Midsummer's Peach (Decaf)

When I ordered this last year, I accidentally ordered the big bag of sachets instead of the loose leaf. I thought I would make iced tea with it all the time, but hubby doesn’t care for many flavored iced teas, it turns out, so it has languished. With the big group that was going to be here tonight, I thought it was the perfect time to make a pitcher. I lightly sweetened it with German rock sugar.

I forgot that all flavored ice teas taste best to me on the second day and later, and I just made it today. Only one guest opted for this tea, and he said it was one of the best he has tasted. I was a little nervous about serving him tea because his wife is Japanese so I figured he would know a LOT of tea and maybe have strong preferences. I needn’t have worried, he liked both teas he tried!

I had a glass of it myself, and as usual, like all flavored ice teas it tasted artificial to me. Tomorrow it will be better. Saturday it will be excellent. I don’t know why, but all flavored ice teas are like that to me.

My evening cuppa, and the main reason I wanted to go to the Harney shop in Soho several weeks ago. I finally got my hands on some of this tea in loose leaf! (Without having to buy an entire pound!) This is probably my second favorite decaf black tea, with Vanilla Comoro in the lead. Now that I know I can purchase loose leaf of these two in smaller amounts than an entire pound, I am ecstatic. 4 ounces at a time for this variety is sufficient, and a half pound of Vanilla Comoro will hold me for quite a while.

I did find it needs to be light on leaf and have a short steep, but I am pretty sure that is mostly due to the base being decaf. And I have had this at least three times since my trip to Soho, but I guess I didn’t have much more to say about it until now….. Yum!

I’m celebrating today. I know that it’s not attractive to be too self-satisfied, but today I’m enjoying a victory. I have a neighbor who leaves his poor dog outside day and night, and it cries constantly for want of care and attention. The weather has been so hot lately and I’ve been very worried about the pup. I give him water and food when he runs out, and despite my talking with the owner, nothing has changed. Just when I thought that call calling the Humane Society may be the only option to help this dog, I called my homeowner’s association first. It turns out that my neighbor is in violation of several of the association’s rules! I received a call from the association president today letting me know that my neighbor has been fined, and that another neighbor has adopted the dog. He has a good home now!!!!! I’m so happy.

I’m celebrating with Midsummer’s Peach iced! Wow, this is a tasty tea that gets even better cold steeped. I’m even going to up my rating because it’s that good. I still taste something a bit floral in it, but it’s not bothering me a bit. Today’s a good day!

Finished my tin of this already! This is good! I have been making iced tea with it. This last batch I only had 3 bags so I added the rest using vanilla comorro. WOW! Good combo iced!!!!!!!

Ok so this is officially the last of my “new teas” to try. I have this one thanks to QuiltGuppy! There are two things about this tea that kept me from trying it before: one, it’s decaf and I rarely drink non-caffeinated teas purely because I drink them during the day and the caffeine doesn’t really affect me anyway, so why bother? The other thing is I didn’t really know how I would like a peach tea. I mean, I like peaches, but I had another tea with peach in it that I didn’t like and I didn’t know if was the peach or what. Anyway, I’m in a peachy mood lately, so I’m now excited to try it.

The smell of the two sachets in their little pouch is so powerfully peachy, somewhere between a juicy fresh peach and peach candy. I like peach candy (it’s actually one of the few fruity candy flavors I do like), so that’s fine with me.

It steeped to a pretty dark shade of brown, and while still very peachy in aroma, it’s mellowed out and I get a whiff of the black tea now and then. There’s something about this particular peach aroma that is so familiar to me, but I can’t place it! I think in addition to the peach candy there’s a bit of peach juice (which I rarely drink on it’s own, but do in blends).

As for the flavor: I like it! It’s peachy in that way that I have tried and failed to describe above, which is very tasty. The black tea is present enough to ensure that the peach doesn’t get out of control, but it’s not the main show here. What I can taste of it is nice, and doesn’t taste particularly like a decaf (which I want to type as “decalf” every time). I’m sure it tastes delicious iced. I don’t see a great need for a peach tea as a cupboard staple, but if I did, I couldn’t go wrong with this one.

