Tower of London

Slept in, husband surprised me with cuddling and a makeout session (sorry if that’s TMI; this is my tea journal…) and then said he was totally game for celebrating Cinco de Mayo the way we traditionally have (he doesn’t drink and tends to get annoyed at how ethnic pride days in the US are just an excuse for college kids to get drunk, rendering otherwise great hole-in-the-walls loud and frantic packed-to-the-gills zoos, so we try to find tiny relatively deserted taquerias that don’t serve alcohol to get our salsa verde on) despite having a mountain of tests to grade. Wound up at Caminos de Michoacan, a taqueria and panaderia in one over in Berclair (awesome time-warp neighborhood, feels like the ‘50s-’80s, working class families, no ugly McMansions or suburban isolation sprawl yet, etc.) we’d ony been to once before, years ago. Had lengua and al pastor tacos along with a bowl of pozole with all the fixings and horchata. Yum. On our way out we grabbed a ton of pastries and cookies (including one of my favorites, an anise-flavored pig-shaped cookie) and the entire bill was still something like $15 cheaper than it would’ve been at any of the more typical spots we frequent. Awesome.

Why am I telling you all this, tealog? Because when we got home I put all the pastries on a big silver platter and brewed up some of this tea. And it was delicious and satisfying and pretty much an ideal Sunday afternoon. I wanted to explain all this because while the tea really did taste wonderful—strong and satisfyingly flavorful enough to stand up to all of those spiced sweets, but smooth and not so complicated I felt distracted or like I was wasting it that way—I feel it’s only fair to note everything else going on was so enjoyable that my mood’s such that anything better than Lipton probably would’ve been alright, ha.

That said, I do think this is an ideal “whenever” daytime blend. I might put it in rotation for my morning tea routine.

submitted as evidence:
http://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/486802_10101295910946013_61256802_n.jpg
http://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/524573_10101295911065773_1224992799_n.jpg
http://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/390752_10101295911035833_1805384882_n.jpg
http://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/48068_10101296125506033_1388182090_n.jpg
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/941701_10101296125570903_131280040_n.jpg

Steeping from the sachet form of Tower of London. The aroma is lovely with stronger vanilla and honey notes and lesser fruity notes of cherry and apricot. For me the taste starts with the rich vanilla and honey, then the earl grey layer kicks in, and finally finishing with the stone fruits in a medium body black tea. After a sip or two I added a little bit of raw sugar and found that it enhanced the stone fruit notes. I may try it with a splash of milk next time. I seldom use milk but I am branching out!

This is yummy. The bergamot shines through and the honey adds a bit of flavor. I had it just like I have my EG’s with a bit of milk and honey. Really great breakfast tea. Those who love EG will probably love this.

Picked this up on my first official visit to the Harney & Sons Soho store. I told the salesperson that two of my favorites were Paris and Winter Earl Grey, and this was her recommendation. She said that instead of the vanilla hints found in Paris, this one had honey. One whiff of the canister, and I knew this would be right up my alley! Its a tough call whether I prefer this or the Paris, but both are simply lovely black teas with a little something sweet, and I can detect the berry tinge that some of the other tasters were commenting on. Mellow, full-bodied and wonderful anytime!!

Forgive my uneducated palate but this smells and tastes to me of a lightly fruity (plum?) flavoured Rooibos ?! At least on the first steep .. I then gave it a second long steep and added a teaspoon of raw sugar which seemed to bring out more of the vanilla flavour that others have described .. It’s quite nice, ‘smooth’, and certainly doesn’t need milk or sugar etc, but it kind of left me wanting more ..

I think I need another cup (or two) to give it a fair rating, and that said I really do want to like it because I covet that tin! But right now I’m kind of on the fence – wouldn’t turn a cup down, but I don’t know that I’ll purchase ..

This fruity vanilla tea is good. I prefer vanilla teas with milk, yet I dont find milk complements this tea as much as I had hoped

We don’t drink flavored teas at all, but I love to mix this one in with other teas. Our favorite is to mix with Supreme Breakfast, but it also mixes nicely with assam teas. Unfortunately we discovered that ants love this tea!! I left some in my Breville overnight which was a big mistake. Didn’t do that again, but they even found the tin of sachets we had too. They smelled it right through the tin! So now it is double packaged – tin of loose tea inside a plastic container. The sachets had ants in them so had to go.

I am not a huge fan of hightly flavored tea, but this one is good occasionally. Its honey flavor is prominent, and somehow the bouquet makes me think of fruitcake. Darkly sweet, fruity, texture is a bit heavy.

Delicious Earl Grey with a honey/caramel and dried fruit bouquet. And comes in a beautiful tin.

Brrrr… it is a chilly and grey morning here in the bay. I am very much looking forward to my first cup of the day. Black tea and stone fruits sound delicious this morning.

Opening the little tin, I’m getting a strong artificial smell, much like the Paris tea I tried yesterday. I wish Harney & Sons used natural flavoring, or threw in dried pieces of the fruit instead of adding an artificial note to their tea.

The tea immediately turns a golden color and the smell changes to include the aroma of the tea itself. My room is starting to smell like fruity tea! I’m running a quick errand while I wait for it to cool.

It tastes okay. I’m not super blown away, but judging from the smell I did not think I would be. I really prefer natural flavoring. If you like fruity teas and aren’t so biased against artificial flavors you might like this tea. It’s a nice blend.