Golden Blend from Harney & Sons

goldenblend

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Harney & Sons

Tea Description:

A new blend of Golden Monkey from Fujian Province and Assam FTGFOP, that makes a great tea that is very solid. If one’s bent was towards milk and sugar, that would not be a problem.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

This Golden Blend from Harney & Sons has a lovely dry leaf with lots of golden tips amid the deep, dark black tea leaves.  The aroma of the dry leaf is sweet and rich, reminiscent of a freshly baked tea cake that is studded with lots of dark raisins.  After I typed that description, I checked the scent on the dry leaves again, to see if that’s what I really smelled, and yes, indeed!  It smells so much like sweet, juicy raisins bursting with flavor.

The brewed tea aroma is much more subtle, but the fragrance I noticed in the dry leaf is present in the brewed liquid as well.  Sweet, raisin-y, with a distinct fresh-baked aroma.

The flavor … oh!  Sublime!  The tea brews up dark and delicious – with notes of chocolate, caramel, malt and hints of earth and woodsy tones.  Overall, it has a masculine tone to it, a ruggedness without being too aggressive.  This is more like a suave, debonair gentleman.  This is smooth and rich.  It is savory yet sweet.  The raisin-y note that I mentioned previously is there.  It has that bake-y, cake-y kind of taste to it.  It would make a lovely choice for that first cup of the day, but also would make a nice cuppa for that afternoon pick-me-up.

There is some dry astringency to this but I don’t get any hint of bitterness to it. I only steeped the pot for 2 1/2 minutes, so that might be why.  Since this does have Assam in the blend, I wouldn’t recommend going much longer than that 2 1/2 minutes … because it could very well become bitter if left to steep too long.  But as for this pot … I think it came out very close to perfect.

This is delightful!

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