Our fireball Jersey-girl Lizz is celebrating her 23rd birthday this week, and in honor of this we have picked out a flight of her favorites! Come try Lizz’s Top Three Teas: Japanese Sencha, Golden Monkey, and Organic Ginger.

The first tea Lizz ever tried from Harney & Sons was Japanese Sencha, and almost three years later she is still hooked! Coming from the central Shizuoka province, this green tea has a full body of vegetal flavors but isn’t too strong for your everyday brew. In fact, John Harney our founder starts his day with this Sencha every morning.

When Lizz found herself in need of quitting coffee, she experimented with many of our black teas. Golden Monkey, a Chinese black tea woven with gold tips, was the winner! Lizz describes its flavor as a “roasted honey,” which comes from the gold tips in it. Its heavy body is the perfect brew to jump-start your morning.

Known in Ayurveda as the “universal remedy,” this herbal has become Lizz’s universal remedy and an every-day necessity. She is a major advocate for ginger consumption, being all the benefits it has! Our Organic Ginger from the Chopra Center consists of ginger root, lemon peel, ginger pieces, and black pepper. Its spicy flavor and warming aroma are perfect for after a meal or before bedtime.

Want to make your first cookout the standard for the summer season? Below is a memorable marinade recipe whose key ingredients are two of our most popular teas.

This recipe makes a succulent, sweet, smoky and ginger chicken that, when served with a squeeze of fresh lemon, is a healthy, delicious choice for grilling.
When grinding teas, we recommend using a stainless steel spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. If neither is available, you can also use a mallet.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons ground Harney & Sons Lapsang Souchong Tea
2 tablespoons ground Harney & Sons Ginger Liquorice Tea
1 cup olive oil
1 cup blended vegetable oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk. Allow to sit for 10–15 minutes.
Place chicken in a deep dish and toss with marinade and refrigerate for 8–24 hours.
Grill, and serve with a squeeze of lemon. Great with a salad or served in a sandwich.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in the world!

In honour of mom we are brewing our Mother’s Bouquet blend all weekend.  It is an herbal infusion of chamomile, rosebuds, cornflower, orange peel and citrus flavour.  This blend is wonderfully relaxing and calming as it is caffeine-free and beautiful.

The rest of our flight will be determined by all the moms that will be visiting the tasting room.  Whenever we have an empty pot, we’ll ask one of the moms in the tasting room to pick another.  Stop by and see what they pick!

May is in full SPRING and we couldn’t be more excited about it. This weekend is in fact Mother’s Day, so we will be pouring our Mother’s Bouquet all weekend long! Aside from that fabulous tea, we will be serving a flight of flavor-accented teas, including Citron Green, Earl Grey Supreme, and Yellow & Blue.

This green tea is often suggested to those trying green tea for the first time. With an hint of orange, Citron Green is a flavored Japanese green with citrus notes that are perfect for this time of year, hot or iced.

Earl Grey Supreme is one of our most popular blends. Perhaps it is the extra lemony Bergamot or the added silver tips for a sweeter touch, but make it your most popular pick when it comes to black teas! We guarantee once you taste our Supreme you won’t go back to any standard Earl Grey!

Our Yellow & Blue is an herbal blend consisting of chamomile, cornflowers, and lavender. Not only is this blend relaxing, but it is refreshing with the crisp apple flavor of chamomile and smooth floral accents of lavender. 

Last weekend, our spring green flight was so well received that we’ve decided to do a do-over!  This weekend we will be featuring different versions of the same types of teas.  Also, Happy Star Wars Day!  May the fourth be with you!

Taiping Houkui is a large-leafed, yet delicate, Chinese green tea.  It has a subtle vegetal flavour and a smooth body.

Wenshan Baozhong is the least oxidized oolong that we have.  This tea from Taiwan has such a strong floral taste and scent, but still a light presence in body and colour.

Risheehat 1st Flush Darjeeling is a wonderful tea with light citrus flavours and a medium body.  As the weather warms we at the store are drawn to teas with a lighter taste and body than those of the strong breakfast teas.  Darjeelings hit the spot!

This weekend we want to help you with finding the perfect Mother’s Day gift for that special lady! Come by and try our flight featuring Dragon Pearl Jasmine, Diamond Jubilee, and of course, Mother’s Bouquet!

Can’t figure out what kind of pearls to get your mother this special day? Why not try Dragon Pearls! Dragon Pearl Jasmine is a beautiful, hand-rolled leaf coming from Fuan, China. Packed with floral and sweet aromas, this jasmine brew will leave you feeling light and refreshed.

This special edition tea, originally created for one of the most famous mothers Queen Elizabeth II, is zesty Earl Grey blend that is the perfect choice for the warmer weather. Diamond Jubilee is a blend of black teas, lemony bergamot, and grapefruit.

