Harney & Sons

TTB tea! This is quite mild. I taste a bit of green tea and a bit of a floral flavor. It’s comforting and pretty smooth cold. There’s just a hint of astringency. It’s not my sort of tea, but it’s not bad for what it’s going for.

Shocked I haven’t had this before. It tasted soooo familiar but I guess not. Even the leaf felt super familiar. But anyway, this was a nice fuller leaf. Lots of stone fruit notes. Pretty good. Can get bitter easily so it’s one you should be more careful with when steeping. Nice solid tea.

I purchased this from my local apple orchard’s gift store a while ago, and just recently bought a second container because it was so good. Autumn in a tea bag, truly. I can taste so many of the flavors and they all tell the story of a cool fall morning where I step out onto the patio in a warm fluffy bathrobe and watch the leaves dancing in the wind. There is a delightful plethora of cinnamon along with a citrus/orange flavor and lots of spices (clove, perhaps allspice, maybe cardamom). My only criticism would be that I personally find it just a bit too sweet, but that is easily overlooked given the delicious flavors.

There just isn’t much flavor in this tea at all. I’ve given it several tries and I wonder if I got an old tin? Mainly a flavor of cardboard and dust. I’ve tried increasing the amount of tea, and that didn’t help. Out it goes.

I don’t think this tea has a berry flavor at all. And it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, which makes me wonder about the “natural” strawberry and raspberry flavors. The underlying matcha and the green tea are not great. I’ve given it several tries and I’m tossing it out. Supremely disappointed with Harney. Won’t be buying from them again.

I bought this tea last year and i have to say that even though it was in a closed tin, it didn’t last. Just no flavor; as I recall, I didn’t like the aftertaste before.

I’m not enthused about trying this tea. I do not like mixing citrus with green tea. But for the sake of adding to my tasting repertoire… Here we go.
The moment you open the bag, you are hit with citrus notes. It is a bit medicinal but not entirely unpleasant. When the ginko leaves fall off trees, they are quite pungent—almost repulsive—but thankfully, they kept it light in this one. The infusing aroma is lovely. Like citrus on a passionate tropical breeze. There are no steeping instructions on this bag. At one minute the citrus flavor is strongest. As expected. I am curious as to what citrus. Clearly, they used a mix but which ones? Perhaps a smidge of yuzu mixed with a bit of bergamot and key lime rounded off nicely with a whisp of lemon. This would make a nice lemonade. But it is not something I would purchase on the regular.

I only read the description after I purchased the tea..but it’s from 400 year old trees. Pretty cool and I have never tried a tea like that…It’s actually really good. I could very clearly taste the fruity notes and I don’t think I had a tea before where the fruity taste jumped out so clearly. All I kept saying was WOW. Love it, wanted to buy more but it was sold out…

Disappointing. I prefer a strong dark chocolate flavor and a strong black tea; this isn’t it. I find the flavor quite weak, even when I add tea leaves. Worst of all, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Tossing it out, not worth drinking.

October Sipdown Prompt – a tea with maple syrup or flavor

A friend brought a couple of sachets of this tea for me to try and I had it for my afternoon snack yesterday. I made it latte style with about half water and half milk and sweetened it with maple syrup.

It was really delicious, but masala chai lovers will probably not consider it to be a real chai. This is very chocolately with mild spices and absolutely delicious as a latte and satisfying as a dessert alternative for me. I don’t love clove or black peppercorns in tea, so this is my kind of chai.

Courtney sent me this tea, thank you and as getting H&S teas here is a bit hard (a narrow selection); I am glad to have an opportunity to give it a try. I just looked and yes, I can get a tin of this, but it is a bit too much.

Anyway, it is a mellow black tea with stonefruit flavour. I am though not really sure if I can point out apricot after first session. The scent is strong and can be offputting for some for sure. I have been expecting also more complex fruity flavour — it was somehow flat and maybe a wee artificial to me. Just being fruity, but not like a biting a fresh apricot with juicy and mouthcoating experience.

While it’s not bad in conclusion, I probably expected more; especially with my previous experience with H&S teas.

Never had this type of tea before….it came packaged a little different. It was a tin with a ton of different little baggies and each bag had four gems. I was trying to use one “gem” per cup but it just didn’t have enough flavor so I opted for two and that was so much better. It’s a nice mild tea flavor…holds up to milk and sugar. More on the mellow and mild side but don’t let it overstep because it can get astringent. I liked it though.

When drinking martinis, one of my favorites included (the now discontinued) Absolut Kurant vodka, which was an honest-tasting, un-sweetened, blackcurrant infusion. I love blackcurrant, but not artificial blackcurrant flavoring, so Harney’s claim of a “delightful” aroma is a bit of a stretch for me. Because that is what hits my nose when I open up the tin of Paris, like a stampede of perfumed buffalos, even after half a decade of storage in my tea cabinet. I steeped the tetrahedral sachet of Paris in 8 oz. of 90°C alpine spring water, per the suggestion of user ashmanra, for the 5 min. directed by H&S.

Fortunately, the steeping drives off much of the blackcurrant power, and so in the first sip, it merely fills my sinuses with aroma of artificial currant and caramel. The vanilla sings in sotto voce at the back of my tongue, and the overall blend is quite pleasant. I can’t really suss-out the flavor of bergamot, nor can I clearly identify the base tea. Perhaps some of the fleeting floral notes are coming from the oolong that partly comprises the base. I find that I appreciate the lingering deep finish of vanilla and caramel quite a lot more than the initial punch in the nose by those heavy-handed top notes.

I think apricot or plum flavor might be a superior replacement to the black currant, if I were to blend something, hopefully allowing the oolong and bergamot to emerge. As much as I love the City of Paris, this isn’t really my cuppa tea. But, it might be yours!

