Harney & Sons

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.

Sweet molasses and vanilla.

Sweet, chocolate, rainsettes. Much sweeter and maltier than other golden monkeys.

Smokey and warm. Lightly sweet. More of a traditional black tea than other golden monkeys

July Sipdown Prompt – a tea you love the color of

I had this on my wishlist because of CameronB’s review and my daughter saw it and bought it for me!

It is a beautiful red and does NOT taste like hibiscus! It is fruity and light. We drank it by itself and also mixed half and half with decaf iced tea. Both were great. Not too tart, just fresh and just right.

I enjoyed this more than other smoky blends I’ve had. It was smoky and meaty, but not too much. I could also taste a little alcohol tinge. It all went together pretty pleasantly! With milk and sugar, I’d actually consider drinking this one again, though I passed the TTB along without saving more.

August Sipdown Challenge Prompt – tea with the smallest amount left

Sipdown

I had only one sachet left so I got a prompt fulfilled and a sipdown!

I have been drinking this for breakfast regularly. The black tea base is really the main thing here, and the orange flavor is the second to me with a little vanilla on its heels. I don’t think I detected much of the ginger at all and I did not find it floral.

This is a good strength for breakfast for me, landing shy of builder’s tea and yet it isn’t one of those flavored teas that make you ask, “Where’s the base?”

Daughter who lives with us surprised me with a gift of this tea and Mango Fruit Blend. I had it with breakfast this morning. I had read the reviews and promptly forgotten what everyone said about it.

Part of the way through drinking it, it hit me that it had a strong Tower of London vibe without really being that similar. You could easily keep both on shelf for their differences.

The base was really nice for breakfast, not thin or too high-pitched. The fruits are rich and deep ones. I did not detect rose or ginger at all, but I was eating at the time, plus I had treated it to my tea stretching parameters of steeping it twice in a row and combining the two, so that may have toned down the ginger in comparison with the other flavors that were being brought out.

Very tasty, and so glad I got to try it! Mike, please make this available in loose leaf!

Created a separate entry for this, because it’s actually a different blend than their regular Indigo Punch loose leaf. Picked up a package of 3 bags out of curiosity, when reordering some of their fruit tisanes.

This one is also a bit watery when cold-steeped. even though the color is very vibrant. I get a bit of raspberry and hibiscus with an underlying pea flower floral mustiness. Hint of honey flavor perhaps?

They say each bag is supposed to make 2 quarts, but I steeped the contents of a bag in half that amount of water and it’s not very flavorful. I’ll have to try steeping this hot and icing it, to see if it performs better that way. So far, not impressed.

I really need to get back in my tea game. Still slacking. I just keep going for the coffee packets because they seem easier in the AM. This one is good. Nothing special. I found myself putting more sugar in it than the last variety of black tea I had- not good. This one can get a tinge bitter if overstepped, but nothing too bad. It’s ok though, it’s the bigger broken pieces. Probably wouldn’t go out my way to try it again.

Random impulse purchase! I was restocking on some fruit tisanes from Harney and was intrigued by this new tea. It’s reasonably priced and the leaves are big and twisty, plus I haven’t had many Malawian teas.

It definitely reminds me of an Assam, it has those raisin and molasses/brown sugar notes to it and a touch of astringency. Apricot or plum fruit leather and tobacco are present as well, and a hint of floral on the back end. I don’t know if I would order more, since I’m not really an Assam drinker, but it’s enjoyable and I’ll happily sip through the tin. Plus it’s fun to try new things! :)

After an unsatisfying experience with Black Cask Bourbon, which I expected to taste like O’Connor’s Cream was was instead a weak lapsang with a thin body, i decided not to try Japanese Whisky, especially since it seemed that sample sizes were always sold out, but Youngest sent me a number of sachets recently! Many thanks!

I didn’t read the description closely before steeping so once again I was expecting a boozy tasting tea, but this time the non-boozy tea was really tasty.

I like Lapsang, and I like it smoky. I do prefer for it to have a substantial base because otherwise it just tastes like the rinse water from an ashtray to me. It is:also awesome paired with ice cream.

