RMS Titanic Tea Blend

Tea of the afternoon……

Yes, I know. All the complaining about the amount of tea I own and here is a new one. I had a friend who needed a pound of tea, and I have had my eye on this one ever since Harney announced it. So, we ordered together. This was all I ordered.

The whole Titanic story has a place in my heart because my Grandmother was born on that night. I can remember her talking about it, and how she felt like she had some kind of connection to that tragic night. I did not even realize she would have been 100 this year had she still been alive. When I saw this tea announced, I knew I would be buying some. It kind of represents a moment in time of beginnings for our family amidst the tragedy for others.

My tin of tea says it is a blend of Keemun, Assam, Ceylon, and Oolong. I think the description is kind of vague regarding the middle two teas in that list. Maybe I read it wrong. Anyway, it is good, smooth, and rich tasting. It makes a very well rounded cup of tea. No real earthiness, or maltiness, maybe a hint of cocoa, just very rich. There is not a break in the flavor from the front of the taste to the end. You know how there are some things that are almost all aftertaste (I kind of feel that licorice root is all sweet aftertaste) and others are all in the front notes (I have had some Keemuns like that). This one is good all the way through. I will definitely enjoy this tin of sachets.

This is my first tea review. I am a huge fan of Harney & Sons tea,so I was excited to try the RMS Titanic Tea. I bought the 20 ct. tea tin of sachets. 5% of the sale goes to the Ocean Observancy,which is great.
I brewed the to boiling temperature. I personally have a preference to black teas.
This tea is a blend of Keemun, Assam, Ceylon and Oolong. I steeped the tea for a few minutes. While I was drinking this tea, it had a nice, full rich taste. Eventhough it has a rich taste to it, it has a bit of sweetness to it, so it’s not bitter. I enjoyed my cup of tea from the beginning to the end. The taste was consistent,which I love. I would recommend this tea .

I’m reading a book right now called “The Dressmaker” that is about the Titanic sinking and what happened afterwards. The book is pretty interesting and since I had a sample of this in my cupboard I figured this would be a perfect tea to start the day with. The tea smells deliciously matly with just a hint of sweetness, like a citrusy sweetness. The flavor is robust, but not overly done. There is an almost bitter finish, but it’s actually a nice little kick at the end. I added some milk and sweetener and it became a smooth, sweet cup of tea. This isn’t the strongest black tea blend, but it’s nice and light. I think it’s also a little more sweet than your average black tea blend. This apparently has some oolong in it too, so maybe that’s what is balancing everything out. I kind of like it as a breakfast tea during the summer, it’s not too heavy when the weather is super hot. It’s kind of fun to see what type of tea they were drinking back in the days of the Titanic. I’m glad that reading the book made me remember about this little sample sitting in the back of my cupboard!

-Dry blend has medium black and brown tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell malty and slightly sweet. Tea liquor aroma is of malty black tea with a hint of sweet citrus.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color.
-Robust flavor with an almost bitter finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A lightly robust black tea. Perfect for the summer.

Tried this this morning before a beautiful fall day full of cheap greasy spoon breakfast, taking the abandoned cat to the vet (and thus discovering she is in fact a she, and might actually do ok outside provided we feed her and she uses the shelter I made over the weekend in times of extreme cold…she has a follow-up visit in 2 weeks because she needs to be under sedation for the vet to get a better look and run more extensive tests), my husband going to his doctor appointment and picking up his friend/bandmate from the auto repair shop, and kicking off the week of Italian classics making my grandmother’s Sunday gravy, braised pork with peppers, and marinating the beef for Tyrolean pot roast tomorrow. Going to take a bath now and relax. It was a rollercoaster of a weekend but it ended on a note of hope (and feeling like I’ve done all I can for her) and a bit of progress. My husband was awesome yesterday—I cried on and off all day to the point my eyes had that gross sticky swollen shut feel to them where your vision is fuzzy, and he did everything he could to make me feel better. Having someone love you and care for you that much is priceless; I need to appreciate it more (and return the favor, of course).

Wow, my tealog sure has been about not-tea stuff lately. Sorry guys. Anyway, this was good, strong and smooth and noticeably different from the other Harney blends I’ve sampled so far, but I really do love Queen Catherine so much I admit it’s hard to give this one full attention/respect. I did enjoy it though.

One of my favorite black teas is Keemun and this tea blend does not disappoint. A blend of Chinese Keemun, Formosa Oolong, with some Assam, Indian and Ceylon tea mixed in, this tea is smooth with a hint of sweetness.Its simply a good all around drinking black tea which I could enjoy anytime. It may become one of my staples. There are slight hints of malt, citrus and peachness but none of those predominate.It is medium to almost full bodied with a pleasant tea aroma. It reminds me a bit of the tea from the A&P (the “tea” store as my Grandmother used to say) back when I was a child. Maybe that is just my imagination, but the smoothness of taste with no bitterness does remind me of my 1950’s childhood tea. Definitely I like. Nothing exotic here, just good basic tea that I find very pleasurable. As a person who always sweetens tea, usually with splenda, as I am prediabetic, I find that this is one tea where I can use less sweetener as it is not astringent on its own. Its my goal to wean myself off sweeteners. Maybe this is a good start.

This was an okay blend bought on discount in sachets. Enjoyed but not enough to buy it again. Cute tin though.

Some have said it tastes like English Breakfast, but EB always gets too bitter. I had no trouble with bitterness with this. It has a slightly more distinct taste, perhaps from the Keemun. The tin said boiling water for 5 minutes but I did it for only 2 after letting it cool a few minutes and it was perfect.

This tea was what sold me on my last Harney & Sons order. When I was a kid, I saw a documentary on the Titanic and became instantly fascinated. I read every National Geographic article on it I could get my hands on, and my dad even took us to see a display of the items recovered from the wreck. Fascinating and tragic stuff.

Anyway, I expected this to be some sort of English breakfast deal, and I was right. The leaves are very short, dark, and fine. My teaspoon scooped up what looks like a lot, so I tried to use a little less leaf than I normally would. Though it brews up very deep reddish brown, the flavor is milder than I expected. It tastes mostly like an assam, but I am also getting notes of Chinese black teas. There’s also apparently oolong mixed in, too? I can’t really detect that over the keemun. It’s mostly just a malty, bready black blend. There’s also a pleasant bitterness that reminds me of dark chocolate in a way.

This is a perfect blend for work, I think. High caffeine and a hearty flavor without being too astringent.

As others have noted, there is a leathery flavor to this tea, but it’s not overpowering. It kind of reminds me of Teavivre’s Fengqing Dragon Pearls, though this is not nearly as strong or nuanced as the pearls. It’s like their mild second cousin. Overall an interesting blend and I’m happy to finish off the sample, but I don’t think I need to stock this.

This blend is wonderful. My student who’s obsessed with the Titanic wanted something “Titanic-y” for his birthday. I asked his mother (he’s six, so a black tea blend isn’t ideal for a young child his age) if she likes tea, but she doesn’t; therefore, I bought the tea, but gave him the tin—which is very cool.

The tea is magical. When looking for a good black/oolong tea blend, this is what I want. It’s rich, yet earthy. I like it as is (which is rare), but my wife thinks that it pairs well with a touch of sugar and cream.

(Side Note: I bought this tea prior to Christmas, and drank a few cups within a week. I just now finished it while eating an anise & almond pizzelle that my mother made for us, and it was the proper thing to have with it. The anise helped enrich the blend, and actually enhanced the flavor of the pizzelle. I will definitely buy this again soon!)