Tower of London

Tea type
Black Flavored Oolong Blend
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Bergamot, Berry, Black Currant, Caramel, Citrus, Fruity, Tea, Vanilla, Cranberry, Floral, Smooth, Honey, Creamy, Pleasantly Sour, Berries, Malt, Flowers, Smoke, Tannic, Tannin, Dark Chocolate, Stonefruit, Bread, Citrus Zest, Cocoa, Apricot, Blackberry, Plum, Cherry, Peach, Sweet, Violet, Wood
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf, Sachet
Caffeine
High
Certification
Kosher
Edit tea info Last updated by Teatotaler
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 15 sec 2 g 25 oz / 746 ml

From Our Community

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92 Want it Want it

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122 Own it Own it

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334 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I have had no tea for two days! It feels so nice to sit and have some tea, and it will feel even better to get home to my tea stash and drink some of my new Fauchon teas that I haven’t even tasted...” Read full tasting note
    99
  • “This is one of my favorite Harney and Sons blends. I loved drinking Paris, and when I tried this it was very similar but something about it made me want more, more, MORE! I just finished my tin of...” Read full tasting note
  • “My dog Spike died yesterday. It was such a hard day that I didnt even want to drink any tea. Today is going to be hard as well. Its going to be hard for a while. For today, anyway, nothing but my...” Read full tasting note
    92
  • “I am in deep danger of turning into Elliott Loudermilk (Scrooged. Bobcat Goldthwait.)Therefore, I am turning to comfort teas; gentle, reliable, sweet, no-stress prep. A little respite from the...” Read full tasting note

From Harney & Sons

Tower of London Blend is reminiscent of Elizabethan preserves, flavorful and tempting. We stir Chinese black teas with pieces of dried stone fruit, then finish the blend with oil of bergamot and honey flavor. Featured in our Historic Royal Palaces Collection, it has become one of our most popular teas, especially with its brilliant amethyst-inspired tin.

Ingredients: Black tea, dried stone fruit, bergamot oil, honey flavor

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.

334 Tasting Notes

96
120 tasting notes

Backlogging
Sunday night, holiday Monday in sight, family, good friends, Fellowship of the Ring extended edition, and multple pots of Tower of London. If there is a more fitting tea with which to indulge in Tolkien, I do not know what it might be. I am open to suggestions though.
I love this tea, and only bring it out for special occasions.

SimplyJenW

I am drinking so this for our next LOTR movie marathon!

QuiltGuppy

I need to see LOTR.

ashmanra

Love, love, love LOTR. I went to the midnight premiers with my oldest kids. When the DVD’s came out, we were at the store at midnight to buy them! There are several of the Noble Collectionieces I would love to get. Son has Legolas’ vambraces. Beautiful.

teawing

I did the midnight premiers with my kids too, it had been a while since we watched and our friends wanted to do it. We have two more engagements on the calendar now to get Two Towers and Return of the King in…

ashmanra

Sounds wonderful! Are you going to have ToL again, or will you choose a “tea mascot” for each movie?

teawing

I will most likely pick a mascot for each, but will break out the ToL if requested.
Might need an Earl Grey, perhaps even the Queen…any thoughts?

SimplyJenW

Definitely the Queen for Return of the King. I think I ould be partial to ToL for the Two Towers, and some kind of Earl Grey for FotR. Hmmm. (Wistfully starts pondering tea for TWO Hobbit movies. Squee!)

teawing

@ SimplJenW Yes, in retrospect, ToL would have been a better fit next time…

SimplyJenW

Yes, but it was not so much for the taste as the catchy name…. ;)

CHAroma

Yay for Tolkien fans!!! Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo. ;)

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3294 tasting notes

AlphaKitty is one of my tea swap buddies from the steepster book club, & so Thank you, Alpha! I’ve had Tower of London one other time, & it is a sweet & juicy fruity treat with a nice black tea base! One of these days I’ll probably place an H & S order, & this one will be on it!

I’m making a 2nd cup & heading for the bubble bath!

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97
558 tasting notes

Thank you Ashmanra for sending me a sample of this and two other Harney teas. The mail man delivered the goodies today and this had to be my first choice to sample.

The dried tea smells like sweet honeyed black tea and candied fruit. Maybe berries? Reminds me of candied fruits you find around at christmas time.

