... We had printed the directions to Harney's 
from the internet and it wasn't hard to find. The lovely shop and tea tasting room are located in a quiet garden where the summer flowers were in bloom and butterflies and
bumblebees fluttered and hummed in chorus. The little grey-shingled building hardly looked big enough to contain the huge spirit of tea that Harney's expresses in their gorgeous catalogues.
Inside a pretty, petite woman bustled about preparing tea tastings for customers. Several large canisters were out on the long wooden counter with a mound of the tea in the lid for sight and sniff experience. Then a teaspoon of the tea leaf would go into a small porcelain cup with a cover which was filled with water of the precisly correct temperature. A timer was set, and at the bell, the tea cup, still with its cover on, was tipped into a tea bowl, where the cover straned the tea leaves out and the bowl was filled with just enough tea to taste. Again and again she performed this ritual for the various desires of the people already there.
To us, she offered a hot or an iced tea, set up on a small table to the side, as we looked around. On one side of the shop were an amazing number of tea ware displays, from delicate white porcelain, to Yixing, to Japanese ceramics (a set of which went home with me). Two long walls held the black and gold tins of whole
leaf teas, as well as some tea table treats such as rose petal sponge cake cookies (again, those ended up in my basket - I don't know how!). In a front corner, was a comfortable bench with a stack of tea-related books - great fun to thumb through the one on teapots while we waiting for room at the counter
to have our own tasting!
We had come with a list of green teas we wanted to try, and I can't even describe how gracious this kind lady was with our many requests. She made suggestions too, because after a while she got a sense of the kind of teas
we liked, and we actually went home with three of her favorites, which are our favorites now: Pan Asia, the fresh green with chrysathemum flowers,
Raspberry herbal, which she told us her young son likes to have after school, and Doomni Garden Assam, a smooth breakfast-tea staple.
After some time,
Michael Harney himself stopped by to bring his wife a sandwich lunch. I have to admit that I gushed and stammered, feeling like I was in the presence of my spiritual tea master. We talked about tea, and about kids, and about summer vacations, and all the while I was thinking "Oh my God, this man picks out
these marvelous teas!" I don't know what I would have done if I had met
John Harney - probably fainted dead away! After about half an hour, and eight tea tea tastings, Michael left for a
family gathering, and his older boy came in to help his mother in the shop. Tea really spans all generations, as we have noticed so often here on the
teamail list.
In the next two hours, we added Eight at the Fort, Decaffeinated Assam, Tropical Green (have you smelled this tea? It's incredible! Like being in a
citrus garden while its raining!), and Supreme Breakfast to our heavily laden bags, and then - to my surprised delight - Mrs. Harney added two of the really big (2 lb size) Harney's Tins!
So now you know why I call it Harney Heaven: there is a Tea God and a Tea
Goddess, and there is Tea Ambrosia - the Nectar of the Gods - and I was floating on the clouds all the way home!
~Sophia (posted on the teamail list)
