Harney & Sons

I really need to get back in my tea game. Still slacking. I just keep going for the coffee packets because they seem easier in the AM. This one is good. Nothing special. I found myself putting more sugar in it than the last variety of black tea I had- not good. This one can get a tinge bitter if overstepped, but nothing too bad. It’s ok though, it’s the bigger broken pieces. Probably wouldn’t go out my way to try it again.

Random impulse purchase! I was restocking on some fruit tisanes from Harney and was intrigued by this new tea. It’s reasonably priced and the leaves are big and twisty, plus I haven’t had many Malawian teas.

It definitely reminds me of an Assam, it has those raisin and molasses/brown sugar notes to it and a touch of astringency. Apricot or plum fruit leather and tobacco are present as well, and a hint of floral on the back end. I don’t know if I would order more, since I’m not really an Assam drinker, but it’s enjoyable and I’ll happily sip through the tin. Plus it’s fun to try new things! :)

After an unsatisfying experience with Black Cask Bourbon, which I expected to taste like O’Connor’s Cream was was instead a weak lapsang with a thin body, i decided not to try Japanese Whisky, especially since it seemed that sample sizes were always sold out, but Youngest sent me a number of sachets recently! Many thanks!

I didn’t read the description closely before steeping so once again I was expecting a boozy tasting tea, but this time the non-boozy tea was really tasty.

I like Lapsang, and I like it smoky. I do prefer for it to have a substantial base because otherwise it just tastes like the rinse water from an ashtray to me. It is:also awesome paired with ice cream.

So this one…this is smoky, but the smoke flavor doesn’t rise immediately into the sinuses like some Lapsangs. The smoke stays low, covers the sides and back of the tongue. There is a bit of mineral vibe on the tongue, like licking slate or shale, but not as dry. A briskness lingers after, yet there is a silky feel to the body of the tea as well on the way down, followed by the briskness that makes you want another swallow and another swallow.

Leagues better than Black Cask Bourbon in my opinion. Just keep in mind that this is not a whisky flavored tea, but rather a tea that was smoked over the wood chips of old whisky barrels. The memory of the whisky remains in the wood and flavors the tea in an entirely different way.

Nice.

Sipdown! (7 | 56)

The last of the Harney fruit tisanes! This doesn’t taste like mango at all to me, maybe a tiny bit like dried mango slices? It’s really good cold-steeped though (with a touch of sugar), sweet and fruity with a gentle tartness to it. It’s definitely on the lighter end of the hibiscus spectrum, as far as Harney’s offerings go. I’m trying to decide what fruit this actually reminds me of, and maybe it’s closer to apricot mixed with orange and a bit of strawberry? It’s tasty, and I’ll be ordering more (along with most of Harney’s fruit blends).

Sipdown! (34 | 47)

Counting this for May since generally I count it as a sipdown when I use the last of a tea to make a cold steep, not necessarily when I finish the actual container of cold steeped tea, if that makes sense. So I made this bottle yesterday, but am drinking it today.

Another really nice one for cold-steeping from Harney. This is on the heavier side when it comes to hibiscus, but to me that makes sense for something with tart flavors like orange and passion fruit. Plus I add some sugar to my cold brews generally, so it ends up being balanced. Nice and tangy with orange leading the way, and passion fruit adding a tropical note. It’s more citrusy than tropical overall, but doesn’t taste like Tang, like their Blood Orange version does IMO.

Another likely reorder, though I also just got several new fruit tisanes from Tealyra to try out, so we shall see!

Sipdown! (29 | 42)

Another one finished from Harney. I’ve been sipping a lot of cold-steeped “tea” lately, and obviously it doesn’t last very long when you’re using 20g for each pitcher. But yay, more sipdowns!

This is very tasty cold-steeped with a bit of sugar. As Harney’s fruit tisanes go, this has a bit less hibiscus than some of the others. Just enough to give a bit of tartness and dimension to the juicy peach flavor, which tastes closer to canned peaches than gummy candy.

