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so last night, i couldn’t leave well enough alone after my cozy Candy Cane green tea to ease into sleep, so i brewed up a cup of Paris at 12:30 in the morning. haha.

today, i decided to try its twin: blackcurrant ‘seemingly blueberry’ jam!!! this, my friends, is Paris in its birthday suit! if only for the fact that it contains no bergamot, vanilla or caramel aside from the blackcurrant; they taste pretty much identical!

i was lucky enough to find a 50-bag box of this at Fairway for $5.49! what? i’m lucky to find boxes of 20 for upwards of $3 but i digress.. the Harney & Sons tea gods were shining down on me…what a great find. they also had some of the classics such as Earl Grey, as well as Hot Cinnamon Spice & Organic Green with Citrus and Ginkgo….all in boxes of 50 for 5.49. what an economical way to sample some of their teas. i’m impressed.

since i knew that blackcurrant was the key flavor in Paris, i thought, why not try their Blackcurrant? i figured i couldn’t go wrong; i figured right. really, if i didn’t know any better, i would think this was Paris. i also wouldn’t know it wasn’t loose leaf!

whatever they put in their bags is of very high quality, at least judging by this box. i’m inclined to throw my hands up in the air because i just struck gold with some of my favorite tea!

the color of the liquor is a gorgeous amber red that darkens pretty quickly, and the taste is just delicious. it’s luscious and fruity, with berries all around. i think the only thing you won’t get from the teabags that you would in the loose leaf is the abundantly fragrant experience upon opening the bag.

this is actually delicious.

after my 2 cups of matcha today & my veggie marathon (i love vegetables!) replete with supplements of Spirulina, turmeric & Neem, i was quite full and couldn’t really fit more tea. lol.

for dinner i made a spinach salad with basil-infused olive oil from Colavita (my new favorite thing in life) to which i added a generous sprinkling of salt, lots of cracked black pepper and topped it off with toasted almonds & coconut flakes. i know that might sound bizarre but it is actually amazing. toasted almonds are everything. also, while in the toaster- there is such a small window of time during which they toast & get perfectly dark around the edges just before burning! i have mastered this art.

sometimes i’ll add Jyoti’s Jaipur Karhi to the salad in place of dressing & it’ll be this perfectly yummy, tangy, spicy & coconutty experience with mustard seeds (!!!) and the toasted almonds are just the crowning glory. i really need to stop talking about toasted almonds.

anyway, after my salad i had a cup of Eden’s organic Hojicha, which i love dearly. it tastes like dark roasted popcorn omg. maybe slightly burnt popcorn. in a sort of wheatish reed kind of way. then a while after that i was feeling sleepy so i made me a cup of this!

this is the exact same thing as Candy Cane Lane by Celestial Seasonings, which i also have. when i first got it during the holiday season, i remember thinking it was nice, but just an ordinary mint tea. now i think it’s really amazing and great before bed. i also realize that there is vanilla in this along with the peppermint and i think i can perceive some cinnamon as well, thinking back on Nutcracker Sweet. when i add honey to this, it comes pretty close to tasting like a candy cane! which is odd that i should be excited, considering i don’t really eat candy canes around Christmas. but okay, it works for this tea!

tummy-soothing, comforting & inviting to sleep. i guess that’s why mint is a key ingredient in all CS’s sleepytime blends!!

i started off the day with an invigorating cup of stone ground matcha. it really is the green tea equivalent of a hearty English breakfast or Kenyan CTC. my teaspoon wasn’t exactly heaping, but more than level, so i added more matcha this time and less water. the result was a dark, creamy-looking sage green. i added a tbsp and 1/2 of brown sugar, which totally cut the minerality & canceled out the bitterness. the aroma was ‘caramelly’ sweet & smelled of brown sugar enveloped in green tea! in other words, i could smell the brown sugar, but it was really nice with the matcha base! then i added soy milk, which gave this a creamy depth and more body with an extra touch of nutty sweetness. needless to say, i totally don’t have a craving for a strong black or dessert tea (not even my usual Nutcracker Sweet!)….this really hit the spot! i’m beside myself.

to think, this is essentially a shot of chlorophyll!! thank god for additives.

so i just had a cup of this- but i made it latte style!!

i’ve been drinking matcha for a while now, and i of course love the fact that it is chlorophyll-rich and nutrient-dense, so i am willing to overlook (rather, tolerate) the slightly bitter chalkiness to this very grassy green tea powder.

prepare to be in commune with Mother Earth! yes, it’s grassy, but i’m not sure this is the finest grade of matcha. the color is not as bright as Red Leaf’s or Teavana’s. i’ve heard it said that truly fine matcha should have a nice, verdant color. this one’s a muted olive green. not that i mind, so long as it’s drinkable. although a compromise in color could indicate a compromise in nutrients (i presume?)

straight, this is an exercise in tolerance, unless you’re going for that raw grass experience. as a latte (in my case, soy milk & brown sugar, no frothing) it’s quite yummy! it’s a vanillary grass that is creamy and pleasant. after adding the brown sugar, the aroma improved dramatically! the initial tinge of sweetness of the grassy minerality seemed to have transformed to something, well….sweeter! it was nice, although i should probably add the disclaimer that it takes a lot to make me run in the face of vegetation. i like my greens any which way, and i will tolerate earthy or bitter notes (not that i actively seek them out!)- especially for the sake of health benefits.

