Several months have passed since I did a post asking about favorite teas. It’s time for tea review. I am not an affiliate of any of the companies mentioned, so I received no compensation for my tea reviews.
I have very specific taste when it comes to tea. I drink it straight, without sugar or sweetener, and one of my criteria is being able to enjoy it on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. As always, your mileage may vary.
Best everyday black tea
Chocolate by Harney and Sons
Briskness: 2 Body: 2 Aroma: 4 Buy: here.
I absolutely love this tea. I am a sucker for chocolate flavors and this tea has just enough of the right aroma and taste. This is my go-to morning tea. It’s robust enough to help me wake up but gentle on my stomach without creamer or milk.
Alternative: He Family Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea. Both teas have the China black base. The sample batch of the HFLB had strong chocolate aroma, but when I ordered in bulk, the taste and scent wasn’t nearly as pronounced, so I now prefer Harney & Sons.
Paris by Harney and Sons
Briskness: 2 Body: 2 Aroma: 4 Buy: here.
This is an exquisite tea, with hints of vanilla, caramel, and just a little Bergamot. As the Chocolate, it is gentle on the stomach but still packs the flavor and caffeine punch.
It might be just me, but I find that when I drink Paris several days in a row, I end up tasting Bergamot less. It might be just me, but I enjoy varying it with Chocolate or other tea flavors.
Best Green Tea
Dragon Pearl Jasmine by Harney and Sons
Briskness: 1 Body: 2 Aroma: 5 Buy: here.
This is a remarkable tea. In fact, I’m drinking my second cup as I’m writing this. It’s a complicated taste, delicate and subtle rather than rich, but never bitter as long as it’s brewed at the right temperature, which is for the green tea happens to be 175º. It’s pricier than some other options, but having brewed it many times now, I have yet to screw it up. The jasmine is less pronounced, but I have a fix for that coming up.
Best White Tea
Yunnan White Jasmine
Flavors: floral, fruity, slightly spicy. Buy: here.
If you want jasmine tea, this is the one. It has a definite jasmine aroma; you can’t miss it. It’s a very flavorful tea, surprisingly so for white tea, and I’ve been ordering it for month and had very consistent flavor throughout. It tastes almost creamy, as much as tea can taste creamy on its own. Highly recommended.
And there you have it. There are other categories that I wanted to cover, like herbal and iced, but I have to go work. Happy tea drinking and let me know your favorites in the comments.
I ❤ several of the Harney & Son’s tea, and Paris is one of my favorites! If you’re enjoying the Chocolate, try the Valentine’s Day tea!
I love the Tower of London blend from Harney’s. Its wonderfully fragrant. Received it as a present from my cousin a while ago. Now I have to go find it online. 🙂
Oh, I also want to try Paris now.
I also odd on earl grey when I was younger but have found that lady grey by twinnings is a very mild tea in the same family
I’m a big herbal tea fan and I love Tazo’s Passion and Orange teas. STASH also makes excellent teas; my favorites are Christmas Eve and Christmas in Paris.
Thanks! San Francisco’s Chinatown has been closed for a while and I can no longer stock up on my pearl oolong and jasmine. I tried Verdant Teas and they were so disappointing. No flavor at all.
Another loose blends you can probably find online or at Japanese supermarkets is hojicha and genmaicha. Hojicha is roasted over charcoal instead of steamed, so it has a robust toasty flavor. Genmaicha has toasted rice added to it, so an extra element of flavor.
That chocolate tea sounds very promising to my chocoholic heart.
I like Lipton’s orange pekoe tea combined with Celestial Season’s Country Peach Passion. I do not like the taste of coffee at all so I appreciate the smooth taste of orange pekoe cut tea. But because I no longer put milk in my tea (gave up sugar years ago, but only recently gave up milk) I look for a little non-sweet flavoring. I used to be able to get Twinnings black currant loose tea, and there was even a peach black tea. But I have not been able to find either for years. So I tried Celestial Seasons Country Peach Passion tea bag with a Lipton tea bag in a small pot. It gives me 2 1/2 cups of delicious tea.
