Harney & Sons

I drank a cup of this today especially for JacquelineM in hopes of giving a good description of it to compare with Vanilla Comoro.

Vanilla Black doesn’t taste as much like a dessert tea to me, while Vanilla Comoro oozes sweetness and caramel. I drank it first with no additions to see if the tea taste was coming through for me. It did, and I also thought I detected a very light cocoa note? I would assume that most flavored teas begin as a mild Ceylon but perhaps there is a hint of Keemun in this, or perhaps it is part of the natural flavor. The vanilla is not as sweet as Comoro, but does have the mellowness of a Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla. I drink this one with sugar only, but perhaps I should have tried it with milk to see what happens. This is a very good tea, and I enjoyed it iced in early spring.

Tried this one iced yesterday because it was so everloving hot here! Served it with a plain but very creamy homemade cheesecake. I thought it made a lovely iced tea. Gentle flavor, not so sweet that it becomes difficult to pair with foods.

Maybe I shouldn’t have tried this on the heels of two other new teas! My first impression is – this is a very good tea, but I like (love! LOVE!) Vanilla Comoro better. The vanilla flavor is not quite as strong and sweet in this one, which means that my daughter will like it better than Vanilla Comoro. To each his – or her – own!

Almost the last of this sample. I’ve now tried it two ways; the first was at a lower temp because of the green tea in the blend (175), steeped for a longer period of time. This time, because I’m having it in the morning, I kicked the temp up to 205 and steeped for a shorter period of time.

Really, I can’t seem to recall any distinct differences between the two methods, though I will grant you that I had this tea at the lower temp more than a week ago, so my memory is broken across the rocky, beer-foamed snarls of a raucous convention weekend. The cup I’m drinking is alright, though. The most intense flavor — after the tea, and insofar as order of noticeability, rather than what I would consider literally intense — is the guava by a wide margin. It makes identifying the strawberry independently difficult to do, but you catch some trace of it toward the end, along with a tang. I assume this is the hibiscus, but I’ve had hibiscus in blends before, and it by no means screams HELLO at your palate…in fact you expect that mild tang to be there, because the guava scent and flavor are enhanced by it, and predict it.

This tea is just fine hot, but let’s face it — it’s practically destined to be iced tea. Sweetened with a little bit of honey and slapped into a pitcher, this blend would be a perfect porchside companion.

Be very careful how long you steep – can become bitter and harsh

This is one of my all time favorite teas. Rich, sweet and spicy. I take mine with a splash of vaniella creamer.

Wow… I don’t know what to say. First, as soon I as opened the tin there was a rush of scent that flooded my senses. I was so taken a back a first. To be honest, I was slightly worried it was going to be too much. But, after making the tea and taking that first sip, I am so please with this purchase. I have no way to describe the many different flavors that are in this tea. I cannot pinpoint what the flavors are. Some sort of berry obviously (strawberry? raspberry?).

I don’t know what it is… But, I do know that this tea is fantastic.

Finishing this off. It was a very consistently good tea. I will have to buy more of it next time I go to harney & sons. Really though, this tea never tasted not good. no matter how hot the water was or how long i steeped it, it always came out dee-lish!

It has been a very steepster-less summer for me, because all I’ve been drinking is this tea. A few more steeps and it will be done, and I will be very upset. Really, after dinner this tea is perfect. I need to start searching for another oolong to buy soon!

Yet again, I am drinking this tea. And I’m not really sure why.

Today was ridiculously hot, and still is, and since I’m still a little clueless at making iced tea, and the tiny fridge I have doesn’t really get cold enough to freeze ice, I have to stick with hot teas for now.

Just as good as last time I steeped it, except it’s making me SO much hotter. The taste is worth it though :)

So on Sunday I went to the Harney & Sons store, and they had this in their tasting room and I just had to get it.

First steep, 8oz, little less than a minute. Ah this tea is so good. The smell is very similiar to a barley tea , and the taste is just so subtle but still has so body and doesn’t taste very watery at all. There is a definite nutty flavor to it, but it’s not overpowering or anything. I didn’t even steep this with rock sugar and it doesn’t need sweetening at all.

Second Steep. Lower temp water, longer steep, 8oz. The nutty-ness comes out a lot more in this steep, and the color is a tad more dark as well. Still, same flavor but a little more intense. And I’m loving every sip of it. I hope I can get a lot of steeps out of this !