Waiting until I finish all of my Harney fruit tins to decide which ones to reorder, but I’ll definitely be getting either this one or Mango, as I feel they are a bit similar. I’ll have to wait until I sip Mango down to decide though. :P

Sipdown! (28 | 41)

Cold-steeped. This was my least favorite of the Harney fruit tisanes, though I wouldn’t say it was bad, per se. The orange is just a bit too close to vitamin C tablets for my liking, or even Tang. It also gets slightly bitter, I assume from the orange peel steeping for so long.

Still refreshing and enjoyable, but I definitely prefer their Orange Passion Fruit over this one.

Sipdown! (26 | 39)

This is really nice cold-steeped with a bit of sweetener. It has a nice fresh raspberry flavor that goes so well with the tart hibiscus. The mint isn’t overpowering, just a supporting flavor adding a bit of sweetness and interest. Super refreshing for the beginnings of summer here in Austin.

Will definitely reorder this one next time, and possibly some of their other flavors too. I’ve been quite happy with Harney’s fruit tisanes, but I wish they offered a refill bag that was less than a pound ha ha. It feels wasteful to me to keep ordering tins…

So I got the loose leave version of vanilla comoro, suggested by ashmanra. This does taste better than the tea sachets. The astringency is way lower and it almost taste like a light fruity tea though still not very black tea like.

I definitely recommend getting the loose leave over the sachets.

Sachets: 81
Loose leave: 85

sold for $13/ 4oz

https://www.harney.com/products/vanilla-comoro?variant=46871345926

Decaf vanilla black tea, I bought the tea sachet version a couple years ago. The tea smells a lot like boba milk tea but doesn’t taste like one. Being decaffeinated it sacrificed some of its flavors, it doesn’t have wood, floral, or honey notes like regular black teas. On its own it tastes like slightly astringent water with vanilla scent, this tea can make milk taste good and not really the other way around.

sold for $9.45/20 sachets

https://www.harney.com/products/vanilla-comoro

Cold brew sip down!
Works much better cold than hot. Though there is almost a citrusy/lemony zest kind of flavor to it that makes it not quite something I would choose. Good enough to sip this down however.

This makes a decent cold brew. I’m sure I’ll be able to finish this easily, especially now I’m back to craving iced tea as the weather warms up.

Attempting to sip down/de clutter teas from my stash.

Well looking in the tin, its obvious I’ve tried this before a few times in the year and more since I bought it. But no notes or ratings, which means I didn’t like it.

Now, its not bad, but not a flavor profile I am wild about. Its more astringent and drying than I like, which becomes more pronounced as it cools.

I think this is one I should be able to finish. Might try this as a cold brew and see how I feel that way.

Bought this back in September of 2022, tried it once, really did not like it, and moved on because I had so many other teas to try and drink.

I didn’t bother rating or reviewing it at the time because it was so busy after the office move and training a new person. And, because I hadn’t liked it, I wasn’t really motivated to try it again.

But I am getting motivated to sip down/clean out teas I am not enjoying. In the office move, I ended up with new drawers which were significantly smaller, which shrunk my tea drawer. Added to this, the company I work for gave me a generous gift certificate to thank me for my work in the move and so I ended up which a whole bunch of extra tea I wouldn’t have normally purchased on my own. So tea drawer has some serious overflow onto the top of my desk and I really want to recover some of that space.

I also decided to go for cold brew as our weather has been kind of warming up (Seattle doesn’t have spring, winter and summer just battle for dominance) and I decided to try this again.

Its nothing like the description. There’s almost a lemon zest vibe to it. Not unpleasant for cold brew. I have no memory of it hot, so I can’t make any comments about it there. I’m not sure if I can honestly say I am enjoying it, but its not bad.

I do plan on revisiting this hot again at some point and will update my rating then.

Sipdown! I’m surprised I don’t already have a note for this one! I finished off the last of it yesterday, getting two solid steeps out of it. The lemon and vanilla are definitely more prominent than the hint of rose. Altogether, it’s an airy, cakey effect that I really enjoyed. This is a blend I’d happily have again.

We’ve hit that weird part of spring where its cold and rainy one day, and warm and sunny the next. This is terribly hard one ones wardrobe, alas.
So it’s an in between season, as far as tea flavors go. But fortunately I like salted caramel year round.
Hmm, not sure what I think of this one. Its smell is stronger than its taste, but I am not tasting that sort of toasted burnt flavor that is what happens in some caramel teas, so that’s a plus.
More cups will be required to finalize my thoughts.

