Boston

Thank you Ashmanra for this lovely sample tea!

Cranberry and Almond flavors it says in the Harney & Son’s notes.
Fall is coming. In fact, this is the LAST DAY OF SUMMER!

Am I the only one who packed up the tank tops, shorts and white jeans this weekend? It’s a frigid 84 degrees out ;) so I thought I’d get ready for the cold weather with a splendid Fall tea.

Since this was my morning wake-up tea, I added cream and sweetening.
Some flavored tea’s speak to me. “Add a little something, Bonnie, you know you want to.” And I can’t resist.
(There are tea’s that I never add anything to ever, ever, ever!)

I liked the cranberry flavor which was just like chewing on the plump dry cranberry’s that I used to get from Trader Joe’s. Tart and sweet. The almond didn’t taste like almond in a distinct way. I couldn’t tell it was there as a nutty flavor, but it carried the cranberry along by giving depth to the tea so that it didn’t taste too fruity or thin. What I’m trying to say poorly is, the almond gave a cranberry chewy granola flavor to the tea. There.

Come on Fall! We’re ready for the display of color!

Thanks to Azzrian for this sampler!

This is an interesting blend, tart & tangy. It was my first cup of the day, & the sample Azz sent me was generous enough that I can try a 2nd cup later, which will be lightly sweetened or or cold brewed…still not sure which!

Now I’m off to meet a friend at the London Tea Room!
Enjoy the day, everyone!

Another from Dexter3657. thank you! I KNEW there was something wrong with the bit I tried from this blend! It was an off blend, because this one actually has any flavor to it. Sweet candy cranberry and not much almond, but it is definitely better than the other blend. It reminds me of Harney’s other fruit blends. BUT it also was reminding me of the Frankenberry cereal. Yum. Still not my favorite from Harney’s but I’m glad it was proved that there was something wrong with my batch after all. Raising the rating a bit.

Just posting this note…still not reading tasting notes. My Amoda box BEST be in my mailbox today… I miss Steepster!

It has been several days since I’ve able to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea. I’ve been so busy that every cup of tea has been on the go. Boston is tasting amazing today. I am really enjoying this cup with a bit of honey and half and half. Since this tea is better tonight than ever before, I’m upping the rating on this one.

Finishing up the sample from Ashmanra with lots of leaf in my teapot and a wee bit of honey in my cup. Seeing how it will compare to my experience with Cranberry Autumn and honey.

Honey makes it a bit more mellow, I think I like it more bold. No honey next cup. I think I will be ordering this next Harney order. Will alternate with Cranberry autumn. Both are delicious in their own way. I like the bake notes and almond nuttiness in this tea. Yum. I am falling in love with Harney teas!

Noooo, I just spilled a cup’s worth from the pouch. This is the fourth time drinking this though so I already know that I’ll need to purchase more in the future, anyway.

Cranberry, you say. The dry leaf smells more like raspberry to my nose. Like a chocolate raspberry cordial.

Simply put, it tastes like it too. I haven’t tried it with additives yet but only because I’m enjoying it so much black. As this cools down, the almond comes out a little more. A perfect autumn cup on a cool, rainy day.

One thing I especially appreciate about H&S teas so far is that they’re not overly sweet. Many of my flavoured teas have simply been too sweet for me lately, and I’ve been craving unflavoured teas, especially my holy grail genmaicha, but I don’t have any in the house, nor have I found any in this city yet. Boston at least is more balanced in the world of sweetness.

Tea of the afternoon……

I actually took a bit from the bag of this for my friend who wanted to try this and Cranberry Autumn. I know she won’t mind, and I wanted to see if this is how I remembered it. It is one of the first things I ordered at Harney long ago along with my long gone tin of Paris. You know how the palate tends to change over time….. I know my love for that tin of Boston kind of ran out well before it was gone. I am starting to wonder if it was a seasonal thing because I bought it in the Fall and my taste for it had gone by Spring. I have figured out that certain flavors of tea appeal to me the most in the proper season. I think this is definitely a Fall tea for me. I also think 2 oz. would be the perfect amount, because this would not be a daily tea for me.

Very present notes of cranberry with a light hint of almond. Actually, better than I remember.

This has been on my wishlist for quite awhile. Thank you ifjuly for this sample.
Hmmmmmmm, this is just happy tea. Curl up on the couch with the cat and a cup of comforting tea. This isn’t fancy, and it’s not complicated, it’s just a nice cup of cranberry almond tea. It’s might be a touch too sweet, and a hint acidic – if I had hibiscus in the house I’d be tempted to add just a touch. A little fussy, I over leafed the first cup – much better with less leaf. This is just really nice, and I will enjoy this sample (and the stuff I have on order). Thanks ifjuly – another great tea.

I can finally smell and taste again, yay! That means it’s time to delve into the treats that SimplyJenW sent me recently. I decided to start with Boston, based solely on it’s delicious dry smell. I get a distinct rich fruity smell, not much of a tea base underneath, but that’s fine. The liquor once steeped is a rich brown with a red/amber tinge…One of the colours I’d expect from a black tea.

The steeped smell is very rich and creamy, very thick smelling (if that’s even possible). No ‘tea’ smell, but an almost vanilla scent in there, reminiscent of vanilla comoro. I get a fruity smell, but nothing identifiably cranberry.

First sips yield a creamy fruity tea, with a hint of amaretto style almond aftertaste and a very slight tinge of bitterness. I gave this around 2 minutes 45 seconds, to avoid over-steeping. As the tea cools, the richness I initially experienced thinned out a bit, but the berry flavour became more dominant. I don’t know that I could identify it as cranberry, but it’s pretty hard to capture a flavour that specifically. This reminds me of another cranberry black tea I have from Joy’s Teaspoon called Crannyberry…though it’s been a while, so that might not be a true recollection.

All in all, this is really nice. Definitely an enjoyable cuppa, it seems a wonderfully absent-minded sort of tea. The black tea flavour continues to come out more strongly as the cup cools, and I’m enjoying that right now. I’m still in a straight black tea rut and really feeling that, but this is a great fruity alternative. Losing that slight hint of almond, but the fruit and tea flavours are more than enough for me!

Thanks again, SimplyJenW! I can’t wait to try the rest of my lovelies!

A black based cranberry tea with almond…sounds delicious. Making this my last pot of tea before bed.

I can note a sweet and fruity scent from the blend whilst raw but it’s somewhat artificial.

There is a definite nuttiness in the aroma once it’s steeped with a hint of cocoa. Flavour is sweet and slightly tart with a medium thickness overall. It also tastes a little cocoa like too. The more I drink the richer it becomes and less fruity.

I think it was a nice pot of tea but not sure it would be something I would like to frequent.