I’m not sure why it is that I hadn’t rated this tea before. Tonight is completely the wrong night to do it for multiple reasons, but here we go.

There are some nights that I come home and I’m so tired that I can hardly function properly. This is one of those nights. I am…exhausted. Completely depleted. The last three days have, as I mentioned earlier, been a gauntlet of geekdom at PAX, capped off every night with dinner out with friends, at which much bacchanalia took place, meaning I’ve consumed more alcohol in the last three days than I have in the last three months altogether, and that includes St. Patrick’s day. (I am not, admittedly, really a drinker…but clearly, I do nothing in half-steps.)

Tonight, dinner with a friend having her 29th birthday at a tapas place. Tapas was eaten. Pitchers of sangria were demolished.

I managed to remember to make a decaf/uncaf cup of tea…

But I made it at 175.

Sigh.

The good news is that it’s still pretty good. It’s not the weak and watery mess I expected once I realized what I had done.

Taken on its own merits, I’m sure this tea would get a less generous rating from me…not because it isn’t good (it is) but because it isn’t enough to get me excited.

What is exciting about it is the fact that it tastes this cozy and good, and is clearly black tea, and yet it’s decaf, and I can have it at 10pm without worrying about not being able to fall asleep…which is a big deal, as I have yet to locate too many teas other than some whites that seem capable of being satisfying, sans caffeine.

That alone is worth a handful or two of rating points. This will definitely go on my list of teas to reorder.

Arright, Steepsterites. I’m supposed to be doing school stuff right now, so I can’t stay long. However, I’m drinking this tea courtesy of the ever-brilliant JacquelineM and I couldn’t not drop in to say something.

I think it was teaplz that mentioned this connection, but they could totally rename this tea Ferrero Rocher and get away with it. That’s what Florence tastes like to me, and that encompasses the entirety of the flavor profile that I get from this – hazelnut, nutella-y chocolate [did you know that Ferrero Rocher chocolates are made with nutella [or a like-substance]?], and maybe a hint of walnut.

I love chocolate, but I can’t eat it everyday, and as such that is the same way I feel about this tea. However, I cannot deny its deliciousness and the fact that on most days this tea would be lovely. It’s got a decadence about it. And at 4 minutes it doesn’t go bitter on me, which is a pretty huge plus. The flavor profile also reminds me of some of my favorite Illy coffee concoctions at this bakery cafe I like to visit, which is also working in its favor.

So that’s it. This log is pretty disjointed, and doesn’t really do the tea a ton of justice, but I will end it with this:

If you enjoy Ferrero Rocher chocolates, this tea is for you.

The leaves yielded a great resteep that was almost as flavourful as the initial cuppa, although with a slight vegetale note creeping in this time.

Mmm, it’s hard to believe that this isn’t a flavoured tea because I could distinctly smell notes of citrus and spice and something that makes me think of chocolate when I opened the sample package. The tea doesn’t look that much different from other white tea buds, but when I put them in the water they took on the appearance of tarnished silver. It’s really quite pretty in an almost poetic way.

The flavour is very subtle and normally I don’t like that in a tea, but in this one I find I don’t mind it. I think it’s the flavour; instead of the vegetal/cooked greens flavour I get from Chinese silver needle teas, it has notes of nutmeg and sweet oranges that sort of gently tease at the palate and linger on the tongue.

I was sorting through some of my tea stash and came across this tea and decided I needed some yellow tea today. Especially since I just received my newest Yixing mug on Monday that I bought just for yellow teas. :)

Nice. light. delicious. Sweet. YUM!

It’s Friday, so I decided I deserved a little treat! Yay for Yellow Tea!

Ahhh… now this is tea! I love Yellow Tea! The smooth, soft, mellow flavor is unparalleled.

Drink it hot, no sweetener, perfect, perfect, perfect!

Multiple … err … um … infusions … yes, infusions! That’s it! Multiple INFUSIONS to follow. And that’s all I’m admitting to.

This tea is from the TTB. I am not totally certain it is Harney & Sons. The tea came in a small attractive black tin with a picture and an elegant description: “A simple Chinese black tea that has been made over 200 years. The brew is a nice easy-going tea that is round in the mouth. It is a favorite at our Tasting Room where its simple charms are appreciated.” These words do not come up via a Google search, although the first two sentence do come up as a description of tea sold at the Cincinnatian Hotel for afternoon tea.