Okay haters.
Maybe this tea has wandered into the wrong cups before, but not this time. Though the aroma, equally malty as smoky, had me in suspense for a moment, the steep makes up for it. Too many bourbon barrel-aged stouts gave me a different expectation- is the whisky in the room with us now? What I got is, I think, much better. This is essentially a down-to-earth smoked lapsang souchong with a wholesome (oaky?) richly smoked profile talked down by honey and the maltiness of the black tea underneath. Though I often like my smoked teas stronger and more monstrous, I was really pleased with this one and the smoke evades that chemical taste so often found in lapsang souchongs (which I admit I love).

Though whisky is not one of the prevailing flavors here, this tea still gave me ideas. To complement the warm smoke filling my nostrils, a few dashes of angostura bitters were an eager accompaniment to add a faintly spicy undertone, and I think this might be the way to go.

After a long, quiet morning filling in for the regular barista, I got home and decided to finish off the last of my Peaches & Ginger tagalong. When I steep this one at work, I taste a little more of the ginger, but making it in my apartment I find that the ginger is just a murky pair of socks in the shoes the peach walks in on – a smooth, sweet undercurrent echoing distant stories of spice is all I detect, but the peach comes through juicy and aromatic. In all likelihood, a little extra steeping time wouldn’t go amiss for this one. Good body and extremely fruity in spite of everything – I’d even go as far as to say the same for the tea.

Having passed a sufficient amount of my day drawing in my notepad at my desk waiting for work to come across it, my dehydrated carcass has finally pulled itself back to my apartment. This organic assam found its way into my possession as a sample stowed away in my last order and should be a suitable restorative with which to souse my wilted corpse and transmute it back into the vivacious grape it never was.

Though Irish Breakfast was perhaps my original love, this was in the days of milk, excessive sugar, and naivety. That said, my apprehensions find no footing in this nostalgic cup. A dark, malty aroma evokes brown bread and dried fruits, promising a stark breakfast blend, and the taste is the venom you suck out of the wound after a tree bites you. There’s a caramelized and unrefined sweetness in the mouth that decries the taint of added sugar. Mildly astringent, it leaves the mouth reminiscent of a crusty, toasted rusk that I can only imagine would gratefully sop up a dash of milk but which, being without any milk, I find stands pleasantly on its own, if not aching for the complement of a little plum or blackcurrant jam. Glimpsing over Steepster’s flavor profile of this one, I can’t help but notice “leather” amongst those enumerated and must accede there is a character to this tea not unlike strips of pan-fried suede. I guzzle the last swig no less withered than I began but slightly more grizzled – this is a tea I would dip in coffee.

This tea is the current feature in the rotating cabinet of drinks I keep at my desk. Each morning starts with anywhere from 1-3 energy drinks, and eventually the workday dwindles down to a sachet of whatever tea is visiting at the time, but each cup is at the mercy of my best attempt to estimate a reasonable ratio of boiling hot water tempered with cold tap water since I don’t have a kettle with temperature control and am thereby consigned to basic breakroom amenities. Today, however, I pocketed a few sachets to enjoy at home. 1 sachet at 175F forgotten for three minutes and my cup is just blooming with the smell of warm french vanilla frosting finely tapered by a touch of lemon. Light-bodied but faintly buttery, it’s a perfect reminder that work is temporary, but tea is also temporary – tea is just much more enjoyable and maybe after work, you can have cake.

While the rose petals impart a flavor if not subtle then perhaps entirely absent, it’s difficult to distinguish this from the astringency of this tea at the back of the sip. The dry, almost gently peppery sensation lingering in my mouth evokes memories of being at a cocktail bar with a friend and daring him to eat the bitter, aromatic petals off the bouquet in front of us, until of course we were both prompted to part ways unexpectedly early in various states of gastrointestinal discomfort. Unfortunately, this is a betrayal I have yet to receive from Wedding Tea and have not been forced to truncate any workdays with thanks to it.