Violin in C Sharp

  When I opened this one, I was squealy happy because I was expecting it to be similar to a Harney & Sons blend with a similar name.   Alas, this blend did not have the depth or warmth of flavour I was hoping for.  It was mostly hibiscus and apple and.... nothing else much came through.  As such it was... meh. Final thoughts: Not memorable.  If you want a good spiced plum flavor stick with the Harney & Sons far superior version.

 This is a lovely caffeine free rooibos blend with a heavy spice profile. When I first bought this blend I was super excited and then when it arrived, I was horrified to see cacao pieces in the ingredient list. I can't stand chocolate, let alone chocolate in my tea.  Because of that disappointment, I've had this tin sitting in my tea cupboard for a good month unopened.  Today, I finally decided to brave the cacao - and I'm so happy that I did. I absolutely love that part of the brewing instructions are "Relax and enjoy". Rooibos blends are sort of hit or miss with me - this one is a hit.  I'm downright in love with how wonderfully spicy this is.  The cinnamon, ginger, cloves, black pepper, and cardamom are bold and wonderfully present in the first note.  Under the initial spice hit, the black currant, plum, and hibiscus sweep in with a fruit based sweetness that is followed up by the orange peel tartness that I love so much and a final hit at the back of my...

In case you hadn't figured it out - NEWS FLASH - I love tea.      Like several other tea aficionados in my extended friend group, I have managed to make my love of tea more than a simple appreciation of a beverage - I've developed my love of tea into a full blown hobby.  I collect different blends, I follow different tea companies and their blend collections the way some hobbyists follow card sets.  I have multiple drawers and shelves full of tea related paraphernalia, I have an electric water kettle that has multiple temperature settings specifically for different types of tea.... tea is a part of my daily life.  When I take a vacation someplace special, I try to find a tea cup to bring home for my collection.  For Mother's Day last year, I took my mother out to a fancy tea house to treat her to a Mother Daughter afternoon tea as a way to mark the celebration of the day. I LOVE tea.      With this in mind, it should come as no surprise ...

The Cranberry is subtle, but it's there. I drink this straight off the steep because it's not bitter enough to need cream or sugar and it doesn't leave my mouth feeling at all dry. If I let it get too cool, the hibiscus becomes very prominent, which isn't a bad thing, but something to know. As with all Harney & Sons blends, the black tea is SUPER high quality, but I don't suggest steeping this bag more than once. The Cranberry flavor vanishes entirely with a second steep.

As you can see, it’s on the more golden side of color for a black tea. As expected from the color it’s on the milder side and not at all astringent. The bergamot gives it more body than you might expect from a more golden color and the stone fruit/ honey gives it a natural sweetness to the end note without actually being sweet. I like it straight off the steep without adding anything- but if you need to add something, I would suggest honey or creamed honey instead of cream or cream and sugar. Verdict: comforting, delicious, on the subtle side for a black

Ingredients: Black tea, oolong tea, bergamot oil, lavender, vanilla flavor. Contains natural flavors. So, this video popped up in my Facebook feed a few years ago and I posted it calling it "tea porn" -  https://www.facebook.com/harneytea/videos/10213790126087244/  Oddly, it took me several years to actually get around to ordering myself some. As you can see, it gets nice and dark and the blend of oolong into the earl grey base is super nice. The lavender softens it up a touch and the vanilla is an undernote and doesn't at all overpower the other flavors as it often can in other blends. It's super straight off the steep - but unsurprisingly it holds up to cream and sugar incredibly well. Verdict: The original video did not lie to me at all. This is damn good tea porn.

I’m not usually an English Breakfast fan- so many of them are bland and need cream or sugar but don’t actually stand up to those additions. This blend has nice flavor straight off the steep and needs nothing. Verdict: nice and mild and pleasant