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Additional notes on new ‘harvest’: I bought a tin of this during the holiday sale. It’s cheaper to get the tin than the sample somehow… and I thought I’d sell some extra anyway. I remember this tea very differently. I remember stone fruits. Sadly, after tasting this, and having it taste pretty similar to Paris, I had to ask Harney and they say the teas are pretty similar now. They switched to natural flavors three years ago so now the only difference: Paris =carame Tower of London = honey. Both have black currant. Tower of London was very solidly in my mind a stone fruit flavored tea and had nothing to do with black currants. I can only imagine the disappointment of someone who buys a tin of both at the same time, expecting different teas. I think the only difference in descriptions now is that Paris also has some oolong in the blend? But maybe that is the old description too. A teaspoon and a half doesn’t get too astringent, per say, but I don’t think using that much does any justice to the flavor than using one or 1 1/4. The brew gets fairly dark even after two minutes. The second steep has much less flavor, so I wish both steeps would be better balanced. The flavor specifically now just tastes like Paris, though that was always a tough flavor for me to describe anyway. It was just ‘PARIS’ and it was distinct and delicious. Also, I KNOW the Paris I tried a few years ago is not the same flavor as these two teas. From memory, the Paris from a few years ago was like bergamot, berry, pastry, maybe vanilla? It is tough for me to judge the new Tower of London against the new Paris, since I only have one teabag of it I’d like to save for cravings. (but if this blend is the same now, why not?) To be fair, one or the other is a flavor that I feel needs to be a cupboard essential, stocked at all times. But I liked when they were different flavors. I LOVED both Paris and Tower of London when I first tried them. I know it’s impossible for teas not to change over years, but it’s no fun when it’s a tea that is a favorite and the flavors are solidly in your memory. The rating would be lower now.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5 min
tl:dr – Tower of London is now pretty much the same as Paris, according to an e-mail from Harney.