Tea Review: H&S Paris

Tea for Tuesday #7

Harney and Sons Fine Teas: Paris

Bonjour mes amis! Notre thé du jour est le mélange de Harney et Fils Paris.

Do you know what that means?  Let me translate. Hello my friends! Our tea of the day is Harney and Sons Paris blend. Xyra and Melody picked it up at the Coffee and Tea Festival Philly in early November. The Harney and Sons representatives were very nice and a lot of fun. They brought several teas for festival goers to try. 

They brought the sachets in the classic tin. 

You get 20 sachets in the tin. Each sachet makes at least 2 cups. I love the tin. It has all the information you need to brew and understand the tea. This side gives you the brewing instructions.

This side gives you the ingredients as well as the character descritption of the tea. 

The Paris blend is a black tea with natural vanilla, fruit, and citrus flavors. Hmm, the website mentions black currant and caramel flavors. It's enlightening, not that brisk, but has good body and a robust aroma.

Sachets are bigger than teabags and are usually pyramid shaped so the leaves inside can be bigger and have more room to expand during steeping. 

I've put the sachet in our prepared pot and am setting the timer to 5 minutes.

[Timer beeps]

Nous avons thé! (giggles) We have tea! Thé is pronounce "tay" not the.

It does have a bold aroma! 

You can really get the bergamot and vanilla and even some black currant.

The color is nice and dark.

Now how about the taste?

Mmmm, very nice plain. The flavors mesh well to give a hint of sweetness. I'd like to try with granulated sugar.

Not bad. I added a scant teaspoon of regular, granulated or table sugar. Not entirely sure it is needed. of course, I need to try it with milk too.

I've added a tiny bit of 2% milk, just enough to make it tan. 

This adds a creaminess and brings out the black currant. Again, not entirely sure it is needed.

Overall, I really like the Paris blend, but think it is best plain. It may not be the best choice if you do not like vanilla in tea. Vanilla stands out in this blend and even though the description mentions bergamot, the citrus is a minor note.

Xyra's Notes

• Grace and I aren't in complete agreement on the Paris blend. She likes it much more than I. In fact, we picked it up because Melody enjoyed the sample at the festival and figured Grace would love the theme.
• Since the festival I have had several cups of Paris blend. I fixed it in my normal haphazard, running out the door method; automatically adding different sweeteners and milk each time. Well, it seems I have been understeeping and adding too much. Today made it clear this blend needs the full 5 minutes steeping in a properly warmed pot; and is best plain - nothing added.
• My tea tends to get forgotten when I get to work and cools off. Temperature shifts the flavor notes. To me the vanilla takes over completely when cold and it becomes somewhat perfumey. When hot, drinkable hot, the blend can be very comforting and smooth.

I hope you enjoyed our review and will stop again. 1 down; 17 to go. 😊 Who do you think will review the next one?

A bientot! 

Note: Tea Time with melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl or Harney and Sons or the Coffee and Tea Festival Philly. The above review is unsolicited and comprised of our own opinions, thoughts, and words. The tea mentioned was purchased specifically for our collection to review for our readers. All links are provided for educational and informative purposes; no purchase is required to enjoy this post.

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