This tea tastes like eating a bouquet of nectar-y flowers. I have not, for the record, done this, but it’s how I imagine the experience might be, if you were so inclined. It’s light, lively, vegetal, and easy.
(Original Artwork from Super Starling inspired by this tea)
I feel like being a bee would be wonderful. A life spent in the sunshine, with a clear, tasty plan — find flowers; collect yummy pollen. Have a fluffy face. Hang out in Taiwan (whence this tea originates) with your friends in a hive. Hexagons are very hot in interior decoration right now.
Since I am not a bee (uuuuuuugh), I’ll have to savor this flavor instead.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Description
We are pleased to expand our offering of Taiwanese high mountain (Gao shan) oolongs. This tea is from the middle of the Nantou District, between Li Shan to the north and Ali San in the South. It is a lovely lightly oxidized oolong.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Milky Oolong from Harney & Sons. . . .
When I drank this for the first time last week, my first thought was “TEA BAE!” Which is so millennial of me, I know. I promise I’m not even cool enough to quite know how to use “bae” (“before anyone else”) in everyday use. But it applies to this tea.
This is a silky, rich, creamy oolong. It comes in super-cute little balls that totally snap to attention in hot water. Sometimes the balls don’t unfurl, but these are actively watch-able. The flavor is a great halfway point between green and black. The “milky” taste is really creamy, like the whipped topping on a good lemon meringue* pie.
*I was pretty sure it wasn’t spelled “mirang,” so I had to request Google’s gentle corrective guidance.
This tastes like it was flavored. That’s how sweet it is. I don’t want to be too effusive, because I try to emit a cool air of sophisticated irony (hah!) — but I really like this.
The reviewers on the Harney site like it, too. So much. Peep this review from Helen W: “Absolutely love it! Absolutely love it!” That’s the entire view. Helen. Gurl. I hear you. When I re-order this (AND I WILL), I’m going to acquire a vat. I’m going to swim in this vat like Scrooge McDuck. It will not be sanitary. People will slowly stop visiting my house. I will acquire leper status. Eventually someone will come by my house to film “Hoarding: Buried Alive: Tea Special” and I will acquire a brief Internet fame. Perhaps I will become a meme. But then I will be forgotten to the sands of time. The pan will no longer have a flash. I shall disappear into the back of your mind, just me, and my tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Description
For some time we’ve had requests for a milky oolong and finally we have found one that we liked so that we could share it with you. Milky oolongs are very popular in Eastern Asia for their sweet, creamy flavors. This one is smooth and the aroma of warmed cream is delicious!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
San Lin Xi Oolong from Harney & Sons. . . .
San Lin Xi Oolong from Harney & Sons is an overly comforting tea that I have been enjoying as of late. I know I have said that about other teas in the past but with as much tea as we drink here at SororiTea Sisters it has to be something REALLY special to wedge it into that ‘overly comforting’ category.
It’s just one of those teas that you verbally let out an “ummmmm” or ‘yummm’ as soon as it hits your tongue and swishes around in your mouth. It instantly put a smile on my face.
Harney & Sons San Lin Xi Oolong is a Taiwanese high mountain (Gao shan) oolong. It’s from the middle of the Nantou District, between Li Shan to the north and Ali San in the South. It’s lightly oxidized yet sweet and buttery. It has a medium strength for an oolong and works well with multiple infusions.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Description
We are pleased to expand our offering of Taiwanese high mountain (Gao shan) oolongs. This tea is from the middle of the Nantou District, between Li Shan to the north and Ali San in the South. It is a lovely lightly oxidized oolong.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Wild Hunan Gold from Harney & Sons. . . . .
ATTENTION TEA-PLE! I CAN FINALLY DRINK TEA AGAIN!
I had mouth surgery last week, and hot drinks totally irritated the Spot In Question. It was GRUELING. I was living off protein shakes. I had to cut up my few solids into into tiny, tiny pieces, including stuff like pizza and grapes. I felt like I had a picky toddler, except it was me. A WEEPY, FUSSY, 5’7″ TODDLER who could only eat things at room temperature or colder.
So today I picked a nice new straight tea that allegedly has “strong cocoa flavors.” I was like “FREE OF CALORIE CHOCOLATES? MY LIFE IS A SPARKLE HEAVEN. I WILL KISS IT WITH MY HEALED MOUTH.”
Bad news: The tea doesn’t really taste like cocoa.
Good news: It tastes like bread. The kind of bread an actual person makes, not the kind that comes from the grocery store. The kind that sometimes has holes in it and is a mid-to-dark brown. French countryside bread.
This is the kind of bread that the French peasants protested over.
And Marie Antoinette was like “let them eat cake.”
And the French were all, “no seriously, we have the bread thing down. Bread is the thing we want. We asked for that specifically. If we cannot cut this bread, we will use our slicing tools for more nefarious purposes.”
So it’s yummy! But not in the way Harney’s description says. Prepare yourself in other ways.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Description
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Tokyo from Harney & Sons. . . . .
I’m trying to class myself up. I’ve purchased new clothes, almost figured out how to style my hair, and am going to conquer matcha tea. You don’t care about my clothes/hair, so let’s talk about matcha, which is so bitter and weird I can’t get in there to like it.
I thought maybe what I could do is SIDLE UP TO MATCHA. Maybe like attack approximations, getting closer and closer.
So I bought “Tokyo” by Harney & Sons, which had a bunch of small green leaves, plus a bit of sesame seed and caramel. The dry smell is heavenly. When I put it in my gravity steeper, the whole shebang turned bright Kermit green, just like matcha. (“I AM SO SMART,” I thought smugly.)
The taste itself *IS* sort of matcha-like. It has a bit of that roasty, bitter flavor.
But the caramel balances it out. It’s like “hey guys, this has a vegetal sting, but no worries, I’m ON THIS.” You get the caramel running on a parallel track to the green, not masking it. You can experience both at the same time. It’s more like a salad than a smoothie.
If you want to try it out, Harney & Sons has this nice “sample size” option. What I love to do is drop like $30 on different samples, including ones I’m not sure I’ll even like. It’s a fun growing experience.
I would say that I am one step closer to leveling up in my tea expertise, and you can be, too!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Description
Japan’s capital city of Tokyo inspired our delightful green tea blend of Bancha with toasted sesame seeds and caramel flavors. Recalling our many visits there, we wanted to create a taste reminiscent of the city’s impeccably presented desserts.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!