I’m back on Steepster again!
So the American Harney & Sons website recently started shipping to my country, Denmark, which is great news since I now get to try a lot of new teas from H&S that were previously unavailable to me (the European website has only a fraction of the teas that the American website has). However, it’s not so great news for my wallet :P
Anyway – Scottish Morn is one of the ones I have always wanted to try. It’s a blend of mainly Assam CTC with bigger leaves of Assam and Ceylon, and it’s one hefty cup o’ tea! It will definitely wake you up and slap you in the face in the morning!
This tea’s aroma is kind of muted. You get that classic malty Assam black tea flavor and not much else, but that is to be expected from a tea of this style. It’s not a tea you should get if you are looking for a complex and highly aromatic tea. The appeal of it is its body, strength and briskness and it’s a 5/5 in all those aspects. The briskness and body is right up there with some of the strongest teas you can get (like Yorkshire Tea for instance).
It’s actually similar in flavor to H&S Irish Breakfast tea, which consists of small broken Assam leaves instead of CTC pellets. But this Scottish Morn tea is, due to being CTC, even stronger in terms of body and briskness but also a little less aromatic than their Irish Breakfast tea.
It has some bitterness as well without being too bitter. I add a good splash of whole milk which is in my opinion the only type of milk that can stand up to this tea. It makes it nice and creamy and tames the bitterness and briskness a little. The color of the tea before you add milk is a dark, dark reddish brown. It almost looks black in my tall Harney & Sons mug. Once you add milk, it becomes a dark beige with a noticeable reddish hue. As dark as a cup of coffee with milk but with a reddish tint.
All in all, this is the perfect tea if you are looking for a very strong, malty and plain black tea to get you going in the morning. This is one I will definitely reorder when I run out – no doubt!
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Brisk, Malt, Malty, Tannic, Tea, Thick
Preparation
Comments
Thank you, Cameron :-)
I have bought a few new teas from Harney & Sons recently, so I will be posting reviews regularly for some time.
Michelle: Sounds great! For me, it’s definitely a morning type of tea, but I think it would be nice in the afternoon also with some scones, clotted cream and jam or with Scottish shortbread. Although H&S Scottish Afternoon would make more sense in that case because of the name.
ashmanra: Thank you so much! Yeah, it’s exciting that I now have a lot more Harney teas to choose from. I already want to place another order. I would like to also try their Mango Black, Boston, Palm Court, Russian Country, Special English Breakfast and Kenilworth Ceylon among others. Maybe also Apple Cinnamon. Any experience with those?
Martin Bednář: Thank you very much! Yeah, it seems like most people here are either American or Canadian :)
I think I have tried all of those at least once with the exception of AOH Hibernian. Boston and Palm Court have been repeat orders, Kenilworth was good as I prefer the lower grown Ceylon’s, and Apple Cinnamon was enjoyed by those who like cinnamon Red Hot candy. I don’t like really spicy things so it was not a favorite for me, but I think most people like it.
ashmanra: Thank you very much for the comment and the info. Good to know. Keep in mind, I am talking about their regular Apple Cinnamon flavored black tea, not the Hot Apple Spice which is very much like Hot Cinnamon Spice (not my favorite). It’s too sweet and a little too much like cinnamon gum to me. Do you think the regular Apple Cinnamon is like this too? According to the ingredient list, it just contains ground cinnamon and cinnamon pieces, no artificial cinnamon flavor like in their Hot Cinnamon/Hot Apple Spice teas.
Welcome back! :D
Thank you, Cameron :-)
I have bought a few new teas from Harney & Sons recently, so I will be posting reviews regularly for some time.
I find this is a good travel tea to ward off the jet lag!
Welcome back, and such exciting news about Harney Tea!
Welcome back! Always happy to see European members around!
Michelle: Sounds great! For me, it’s definitely a morning type of tea, but I think it would be nice in the afternoon also with some scones, clotted cream and jam or with Scottish shortbread. Although H&S Scottish Afternoon would make more sense in that case because of the name.
ashmanra: Thank you so much! Yeah, it’s exciting that I now have a lot more Harney teas to choose from. I already want to place another order. I would like to also try their Mango Black, Boston, Palm Court, Russian Country, Special English Breakfast and Kenilworth Ceylon among others. Maybe also Apple Cinnamon. Any experience with those?
ashmanra: And AOH Hibernian Blend
Martin Bednář: Thank you very much! Yeah, it seems like most people here are either American or Canadian :)
Welcome back! (:
Nattie: Thank you so much! I appreciate your comment :)
I think I have tried all of those at least once with the exception of AOH Hibernian. Boston and Palm Court have been repeat orders, Kenilworth was good as I prefer the lower grown Ceylon’s, and Apple Cinnamon was enjoyed by those who like cinnamon Red Hot candy. I don’t like really spicy things so it was not a favorite for me, but I think most people like it.
ashmanra: Thank you very much for the comment and the info. Good to know. Keep in mind, I am talking about their regular Apple Cinnamon flavored black tea, not the Hot Apple Spice which is very much like Hot Cinnamon Spice (not my favorite). It’s too sweet and a little too much like cinnamon gum to me. Do you think the regular Apple Cinnamon is like this too? According to the ingredient list, it just contains ground cinnamon and cinnamon pieces, no artificial cinnamon flavor like in their Hot Cinnamon/Hot Apple Spice teas.
Ah, then I have not had that one! Sounds like I should order a sample!