You can’t leave the Peach Passion in too long, 2 minutes and its out. If I use decaf black tea, I leave them in awhile, but never the Peach Passion.
I love Harney & Sons teas! Thank you for the suggestions, I will certainly try them. One of my personal favorites is Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice tea. It’s a nice black tea with definite cinnamon tones but without the peppery aspects of a Chai. I drink it plain, with nothing added, and it doesn’t upset my stomach, even after several cups in a row. It’s a fixture on my Amazon buy again list and I have been drinking several cups every afternoon as the weather cools down.
+1
My current fav is Earl Grey Creme from the Spice and Tea Exchange. I first found this tea when we visited WaltDisney World, at the cooking store in Disney Springs. Okay, it’s not quite Disney World, but it’s close. I couldn’t remember where it was from until we visited a shop in St. Augustine, FL, and found the original Spice and Tea Exchange store. And the tea is delicious, bergamot with a vanilla flavor.
I remembered another brand that I like. When we lived in Korea I found a Korean brand of tea, and we were lucky enough to be able to visit their tea plantation. The brand is O’Sulloc, and if you can find their Jeju tangerine, it’s wonderful.
I missed the first tea conversation, but if you are looking for something a little different, there is an independent herbalist tea shop I recommend. https://www.thetriaprima.com/
For small batches of ethically grown tea from a small business. So far, Poetry and Constantly Commenting are my favorites for caffeine. Rose garden and Honey bee for non-caff days
I have been looking for a good jasmine white tea–I am going to try your favorite on this, thank you!
Nice… I though this was from instagram of Catalina…
I’ve tried most of the better brands and have settled on Rishi. High quality, good basics as well as diverse and exotic options to try. Golden Yunnan Is an excellent but not overpowering black tea. I currently have a mild preference for the earl gray lavender compared to the traditional or supreme, but as the weather changes I may switch back. Turmeric ginger is A really excellent must have. Their masala chai is rich and spicy.
MEM tea is another very high quality option but their prices have tripled since my first purchase. Their Bourbon vanilla rooibos was amazing. Their Jasmine pearls are one of the best I’ve ever tried. Blue Flower Earl Gray is very balanced.
Love hearing about tea! My personal favorite is ginger tea.
I have an electric pot and tea pot, but I’ve found much better success boiling it in a sauce pan. About two inches of ginger for two cups of water. Smash the ginger, add to boiling water. Put lid on pot and let simmer for two minutes. Then I add juice from half a lemon. When poured, I add a spoonful of honey and sliced citron to the mug. Because citron is hard for me to source locally, I buy a pre-mix of Ginger, honey and citron. It’s supposed to be used by itself, but I find it doesn’t have enough ginger flavor to my taste, so I use it as a sweetener instead. You can make it much sweeter, but I like the brisk spiciness only slightly tempered by honey. If you’ve ever eaten pickled ginger as a palate cleanser, the feeling of ginger tea is quite similar.
It raises your internal temp and is great for colds, sore throats, nausea and aiding digestion. Unfortunately, my primary care doc advised against it during my pregnancy, but I’m hoping my OB will give me the green light for a cup or two.
I came here and was going to look up any mention of tea as I wanted to get some really good and special tea for a co-worker, and voila. Your blog from yesterday was a tea review! Perfect!
Thank you!
For me it’s Kusmi all the way. Favourite black is Prince Vladimir and I love the Anastasia White (very delicate and refined). Adore their Christmas Tsarevna.
I love Harney and Son’s Green Tea with Coconut, Ginger, and Vanilla. My go-to. Highly recommend.
My favourite is a strong cup of lapsang souchong from TWG Tea with a plate of their macaroons… mmmm
Do any of you find the teapot you use to be important to the tea? I have two china pots which I use for some of my more delicate teas, but for the Twinings Red Robios tea that I really like I have a clay teapot that I think brews a smoother, stronger tasting tea. I actually prefer my clay dragon teapot to my china pots. .
Teabox mountain rose. It is wonderful
We love to try different tea shops and recently found https://theteahaus.com The pictures of the tea are hilarious: it looks like they use a macro lens on the teas and artfully arrange the leaves with tweezers. They must put as much care into blending the teas as they do taking the pictures because they are delicious. We even receive cute handwritten notes with our orders!
