Tea smells like alcohol?
Hi all,
I recently got a gift of 1 lb bag of my favorite Harney’s Chocolate tea. The loose leaf smells heavily of alcohol and the tea doesn’t taste as good as it usually does.
Does anyone know why this is? Is it newly blended tea maybe? Do I need to give it some time?
Thanks!
No, you shouldn’t need to give a tea like that one time. It’s not puerh. The only thing it’ll do in time is lose flavor. I’m a little hyper-conscious of food safety issues, but I’d be wary of drinking a tea that suddenly smells like alcohol but hasn’t in the past. I’d contact the company and ask for a refund within the allotted time — just explain to them what you said here.
Actually, if it’s a flavoured blend that uses alcohol based flavouring it could need time to settle if it’s a very new/fresh batch.
Oh and check the ingredients list first — if something like vanilla extract is in it, that’s the reason for the alcohol smell.
It sounds like it either might be /very recently/ flavoured (too fresh, and I’d actually maybe suggest DO letting it sit out? Maybe just put some in a bowl to sit out for a while, just to test), OR it’s been sitting so LONG it’s gone rancid. In the first one, the alcohol from the flavouring used hasn’t been allowed to evaporate off yet, and was sealed into the bag.
I agree with kristinalee that you should contact Harney & Sons directly to see which it is, rather than risking it especially if it’s been tampered with.
Yes, sometimes blends do need time to settle. Often it was made very recently and the alcohol in the flavoring hasn’t evaporated totally yet. Generally I found when a blend is like this the flavoring is really watery or weak, sometimes tastes funny.
I had this come up a few times and the sellers suggested to leave the bag open for a couple days, as far as dumping it into a wide bowl to air out.
But really, sending a product that isn’t ready is pretty crappy – I would complain.
Owl is right, if the blend uses alcohol based flavourings that can totally be the cause if the blend hasn’t had time to settle.
I know people have had this issue in the past with, just to give an example, Frank era 52Teas when the blends have been pushed out quickly to meet the one new tea a week deadline.
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