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Diggity Tea: Harney & Sons’ Earl Grey Supreme

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Arachne Jericho

Maker: Harney & Sons
Type: black earl grey tea
Brew: 1 sachet / 12 oz, 5 min at boiling

It’s not a tea bag, it’s a sachet. I make this distinction only because the first one contains tea dust, while the second one contains actual tea leaves. The first, for black teas at least, tends to make a quick, brisk (or often bitter) brew, while the second needs a longer steep time but ultimately has a more full taste. It’s the difference between Bigelow’s Earl Grey tea packets and Mighty Leaf’s Organic Earl Grey sachets, but I digress from this post’s star, Harney & Sons’ Earl Grey Supreme.

And it truly deserves the name “supreme”. Not because it adds extra bergamot, but because this tea uses higher quality tea leaves—very high quality, and so it doesn’t need the extra bergamot to enhance this endearing taste of any Earl Grey tea. There’s no bitterness to overcome, nothing to block the scrumptious melting of Ceylon and bergamot.

However.

I’ve discovered my new supreme Earl Grey, and it isn’t this one. Still, Earl Grey Supreme still gets my nod for best tea naming itself Earl Grey.

Rating: 4/5—one of the best Earl Greys around.

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Diggity Tea: Harney & Sons’ Bangkok

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Arachne Jericho


Maker: Harney & Sons
Type: flavored green tea
Brew: 1 tsp / cup, 3 min at 170ºF

Bangkok is another great, unique blend from Harney & Sons, as just about all their “famous city” teas tend to do. While there are various coconut teas out there, Bangkok adds an extra ingredient: ginger. This elevates the tea from just another coconut tea to the very soul of an authentic Thai curry. But tea-like: the big-leafed tea is particularly excellent and sweet. While I generally will not drink most green teas—genmaicha being a particular exception—I will drink this one.

Rating: 5/5 stars—a green tea I actually love, and who can resist curry?

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Diggity Tea: Harney & Sons’ Paris

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Arachne Jericho

Maker: Harney & Sons
Type: flavored black tea
Brew: 1 tsp / cup, boiling, 5 min

Paris is the sublime vanilla tea I mentioned back in my review of another of Harney & Sons’ “Famous Cities” series of teas. While H&S does feature a pure black vanilla tea (creatively named “Vanilla”) as well as a welcome decaffeinated version (Vanilla Comoro), this vanilla tea is additionally adorned with floral and fruit flavorings.

I’m usually not a fan of floral tea blends, but the vanilla makes a charming host even to one of my more disliked tea ingredients. This is rather an impressive blend that way. That such a delicate-seeming blend can withstand a full 5 minutes brew is astounding in a tea world where lightly flavored black teas often need to be babied to 3 minutes. The longer brew time allows for the full high-quality black tea background taste to develop.

Of the cities line, Paris is the best black tea; and amongst blender-specific teas, Paris is one of the best flavored black tea blends period.

Next time we’ll look at another tea in the same line, a green tea named Bangkok.

Rating: 5/5—Harney & Sons’ unique masterpiece.

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Diggity Tea: Harney & Sons’ Florence

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Arachne Jericho

Maker: Harney & Sons [product link]
Type: Flavored black
Brew: 1 rounded tsp / cup, boiling water, 5 min
Notes: Also known as their Chocolate Hazelnut tea

The best thing about Harney & Sons tea is that they have a great tea base for any of their teas. The leaves are nice and big, even when dry and furled up. If they have any fault with most of their flavored black teas, it’s that they prefer flavor infusion over including real ingredients nestled in the tea. It’s not much different with Florence, which relies on chocolate and hazelnut flavor infusion.

Sometimes this method works, as for many of their black teas (including the sublime Paris), but sometimes it’s a bit less successful. The only reason this isn’t a 5-star tea to me is that the chocolate and hazelnut flavors are weaker than they should be, so they’re felt mostly on the aftertaste rather than during the tea drinking itself. Compare this tea to their Chocolate Mint, which includes real mint leaves alongside chocolate-infused tea; the combination works quite well. For some reason, Florence’s chocolate/hazelnut combined infusion doesn’t bring out the best in either.

At least Florence’s base tea is of high quality, so waiting around for the aftertaste to kick in isn’t a bad affair. But there’s a reason this is less popular than Paris.

Rating: 3/5—More than adequate, but could be much more.

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Diggity Tea: Harney & Sons’ Chocolate Mint

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Arachne Jericho

Maker: Harney & Sons
Type: Flavored black tea
Brew: 1 tsp to 8oz or 1 sachet to 12 oz boiling water, 5 minutes
Notes: comes both loose and in convenient sachets

The black tea base of Chocolate Mint is high quality, which is essential for a good flavored black tea—well, essential for any tea, really, as flavoring doesn’t give a tea maker an excuse to use low-grade tea. For those of us who dislike the bite in most black teas, the chocolate extract and the addition of peppermint create one of the smoothest black tea experiences around. I’ve tried the plain Chocolate version; it’s the refreshing taste of the peppermint that makes the blend work.

This tea is one of my favorite pick-me-up teas. I wish there was a decaf or herbal version for the evenings, but that’s what Mighty Leaf’s Chocolate Mint Truffle is for.

Rating: 5/5 — a staple in the tea pantry

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