Received this one from Keychange! I’m quite excited to make this my official first Harney & Sons tea!
This was in the big pile of black teas sitting on my kitchen table waiting to be tried already, but I selected it was (probably) my last tea of 2013 mostly because it’s got bergamot in it, and bergamot often seems to be nice on a sore throat – and I’m quickly noticing that it seems like I am going to be starting the new year absolutely sick!
My lips are horribly chapped, swollen, and cracked and my throat is terribly sore. I also appear to be losing my voice, which Tre so lovingly called a “New Year’s Blessing”. Hah. So, I’m eating a large bowl of maple pecan frozen yogurt to soothe my sore throat while waiting for my tea to cool.
This one is in sachets – so I just used one satchet for 10 oz. of boiling water, steeped for around three minutes? To be totally honest, I didn’t really looking up the suggested steeping parameters before starting to make it. My bad. I guess after looking them up, it seems like if nothing else my brewing method will result in a watered down/slightly under steeped cup. I’d take that over an oversteeped one 9/10 times.
The smell is delightful; creamy caramel and fruity bergamot mingling joyously together. It’s very strong, and so aromatic! Yummy! I can hear Tre moving about in his room, and I wouldn’t be totally surprised if it was because he can smell this one! It’s one of those kinds of teas…
Taste wise, it’s definitely fruity, creamy bergamot. I was having a little trouble placing what kind of fruit exactly; it was so familiar! So, I went back to the Harney site and did some reading. They describe it as black currant; and yes, it’s that exactly! The black currant especially lingers in the aftertaste. I was expecting a little bit more caramel – yes, there’s caramel but it’s more subtle than I was anticipating.
The base is kind of… I don’t know. It’s nice? I’m not totally sold on it, though. Actually the whole tea is kind of the same way; it’s nice but I remain unsold. I still have two more sachets from the generous Keychange though, so hopefully that’ll be enough for me to wrap my head around this one. I’m also taking into consideration the fact I’m relatively sick and might be tasting this kind of oddly.
Urgh… One hour left until the new year! And, I just want to sleep…
Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!
