Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
You can taste the velvety undertones of dark chocolate, caramel, and peanuts in this rich, aromatic black tea blend. Time for a sweet teatime indulgence.
Ingredients: Black teas, marigold petals, apricot, natural and artificial flavors. Does not contain nuts.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yummy! I’ve been wanting to try the new Ambessa tea line from Harney & Sons for a while now (ever since I saw the beautiful tins!) so when they offered their most recent free shipping deal, I decided to finally indulge and try these new teas! This Choco Nut black tea blend is the first of the Ambessa Teas that I’ve tasted, and so far, I’m really liking this new line from Harney & Sons!
This tea delivers what it promises with its name. I taste chocolate: rich, dark, luscious chocolate! I taste a sweet nutty flavor too. There’s even a hint of caramel undertones which is quite delightful. As I continue to sip, I notice a fruity quality to the cup … is that apricot? Then I read the ingredient list, and yep! It’s apricot! What a really lovely addition to this tea.
The black tea base is rich and bold. It’s not an overpowering black tea … but it does have a rich, full-bodied taste that complements the dark chocolate-y notes. This is really quite a smooth, robust cup of tea – perfect for a breakfast tea if you want to be a little bit indulgent first thing in the morning! (And really, who doesn’t want chocolate first thing in the morning? You wouldn’t ever catch THIS chocoholic turning it down!) It has an almost creamy quality to it which might be further accentuated by the addition of a splash of milk. For me, personally, though, I find it to be just delightful served straight up!
A really lovely cuppa!
Big Red Sun Black Tea Blend from Harney & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
This full-bodied yet mellow tea is a great way to welcome the sun each morning. We have chosen Kenya and Kenilworth for this blend. The golden tips of Milima are reminiscent of Assam and the bold leaves of Ceylon’s Kenilworth are very mellow.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
If I were to select only one word to describe this Big Red Sun Black Tea Blend from Harney & Sons, the word would be pleasant.
Of course … you probably don’t read this blog just to hear me spout one word about a tea, right? You probably want a few more words. OK, so I’ll give ’em to you.
Yes, this tea is pleasant. I don’t know that I’d get a whole lot more flowery with my wordage than that … I don’t think I’d describe this tea as significantly bold or rich or well-rounded. It has a pleasant flavor that is sweet with a slightly bitter/savory/vaguely sour tone that hits about mid-sip. It isn’t an unpleasant bitterness, it’s actually kind of nice because it offers a contrasting flavor to the sweeter notes.
It is moderately astringent. It has notes of fruit and flower within the sip, with a sweet honey-like undertone. This isn’t a tea that I’d reach for as that first cup of the day, because it doesn’t really have that “wake-up” kind of flavor nor the vigor that I look for in a first-cuppa tea. It is more like a mid-morning tea, or perhaps an early afternoon tea.
I like this alright … but I can’t say that this is my favorite black tea blend that I’ve ever tasted, because it isn’t. It’s enjoyable … it’s … well, it’s pleasant. Just like I said at the start.
Golden Blend from Harney & Sons
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!
Scottish Morn Black Tea Blend from Harney & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
This is a strong tea, perhaps our strongest tea. When you stand up your spoon in this tea, it might just stand straight.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
OK, my spoon didn’t do that … that said, this Scottish Morn Black Tea Blend from Harney & Sons is a strong, hefty kind of tea!
The photo above depicts a fine cut CTC blend, and that’s true to what I measured into my teapot this morning. Generally, when I see a fine cut like this, my personal rule of thumb is to cut back on the brew time by at least 30 seconds, and that’s what I did. Instead of my normal 2 1/2 minutes, I went with just 2 minutes in my Breville One-Touch, and the result is a cup of near perfection when it comes to a breakfast blend!
When I want a breakfast blend – and I definitely wanted one this morning, I want a sturdy, stout kind of breakfast blend like this one. I want something that is sure to get my peepers popped open … and something that will keep them open! And I’m liking that a lot.
But what I like best about this Scottish Morn is that even though it is a bold, invigorating black tea, it isn’t too edgy. It’s not overly astringent nor is it veering on the side of bitter. It doesn’t feel like it’s stripping my tongue of its taste buds. It’s almost what I’d call … smooth. Not gentle, not mild or mellow … but, as I sip it, I don’t feel like it’s a full-on assault of my palate either.
It’s a remarkably rich, full-flavored tea with a very pleasing, well-rounded taste. And I can feel it get to work on my energy levels too! This is one of the better breakfast blends I’ve tried from Harney & Sons … it gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from me.
Caribe from Harney & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Green Teas
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
Breathe in the sweet aroma of Caribe, a light fusion of green and black teas enhanced by tropical flavors. The exotic tea mellifluously fuses hibiscus, guava, coconut and strawberry, accented with marigolds and cornflowers. The first sip tastes of green tea, trailed by an impressive array of fruit and floral surprises, revealing endless tropical notes tucked into each sip. A favorite for many, Caribe is an inventive and exotic blend softened into a serene escape.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I really, really need to start checking up on teas before I try them blindly without knowing a little bit about them. Case and point: this Caribe blend from Harney & Sons, which is a blend of black and green teas. I thought it was a straight black tea blend with no green tea … so I brewed it as such, using boiling water.
Fortunately, this tea is pretty forgiving, because I didn’t get a scorched green tea leaf taste in my cup – no bitterness, no foul or off taste. Just deliciousness.
I noticed the hints of green tea and guava right off the bat, with a earthy black tea that provided a solid background of flavor. After a couple of sips, the strawberry notes really came through nicely, and this became a tea that was mostly about the strawberry! Nothing wrong with that, I love strawberries!
But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t taste the tea. The black tea is … quite obviously … the strongest tea note of this cup, but the green tea is certainly noticeable. I find myself wondering how this tea might have tasted with a slightly lower brewing temperature … if I would taste more green tea flavor, how the strawberry and guava would present themselves … but of course, I only had enough for one pot of tea, and so, I’m left to wonder. (Fortunately, if curiosity gets the better of me, Harney does offer this in generous loose leaf sample packages for just $2.00!)
The coconut is not a well-defined flavor, I notice more of its texture than its taste here, providing a slick coconut texture that is supple and slightly creamy. And I’m glad to say that the hibiscus does not have a strong presence in this cup either … it does offer a slight tartness to the overall cup, but this seems to accent the berry notes quite nicely. The floral notes are faint to this cup as well, but, the flower petals certainly do add charm and color to the dry leaf.
Overall, not a bad cup of tea. I enjoyed the combination of flavors, and the way they presented themselves. If you do get around to trying this one, and have a chance to brew it at a slightly lower temperature, do let me know how it fairs! I’m interested to know!