The taste is has a hint of bergamot, a great tea taste and hints of candied sweetened fruits as I sip. I can’t place any individiual fruit taste, but I really enjoy this tea. It reminds me of the likes of Dammann Freres and Mariage Freres teas. The tea tastes expensive…it is great tea with great flavoring added.

I’ll be heading to B and N to see if they have more of this tea, otherwise I will have to place another Harney soon! Thanks again Ashmanra.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
ashmanra

Our Barnes and Noble doesn’t carry this one! I hope yours does. I have to order mine, and they told me they are considering adding it in loose leaf form since a couple of people have inquired about it. Actually, it may just have been me….twice!

ashmanra

I plan to experiment! I thinkif you add two tsps. of Elyse’s Blend (oh so yummy!) to one tsp. Paris you may get something that comes close to loose leaf Tower of London! I will give it a try when my order comes later this week and let you know!

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86
676 tasting notes

Thanks Ashmanra for this sample tea!

My experience with Harney & Son’s Tea is almost ‘0’. I think the only one I’ve had is Paris and that’s it. (Maybe one other that was a teabag…can’t remember.)

When Ashmanra wanted to send me some tea in exchange for the Lapsang Souchong (and some other tea’s) I was sending her, I took advantage of the Harney’s in her cupboard. “Now’s my chance!”, I said to myself!

In the beginning (tea bible), I drank lots of flavored tea’s, mostly from Davids and a few other brands. That was so much fun even though I had to wait for the shipments to arrive from Canada.
Then, I looked at the top of the Tea list on Steepster and noticed several companies that were repeatedly mentioned for quality and began trying them out. Pretty soon, I had more unflavored tea than flavored. What a switch!

This morning, instead of a Black tea or Assam or Pu-erh to charge me for the day, I picked up a flavored tea (something I haven’t done for awhile).

I was kind of excited about trying Tower of London, which seemed like having dessert for breakfast!

I didn’t even taste the tea without sweetening it first. Bah! I know what I like!
My first taste was creamy smooth and a bit like an Earl Grey, somewhat reminiscent of Paris with a splash of vanilla. The flavor was like French Pastry and I liked it.
I carefully added some cream which gave the tea an even more intense pastry aire.

What a lovely way to begin the day with the end of Summer just ahead. We’ll soon be putting away our whites and pastels until next year.
I had my light, sweet dessert tea along with a baguette, butter and some berries in a bowl. All perfect for beginning my day with a smile!

Bonnie

Oh Dear, come to think of it, one of my ancestors was locked up in the Tower of London I believe. Poor Mary Stuart!

tunes&tea

Just saw a piece on Mary on PBS, cant’t remember what series it was from though.

ashmanra

Glad you liked it!

Joshua Smith

Wow, I actually visited the tower in June, and heard all about the post-Henry VIII drama. It’s kinda neat that you can trace your family back like that, and actually have interesting historical figure in your family tree.

Bonnie

Well, it’s only because when they came from Scotland they stayed put for a little while. One group to Nova Scotia in 1802 then 1903 to San Francisco the other to another part of Canada then 1898 San Francisco, and one directly to San Francisco early 1800’s. The Stuart link went to Minneapolis (looking for Verdant Tea I guess) then to San Francisco 1901. This made it easy to trace. My children are half African American and I’ve tried to get as much information as possible about their family background. I love my culturally diverse family, Hispanic, Greek, Asian, Native American, African American, Scots.
A bunch of Scot’s who went WEST and survived the 1906 Earthquake in San Francisco too.

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1040 tasting notes

I took this one to work yesterday. That was my mistake – I wasn’t thinking. I assumed this was a straight black blend, didn’t look it up, didn’t think about it. Made a cup at work yesterday morning, took the lid off the infuser and was hit in the face with bergamot. Hmmm this is a flavor blend, and it’s an earl grey esq flavor. I really appreciate the sample ifjuly but this doesn’t work for me. I don’t think I will ever like bergamot. :((

Sil

i agree! down with the berg!

Courtney

I tried with Earl Greys at one time too. Bergamot is not for me.

Sil

Down with the the berg, the berg is the BLERGH!

TeaLady441

Oh no. That’s three of you now who are anti EG!

