Harney & Sons

I forgot how good this flavor is! This is the HT sachet version, which might be the same as other versions listed on Harney’s site, or the several duplicated and mis-spelled entries here on Steepster. At first, years ago, I thought it tasted artificial; really that is just how black currants taste! Even more delicious when taken with nibbles of chocolate-coated Butter Keks. Even though my tin passed the FB date years ago, it retains the wonderful aroma and taste! Oh yea, I can taste the base black tea too, but it’s not the point of this tea. I’ll rate it as 81, and recommend.

Steeped my second and final bag of this for 3 minutes. Prior notes still hold true, but I find the tea really flat this time. Lacking sparkle. To some extent it’s expected in a straight, unflavored tea, but I simply want better, even from a paper tea bag. Reducing my rating a point, to 59.

Yet another foil-wrapped paper teabag of uncertain age, from the loose-ends bin of a local tea shoppe. Note that this is the classic 100% Chinese keemun version of EB, and not the “HT” or “royal” blends, which contain different base teas. This version is presently also available as silken sachets, loose in tins, or in bulk bags. Also note that Harney sells higher grades of Keemun (see “Mao Feng” and “Hao Ya” offerings).

I steeped as directed: 1 teabag (about 2.2 g leaf) in 8 oz. boiling spring water for 5 min. The dry leaf had a soft aroma of keemun black tea, which became more pronounced when steeped. In the dark amber-colored liquor, I found the particular malty keemun flavor to be gently present, albeit not as fruity or spicy as other premium keemuns I enjoy. This was a strong, thick black tea with a nice long finish, a caffeine punch, and a refreshing astringency. While I might choose this in a pinch, from of an offering of straight black teabags for teatime, I would not again choose a teahouse where this was the best black tea offered. It was free of major defects and certainly an improvement over plain hot water, but only in the same class as Lipton’s “orange pekoe and pekoe cut” black teabags. Not worthy of a silken sachet. I would rate this as 60 and neither recommend nor condemn, but not buy again.

Woo-hoo! This is my 200th tea note!

This is a sachet that thereadersteacup was kind enough to share with me!

This summer I’ve been really, really spoiled by having a lot of very fresh, very high quality Japanese green tea available to me thanks to my coworkers who visited Japan earlier this year. I’m not even historically a big drinker of green tea, but I’ve been more open to it in the last month than maybe ever before.

Unfortunately, this tea kind of felt like a step backwards from all that progress I feel I’ve been making with this style of tea. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was just very coarse with more of a blunt feeling hay note than the rich umami flavours that have become a guilty pleasure of mine. That said, I still drank the full mug which is more than I think I would have a year ago. And if I didn’t have such recent memories of a much higher grade of sencha so fresh in my head, then maybe I could have been even more on board with this tea…

Another foil-wrapped paper teabag of uncertain age, from the loose-ends bin of a local tea shoppe. Note that this is “Organic” EGS, not Harney’s standard EGS, and this is sold in paper teabags only, while the standard EGS is sold only in silken sachets or as loose leaf. Also, the ingredients differ between the two, “organic” being comprised of black teas from India, whereas the standard EGS is comprised of black tea, oolong tea, and white tea, and the description also mentions “silver tips” without explanation. So I created this new Steepster entry for the Organic EGS, since that is what I have. (The entry for standard EGS might be due for some revision, as the description on their website seems a bit different, though no one has added a note there in recent post-CoVid years.