Wait, wait, wait. How did I not know about chocolate tea?!?
I like harneys Hot Cinnamon spice, republic of tea Comfort and Joy which is easy on the tummy in the morning, and a good strong Assam tea in the afternoon.
I’ve got hooked on Mariage Frères Christmas tea about 20 years ago. Over the years, I switched to Palais des Thés green Christmas tea, that unfortunately became seasonal and therefore available only 2-3 months per year.
Few years ago I became more adventurous and explored Japanese green teas, Genmaicha quickly became daily favorite.
Chinese Long Jing is another one.
I drink less and less tea that were artificially “aromatised”. Except for mint, jasmine and rare lotus.
I do occasionally enjoy snobby small harvest exclusives, but they tend to be available for a short period of time and expensive. And to be honest, my palet is apparently not refined enough to appreciate most of them.
It’s like with shoes, when you have too much choice, you tend to wear the same ones.
Tieguanyin
Wuyi Black Tea
Black Pu’Er if you’re feeling earthy
I love those selections Aly!
Spilling the tea: I wanted to comment a while back but I needed to go to the office to find the exact name of the tea I wanted to recommend.
It’s called Milk Oolong Tea (Bleu-green tea), and it’s a tea that tastes naturally like a milk tea, a bit as if there was caramel.
I wasn’t sure I would like it so I bought a small batch, but it’s really nice, I don’t drink it too often so it’s a bit of a treat.
;o)
Thank you very much for all your posts, I loved the last one with the cats and your explanation of how your days go.
Cheers!
Laurence
I am a fan of old Pu-Er tea for black Chinese tea. Have you tried those? Think really intense flavours but not bad for tummy as an old pu-er has undergone some fermentation. Best brewed in a clay teapot but there are decent tea bag versions!
YAY! Someone else who likes clay teapots!
oh how happy this post and all the comments made me (as well as giving me WAY too many new possibilities )!! my morning tea is Ahmad Cardamom Black Tea. I have 50+ different kinds of tea in my pantry, in part b/c when i travel (remember travel??!), I go into grocery stores, and tea shops if i find them (last one was a beautiful place in Barcelona, lucky me), and bring home 1/4 suitcase of new teas.
FYI, Target carries a few of Harney teas, and i get one of my favorite teas -their Vanilla Comodo(i think it’s called), which is decaf black tea with Vanilla.
Love Rooibos.
Very impressed with Palace Des Thes teas — i got given a tea advent calendar from them, which was about the most perfect present i ever got, something i liked, hadn’t had before and wouldn’t have bought for myself b/c i would have thought it was too expensive for what you got, but it was super fun)
ok, many more ideas and thoughts crowd my head, but i need to return to turning out letters to get out the vote
Omg I love Harney and Sons Teas. Love love love. Vanilla cormoro is a fave decaf.
I love Jasmine tea! And I also love chocolate!
So, I will try this out absolutely. Thank you for the advice!
LOVE this post, as I just ran out of loose tea. Zoom meetings=teapot and china teacup =????
Thank you.
I have never been a tea or coffee fan but this year I am trying to learn to enjoy tea. I found August Uncommon Tea (https://august.la/) and discovered a few of their teas that I really like. But in fair warning, I love chocolate & sweets and that is reflected in my tea choices.
Low Country- a strong black tea with bourbon and burnt sugar notes. I like it with a little milk, honey & at the end of a long day a splash of actual bourbon.
Cabaret – a malty black tea with chocolate and dark cherry. With a splash of milk, it tastes like a liquid black forrest cake.
Passage – a rich black tea with hazelnut and chocolate. It is like drinking nutella.
Know by Heart – a white tea with orange blossom, almond and honey. I love it with a little honey & milk or a small splash of honey jack daniels as then end of the day.
