50 Tasting Notes
A very interesting black tea. The tea doesn’t feel like a black tea, it tastes more like a hojicha because of its toasty, vegetal flavors. Light in fruity notes. When added milk the tea tastes like a tea flavored dark chocolate. It’s very unique.
sold for $24.99/100g
This time I’m only reviewing the rose black tea from this sampler.
A rose flavored black tea. I drank it hot because I prefer hot tea over iced tea. The rose has a strong floral lychee note that does not come off as artificial, the black tea base is on the medium to light side but still has the fruity tartness of a Yunnan black tea. Honey goes really well with this tea.
Of the teas from this box I have tried the jasmine green tea and fenghuang dancong before, I recommend those two as well. I probably will write a separate review for the fenghuang dancong. Like their other samplers this box also contains empty tea bags.
sold for $34.99
Earl grey black tea. I have the tea bag version. This tea is a little too light for my liking. The bergamot is there, the black tea is there, and that’s about it. There are no major flaws with this earl grey though I wish the black tea base has more interesting notes. The tea is not astringent or bitter. The tea bag did not offer much flavor for the second cup.
sold for $9.90/20 bags
https://www.kusmitea.com/us/earl-grey-organic-EARLBIOMASTER.html?v=21641A1120
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
Black tea bag. The tea is on the smokier side, not particularly sweet or fruity, mild seaweed taste, the astringency came through. Drinkable, but I recommend Trader Joe’s Organic Assam Black Tea over this one for better value and taste.
sold for $5.49/20 Bags
https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-nilgiri-black-tea-074759
A rose flavored black tea. Tasted like a champagne flavored rose tea, the black tea base wasn’t very strong. I once accidentally oversteeped the tea and I think I tasted mint? That might be one of the natural flavors they added. Wouldn’t say this is my favorite rose flavored tea but it is a good one. People would be happy to receive this.
sold for $21/4oz
A green tea sampler. So far I’ve tried two out of the six types of teas from the box, the dry leaves are in great shape and the tea are very nice. Jasmine was aromatic and longjing was very clean and nutty. I intentionally try to overbrew the teas and none of them came out astringent. This makes a great gift for those who love green tea but have no idea what to get other than supermarket tea bags. The box even come with empty tea bags! Would recommend.
sold for $34.99
A strong CTC black tea. This tea often was unpleasant to drink because it had the tendency to go very strong extremely quickly, but this was a great tea for milk tea. I’m little sad that Harney & Sons doesn’t sell this anymore, though I completely understand why. The full version tastes way, way better and I would recommend that one over this.
sold for $8.5/4oz
edit: The website has it again! Now the 4oz tin is sold for $14
A smokey black tea. Warm wood notes, mildly tart and fruity, no bitterness. I personally prefer floral black teas but I think dads would really like this one. Barbeque, whiskey, bourbon, sausages, men perfume, cigar, those are what the tea remind me of.
sold for $29.99/100g
A sweet black tea. This is probably my favorite tea from Harney & Sons. The website’s flavor description “like sun-dried hay” is accurate, but the tea also has a very strong honey note. When chilled the tea almost tastes like honey water. This one makes amazingly malty milk tea as well.
I wish other vendors sold this at a cheaper price, it’s weird this tea is so obscure that I only found one other vendor selling at an even higher price.
sold for $30/4oz
https://www.harney.com/products/songluo-full?variant=12568836374599
