Queen Catherine

Deliously smooth, a bit creamy (in the non-traditional sense) and a touch smokey. I enjoyed this quite a bit. I almost felt upright and refined. I only have a sample of this and believe it may end up on the grocery list.

<3 That is all.

Hope all the mothers out there had a great weekend!

So, we traveled to see my parents this past weekend but they had a surprise for me-they took me on a short trip to a mom and pop tea shop they recently discovered. There are zero teashops anywhere near where I live, so getting to go to one is kinda a big deal.

The shop is in an historic building built before the Civil War. It had an unusual but not unpleasant aroma inside-like a mélange of spices that I smell when I go into the health food store-more about the aroma later.

Anyhow, the shop is all Republic of Tea, Stash, and Harney and Sons. RoT was in tins only and Stash was just bags. Harney was the big attraction since I have never tried any of their teas before and the only tea sold in bulk. Armed with notes from Steepster reviews, I began checking out the tea. This is just a shop-no food or drinks are served, but they brewed a cup of tea for my parents the last time they visited. Today (Mother’s Day), it was just pop there and he said no, they don’t offer samples. Fortunately, he sells tea in amounts as small as one ounce and the prices are about the same as Harney’s web site-so it’s no big deal if I don’t like any one tea. Disappointment right off the bat as they don’t carry Golden Monkey. They had most of the others I was interested in. The teas were in 1 or 2 pound zip-locked foil-lined sacks which were then placed inside giant Harney tea tins. I was at least able to smell the teas before purchasing. I’m not convinced the owner was that passionate about tea-he knew enough to suggest Lapsang if I liked smoky teas, but he had never actually brewed a cup for himself. He also didn’t have any First Flush Darjeelings. I think maybe a financial planner recommended the tea shop as a business for them to run when they retired. Still, I was comfortable enough with my own knowledge and the collected wisdom of Steepsterites to buy 7 teas.

First up-Queen Catherine tea. All dark and a few medium brown leaves. Maybe one or two golden tips. I wish Harney’s wasn’t so mysterioso about what is in their blends, but I did catch a whiff of what I think is Fujian black in the dry and brewed leaf. I also thought I smelled a bit of malty Assam in the dry leaf-that should not be possible as this is supposed to be all Chinese teas. Maybe it’s a Yunnan black. This is smooth and lively. I taste a bit of chocolate. Body is medium-full. Maybe a touch tannic in the aftertaste. This is very enjoyable. Maybe I can come up with better descriptions after a second cup. I could definitely drink this as a breakfast tea-probably always cupped plain, though.

I have way too many teas in my cupboard and so I don’t get around to visit each one that often. But I really should make a point of visiting Queen Catherine on a more regular basis as this is truly one of my faves for black tea. Tonight, I sweetened it just a tad with some cane sugar that is infused with real red raspberry juice, produced by a small Indiana company called “The Salt Girls”. (This sugar is good enough to just eat) Might need to have one more cup…

Thanks to JacquelineM for letting me try this tea!

So I’ve been looking forward to this tea in the mail for quite a while now, and it’s finally here! Brew it up, pour it out, here it goes:

This is a tea with muscle! The mouthfeel on this is extraordinary, it’s is one of the smoothest teas I’ve encountered. It gets spicy in the back of the throat too when you swallow! This would wake me up in the morning, and then some. Guess I’m ordering some more!

Cteresa was so kind to send me a sample of this tea. It wouldn’t have been my choice as I generally only drink (or rather drank) black flavoured teas, but as she suggested it and I wanted to step a bit out of my box, I agreed.

I’m not sure that was an altogether happy choice :-)

This really is a far lovelier tea than I would have expected based on it’s discription. It is smooth, sweet and malty and has hints of chocolate and a very slight smokiness. I think this was my first (conscious) taste of a chinese black tea (blend) and it tasted like more.

So why aren’t I happy? Well I just have one tsp of sample left and after that I’ll have to do without. I’ve only seen two places where I can order this tea, that’s at the US based Harney website or the Dutch importer. From the US website I can order a single tin, but shipping costs are some $ 34,- (about 5x the tea itself). The Dutch importer is prepared to send the tea free of shipping charge, but it can only deliver the tea in 1 kg packages… That’s a bit much considering that I like to drink a variety of different teas.

So now I know this really affordable black blend staple and I’ll have to do without…. On the upside, it has put me on the path to explore more straight black chinese teas :-). Presently I’m happily awaiting the arrival or my ‘little black tea adventure’ from tea-adventure.com (which I just ordered yesterday, so won’t be arriving for another fortnight).

BTW: how do you guys make bold typing?.

I usually brew blacks for 3 minutes, so I ignored the instructions that said 4-5. FOLLOW THEM DIRECTIONS. This is a really nice tea, but the flavor at three minutes was a whisper compared to a longer steep. Delish.

PS. Do not attempt tasting notes right after eating guacamole ’n onions.

Good cup of tea but nothing particularly unique or interesting about it. Flavors did come out when cooler but nothing grand. Overall a good tea that I’d drink again but not something I was particularly fond of.

This tea just arrived and I’m drinking a big mug as I type. Very nice, in fact as it cooled a bit I find myself taking big gulps! Velvet smooth with a noticeable pleasant aftertaste. Worth the wait for the online order.

This is an interesting tea. I usually don’t like plain black tea.. I enjoy black tea that has a pop of vanilla or caramel. Drinking it plain, I kept expecting a bitter or sharper taste, but it’s very smooth! I’m tasting mostly a smoky note and I have to say that I don’t like smoky teas (perhaps I would if I found a smoky AND creamy, sweet blend). The finish isn’t entirely smoke which makes it drinkable. Overall, this is a solid and bold black tea. Normally I don’t drink my tea with milk or sugar/sweetener, but I think it might be interesting to experiment.