This small black tin resembles a miniature Harney & Sons tin and has the same type of black tape so I’m going to assume that it is likely to be a Harney & Sons tea with different and creative packaging.
I took it from the TTB because there was so little. It was a very skimpy teaspoon.
With tea, I am like Julia Child with cooking wines and liquers. I tend to add more than the “recipe” calls for. I taste the dry leaf; I fool around a lot. The dry leaves here were about 3/4 of what I would use for one serving. Keeping that in mind, I used less water and did not make a full cup.

The results are pretty decent. It seems to be a very smooth, medium-bodied “basic black” with a pleasant aroma. Perhaps its biggest virtue is that it is not offensive in any way, but it also lacks some of those distinctive properties that make me fall in love with certain blends. I wish I had some more of this to muse upon.

I have this in the bagged version (not sure I said that in my last review), and as I’ve stated before it’s normally not my favourite blend. For some reason today, it tastes more smooth than usual. I did steep it for a fairly short time so maybe that helps take it down a notch. It’s actually pretty pleasant for my very chilly am first cup of the day. I think it’s the smoky clove note that usually stands out much more, but it’s not too bad today with the shorter brew time.

Something in this blend is a bit too strong for me and makes it kind of unbalanced. One of the spices, but it’s not cinnamon or clove. Maybe it’s the citrusy tang? I’m not totally sure. Anyway, I want to love this but I don’t because there’s a bit too much of whatever-it-is for me. It’s certainly different from other holiday blends I’ve tried because of that, and I can appreciate that at least. It’s not awful but it’s not a blend I crave or reach for frequently.

I like the smell of this better than the taste; there’s a lot more creamy vanilla and fruit than you’d expect from the spicy description. The black tea taste (ceylon?) is fairly pronounced, and it’s… more sour than sweet? I’m not really a fan of sour teas, so the tart fruit undertone is putting me off a little, especially compared to the sweet aroma of the dry leaves and the liqueur.

I wouldn’t want to add anything to this, though; I think any sort of cream or sweetener would overwhelm it (unless perhaps you brew it stronger)
.5tsp/4oz
Edit: Wow, this is getting a lot softer as it cools, more what I expected from the scent. Less sour, more cream.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1.t tsp
Additives: none
Water: 1 zarafina cup
Tool: Zarafina black-loose-mild
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: chocolaty, nutty
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet
Flavor: sweet, mild black tea
Body: Light
Aftertaste: not much, a little astringent
Liquor: light translucent brown

Steepster Traveling Teabox Tea

I think that I should have set the Zarafina to Medium.

The leaves were a pretty mix of back and gold.

It was a pretty smooth and sweet (no additives) tea, but unremarkable (if compared to other quality teas, including other Harney and Sons).

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: Zarafina Black-loose-strong
Again i should have done medium! When will I learn?
It was a bit bitter, but a smooth, strong black tea with honey notes still.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/harney-and-sons-loose-leaf-black-tea_24.html

Huh, I’ve never had a decaf tea that didn’t taste like nothing so this was a pleasant surprise! A lovely smooth, light and sweet black tea, with just the right amount of vanilla to be delicious both plain and with milk. The milk gives it this amazing creamyness and really brings out the vanilla. A perfect accompaniment to some Dorsey era Sinatra, like “East of the Sun”…

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Additives: none
Water: filtered, boiling, 1 cast iron teapot full
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: generic spices, chocolate, berries, vanilla?
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, berries, sweet, spices, chocolate, complex kaleidoscope
Flavor: black tea, berry, sweet, slightly astringent
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: spicy, short slight bitter, slightly astringent
Liquor: translucent dark orange or maybe reddish-brown

I believe I ordered this because it was featured on Steepster select and everyone was raving about it.

The flavors are slight but definitely there, only they keep shifting and I can’t get a good handle on what they are. This is a very smooth black tea.

Post-Steep Additives: 1 tsp German rock sugar, not an improvement I actually think it did something unpleasant to the flavor

The next cup tried almond milk, chugged that to get rid of it, BLEH

Resteep: 4 minutes – brown water
+2 min – slightly vanilla brown water
+2 min very light tea and vanilla if I were in a better mood I would have appreciated it as a light cup of tea with hints of flavor but I tossed it.

I don’t think I’ll purchase it, it is a quality tea, and a nice black tea, but very complex tea, and just not my cup of tea.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/harney-and-sons-loose-leaf-black-tea_22.html