notes

Huh, perhaps I have come across yet another old and dusty tea on the shelves of my local tea store because this tasted fairly bland and not robust at all. Perhaps I am expecting too much from the description, but I found it to be a rather weak tea that wouldn’t benefit from the addition of cream and sugar. Unless you are seeking hot sugary cream that is slightly tea flavoured, therefore you are also insane.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Doulton

Maybe the tea was off? I had this recently and thought it was excellent; quite strong (although not the strongest but a vigorously strong morning cuppa and decided I liked it best with milk and a touch of sugar.

Miss Sweet

This wasn’t strong at all, it reminded me of a weak teabag english breakfast really. Gutted, that makes the second Harney & Sons tea I’ve had that has been stale. The NZ distributors must be really slack :/

Ann Rein

Oh my, this is my favorite morning cuppa. I find the flannel nice, honey and milk and it’s just perfect.

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89
81 tasting notes

Thanks BrooklynSheep for this sample.

I was at the August Steepster meetup.
I met BrooklynSheep
She had a lot of interesting stories and brought some sample teas.
She was a wizard of tea.
Her daddy worked at Lipton but was forced to drink sweet-touch-nee brand as a young girl.
Years later, she escaped and eventually made her way to London, and there is a tea store there that you can sent tea via postcards.
Brooklynsheep knows how to read those crazy tea labels, what batch, year, and quality tea.
I learned that she was sensitive to caffeine and liked decaf teas.
So BS told me that East Frisian by Harney & Sons was one of her favorites.
I read the package, Harney and Sons are Master Tea Blenders.
BrooklynSheep has a blog and been drinking and reviewing teas for awhile now.
She’s also into food, but that’s for another review
I have ample sample to try out.

Harney’s address is
5723 Route 22
Millerton NY 12546 – perhaps Road trip one day?

Back to the Tea – Tastes like orange pekoe.
This tea is nice and strong.
Very plain strong tea.
I liked it.
No fancy schmancy tea here – its Orange Pekoe.

It was nice meeting you BrooklynSheep!

Harney & Sons The Store

East Frisian is a fantastic black tea blend! One my personal favorites. Glad you liked it.
-RA

Brooklynsheep

Aw shucks, Hannahbling! Thanks for your review of me, as well as the tea. And glad you liked the East Frisian! Yes, it’s a nice strong cup. I hope you’ll enjoy more of this variety — and look forward to hearing about what you think of it!

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3221 tasting notes

One of the Wednesday tea party/tasting teas! Reading the description, and seeing that the Germans add CREAM (not milk) and sugar, I was a little afraid to try this! If you need cream in it, surely it must be bitter or astringent.

What a pleasant surprise! The aroma had nice honey notes, and the first sip – as always – was without additions. And the whole cup stayed that way! Though it is a little astringent it was not unpleasantly so, and wasn’t strong at all. This made a nice tea to go with our cookies, but I don’t think it is strong enough for my breakfast tea!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 45 sec
gmathis

Your weekly tea parties sound just yummy. So does this tea (sighs covetously then shakes her head, scolding herself, “and where do you think you have room for MORE tea tins?”)

ashmanra

And though I have always told our guests, “Don’t bring anything! Just come!”, they always bring the yummiest cookies and things! We’ve just been introduced to TimTams which are almost candy bars rather than cookies, but my faves are the McVities Fruit Shortcake cookies and Hobnobs. Of course, all the Pepperidge Farm cookies are good, too! Sometimes we do fresh homemade bread with jams, butter, and apple butter. And the conversation is the BEST!

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70
39 tasting notes

This tea uses what appears to be CTC assam in the blend (maybe with others) which results in a deep red brew, only held back in darkness by the few darjeeling leaves. The tea is both fragrant and vibrant, though not as full of body as I expected. Nonetheless this is a solid cup of tea that does not require significant steeping time and will satisfy those who are rather strict in their like for a classic tasting moderate to full black tea. I find that I cannot consume a significant amount of this tea like I can for most congous, as it brings to mind the comparison of rich chocolate satin cake, for which one is satiated after a few bites and must wait some time before the desire returns.

This blend also makes a good, dark iced tea which is excellent with fresh orange slices.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 15 sec

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83
184 tasting notes

This tea will pull your socks up for you in the morning…. Stout, whole and flavorful with cream and honey…… I have no doubt I will be buying this again. More review after a second cup…..

Preparation
1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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75
6 tasting notes

This is my go-to tea for a tired Monday morning. Assertive enough to wake me up and to get going.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 30 sec

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