Birthday Tea

Also posted on Facebook:

Some kind, thoughtful, and creatively sneaky someone is behind the tin of Harney and Sons Birthday Tea that showed up in today’s mail. You realize it’s going to drive me absolutely nuts figuring out who you are, right? When I do, can I call to say thanks? At 2 a.m., which is when random stuff like this generally comes to me?

(Looking forward to trying this little box full of cheerful!)

AAAAAAH DAMMIT THIS TEA IS DECAF. I was sipping it, thinking my day was okay, when I glanced at Harney & Son’s webpage to look at the ingredients/description for this tea. DECAF? … DECAF?!?!? WHY EVEN EXIST?

But seriously this is a pretty good tea. It tastes like Crasins, mostly. It’s got a sort of (maybe slightly artificial) berry stuff going on, with some floral notes. I actually think my god-daughter (3 years old) would LOVE this. I’m not allowed to feed her caffeine (bah! no fun!), but I could share this with her. I should let her do a guest post on here sometime. It’d just be a bunch of key-smash and inarticulate garble.

Oh crap, that’s what these reviews are mostly anyway.

So I managed to get some of this tea online from a secondary source. Wow. One of the most fruity and fragrant teas I’ve sampled. A real delight. Recent story: I’d placed a few sachets in tagalong tin and last night during a long (and tedious) community board meeting decided to brew up a cup. The minute I opened the tin the fragrance of this tea hit the air and my friends sitting next to me turned their heads. One asked what it was and after my reply and neighborly first sip, I ended up giving a sachet to one of my friends to try out at home. It is decaffeinated but I have to say that it is so fresh that it’s kind of a mood lifter.
I really don’t understand why this isn’t available from Harney & Sons. Just doesn’t make any sense really given how delicious it is.

I am on the second steep of my first tea bag of Birthday Tea.

The first thing I noticed about the tea was a dark blue color and a strong blueberry taste with additional herbal notes. I could not really taste the tea at all, and I felt it resembled more of a fruit and herbal infusion than tea.

On the second steep, the fruit notes are less prominent and the herbal notes more so. I had hoped that this tea would have some vanilla or cream flavoring to suggest birthday cake.

Mission DrinkAllTheBirthdayTeas is coming to a close and boy…I really did this backwards, didn’t I? Herbals first and blacks last? No, no, no. I guess I’ll just have to do this all over again the right way next year! I saved this one for last because it was the first sample I received of a birthday-themed blend. It came from carol who. Since I am such a fan of Harney & Sons in general, I figured this one ought to go over well. I’m actually drinking it side-by-side with the last half of my Della Terra Birthday Cupcake cuppa. Not loving it.

First of all, let me make clear the fact that I was aware this was NOT going to be cake flavored. However, I can’t say there is anything particular birthday feeling about it at all.

Secondly, let me say that I don’t hold a vendetta against hibiscus the way many of you steepsterites do. With that being said, I somehow forget each time I brew a hibiscus tea hot that I really only like them cold. I’m thinking the rest of this cup is going in the refrigerator to chill over night. It’s too intense hot. But, to be honest, I’m still not convinced I’m going to like it any more in the morning because all I taste is hibiscus and a generic fruity sweetness.

So glad I got to try this one, though. I had really been wanting to ever since I saw it on the Harney & Sons website for the first time.

Dunno, as hibiscus teas go, I think Passion by Tazo has my heart.

I tried to get my Mom to try some. We were celebrating her birthday early (It’s on Tuesday). She didn’t like it. Oh well. She liked the cake!

I definitely should have looked at reviews before I tried this one. I think I grabbed a sachet of it out of Pass the TTB 2.

I gave it 2 good sips before I poured it out. I couldn’t get beyond the thick syrupy flavor I got out of it. I’m sorry to say this is probably the worst tea I’ve ever had. Bleh.

What an odd tea! When I first opened my sample of this, I was honestly a bit repulsed at the cloying, scent. It smelled like a mixture of decaying flowers and children’s cough syrup…blahh! However, I’m glad that I didn’t let the scent alone dissuade me from brewing it anyways. I figured I had paid for a large sample, I may as well brew it before I throw the towel in. Let me just say that this one is much more pleasant to sip when brewed, than to just sniff in the bag! Once brewed the cloying scent dissipates a bit. It tastes like a rich fruity floral blend when served hot. The hibiscus in it is a bit overpowering, so when I blend this tea, I typically steep a little less than usual, and don’t allow it to become too strong and overpowering. Overall, this is a tolerable tea, but not an enjoyable one. I find there are much better fruity blends on the market, but this is still a fun one to try just as a sample.

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I really should have looked up this tea before I tried it, hah! It’s in sachets, so I don’t pay much attention to what the tea inside looked like. I just smelled it and thought it was kind of fruity and sweet and tart. Steeped 5 minutes like I always do for Harney & Sons teas.

Turns out, this is basically liquid hibiscus and rosehips… Of which I am not a huge fan. There’s some berry flavor in there, but it’s hard to differentiate because of how strongly tart this tea is. The addition of the mint is interesting, I can taste it just barely at the end of the sip, and it’s nice and refreshing.

Overall, I would suggest not trying this one unless you like hibiscus and rosehips. Those two combined are definitely the bulk of the flavor here, and even with sugar it’s quite a tart tea. Drinkable, but not something I would ever choose. Luckily, there are several more sachets in here, so I don’t feel too bad for trying it! :P

The last one from the teabox! Back to my other teas! 41 teas I sampled from the teabox in two weeks! Teaboxes will never stop being fun! It definitely opens my eyes to all the tea out there.
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #41
I snagged one of these teabags from the teabox before I went out the door to mail it. I knew it probably wasn’t for me. Hibiscus doesn’t say ‘birthday’ to me. And why does Harney feel the need to ruin their teas with hibiscus? I possibly steeped this one too long and let the hibiscus really run the cup. But it wasn’t too terrible. Underneath all that tart hibiscus, it has that lovely fruity flavor found in other Harney teas like Paris or Tower of London. The decaf wasn’t offensive. Harney has some of the best decaf teas. Without the hibiscus, this one might have tasted like a nice berry birthday cake. (There is an odd flavor that almost seems like stale grocery store cake frosting… but not in a terrible way… that might just be the black tea, I’m not sure!) Otherwise, there is no way I’d choose to sip this one on my birthday. Nice to try any tea, of course!
Steep #1 // a few minutes after boiling // 4-5 min