So this one…this is smoky, but the smoke flavor doesn’t rise immediately into the sinuses like some Lapsangs. The smoke stays low, covers the sides and back of the tongue. There is a bit of mineral vibe on the tongue, like licking slate or shale, but not as dry. A briskness lingers after, yet there is a silky feel to the body of the tea as well on the way down, followed by the briskness that makes you want another swallow and another swallow.

Leagues better than Black Cask Bourbon in my opinion. Just keep in mind that this is not a whisky flavored tea, but rather a tea that was smoked over the wood chips of old whisky barrels. The memory of the whisky remains in the wood and flavors the tea in an entirely different way.

Nice.

Sipdown! (7 | 56)

The last of the Harney fruit tisanes! This doesn’t taste like mango at all to me, maybe a tiny bit like dried mango slices? It’s really good cold-steeped though (with a touch of sugar), sweet and fruity with a gentle tartness to it. It’s definitely on the lighter end of the hibiscus spectrum, as far as Harney’s offerings go. I’m trying to decide what fruit this actually reminds me of, and maybe it’s closer to apricot mixed with orange and a bit of strawberry? It’s tasty, and I’ll be ordering more (along with most of Harney’s fruit blends).

Sipdown! (34 | 47)

Counting this for May since generally I count it as a sipdown when I use the last of a tea to make a cold steep, not necessarily when I finish the actual container of cold steeped tea, if that makes sense. So I made this bottle yesterday, but am drinking it today.

Another really nice one for cold-steeping from Harney. This is on the heavier side when it comes to hibiscus, but to me that makes sense for something with tart flavors like orange and passion fruit. Plus I add some sugar to my cold brews generally, so it ends up being balanced. Nice and tangy with orange leading the way, and passion fruit adding a tropical note. It’s more citrusy than tropical overall, but doesn’t taste like Tang, like their Blood Orange version does IMO.

Another likely reorder, though I also just got several new fruit tisanes from Tealyra to try out, so we shall see!

Sipdown! (29 | 42)

Another one finished from Harney. I’ve been sipping a lot of cold-steeped “tea” lately, and obviously it doesn’t last very long when you’re using 20g for each pitcher. But yay, more sipdowns!

This is very tasty cold-steeped with a bit of sugar. As Harney’s fruit tisanes go, this has a bit less hibiscus than some of the others. Just enough to give a bit of tartness and dimension to the juicy peach flavor, which tastes closer to canned peaches than gummy candy.

Waiting until I finish all of my Harney fruit tins to decide which ones to reorder, but I’ll definitely be getting either this one or Mango, as I feel they are a bit similar. I’ll have to wait until I sip Mango down to decide though. :P

Sipdown! (28 | 41)

Cold-steeped. This was my least favorite of the Harney fruit tisanes, though I wouldn’t say it was bad, per se. The orange is just a bit too close to vitamin C tablets for my liking, or even Tang. It also gets slightly bitter, I assume from the orange peel steeping for so long.

Still refreshing and enjoyable, but I definitely prefer their Orange Passion Fruit over this one.

Sipdown! (26 | 39)

This is really nice cold-steeped with a bit of sweetener. It has a nice fresh raspberry flavor that goes so well with the tart hibiscus. The mint isn’t overpowering, just a supporting flavor adding a bit of sweetness and interest. Super refreshing for the beginnings of summer here in Austin.

Will definitely reorder this one next time, and possibly some of their other flavors too. I’ve been quite happy with Harney’s fruit tisanes, but I wish they offered a refill bag that was less than a pound ha ha. It feels wasteful to me to keep ordering tins…

So I got the loose leave version of vanilla comoro, suggested by ashmanra. This does taste better than the tea sachets. The astringency is way lower and it almost taste like a light fruity tea though still not very black tea like.

I definitely recommend getting the loose leave over the sachets.

Sachets: 81
Loose leave: 85

sold for $13/ 4oz

https://www.harney.com/products/vanilla-comoro?variant=46871345926

Decaf vanilla black tea, I bought the tea sachet version a couple years ago. The tea smells a lot like boba milk tea but doesn’t taste like one. Being decaffeinated it sacrificed some of its flavors, it doesn’t have wood, floral, or honey notes like regular black teas. On its own it tastes like slightly astringent water with vanilla scent, this tea can make milk taste good and not really the other way around.

sold for $9.45/20 sachets

https://www.harney.com/products/vanilla-comoro