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100
100 tasting notes

This is a lovely black with a melange of stone fruits that remind me of the orchards in the south island where I grew up. I’m getting apricots, nectarines, plum, maybe a touch of fresh dark cherries. The stone fruits come through more strongly in fragrance than taste. When it’s raining and dreary, like it is today, and I’m after something comforting, this is my go-to cup with milk. Sometimes with sugar, but not often.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 45 sec
Linda

I picked this up on my most recent tea acquisition spree. Can’t wait to try it out – Your review sounds so yummy!

Miss Starfish

I absolutely adore it. Hope you enjoy it and I’ll keep an eye out for your review!

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75
6105 tasting notes

Sipdown! 796. Sigh… it’s never-ending!

This is a touch strong tonight, probably because I forgot and didn’t brew it in an extra-large mug. Oops. It’s still pretty tasty though. Kind of a fruity EGC, although only just a bit of creaminess, which I assume is actually honey. This is certainly not a tea I’d turn down if offered; it’s a great example of a good flavoured black, especially for a bagged tea.

Thanks again for sharing this, whatshesaid :)

ETA: A bagged tea that lasts for 3 good infusions? Colour me impressed.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec

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92
470 tasting notes

I’ve been so busy this week that I have about a dozen teas I have to log that I had absolutely no time for! This week was Toy Fair, and I also had a friend over from Oregon so I admit that I neglected Steepster for a while. So many tasting notes to catch up on!

My friend is a fellow tea addict who I am converting to loose-leaf, so we did a lot of tea shopping while he was here. Including going to my favorite physical tea store, Harney & Sons! I picked up a few things while I was there, and added in 2 ounces of this at the last minute because I’ve heard people say that it’s better than Paris. Better than one of my favorite blends, of course I had to try it out!

This does indeed remind me a lot of Paris. There’s a plum and berry taste, similar to the blackcurrant in Paris, along with a hint of bergamot and cream. But it’s not quite as all-around rich and deep as Paris—the flavor is more shallow, if that makes sense, though it’s still tasty. This is like a lighter version of Paris, better suited for the afternoon or morning since I generally think of Paris as a late-night indulgence.

Sil

is this more or less bergamot-y than paris :)

Alphakitty

I think it’s a tad more, it reminds me more of an EG than Paris ever has.

Sil

eesh ok. that helps haha. Paris is a bit too bergamotty for me, so i’ll stay away from this one :)

Alphakitty

Yeah, if you don’t like bergamot I think this blend would definitely be overwhelming!

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85
871 tasting notes

I found a tagalong of this languishing in my tea cupboard so I brought it to work with the goal of drinking it. The last two times I have tried this tea I feel like I am getting a smell and taste of chocolate. On first whiff of the dry tea sachet I get unsweetened white chocolate. Then the smell and the taste of the brewed tea reminds me of dark chocolate, like 90% dark chocolate. I am not sure if it has been contaminated, it was in the tagalong tin, and I am not a chocolate person so there is not alot of that laying around my house. Anyway, I also taste the bergamot and am getting a lot of black current notes. It does remind me of black current preserves. I am not getting so much stone fruits this time around. Still enjoyable though!

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525 tasting notes

I got some of this in my meet up/ swap with AlphaKitty yesterday! What a fun time!

This is a tea I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. It sounds so delicious! I can smell a hint of caramel. Toasty flavor. Lightly fruity. Very light. Hmm…not really tasting like honey and preserves. Whatever flavors there are, they are very subdued. In fact, I can barely taste it. I think Harney’s black tea blends may be formulated so that I can’t taste the flavors. I could never detect much in Florence either.

Soo…back to Marco Polo. My wallet weeps.

ashmanra

Could it be really old? I love this one as much as Paris. If you are looking for a replacement for Marco, though, you might want to try Anna’s Blend which I think originates with Teageschwender but I know it is sold by Tin Roof Teas as well.

Mercuryhime

Thank you for your tips. :) ill look into Anna’s Blend.

Alphakitty

I just got this from the H&S shop about a month ago, so it’s definitely not old! I don’t get a whole lot of flavor from it either, I much prefer Paris.

Mercuryhime

AlphaKitty, I sorta figured it wasn’t an age thing. I’ve had teas from Harney that simply didn’t taste like much. Though some other teas are very tasty. I will have to try Paris next. But it’s evening now so I’d better stay away from the black teas for the rest of the day. :)

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