Malachi McCormick's Blend

The mood for what gmathis calls builder’s teas seems to come upon me more and more often. Perhaps this is because the flavoured teas I have been drinking lately are so over the top, with a gazillion flavours dancing together.

Enter Malachi. Simple. Uncomplicated.

Yesterday, I picked up some milk, so I had it with milk, a lot of milk.

So far, this blend of Assam and Keemun is one of my favourite H & S’s teas.

It steeps up a deep mahogany. Punchy, malty. A great tea to start the day with.

There must be some sort of pan-national Steepster crowd mind intuition thing happening today as everyone is reaching for Harney.

I’m always on the hunt for another good morning black tea, hopefully with at least a hint of Yunnan or Keemun with a price that doesn’t break the bank. This Harney & Sons Malachi McCormick’s Blend seemed to fit the bill.

The short brown unbrewed leaves have a subtle aroma of chocolate, Assam, and Keemun. I steeped them for five minutes at 212 degrees.

The brewed liquid had an odor of honey and chocolate. The flavor definitely contained chocolate undertones without familiar sweetness. However, this was compensated for with sweeter honey accents. Both Keemun and Assam notes were recognizable and blended quite well.

The overall taste was smooth without astringency. The aftertaste was also gentle without lingering bitterness.

This is a delicious tea that I intend to add to my morning rotation. It’s not overpowering for sleepy tastebuds and it would be just as amiable in the afternoon. Taking a chance on an unfamiliar blend really paid off for me this time!

A decent blend of decent teas, it’s strong, quick and quaffable on hurried mornings. Brisk.

Much, much better than the last cup. This one is delightful. Maybe a slight chocolate note. A fine cup for the morning.

Another sample from Shae! I had this one with breakfast this morning and was honestly half-asleep, so I don’t remember much. :) It was nice and full-bodied and held up well to milk. Certainly a “decent cup of tea” but nothing outstanding. I don’t think I liked it quite as much as the Irish Breakfast I had yesterday, but still pleased I got to try it! I forget about Harney & Sons and they really do some excellent blends.

I truly enjoyed Malachi McCormick’s brief book A Decent Cup of Tea, so when I learned that Harney had collaborated on a blend with him I had to try it. I’m glad I did.

It definitely has a slight malty & toasty flavor to it but is overall smooth & mellow. Whenever I prepare a cup, I bring the water to a boil, steep the leaves for approximately four minutes and then add about 1/2 teaspoon of sweetener and a splash of half & half. I have noticed that it can get a bit astringent if I let it steep too long but if I watch the time I get a wonderful cuppa tea. I usually get a second steep out of the leaves and the second cuppa is slightly milder but no less tasty.

After following for a while excited reviews by Stoo of Harney and Son’s teas and looking at their super-low prices I decided to get a bunch of them and see if I can make them my workhorse everyday teas. The results so far are not even “decidedly mixed” but one never-ending disappointment.

This review will start a string of my reviews of basic Harney and Sons Chinese blacks and blends.

Malachi McCormick is one of their legacy mixes, named after one of tea enthusiasts of the 1980s and 90s. It includes basic Assam and Keemun. The dry leaf has little to know smell save for a faint generic “black tea aroma”. The aroma does not suddenly appear in a brewed tea either. the taste has three distinct peaks, with the initial malty heaviness of Assam quickly followed (and tempered) by a sweet wave of Keemun, which, in turn, is replaced by a lingering starchy Assam-driven aftertaste. The taste profiles of those peaks are quite basic and one-dimensional. This tea is almost exclusively suited for the Western-style brewing, when I – despite my grave misgivings – tried to gongfu it, the heavy bitterness of Assam overran everything else and the resulting tea was BAD.

This tea is certainly not for perusing and nuance-looking. Looks like a each of its ingredients have several flaws and combining them mutes them somewhat but certainly does not cancels out completely. And this is typical for all tea blends that I tried so far: all of them are made out of lower quality teas. I begin to suspect that I never encountered tea blends out of higher quality teas because those have enough complexity and balance on their own. Also, Malachi McCormick is certainly well suited for addition of milk. Or Sugar. Or for drinking with jams-preserves-any kind of food. But what is it as not an attempt to further hide and rectify the imperfection of the original materials? This tea -as many other Harney and Sons blends – seems to be destined to play the part of a bass guitar in a song where the major task of carrying the melody is reserved for other instruments. It could be fine for other folks but I strongly expect each tea to be able to stand on its own and shine and that is something that Malachi was incapable of doing for me.

I’ve had this one for breakfast off and on over the past week or two. I really like the smoothness of the Keemun, which balances the harsh Assam. That combination makes it very drinkable—even on an empty stomach. I didn’t get the upset stomach from the tannins that I normally get from straight Assam.

I can (slightly) taste the cocoa flavor with which this tea is marketed by the vendor. Along with that, though, I also find a stronger flavor of cherries. The first time I had it, I noticed the cherries and thought I’d see if that was a one-off—that something in the way that I made it that day caused the flavor. Nope—each successive time I’ve made this tea, the cherry flavor has been there. I didn’t find the maltiness normally associated with Assam teas, but the astringency of Assam is still there.

Overall, it is a great morning blend—strong caffeine, medium-bodied, and not too harsh. The flavor is different enough from most black teas that keeping it stocked in my collection is definitely warranted.

I am not a big fan of Assam and only so-so for Keemun. I normally find them harsh and a bit bitter. Keeping that in mind, I cut the steeping time to about 2 minutes…the time it takes me to fill my cup with hot water and amble back to my desk at work. The full name of this tea is “Malachi McCormick’s Decent Tea” and it lives up to its name. Brewed to a red/black deep in the mug, this tea is robust, with a woody flavor; as expected, it does not have the tannic, citrus notes of a Ceylon. It still has the body of an Assam, but it is being mellowed, significantly, by the Keemun. I am drinking this as a wake-up, early morning tea and it is serving its purpose well.
1/18 – revisiting this review as it has been nearly 3 months (so says Steepster) and, more importantly, 2/3’rds of my can of this tea is gone. Looking back on my initial impressions, I wouldn’t change anything. In fact, I’m going to bump my rating by a few points. This tea sits on my desk at work and is my default morning “at work” tea. That is not to say that it is every day, I have other choices, just that it is currently the default when nothing else strikes my fancy.

not the least bit bitter.
my milk went bad so a had to drink it straight and im glad i did. typically i dont like black teas without milk (granted i’m new to them) because I typically find them too bitter for my taste. perhaps it was the four minute steep time versus five.

this will be my go to morning cup to get me mobile.