I steeped the bag Western style in 8 oz. boiling spring water for 3 minutes. The dry leaf had a lovely bergamot aroma, and it had dissipated considerably by the end of steeping. This tastes to me like the quintessential Earl Grey. I loved it! The bergamot flavor was present and perfectly balanced with the malty assam tea base, both very tasty. Very slight astringency, as expected, and a lovely long finish that expressed both tea and bergamot. No bitterness, sourness, or stale cardboard notes. I have a second bag that I will steep for the recommended 5 minutes, and report back on what I find. Meanwhile I can fully recommend this organic earl grey supreme, and rate it as 91. [FOLLOWUP: 5 min. steep. Nicely strong tea, without loss of bergamot taste. Enhanced maltiness from the assam base black, without defects. Retained the long finish, and like the shorter steep, slurping and gurgling the lukewarm tea greatly enhanced the flavors and allowed the assam base to sing. Still just slightly astringent. So 3 min steep or 5 min steep, terrific tea either way is good!]. Among the best EG’s, in my opinion. (And I don’t care one bit about it being “organic” or not.)

Paper teabag (in a sealed foil pouch) from a local tea shoppe bin of loose ends. Uncertain age. Nice citrus fragrance on the dry leaf. Steeped as directed: 3 min at 175°F. Resteeped once. Both were crystal clear amber liquids. I’m sure I’ve tasted this lemony-mediciney-lime peely flavor before, but I can’t recall where. I didn’t know what ginko (leaf? seed? wood?) tastes like, and I still don’t. For that matter, I couldn’t taste the base green tea, either. Maybe it’s just some nondescript shrub grown in someone’s backyard in East LA. Really, the citrus flavors overpower everything, and yet I could really see diggin’ this tea when I’m in the right groove, baby, ya know? That isn’t today. Can’t recommend, and rate as 50. I suspect stratification has segregated the tea and the lemongrass, because others have observed the reverse of me: green tea dominating the citrus! Or maybe their “flavorings” are out of control.

Jim (aka TeaEarleGreyHot) has sent me a few teas from his stash and this is one of them, probably, the most basic one. Thank you! I had a long week, returning home around 5 pm (while leaving at 5.30 am from home); and when I have returned, I usually wanted just to take a nap and “leave me alone”. But today! Today I have returned as usual… I wanted to leave earlier, but I couldn’t as I have part-time colleague and I can not leave him alone in the warehouse.

I have returned home, so I took probably the most simple tea in my stash, if I don’t count plain tea teabags and I wanted to try something new well too.

I used 4 grams (with this parameter I can have 20 other sessions); boiling water and my favourite 300 ml glass mug. Steeped for 3 minutes or so, haven’t measured exactly, and it was just so fine! Very bold and strong cup, perfect for mornings, but afternoons alike.

There were leathery notes, combined with wood, a little bitterness and malt. Some sips were suprisingly refreshing, like in A different Eighteen … probably a wintergreen notes which were mentioned by others.

I haven’t noticed any aromas that were offputting, but I wasn’t focused on them this time.

In conclusion, I can say I like this one as I do the same region tea from Basilur. That one is missing that refreshing note, but the woody note there is more pronouced; and liked as weel as here the wintergreen note. I am going to rate it very same, with a chance to lower the rating, or vice versa.

I bought a box of Harney’s Japanese Sencha tea sachets (foil wrapped and nitrogen flushed) at a local tea store today, because they were sold out of dragon well. Steeped for 1.5 minutes in 170° water. The liquor was greenish gold in color, wonderfully aromatic, and tasted nutty, buttery, with notes of asparagus and edamame, and every bit as delicious as another major brand I’ve had recently. Re-steep was also delicious. I rate this as an 81, (same as Adagio’s) and would be happy to recommend and buy it again. I got no bitterness, no astringency, nothing harsh at all. I strongly recommend you avoid oversteeping!

TTB 2025
This was delicious hot, lots of maple and pecan flavor, and then I put the third steep over ice and it was also delicious. Might need to add this to an order. Thanks for adding it to the box!

This is a really nice Assam. I’d actually never had an Assam tea/blend straight before. I’ve always made it with milk and/or with sweetener. This was malty, bready, sweet, and cozy… especially with the oddly cold weather we’ve been having in NY.

This is another sample. It’s good, not my favorite but it’s nice. A little unseasonably cold today so maybe that’s part of it… I’m definitely craving something cozy and warm rather than this cold brew.