This herbal blend was created in honor of all mothers. Mother’s Bouquet is caffeine-free, we take chamomile flowers and blend them with rose, orange peel, and citrus oils. A light brew, it is perfect for any-mommy.

It’s the last weekend of April, and as the weather turns sunny and bright, so do we! We are feeling refreshed this weekend with a flight of fruity teas. Come try our White Peach, Fenghuang Shuixian, and Black Currant.

We take our delicate Chinese Mutan White and blend it with refreshing notes of sweet peach to create White Peach. This is one of our more popular white tea blends, and it can be served hot or over ice.

When Mike Harney visits China, it is crucial he makes a visit to the artisans located above the city of Fenghuang. He watches as they transform the leaves of this oolong tea and twist them creating a beautiful brown leaf with hints of russet. The best part of Fenghuang Shuixian is that it carries notes of peach flavor once brewed, finishing with a kiss of spice.

Black Currant is a classic black tea blend, John Harney’s first blend in fact! This full-bodied tea carries a bold fruity flavor. Pair this with a plate of scones or enjoy it by itself to create the perfect Spring afternoon.

Winter seems to have finally released its hold on us and the town has begun to blossom with the beginnings of spring.  The daffodils and crocuses are out, the birds are chirping, and there’s an overall “greening” happening around us.  There’s green grass in the lawns and the fields, green buds on the trees, and green teas in our cups.

While one of our flight’s teas is a green tea, I’m using the term “green” for the rest of our flight to describe the apparent colours of the leaves, not their classification in the world of tea.

Kukicha is a wonderful result of Japanese efficiency. Comprised of the stalks and stems of the tea plant that might otherwise be discarded, the brew itself mimics a lighter version of a hearty Japanese Sencha. If you’re averse to trying Japanese green teas because of their “green-ness,” give this one a try.

While oolong teas span the wide gap between green and black teas, there is an almost infinite number of varieties within that gap that all develop different flavours.  Ti Quan Yin is a famous Chinese oolong that falls on the oolong spectrum closer to green teas.  At the tasting room in Millerton, we have a Traditional Ti Quan Yin that has all of the buttery floral qualities of the Spring Floral Ti Quan Yin, but with a slight final roasting that creates a bit of a toast flavour.

I have been a tea enthusiast for just over six years now, and I am still fascinated by the delicate flavours in First Flush Darjeelings, and the variety of flavours that are unique to each tea estate.  Although the leaves are still visibly green, this is still considered to be a black tea.  The Gielle 1st Flush in particular has a strong citrus taste with a floral background.  Take a look at Michael’s post about Darjeeling teas to learn how the evolution of black teas in India have created a market for Darjeelings: Advent of Great Darjeelings.

The exotic aromas and bustling energy of Mumbai airport welcome us to India after a long flight. But our trip is far from over. From Mumbai we fly south to Coimbatore and then drive almost four hours to our destination. Exhausting, sure, but absolutely worth it. Our destination is Korakundah, a tea estate nestled in the beautiful blue hills of Nilgiri in southern India. My son Alex speaks highly of this place, and I can see why. The dramatic mountain range, with its cool, clean air, offers abundant jungle growth and a rich wildlife.
So what makes Korakundah (and its sister estate, Chamraj, which I visited in 1996) so special? Not only do the boldly colorful tea gardens look like images out of a Dr. Seuss book, but its location in the foothills of Nilgiri, almost 8,000 feet above sea level, make it a prime tea-growing location. The high elevation and cool climate are ideal for producing orthodox full-leaf teas: white, green, and their specialty, frost tea.
Not only does Korakundah yield fantastic crops, but we also value their sustainable practices, another reason we want to cultivate our growing relationship with them. Their teas are organic, biodynamic, Rainforest Alliance–certified, and Fair Trade—the estate treats its workers well and a portion of the tea sales are used to improve the workers’ lives. Another plus: Korakundah is self-sustainable, meaning that it generates most, if not all, of its own power.
That’s quality you can trust and values that are important to us at Harney & Sons, and we are proud to align ourselves with Korakundah. We’re working with our friends there to get the best-tasting full-leaf teas possible, distinct flavors that are mellow and slightly sweet. Because of the cold weather, Korakundah’s factories are able to wither and oxidize their teas more slowly, further developing the aroma compounds to draw out the teas’ attractive fruit, floral, and spice notes.

After Korakundah we fly down to the island nation of Sri Lanka—specifically, the tea-rich region of Dimbulla. The Ceylon teas produced there are outstanding, and we’re excited to see what’s brewing there these days, so to speak. Stay tuned!