Harney & Sons

2024 Holiday tea #15

Somehow I had a note typed up and it disappeared… I always wanted to try this one due to so many of you that are fans here on Steepster.  Thanks to Cameron B, I finally get to try it!  The scent is JUST LIKE gingerbread.  The flavor is too, but somehow the fragrance is more prominent than the flavor.  Two delicious steeps.  However, I really wish the sort of base for a gingerbread flavored tea was a much deeper, darker black tea.  It’s a bit light. That would be my only complaint here.
Steep #1 // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

Kelmishka Homemade Advent Day 20! I taste chamomile and mint and a bit of herbaceous. I’m enjoying this cold, though it doesn’t stand out a ton to me. It’s smooth and nice though! I’m glad there are two bags so I can have it again!

Other than the orange element, there is no way I could not tell this is supposed to be like gingerbread. Which is odd because I don’t normally pair orange with gingerbread. But Orange and Ginger is a really good combination. The after taste is wild how much this gives gingerbread vibes. There’s a faint sweetness, but not too much.

As it cools, the flavor becomes significantly more orange and clove with a bit of ginger. Not a fan of the combination of orange and clove.

Second steep, sweet orange and ginger when hot, orange clove when cold.
The feeling of gingerbread has died out as well. I think because the ginger is fading and the orange and clove are standing out more. I could do with more of a hint of orange than the strong orange I am getting. And the clove could go jump off a cliff.

I got excited right after the first steep, but the feeling I got then changes so much as this goes, and its moving into a direction I don’t enjoy.

Not what I initially imagined from reading the ingredients list, though I am still finding this quite enjoyable.

I’m not really getting any pumpkin. The ginger is the predominate flavor. I expected more of a raw ginger flavor, but I think I prefer how it comes across here. The cinnamon is more in the back of the sip than you might expect. Its so common for cinnamon to dominate, but that is not the case. The maple and vanilla are more in the aftertaste, rounding everything out. I don’t think I am getting much in the way of caramel, though it may just be blending with the vanilla and maple.

Overall, I am quite enjoying myself. I’ve been looking for ages for a spiced tea that was neither so strong there was no sign of the tea anywhere nor smacking you in the face with clove. This appears to be filling that niche quite nicely.

Second steep still has a good amount of flavor, though the base is standing out more now. As a flavored tea, this is not unexpected. But still, likely will not go well with my steep the same leaves repeatedly all day method of making tea.

Third steep and I have ruined my sense of smell sniffing all of the new flavored teas I picked up. I’m no longer sure what I am smelling from where at this point and my office is smelling like a craft store at Christmas. But it is confirmed. Two steeps seems to be all this tea can realistically give. I let it go a nearly 10 minutes but the flavor is decidedly anemic at best.

Okay, okay, so I had to get the Schitt’s Creek teas from Harney. Mostly for the tins, but I was surprised to find that this blend (for the Rosebud Motel) and the Botanical Blend (Rose Apothecary) are both actually new teas. A lot of times it seems like Harney just packages their existing teas into decorative tins, sometimes with a slight change as in Gingerbread Festival and the Williamsburg Ginger Cake (tastes the same but with orange added).

This one is a cinnamon roll black tea, which I don’t think they have another version of. It’s not at all similar to Hot Cinnamon Spice, as it doesn’t have that intense Red Hots cinnamon flavor. It’s quite mellow, actually. I’m surprised by how much I can taste the icing/glaze part of the cinnamon roll, and then there is a buttery element as well as the mellow cinnamon. It’s nice! A bit thin, so I might try two sachets for a 12-ounce cup next time and see how that goes (normally I do 1 sachet per 8 ounces). Honestly kind of reminds me of a Simpson & Vail tea in that aspect, earthy base and a bit thin ha ha.

(ETA: It looks like Botanical Blend is the same as their Mind Your Body Lemon Balm Chamomile, but still didn’t find anything similar to this tea.)

Devon Bartholomew Advent Day 13

I’m really enjoying this stretch of straight black teas! Surprised I haven’t tried this one before; but if I did, I clearly never logged it in Steepster. This is much smoother than many of the Assams I’ve tried; I detect no bitterness or astringency even after a 4-mintue steep. However, it is intensely flavorful and malty and I think it would hold up well to milk. I feel like I’m detecting a bit of smokiness as well…not sure if that native to the tea or cross-contamination? Either way, I’m quite enjoying this cup!