Another tea that I am not adding to my cupboard. My friend brought this at the same time as the Vanilla Strawberry Hibiscus that tastes only of red rooibos and hibiscus to me and she said it tasted like booze and dirt to her. Lol

This one she liked a little better but said it just wasn’t a favorite and there are too many other things she would rather drink so she wanted me to try it and pass it on if I didn’t want it. I passed it on to the same padawan who got the Vanilla Strawberry. At least the tins are adorable.

This isn’t for me because I don’t love mint in tea except on rare occasions, like Tin Roof Teas Moroccan Mint which is yummmm. I don’t like much ginger in my tea, just a wee sparkle. And this was lemongrass and coconut heavy which are things I like but I didn’t find this combination and balance of things appealing. I took a few sips and poured it out.

Hopefully the person I gave it to will enjoy it, or pass it on to someone who will. I am sure it is a fine tea, just not to my tastes. The only one from this collection I was really interested in trying was the Honey Chamomile, mostly to see if I liked the ashwaganda and to see if it truly has a calming effect.

I am not adding this one to cupboard because I gave it away within 36 hours of it coming into my possession. A friend purchased it and didn’t like it, saying it tasted like booze instead of tea. She gave it to me, knowing I could pass it on if I didn’t want it.

I did try it, because I just tried Harney’s Thai Rooibos and I really like it – very much. I will probably buy it eventually, especially for tea sodas.

This, however, I will not buy. It is mostly a fist in the face of very woody Robitussinesque rooibos, boozy flavor, hibiscus, and very little vanilla or strawberry to me. So many teas and tisanes use hibiscus for strawberry flavored things and it just doesn’t work for me. If I had a blind tasting of this, I would have had no idea it was supposed to be strawberry or vanilla.

I tried it hot. Then I made a concentrated syrup of it to make tea soda and…it stills tastes like Robitussin. With fizz.

Not for me but I passed it on to a new tea padawan who does lots of evening tisanes and has liked rooibos in the past.

October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea with cinnamon or clove

I have said many times that I don’t love red rooibos but like green rooibos in flavored blends. I haven’t tried green rooibos plain. I did enjoy Caramel and Rum Rooibos from Lupicia and plain Rooibos from Fortnum was okay.

I have been giving tea samples to a lady I met a few months ago and yesterday she surprised me with some samples from her Harney order, including this tea. I went for this one today because there was the most of it and I didn’t expect to like it, but it is very good.

The cinnamon reminds me of Hot Cinnamon Spice but is milder. There is no clove – hooray! There is cardamom. Double hooray!

I drank one cup plain and made a latte with the rest of the pot, and I can see myself drinking this all winter. Sometimes when I make a latte I feel like there isn’t enough flavor of the tea blend left. This one is nearly half milk and there is still lots of cinnamon and cardamom flavor.

This is definitely a good chai type blend for me, as I just don’t love the ones with lots of clove and black pepper. Yums! This will be good to sip while sitting by the Christmas tree.

Summer travel and general craziness had me fall of
My tea game
So hard. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I am ready to jump back in. This is almost like the tea that comes in tea bags. It’s a good everyday basic. I liked it. No complaints. It does seem stronger or
Like it just has that kick go it. I probably would not repurchase- but its solid.

I bought this tea because two things I have are insomnia and a lingering cough from a bout of the flu. These are two things my lifestyle simply does not allow me to have, so my battery of defenses is excessive if not largely ineffectual.

So a deep sleep blend? Add to cart. Perhaps this tea will help me sleep. At this juncture, sweet dreams seem unrealistic, because the smell that confronted me upon opening the bag is frightening. The sachets are almost as sickly yellow as me and smell like I’m about to go on a very creative journey that’s waiting for me just beyond this steaming cup of Magic Pesto.

The steep is unexpectedly sweet. The basil is unholy. I feel like the tea is reviewing me faster than I can drink it. I’m looking forward to doing this 49 more times.

I’ve taken to calling this one “Ukrainian Country,” for obvious reasons. Purchased 1-lb bag of this 3 years ago, and still have maybe the last 1/4-lb hanging around. It’s been pretty good to me, and surprisingly not offensive to me as Assam is a key component and I typically do not like Assams. Not too smoky, and has the nice black breakfast tea profile I crave sometimes. If anything is most prominent in this mix, I think I feel the Ceylon vibes most – citrusy, malty, leathery, and a touch of sweetness.

The tea leaves themselves have a strong perfumy rose smell, which I personally like. However, when taking a sip I couldn’t taste much of the caramel or other flavours. It tastes more like a weak black tea. The rosey aroma is nice though.

Sip Down and Backlog

I’ve been so backlogged with tea reviews due to new work hours; which has thrown a wrench into my whole schedule. The time I usually added logs (Tuesday afternoon-ish) is now spent working. It’s truly an odd shift. Anyway, based on my notes, “The tea has a strong, almost savory hibiscus with a hint of pepper and cinnamon. The tea coats the throat with a warming feeling, as if I chewed a cough drop. Mulled Cider would be an interesting, iced tea, but it doesn’t seem ideal for summer with the lingering spices.”

Sipdown! (37 | 103)

This was the only fruit tisane from Harney that I hadn’t tried, so I figured I’d pick up a tin when I was reordering the other flavors.

Sadly, I don’t enjoy it as much as the others. I think it must be the blueberry flavoring that’s giving me a powdery note, which I sometimes get with mixed berry teas. It reminds me a bit of Smarties, and not in a good way. Not to say it’s bad, as I did finish the whole tin over the course of 4 or 5 cold-steeped bottles, it’s just not as nice as the others (IMO). Pretty tin though!

Lighter than other golden monkeys. After taste of a nilla wafer.