Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea - Harney & Sons
Posted: Nov 12th, '08, 02:23
I have to say thanks as I was sent a sample of this tea from a forumite. Here is what I wrote about it in my shiny new blog. No offence to adagio but their flavored tea is just 'ok' while places like Harney and Lipicia have amazing flavored teas.
Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea - Harney & Sons
I first want to thank a friend who sent me this. It is from a local store just north New York City that sells teas and also has a tasting room. Harney & Sons also has an online store Here where I will explore later. My favorite flavored tea is Cinnamon, so at this remark I was sent a Cinnamon tea.
Teaware: Gaiwan
Temperature: Boiling
2 Infusions at a time
I started with 20 counts (seconds) and worked up from there.
1st infusion: Wow, this is a lot different than the infused flavor tea I have been using. The flavor of cinnamon is more what I would expect from the raw spice. The second flavor to hit is actualy a sweetness that smooths out the bitterness found in cinnamon. There is a hint of black tea behind this but it is overpowered by the other flavors. Though I have to mark it down points for not being able to taste much of the tea, I give it extra credit as a dessert tea.
2nd infusion: The taste of cinnamon starts to grow as the chunks of cinnamon start infusing the tea with more flavor. It gets more spicy and the sweetness starts pulling back. I do not know if they added any sweetener to the mix but more steeps will tell.
3rd infusion: I am at it again eagerly this time. Normaly I wait for a tea to cool a little before tasting but this one I am burning my lip as I try to have more. This time the cinnamon is starting to kick in more. The sweetness has dropped either due to the stronger cinnamon taste or has started weakening as I go. I spoke to the friend who was online and they do not use sweaterners. The blend uses 3 types of cinnamon and orange peels?
4th infusion: This infusion sis alot lighter than the perviouse ones in taste and color. I will have to start increasing the brewing time by alot. This is a tea that I like to keep strong. It also helps seperate the flavors of the tea.
5th infusion: I used a cooler temperature by not reheating the water, the effect is lighter on the cinnamon so I actualy get a hint of the tea used in the mix. Mainly both the sweetness and the cinnamon are starting to slack off.
6th infusion: Even with the water reheated the flavor has mellowed out on this. This is the final infusion.
Overall - This is a good tea though I can only get a few steeps out of this with full flavor. I might not actualy call this a tea but more a hot beverage. It is steeped the same as tea but there is no tea flavor in it.
Other Thoughts - I am out of a tea budget and its only the start of the week. I ordered some of this along with a few flavored samplers from this vendor....