Diamond Jubilee

Tea of the afternoon…..

Of course I could not resist this one. Part of the whole reason for my horrible experience trying to order online with a long standing English company over the holidays was for their Diamond Jubilee Tea. When Harney posted about their blend, I immediately ordered as I was getting painfully low on Paris. Of course, I am very pleased with this.

First of all, the tin is so elegant. I love the muted color tones they chose. Pale aqua, cream, gold, and a muted berry tone. Beautiful. I opened the tin and was immediately drawn to the scent of grapefruit paired with bergamot. The bergamot is light with the addition of sweet grapefruit. For those of you who are fans of Earl Grey Supreme, it is like EGS with a grapefruit kicker. Perfectly lovely. All I can think of that would make this tea more wonderful, is if it came in loose leaf. Please, Mr. Harney?

12 oz filtered water at boiling, 4 minutes, lightly sweetened.

Edit to add: I will no longer lament the loss of a refill of Countess Grey. This is so much better!

Y-U-M! I am tasting a lemon drop Earl Grey Supreme. I know this is supposed to be grapefruit essence, but I taste a sweet, delightful lemony flavor plus all the flavors I know and love from EGS. I’m crazy for it! The extra bit of citrus definitely gives this tea pizazz, and the usual quality tea leaves from EGS are always a welcome treat. I love those silver tips!

I got the sachets for the beauteous tin, but if Harney starts offering this in the one pound bag size, that is the way I will purchase it. I have no complaints about the sachets, though.

I’m on my second steep, and it’s still flavorful and citrusy. I think I’ll make a third one and cool it for an afternoon iced tea.

A friend came to tea at my house, got hooked on tea, and just had me order a huge box from Harney and Sons for her! Today it was my turn to be Invited to tea, as I delivered her new stash.
She mentioned that she is going out of town and is rather distressed because she needs her good tea but doesn’t have any teabags to take traveling.

Well, voila! I happened to bring this sample with me in case she wanted to try one more new thing.
This tea only comes in sachets right now, other than the loose leaf sample. If she liked it, we would simply order again and get her the tin of sachets!

This was absolutely delicious! I wonder if this is really just Earl Grey Supeme (my favorite Earl from Harney) with grapefruit flavor added? The bergamot is very light, as in VERY light. My friend and her daughters all loved it, and apparently so did her beagle, who kept trying to get the envelope out of my purse!

Is it too soon to start begging Michael Harney to make it available loose leaf? We will even accept it by the pound, right? And maybe people can order it by the ounce from the Millerton shop? Russel, can you make puppy dog eyes at him for us? Thanks!

I am neither a huge fan of Earl Grey nor of citrusy teas. However, despite both those things being present, this is hitting the spot today! The black tea predominates and the other stuff just attends the reception.

Another light and springy picker-upper for charter members of the I Hate January club.

Thank you to Em for sending this to me in my holiday swap package! This is one that I’ve had on my shopping list and I’ve wanted to try! So happy that I finally get to do just that!

I really like this … I love that the black tea base tastes very rich and flavorful, and the crisp, vibrant flavor of the citrus lightens this richness just enough. It’s a lovely marriage of flavors. I’m almost surprised that I like this as much as I do, because this is a bit more tart than I usually like a tea to be, but, it all just works together so well.

Thanks again, Em!

Brewed this just short of boiling (i.e. some steam/vapor but no whistling happening with the kettle), one teaspoon to 8 oz. This is possibly the best-smelling EG I’ve tried: I love the smell of grapefruit and this is gentle and slightly sweet. It mixes with the bergamot well. I’m also close to sipdown with this one! About one cup left, and I’ll be sad to see it go.

This tea sparkles. Not literally of course, but something about the feeling of it reminds me of drinks like ginger ale. It’s really refreshing while also feeling like some kind of special treat. There’s no bitterness to it at all, which is surprising because grapefruit is one of those things I rarely like because of the bitterness. I’m really glad I took a chance on this sample with my last order! Upping the rating.

I’ve been asked by a friend of mine to bring a cheesecake tomorrow for lunch and I don’t feel like I have the strength to prepare it…so I have some pressure as I cannot spoil it …she thinks I am a good cheesecake cooker…not sure to be really today.

I am ill today and I was searching for a good starter to push me to make this cake…I need a comforting tea and remembered Nicole sent me this one a long time ago and I never had it …shame on me !
This is a lovely kind of Lady Grey. I have to recognize that I was expecting something stronger especially as it is a blend dedicated to the British Queen and remembering the English teas experience I had I’ve been surprised by the lightness of Diamond Jubilee.
Anyway this medium bodied tea is absolutely pleasant with its notes of lemon mainly and of course grapefruit which gives the blend a touch just a touch of tartness very welcome.
Next time I’ll let it steep a bit longer to see if the tea base can come out a little stronger.

Thank you Nicole for sharing

I received a bit of this from my swap with Josie Jade. Thanks a lot! This one is unexpectedly tasty! I’ve been having a lot of lackluster experiences with earl greys lately and I sort of thought of this tea as a fancied up earl. Not to mention that I’ve not been enjoying black teas so much lately in general. So I wasn’t expecting too much. I was totally surprised to like this one a lot.

First of all the dry tea is interesting. Black CTC leaves with a few long silver needle leaves scattered in. I didn’t know there would be white tea in this. The fresh citrusy scent is also super appealing. None of that fakey furniture polish smelling stuff that I had been drinking. It’s lighter than just bergamot, which I will attribute to the lemon and grapefruit. The tea itself is brisk and medium bodied. Just very enjoyable all around. I had wanted to try using coconut milk as a creamer in this tea, but it tastes so good plain that I didn’t want to add anything. But then I reasoned that I could add coconut milk to my first steep and have the second steep plain. And I have to say, coconut milk, while giving less of a thick texture, is perfectly tasty, if a bit distracting.

In conclusion, this is a blended black tea I would not mind having more of. Which is highly unusual for me as I prefer chinese blacks. British style teas tend to be interchangeable for me. I’m glad I’ve found the exception.

SimplyJenW spoils me, sending me so many tea samples. :) This was a surprise inclusion to my sample of the Dammann Fréres Earl Grey. Thanks for sending it along!

So despite the fact that I love a lot of Harney blends, and some of my favorite teas are Harney teas, I have never been too keen on their Earls. Way too light in the bergamot department, and at least the last time I had them I didn’t care for the bases. I’ve tried several different varieties to no avail, so we’ll see how this one fares! The dried leaf at least smells nice and citrusy.

Well I have to say that I definitely enjoy this one. It is definitely a lightly flavored tea, but the citrus is nice and fruity, and it seems to be a good blend of a faint bergamot with other citrus. I’m not sure if I just like this particular base, or if through my newfound appreciation of unflavored black teas I have come to enjoy the base they use for their Earls in general. Is it enough to make me revisit their other Earls? Perhaps, but like I said they’re all really delicately flavored and when I want an Earl, I want bergamot in a big way, so I doubt they’ll ever top my list in that department.

Made this one as a cold brew. Brewed for about 26 hours. It is very strong bergamot. There is definitely a lemon taste (like lemon juice) and I get a peppery taste that you get with the rind of a grapefruit. I am super happy with this one hot or cold.