i’ve had this by itself many times, and i must say, dressed up with milk & sugar (like the Starbucks matcha latte, which is yummy!) it is much better. on its own, you get a ‘wet stone’, earthy kind of spinach. as this is ground, and hence, more potent than the leaf, it is bitter, which i imagine is par for the course. or is it? should matcha have any bitterness to it whatsoever?

i’m glad to cut my teeth on this one, but hope to move onto greener pastures. ;)

look forward to exploring Red Leaf & beyond!

this is really yummy!

a great blueberry-tasting green tea. the hibiscus & rose hips are instrumental in giving this a fruity tartness (along with bilberry, a close relative of the blueberry), that is all-around pleasant. for some reason, i’m getting a subtle lemongrass note that gives this a slight citrus-y tang. with honey this is even better, though it’s just as delicious without.

i remember purchasing this way back in 2010 because it had ‘blueberry’ in the title & i decided to try my luck. it turned out to be delicious. it’s a pretty exact replication of the flavor it claims to be. Ah, Blueberry. it just agrees with me. and for that i am happy.

ETA: i recently repurchased a box of this in 2014- so the review is for that. tastes just as delicious now as it did then. well done, Yogi.

my pound arrived! my pound arrived!!!

due to hostile situations with certain controlling family members, i am forced to keep half my tea collection in my bedroom. i don’t see why it can’t just breathe in the dining room and proceed to grow up the wall, but some people, as i said, are controlling.

so upstairs this went, and since i didn’t yet want to put it in (or on top) of the storage bin, i put it on my bed. on the pillow. Omg Paris-scented pillows. Pillows stuffed with Paris. Tea Pillow ™. is this already a thing?

sleep with this glorious aroma at night, lazily inhale this to the land of your dreams, wake up to it 8 hrs later, then take your pillow-sized sachet & empty some of its contents into a complimentary Yixing and voilà!

i can’t see how this wouldn’t be a great idea for luxury accommodations at 5 star hotels. Peninsula & Mandarin Oriental, you’re welcome.

hibiscus, oh dear.

i can see how it’s been used to great effect to create the illusion of blueberry, along with the help of orange peel, lemongrass, rosehips, açai berry, blackcurrant, citric acid, and licorice (powder).

tart comes to mind! very tart. this tastes pretty much like Celestial Seasonings True Blueberry. i remember loving that one initially (which was years ago) because i loved blueberry flavors and still do. somehow, the mix of ingredients suddenly seemed too tart and artificial for my tastes. i feel that with this tea, too.

but i’m happy with the inclusion of superfruit(s), namely açai & other berry extracts.
i’ll treat this as a medicinal/preventative/herbal tisane with a somewhat unpleasant, but necessary tang.
here’s hoping for health!

on the positive side, the tea bag smells wonderful & i think the bright blue packet is quite fitting for the ultra fruity blueberry persona of the dry leaf.

ETA: if you ask me, the best iteration of Blueberry i’ve ever tasted has got to be Harney & Sons Paris, as well as their Blackcurrant. in fact, my impression of blueberry (at least in flavored things) is probably more ‘blackcurrant’ than actual blueberry. Blackcurrant is pretty amazing, and seemingly more ‘blueberry’ given my conflation of the two!

bravo, bravo!! this is a peachy green tea done RIGHT. finally!

the aroma of the dry leaf in the tea bag is soo delightful, so fresh peachy, like juicy peach & while you can’t smell the ginger so much, it really comes out once the tea is steeped.

it gives a nice bite, but nothing i’d call overwhelming. this isn’t ginger in the sense of say, Turmeric Ginger by Rishi! then again this isn’t loose leaf format, so that may account for the mellowness of the ginger but either way, it’s fine with me.

i do get some of the peach in the flavor, maybe more toward the end of the sip? but yes, it comes through nicely with the ginger (although not as strongly as it did in the dry leaf). quite frankly, i’m impressed. now i feel i can safely venture out to invest in some kind of loose leaf peachy green, perhaps with ginger in the mix! they go nicely together!

not sure if there’s any green tea in this blend besides matcha, and if there is, i’m not sure what kind. but the flavor is really nice. you sense that it’s there, but it’s not overly grassy. this has merely been dusted with matcha. but i’m very happy as i’m a matcha fan and love it for its health benefits and the fact that it has major amounts of chlorophyll (great for cleansing the blood!)

ETA: this totally made up for my horrific experience with Tazo’s Peachy Green. i guess i can consider this a reparation.

as with all Ahmad’s offerings, the fruit flavoring is done up to a T (a tea!).

unfortunately, i wasn’t exactly craving apricot at the time i tried this, but it was still a lovely flavor. i added brown sugar & soy milk (as per my usual).

after all was said and steeped, i got the impression of apricot vanilla ice cream! given that description alone, i should probably be playing jazz flute and walking on tables, but it just. didn’t. hit the spot.

to be honest, i was craving CS Nutcracker Sweet (butter caramel) & Blackcurrant by Harney & Sons at the time. should have gone with my cravings.

it is worth noting that this tastes nearly identical to Ahmad’s Peach & Passion Fruit. perhaps i should do a steep-off so i can report back.