Day 5 of my DIY advent. I’d forgotten that there was a non-Adagio tea in here. The Harney and Adagio orders arrived at the same time, so I included this Harney sample when I was making up the packets. I save chamomile teas/blends for bedtime in hopes that they will help me sleep. They never do! But I keep doing it anyway because hope springs eternal I guess. I like this specific chamomile! It’s got that clean chamomile flavor, a bit apple-like and very mildly sweet. None of that dry hay note that can sometimes creep in with chamomile and make it taste stale.

I received a sample sachet with an order of tea from Harney & Sons. I really like English Breakfast tea, but I have to say that although this tea was nice, it had no distinguishing characteristics. It wasn’t offensive in any way, but…I don’t really have a reason to buy it. It was a mild, average-flavored black tea.

TTB tea! This is quite mild. I taste a bit of green tea and a bit of a floral flavor. It’s comforting and pretty smooth cold. There’s just a hint of astringency. It’s not my sort of tea, but it’s not bad for what it’s going for.

Shocked I haven’t had this before. It tasted soooo familiar but I guess not. Even the leaf felt super familiar. But anyway, this was a nice fuller leaf. Lots of stone fruit notes. Pretty good. Can get bitter easily so it’s one you should be more careful with when steeping. Nice solid tea.

I purchased this from my local apple orchard’s gift store a while ago, and just recently bought a second container because it was so good. Autumn in a tea bag, truly. I can taste so many of the flavors and they all tell the story of a cool fall morning where I step out onto the patio in a warm fluffy bathrobe and watch the leaves dancing in the wind. There is a delightful plethora of cinnamon along with a citrus/orange flavor and lots of spices (clove, perhaps allspice, maybe cardamom). My only criticism would be that I personally find it just a bit too sweet, but that is easily overlooked given the delicious flavors.

There just isn’t much flavor in this tea at all. I’ve given it several tries and I wonder if I got an old tin? Mainly a flavor of cardboard and dust. I’ve tried increasing the amount of tea, and that didn’t help. Out it goes.

I don’t think this tea has a berry flavor at all. And it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, which makes me wonder about the “natural” strawberry and raspberry flavors. The underlying matcha and the green tea are not great. I’ve given it several tries and I’m tossing it out. Supremely disappointed with Harney. Won’t be buying from them again.

I bought this tea last year and i have to say that even though it was in a closed tin, it didn’t last. Just no flavor; as I recall, I didn’t like the aftertaste before.

I’m not enthused about trying this tea. I do not like mixing citrus with green tea. But for the sake of adding to my tasting repertoire… Here we go.
The moment you open the bag, you are hit with citrus notes. It is a bit medicinal but not entirely unpleasant. When the ginko leaves fall off trees, they are quite pungent—almost repulsive—but thankfully, they kept it light in this one. The infusing aroma is lovely. Like citrus on a passionate tropical breeze. There are no steeping instructions on this bag. At one minute the citrus flavor is strongest. As expected. I am curious as to what citrus. Clearly, they used a mix but which ones? Perhaps a smidge of yuzu mixed with a bit of bergamot and key lime rounded off nicely with a whisp of lemon. This would make a nice lemonade. But it is not something I would purchase on the regular.

I only read the description after I purchased the tea..but it’s from 400 year old trees. Pretty cool and I have never tried a tea like that…It’s actually really good. I could very clearly taste the fruity notes and I don’t think I had a tea before where the fruity taste jumped out so clearly. All I kept saying was WOW. Love it, wanted to buy more but it was sold out…

Disappointing. I prefer a strong dark chocolate flavor and a strong black tea; this isn’t it. I find the flavor quite weak, even when I add tea leaves. Worst of all, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Tossing it out, not worth drinking.

October Sipdown Prompt – a tea with maple syrup or flavor

A friend brought a couple of sachets of this tea for me to try and I had it for my afternoon snack yesterday. I made it latte style with about half water and half milk and sweetened it with maple syrup.

It was really delicious, but masala chai lovers will probably not consider it to be a real chai. This is very chocolately with mild spices and absolutely delicious as a latte and satisfying as a dessert alternative for me. I don’t love clove or black peppercorns in tea, so this is my kind of chai.

