Harney & Sons Indigo Punch

 It's finally sunny and warm here in NJ, which means it's iced tea time!  Today's tea is Harney & Son's Indigo Punch.  Harney & Sons' website describes it thusly:

Vibrant and full of crisp, fruity flavors, our caffeine-free Indigo Punch combines the delicate tang of rose hips and apple pieces. The earthy tones of the gorgeous Butterfly Pea Flower make this a unique blend. Bright lemongrass, lemon peel, and vivid raspberry round out this beautiful brew, along with natural honey flavor for a touch of sweetness.

Yes, it really is blue when brewed.  A nice deep rich blue that makes me wish I had some linen that color. 

But how does it taste, you ask?  It tastes blue.

Seriously, if I had to give the color blue a taste, it would be this.  It's lightly oh so lightly floral, with a tiny bit of fruity sweetness.  It has a clean, crips mouth feel.  I don't taste the lemongrass, but I can get hints of raspberry and rose for sure.  It smells amazing when brewing, too!  

I highly recommend this for iced tea purposes.  It's refreshing and summery without being overwhelmingly sweet or cloyingly fruity.

Edinburgh Tea and Coffee Co.'s Highland Blend Tea

 The website for Edinburgh Tea and Coffee Co. describes its Highland Blend Tea thus:

"A brisk and refreshing brew of the world’s finest black teas. Bright and golden in colour, this has been blended as a lighter, delicate tea, great for afternoons."

 Well, it's afternoon and I could use some caffeine, so let's see if it's great.

Unfortunately, I brewed it in a black mug so I can't tell you anything about the color.  But in terms of aroma and taste, this is a solid, respectable black tea.  It has a slight mineral quality from the first sip and into the aftertaste.  Otherwise it is a clean, tea-flavored tea.  Nothing fancy or unusual.   Good drinking.

Harney & Sons Lunar New Year 2005 - Year of the Snake

 According to their website, Harney & Sons' Lunar New Year 2005 tea (Year of the Snake) is based on Nian Gao, a delicacy made of caramel, sesame, and coconut that is eaten during the Lunar New Year festival.
Ingredients:  Black tea, toasted rice, coconut pieces, sesame seeds, coconut flavor, caramel flavor. Contains natural flavors.

The aroma is fascinating -- a slight hint of burned popcorn (in a good way) and a little bit of brown sugar.  As someone who likes the half-popped/not completely popped kernels left at the bottom of the popcorn bowl, it's a smell very like how those kernels taste.

The first thing I taste is caramel, which is always a good combo with black tea (assuming one likes caramel).  The coconut flavor comes out ever so slightly as an aftertaste, along with a grain-like flavor that could be the toasted rice or the sesame seeds or both.  It's a complex blend of flavors that isn't too much of anything -- not too sweet (which is always a risk with caramel), not too nutty, not too coconut.  I quite like it.

Spice and Tea Exchange's Earl Grey Creme Tea

 The Spice and Tea Exchange website says this about its Earl Grey Creme tea:

The comforting flavors of vanilla and cream combine to lighten the citrus notes of a traditional Earl Grey. With its soft, warm flavors, this is a great tea to start off your day.

Ingredients: black tea, orange peel, cornflower, natural flavor (vanilla, bergamot, and creme).

I am approaching this tea somewhat apprehensively.  I love vanilla and orange, but bergamot needs to be handled carefully and most "natural creme flavor" tastes horridly chemical to me, as if Twinkie filling had been dumped into my cup.  The tea has been brewed and my cup and I are staring at each other waiting for it to cool down enough to drink.  I embark on this venture without benefit of milk or sugar in my tea, as per usual.

Well, of all of the executions of a bergamot + creme flavoring tea, this is the least objectionable one I've had so far.  The initial flavor profile is a straight up Earl Grey, with the vanilla and milky elements coming in the aftertaste.  The "creme" flavor is still weird, but it's not blatantly chemical or artificial, just not to my taste.  The bergamot is handled with subtlety.  The underlying black tea is of good quality.  This is not my cup of tea (see what I did there), but it's good enough that I'll finish the package without complaint.  I think someone who likes milk in their tea would enjoy this greatly.

 

Adagio's Fujian Rain Oolong

 Adagio's website has this to say about its Fujian Rain Oolong:

Fujian Rain or Shui Xian, which translates to "Water Sprite," is an oolong produced in a similar style to Wuyi Oolongs. Therefore they share some similar traits, such as peachy-honey notes and a mineral "rock taste." Grown at an elevation of 800 meters, this high-fired, medium grade version results in a rich-tasting amber colored cup with the nuances of minerals, apricots and spice. 

The brew has no particular aroma beyond "tea," but what a lovely cup of tea!  The mineral notes hit first, followed by a delicate bit of sweetness.  The complex interplay of those two flavors rewards sipping, not gulping.  I can see why they call this tea Fujian Rain because there's a sense of petrichor about the whole thing.  It's a beautiful amber color to boot!

Friday Afternoon Tea's Underworld

Underworld is one of Friday Afternoon Tea's mythology-themed blends.  The website describes it thusly:

This dark, dank, lush blend of earthy-sweet decadence is a walk on the underside in a cup. We took inspiration from ancient Greek mythology and crafted a tea to take you on a journey below. Cave-aged puer tea melds with shaved dark chocolate and black cherry flavor to form a bed of velvet darkness. Dry chicory root and bright pops of pomegranate light your way. The tea will brew first dark, and then darker still in its second and third infusion. Lightness returns to the cup after the third or fourth infusion and the lighter flavors grow to guide you from winter to spring flavors.

Ingredients: Puer tea, black tea, pomegranate, dark chocolate*, chicory root, natural black cherry flavoring

     *Dark chocolate contains: cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, ground vanilla bean

Gotta love a tea that is DESIGNED for multiple brewings.  

Brewing 1:  Rich, deep dark with an aftertaste of sweet cherry.  Like very good dark chocolate.  Weirdly, despite the richness of the flavors, the aroma isn't much of anything at all.  There's an oily sheen on the top of the tea that doesn't taste like anything and doesn't leave a reside on the lips, but it may be off-putting to some people.

Brewing 2:  I taste mostly plain black tea, with notes of sweetness that could easily be cherry or pomegranate.  The tea flavor is still rich, but it has lost the chocolate notes of the first brewing.  I did let the tisane sit for about 24 hours before the second brewing, so it may not be performing at its best.  

Brewing 3:  The sweetness is amped up a bit from the second brewing, but overall it's uninspiring.

This is definitely an excellent tea, and getting a "mere" two steepings out of it is hardly a criticism.  I recommend it for lovers of cherry, pomegranate and chocolate.

Guest Review: Friday Afternoon Tea's Masala Chai

As I don't really care for milk in my tea, I asked my friend Christine to provide her insight on Friday Afternoon Tea's Masala Chai: 

Ingredients:  Ingredients: Black tea, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, natural vanilla flavoring

Prepared with whole milk and sugar

"This chai has a good balance of  flavors. I can taste the vanilla and cinnamon without them fighting for dominance. I usually don’t like chais that have vanilla but this is good.  Nice mouth feel.  It makes a very enjoyable cup; would drink again."

For myself, I sampled a little bit of the chai brew without benefit of milk or sugar and immediately reached for the jar of honey.  I almost never want sugar in my tea.  Without benefit of milk or sweetener, the cardamom and ginger are the front-facing flavors and my mouth feels a little gritty. 

Lesson learned - make this as the chaiwallas intended!