In Australia, so brands are completely different, but my absolute go-to favourite has a good China black tea base with chocolate flavouring and mint tea. If you love chocolate mint as a combo, this tea is incredible. I don’t think they ship overseas, but for reference this is the tea: https://adoretea.com.au/product/mint-slice/
T2 *does* ship overseas though and their Earl Grey is hands down the best I’ve ever tasted. A little fuller and sweeter than others, a very complex and balanced flavour. https://www.t2tea.com/en/au/tea/french-earl-grey-loose-leaf-everyday-tin-T125AI029.html So delicious!!
I’m a tea nutter. Try Harney & Sons Diamond Jubilee and London Fog. I even have a electric kettle that brews water for the perfect temp depending on type of tea.
I did a detox diet a few years ago for two weeks. Throughout the whole experience I was lusting after coffee. After the detox finished I made a cup of coffee and couldn’t drink it, I also couldn’t drink my usual brand of tea. After months of trying different things I finally found I enjoyed Ceylon Tea from my local farm shop and tried a number of commercial brands of Ceylon tea until I settled on Twinings – it’s still the only tea I can drink.
I really enjoy a tea called tlThe Wizard from Adagio. It is a black tea has notes of chocolate, lapsang su shong and other spices. I enjoy it with a splash of milk.
A magical tea is Mariage Freres Marco Polo tea. It is considered one of the finest black teas in the world.
It has moderate body and is velvety smooth. It has a light floral fragrance. It has chocolate, vanilla and honey overtones. It is a very complex and magical tea. It is Mariage Freres best selling tea and had been for decades. It is a beautifultea to experience. I encourage you to try it.
The taste is subtle, but good quality White Peony tea is my go-to tea. Like you, I have to be careful of my stomach.
If you really want to splurge, find Queen of White Peony. OMG. No added flavorings, fyi–just the floral aroma of nature at its finest.
Thank you for your recommendations. I have just ordered them along with some Earl Grey. I’m always looking for delicious.
Breakfast Qimen from Seven Cups (in Tucson, AZ, but they ship) is excellent. They also sell lots of wonderful oolongs.
Numi Tea is great if you are looking for Fair Trade Tea!
It’s a little pricey, but worth it. I recommend their Golden Chai for a flavourful but smooth tea
My favorite is Hime brand: Genmai Cha- Green Tea and Roasted Brown Rice. Drink this straight all day long with Chinese Teakettle.
I ordered the white jasmine from Verdant and tried it. Quite good, thanks for the recommendation! Being a crazy-tea-person, I had to try others and so far, have liked everything I have tried from them.
They have a sampler you can get as a new customer. They send you 5 samples (their choice) 5g each (they say it is for 1 cup but the way I make my tea, I get 2-3 cups out of it) for $5 total, no shipping charge. And they give you a $5 coupon for your 2nd order!
I think I’m hooked…..
I ordered both black teas; I LOVE them. Thank you so much for the recommendation. My husband is constantly drinking tea, and I have never understood why (I don’t like his favs). The Paris is perfect for afternoon tea, so buttery and delicious.
I’m from Italian descent by my mother and we love coffee. Good coffee. 😉 But coffee doesn’t sit very well with me in the morning so, just like you, I prefer a good tea enjoyable on an empty stomach.
I love tea but I’m one of those people who says that flavored tea isn’t exactly tea… I do accept flowers however so I would look to taste the white and green tea you selected. I’m French and living in France so I’m not sure I can easily find Harney and Sons brand but I will look. 🙂
Me I love an organic French brand called Les Jardins de Gaia and I love their black tea like Ballade dans l’Himalaya (Walk in the Himalayas) or their premium Yunnan d’Or (Golden Yunnan). They’re very round, the Yunnan is very red and deep when the Darjeeling is light amber and more floral (but it is just black tea leaves).
And now I will make me one and enjoy it listening to the first Edge book since I finished every Kate Daniels novels last week and just finished the last Hidden Legacy book… When I think of the amount of work every book requires, I think I read to fast but I can’t stop… ^^’ Thank you to you both for your amazing work and all the time you put in it. <3
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGwuXhTMoE1/?igshid=7vdv2sovrs02
I bought both the chocolate tea and Zapatista on your recommendation. The chocolate tea is delicious with milk. It snowed here today so I’m trying the Paris tea and it smells heavenly and tastes better. Thank you for your books and your lovely recommendations!