Courtney sent me this tea, thank you and as getting H&S teas here is a bit hard (a narrow selection); I am glad to have an opportunity to give it a try. I just looked and yes, I can get a tin of this, but it is a bit too much.

Anyway, it is a mellow black tea with stonefruit flavour. I am though not really sure if I can point out apricot after first session. The scent is strong and can be offputting for some for sure. I have been expecting also more complex fruity flavour — it was somehow flat and maybe a wee artificial to me. Just being fruity, but not like a biting a fresh apricot with juicy and mouthcoating experience.

While it’s not bad in conclusion, I probably expected more; especially with my previous experience with H&S teas.

Never had this type of tea before….it came packaged a little different. It was a tin with a ton of different little baggies and each bag had four gems. I was trying to use one “gem” per cup but it just didn’t have enough flavor so I opted for two and that was so much better. It’s a nice mild tea flavor…holds up to milk and sugar. More on the mellow and mild side but don’t let it overstep because it can get astringent. I liked it though.

When drinking martinis, one of my favorites included (the now discontinued) Absolut Kurant vodka, which was an honest-tasting, un-sweetened, blackcurrant infusion. I love blackcurrant, but not artificial blackcurrant flavoring, so Harney’s claim of a “delightful” aroma is a bit of a stretch for me. Because that is what hits my nose when I open up the tin of Paris, like a stampede of perfumed buffalos, even after half a decade of storage in my tea cabinet. I steeped the tetrahedral sachet of Paris in 8 oz. of 90°C alpine spring water, per the suggestion of user ashmanra, for the 5 min. directed by H&S.

Fortunately, the steeping drives off much of the blackcurrant power, and so in the first sip, it merely fills my sinuses with aroma of artificial currant and caramel. The vanilla sings in sotto voce at the back of my tongue, and the overall blend is quite pleasant. I can’t really suss-out the flavor of bergamot, nor can I clearly identify the base tea. Perhaps some of the fleeting floral notes are coming from the oolong that partly comprises the base. I find that I appreciate the lingering deep finish of vanilla and caramel quite a lot more than the initial punch in the nose by those heavy-handed top notes.

I think apricot or plum flavor might be a superior replacement to the black currant, if I were to blend something, hopefully allowing the oolong and bergamot to emerge. As much as I love the City of Paris, this isn’t really my cuppa tea. But, it might be yours!

Another tea that I am not adding to my cupboard. My friend brought this at the same time as the Vanilla Strawberry Hibiscus that tastes only of red rooibos and hibiscus to me and she said it tasted like booze and dirt to her. Lol

This one she liked a little better but said it just wasn’t a favorite and there are too many other things she would rather drink so she wanted me to try it and pass it on if I didn’t want it. I passed it on to the same padawan who got the Vanilla Strawberry. At least the tins are adorable.

This isn’t for me because I don’t love mint in tea except on rare occasions, like Tin Roof Teas Moroccan Mint which is yummmm. I don’t like much ginger in my tea, just a wee sparkle. And this was lemongrass and coconut heavy which are things I like but I didn’t find this combination and balance of things appealing. I took a few sips and poured it out.

Hopefully the person I gave it to will enjoy it, or pass it on to someone who will. I am sure it is a fine tea, just not to my tastes. The only one from this collection I was really interested in trying was the Honey Chamomile, mostly to see if I liked the ashwaganda and to see if it truly has a calming effect.

I am not adding this one to cupboard because I gave it away within 36 hours of it coming into my possession. A friend purchased it and didn’t like it, saying it tasted like booze instead of tea. She gave it to me, knowing I could pass it on if I didn’t want it.

I did try it, because I just tried Harney’s Thai Rooibos and I really like it – very much. I will probably buy it eventually, especially for tea sodas.

This, however, I will not buy. It is mostly a fist in the face of very woody Robitussinesque rooibos, boozy flavor, hibiscus, and very little vanilla or strawberry to me. So many teas and tisanes use hibiscus for strawberry flavored things and it just doesn’t work for me. If I had a blind tasting of this, I would have had no idea it was supposed to be strawberry or vanilla.

I tried it hot. Then I made a concentrated syrup of it to make tea soda and…it stills tastes like Robitussin. With fizz.

Not for me but I passed it on to a new tea padawan who does lots of evening tisanes and has liked rooibos in the past.