Harney & Sons' Valentine's Day Tea

I happened to be in Barnes & Noble for something else this week and saw tins of Harney & Sons' Valentine's Day tea on sale.  It bills itself as a chocolate tea with rosebuds.  Chocolate-flavored teas can be very hit or miss, but at the sale price, what the heck, why not.

I'm pleased to report that this tea works quite well.  It has the scent and flavor of dark chocolate, which seems to fit better with black tea than attempts at milk chocolate flavor.  The smell was incredibly strong when I opened the tin -- like snorting a whole Godiva box -- but the actual tea was pleasantly balanced.  I notice the rose elements in the aroma, but not in the flavor itself.   Even when I wildly over-steeped yesterday's morning cuppa because I got distracted, neither the chocolate nor the black tea elements turned bitter on me.   If you like tea that tastes like tea, you could certainly get away without adding sweetener.   Adding milk or cream and sugar will probably result in something close to rose-tinged hot chocolate.

Satisfying all around, even for someone who isn't crazy for chocolate.

Tea Forte's Darjeeling Quince

For Christmas, I received Tea Forte's Darjeeling Quince black tea as part of a sampler pack.  I'm quite fond of black teas with fruity notes, so this tea seemed the best one to review for the blog's restart.

This tea combines citrus, quince and hibiscus with a lighter black tea.  Quince is a fruit in the same family as apples and pears.  It usually isn't eaten raw but instead tends to be cooked and used in jams and jellies.   The aroma of the tea is primarily a citrus black, with a little hint of something that is probably the quince (because it definitely isn't hibiscus).  The taste continues the emphasis on citrus, with the quince playing second fiddle and the hibiscus thankfully coming in a distant third.  I wish the tea itself were a little stronger player, but that is likely a personal taste issue as I tend to love darker teas.

This is a solid B+ tea, tasty but not overly complicated.  It's also likely to be a good starter tea for someone looking to venture beyond basic blacks, as it's not too heavily scented or flowery.

We're back!

After almost a year's hiatus, Alys's Tea Party is back!  I'll be trying to post more regular reviews, recipes and other tea-related stuff going forward.