Tower of London

I ordered a sample size of this tea in my very first H&S order. On paper, it seemed like a tea I would love, but in reality I was just, meh, about it. I drank about half of the mug I brewed, and then gave the rest of the sample to my sister.

It wasn’t horrible, by any means, but something about it just didn’t appeal to me. In retrospect, after trying quite a few flavored black tea samples, it seems that teas with any degree of honey flavor are not appealing to me.

I’ve finally come back to the world of tea reviewing, I’ve actually been making a point to brew a pot before I start my day, sort of a grounding before I distract myself in the fight against ever present boredom (being unemployed sucks) in any case, here we go and as always I start off with my favorite a blend by Harney and Sons.

Tower of London – There’s something terribly comforting about this tea, especially in the morning, a blend of bergamot (cuz English love them some bergamot) good black tea, honey and other secret things H&S have mixed in, the first thing you’ll notice when opening the tin is the strong, wrapped up in warm in blankets scent of honey, in all reality I cant describe it properly it really smells more like honey than…well honey does, and it easily overpowers the aroma of the bergamot and tea, although there scents are there to lend some complexity, as an English style black tea mix its pretty in a dark browns and blacks kind of way.

Portions were 1 teaspoon per 7oz – Steeping 5min at 190° with a prewarmed pot.

Steeping seems to take some of the punch out of the honey sent but its still the main player in the steep’s aroma, although the heavier body of the black tea and sharper notes of the bergamot do shine through better.

As for taste it’s a bit of a surprise but the honey is just barely there, despite being such a diva in the aroma on the tongue the main player is the excellent blend of black teas Harney & Sons used, there is the delicate if sharp taste of the bergamot, but this seems to me a primarily a breakfast tea its strong a little bitter caffeine rich and full bodied, its really really good for waking ones ass up, ironically I did this brew without any sweetener and while I drank the whole pot that way in the end I think it may need…well a little honey.

Also if you wanna see some pictures (Since I cant figure out how to insert them into tasting notes) Check out the tea and gardening blog me and http://steepster.com/tabby run, contents been a little sparce lately but were fixing that promise.

http://gardensandtea.tumblr.com/

From the Not My Cup TTB

Dreamy. Earl Grey with a hint of blackberry. I have to find more of this.

The first thing I tasted was a caramel/honey sort of thing going on. Otherwise, this shares similar flavors with Paris, which I tried first (even though I’m pretty sure I’m writing these tasting notes out of order). This was nicely sweet without adding anything to it. I’ll try this cold next!

This is a delicious, dark, rich cup with a really intense flavor and aroma. The cherry scent of the dry leaf mellows out in the cup as the honey and vanilla flavors get stronger with heat. The cup finishes a little like Earl Grey, with the bergamot hitting the back of the palate.

Thanks Tea Sipper for throwing this is as a surprise sample with my purchase from your sale! I’m not sure I would have ordered this one on my own because they have so many blends to choose from that I think I would just miss this one by lack of time to sort through them all. I’ve seen a few reviews on this one, but nothing that made me want to put it on my wish list,.. yet.

I have to say that dry leaf this one smelled sweet and yummy. I think I’ve found that I tend to drift toward teas that smell sweet to me… at least I’m more apt to try them first. I do love me a few basic teas as well, usually black, which I find myself craving sometimes as well.

Steeped it tastes similar to it’s smell, fruity with a touch of bergamot & maybe a bit creamy somehow, yet the black base comes through as well. I really like this blend. I haven’t had many Harney teas but the dry leaf smell reminds me of Paris, and the steeped tea reminds me of Fruit d’alsace… and that’s about as far as my Harney experience goes w/ the exception of 2 others- Blood Orange Fruit tea & Hot Cinnamon Spice. I think I could find myself putting this on an order w/them at some point, I just wish they had something between samples sizes and 4 oz.

Well, off to put together a birthday present for my Mom…. I am giving everyone a customized Tervis cup/mug this year. My son helps pick out the cup and then I use vinyl lettering to customize w/their name. My dad got his in January so Mom has had to wait 7 months for hers… I hope she likes it. :)

Then to do some research on cell phone plans .. Not sure what we want to do with what we have right now. The new plans are so expensive but we might be losing my brother on our family plan. Mom wants to upgrade her phone and stay on our plan, but the cost will more than double for her and they don’t use their phone much. She’s terrified of losing her phone number by porting out and doesn’t want to lose any coverage by changing providers… what to do? Wish it was easier !

Oh, the infamous Tower of London, much beloved around these parts. I had high hopes for this one after hearing its praise sung in many a tasting note. The dry leaf pretty much looks like a “generic” black tea – very dark, short, slightly twisty leaves. However, the smell is not at all generic. It’s a powerful and tart-smelling combination of peach, vanilla, and bergamot. I actually brewed this twice.

The first time, I did a teaspoon for 4 minutes (which was the average steep time according to Steepster). It came out quite bitter and I couldn’t finish the cup, even with sugar. I’ve had the exact same problem with Paris before.

The second time, I did a 5 minute steep instead (which seemed to solve the problem in the past). It came out much better at these parameters. It has a sweet and tantalizing aroma with a lot of vanilla, accented by peach, plum, and honey fragrances. The taste is similar but a bit more complex. The vanilla hits my tongue first, followed by the bergamot, then a jumble of peaches and dark sweet cherries. Finally, the honey comes in at the end, right before a slightly unpleasant bitterness. Not sure what I’m doing wrong there. I found this tea to be quite similar to Paris, perhaps with a touch more bergamot and with a slightly brighter fruit flavor compared to Paris’s more jammy one. A tasty tea with a bit of sugar added.

Pretty tired mentally since I had to give in and take vicodin an hour ago >< Was doing pretty okay till I could barely breath…(or…breathe…always forget which one it is…).
So not really gonna describe this tea.
I fell in love with it from my first order to H&S at the beginning of the year, then ran out of the sample and bought a tin with my next order.
But didn’t open it till today.
Oh my word.
Totally forgot how amazing this tea is! I have felt like Paris has changed a bit on me….but Tower of London…Ah, even better than I remember it! ^^

Finished this one yesterday. I only ordered the tagalong size, which is five sachets. I’m not sure I love it enough to get it full-sized yet.

This does brew up into a surprisingly good iced tea, one that tastes like it already has lemon and honey added (which may be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences).

Steepster is not only good for learning about new teas but also new things like stonefruit. Never heard of it but it seems to go quite well with this tea. Its a smooth blend and the dry smell is quite lovely. Kinda flowery but more on the fruity side. When steeped there is still a bit of fruity smell but the black tea comes out more. I’m also findings the black tea is stronger then any other flavor.