Many thanks to SimplyJenW for this tea!

Ohhh, peaches! This is juice dripping down your arm peach flavor. So good! I am amazed this is a decaf good. And that’s saying something, coming from me! What a great night time cup! I took it with not even a teaspoon of sugar, and upped the water to about 11 oz since this is in a silken sachet. Perfect.

I KNEW I was going to fall for another Harney tea right after I placed my order! ;)

I can’t believe I didn’t realize this sample was decaf until I came here to write a note about it. I must have known it a couple of months ago when I placed the order, but the packet doesn’t say decaf so I’d totally forgotten.

The fact that it is decaf is really good news. I’ve been looking for some good decafs to have on hand when my bagged starter stash runs out (which is looking like it will be pretty soon) for those times when I feel like having tea instead of a tisane.

In the packet, the leaves smell uber peachy. It’s a nice smell. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it fresh smelling, but it isn’t overly candified, it isn’t medicinified, and it doesn’t resemble cleaning solution. All of this is good.

The tea smells extremely peachy too, though the tea comes through as well. I’m liking this decaf! It’s not entirely without that “something is missing and it can’t be just caffeine” thing, but it is so much better tasting that the only other black decaf I’ve had. The peach flavor is sweet and strong without being overpowering, and the tea, though it isn’t a strong taste at all, isn’t bad. It’s fairly mild with some astringency.

I’m going to have to get some of this to start out my new black decaf category. Though I don’t think decaf will ever taste as good as the real thing, this one is pretty good.

This rating is not a comparison to caffeinated teas. It’s where I think this belongs on a decaf scale.

And now… I REALLY NEED SOME CAFFEINE!

This tea made me feel nauseous this morning, so I’m not quite sure how I should rate it.

Anyway, this one pretty much smells musky and very peachy when I opened the bag. Just juicy-like in general, with only the slightest hint of black tea smell. The leaves are very typically sized for a flavored tea. Not too long, not too short, I’m playing Goldilocks here, but you get the point.

I figured I’d drink this one because it’s decaf, and I’m having a rough time with the end of the sentence, a rough time really concentrating on anything, and I don’t really have an appetite at all. So I steeped this one up, and the cup actually smelled pretty peach-like still.

What I really liked about this one is that the flavors are pretty balanced, with the black tea sharing a bit of the spotlight with the peach. The peach here tastes like those peach gummy candies more than it actually tastes like an off-the-vine peach, but it’s still pretty tasty and sweet. But the black tea isn’t the super-greatest I’ve tasted, and the way it interacts with the tea…

I have no idea why, but this one started making me feel super-nauseous by the time I hit the bottom of the mug. I couldn’t stand the thought of even taking one more sip of it, and therefore, dumped the dregs in the sink. I sort of don’t even want to really think about it that much, which is probably why this review took forever to write.

I’m assuming it’s a good tea, and my feeling sucky made it taste bad, but I sort of don’t want to have this one for a very long time.

This tea is a staple in my decaf collection. It doesn’t have an “off” taste that some decaffeinated teas tend to have. I think it tastes a lot like the regular black tea that H&S uses in its blends.

While it’s not the most natural peach flavor I’ve tasted, it’s quite good. The sweetness from the peach balances well with the black base. I wish the base was a little bit stronger, but I tend to prefer my black tea strong.

Hmm. My friend ordered this from H&S and brought me a sachet to try last night.

I can’t say I was a huge fan…. Not sure if it’s because I’m not a huge fan of straight up fruity black teas anyway (with no delicious creamy additives like vanilla or caramel, I mean) but it just wasn’t for me. It was alright, but too fake tasting.

Perhaps it would be better iced, but contrary to the other reviews talking about fresh juicy peaches, all I got out of this was weird chemical peach taste. Like those fuzzy peach gummy candies you can buy. Never liked those much either.

Another H&S to cross off my list!

She left me with a sachet of Blueberry Green to try so I will dig into that later!

(3 min @ boiling)