Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
In honor of our new shop in Manhattan, we are introducing our SoHo Blend. Emeric Harney, the store manager, came up with this flavored black tea concoction. Our SoHo Tea is a beautifully delicious blend of Chocolate & Coconut flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
YUM!
Over the last couple of months or so, I have been reading the tasting notes for this tea on Steepster (drooling all the while), and I’m so glad that I finally get to try it!
And this tea has definitely lived up to my expectations of it. It is so incredibly good! The black tea base is a strong, sturdy tea but it doesn’t have an overly aggressive flavor to it so it doesn’t overwhelm the nuances of the chocolate and coconut flavors.
There is a delicious balance between chocolate and coconut. The coconut tastes sweet, creamy and authentic, as though someone purified real, fresh coconut and put it in my teacup! The chocolate is rich and decadent tasting, like a fine quality bittersweet chocolate with hints of milk chocolate-y undertones.
Until now, my favorite teas from Harney and Sons have been Indian Nimbu and Paris (which I am shocked to find that I have not yet reviewed!) … now, I think it’s time to add a third favorite. This is a MUST TRY for chocoholics!
White Christmas from Harney & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Product Description:
Recline in front of a glowing fire while the snow drifts, and the tree lights twinkle. A sip from this warm and nutty blend completes the perfect winter wonderland. Hand-picked white tea blended with almonds, vanilla and cardamom, accented by white chamomile flowers.
Taster’s Review:
I really like this tea. It was part of the Harney & Sons White Christmas Tea Gift 2010 (which is, at the time of this writing, out of stock), but to be honest, I was less interested in the tea than I was the chocolate covered almonds in the cool firecracker wrapping. Yeah, I’m a sucker for things like that.
So, it’s really awesome that I’m enjoying the tea too! The white tea is delicately flavored (which is normal for white tea), but it is not so soft that it can’t be tasted. It has a very fresh, smooth taste with a light mouthfeel. No bitterness and no astringency. Just sweet, delicate white tea flavor.
The flavor of the vanilla is creamy and rich. It is flavored “just right” here – I like that the flavor is strong, however it does not overpower the white tea. Very well blended, this tea.
The almond flavor lends a light, nutty character to the tea and is accented nicely with the cardamom. Together these flavors are in keeping with the delicate quality of the white tea, nothing is overwhelming. The combination of flavors makes for a very cozy White Christmas, indeed!
OK, so I had to end this review with this, because every time I sip on this tea I can’t help but hear this song play in my head. I realize that some of you traditionalists out there might think that the only person out there that can do this song justice is Bing Crosby or someone like that, but, I’m not so much into Bing Crosby… so I did a search on You Tube and came up with this one…
Queen Catherine Tea from Harney & Sons
Tea Type: Black Tea
Where To Buy: Harney & Sons
Product Description:
We created this blend of three Chinese black teas in honor of Queen Catherine, who introduced her love of tea to the British. We are privledged to have this tea featured in the Museum of Tea in Hangzhou, China. Harney & Sons is the only Western tea company to receive this honor.
Tasters Review:
Thus far – Queen Catherine – is one of my favorites from Harney & Sons! I think it’s a great tea for mornings and afternoons as well as hot or cold. It’s just one of those black teas that is good to have on hand at all times!
My first impressions of this tea?
Once I first started infusing this tea I could smell a very faint hint of smoke. It’s a deep burgundy brown.
The taste isn’t what I expected and that’s not a bad thing…it’s certainly your typical black tea taste but then I found a semi-bitter/semi-sweet berry type taste at the end of the sip! It was a surprise but I liked it! YUP! The tea description that I read didn’t mention that it had berries in it but I can certainly taste hints on the tongue. And they are subtle, beautiful hints!