This is another from the sampler I received as a very kind gift. I really like this one, I was pretty shocked by the other tasting notes for this blend. I thought that it was bright, creamy, had a little spice going…. I really liked it and will grab some the next time I head to the Millerton location. I do understand that its not a traditional chai, it does miss some of the other spices other than a bit of cinnamon and clove. So I’d call it rooibos spice maybe, but I do enjoy it!

I really like darjeeling teas, I honestly don’t know why I don’t have any other than this sample. It’s more of a, I know I love them… I just don’t realize I want them until they’re in front of my face. That needs to change, I do need to get more. That being said, this smelled sweet and floral right off the bat which I was really excited for and this tea did not disappoint. It’s sweet, floral, and a little malty. I love it!

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been on here. My cupboard is down to about 18 teas aside from a sachet sampler I got as a gift from a friend. I am hard-core sipping down because most of my teas were old and need new refills soon so… why not. Plus, I’m down-sizing and figuring out which are absolute staples since I may be moving in the next year or two. Since that is the case, I want to minimize the craziness despite life being chaotic lately. TLDR: Life is a mess, but at least the cupboard isn’t.

On to the tea… despite loving the smell of it, Hot Cinnamon Spice is not a tea that I gravitate towards very often. In the past, I didn’t like it very much and getting the chance to revisit it in a sample… its still a love hate relationship. I like the tea for the first few sips, but there’s a strange sweetness that creeps in that is almost nauseating and I can’t keep drinking it. Although, I did find that it is nice mixed in with espresso or as a latte sooo…. by itself I give it a 70, with an addition… 85?

I had this hot instead of iced, but it came in a large teabag packet (like 9 × 9 cm or so) and inside was a silkish sachet.

This is an ok green. There is some vegetal bitterness and some citrus peel flavour. I don’t get a lot of ginkgo but I can taste things other than just the green tea. It has that herb cupboard dried citron peel (not fresh zest) vibe to it (almost dusty pomelo ish). I enjoyed trying it but would not drink it again.

TTB! This is pretty good! The black tea is hearty, and the peach is bright and juicy. A little simple, but not bad at all.

Sipdown!

My 1st one since getting back into tea as a special interest 2 months ago. Since then I’ve amassed 5 months worth of tea, assuming I only have one session a day.

Haha the way I deep dive..

Anyway this chamomile is often a fine line between weak and tasting oversteeped but when you get it just right, it is lovely.

Shall be trying more chamomile from different brands now though.

Nice to have while I have it.

Not as apple-y as higher quality chamomile, so I probably won’t repurchase this one.

Steepster 2025 TTB Tea

Unfortunately the bag of this had a hole in it and most of the tea had falled out, leaving me with only about 1/2 tsp of leaf. But it was a smooth milk hcocolate creamy tea because I brewed it very hot and added a touch of vanilla soy milk. I did not get any hazelnut or nutty notes, but got a creamy chocolate that I was happy with.

Sipdown

Mostly Ashman’s tea but I did have a small pot for breakfast one day. This is a very TEA tasting tea, perfectly serviceable and good and great for breakfast and midday sipping.

TTB! This was much more mildly flavored than I would have hoped. Cold, I could taste a bit of an EG vibe, but not much.

Decent surprise. I got it at the recommendation on here along with the True Blue Oolong. I have been pretty tame in my oolong purchases lately, and figured I’d like this one. The aroma smells like Horchata instantly opening the tin, and waftes heavily of nutty vanilla and cinnamon.

Tasting it, it’s a on the thinner side. Aroma still great, the oolong is a bit overpowered by the cinnamon for me personally, but there’s a definite rice and vanilla note too in a generally nutty profile. The liquor is a little bit more darker yellow/brown than I expected in part from the cinnamon, and the oolong is a little darker than I expected overall, but still on the greener side. Rebrewed faintly.

I do like it, but I’m not sure about rating. I think a little bit of sugar or rice milk/almond milk might make this taste better, but I’m fairly pleased with it.