Savoy Tea Co

I think this gives me a good excuse to go back to Arkansas; a one-ounce sample is not going to be nearly enough. This is a really nice black tea with lemon, caramel, and a hint of bergamot. Really, just a hint; it doesn’t assault you. The caramel is first and foremost; nice and thick on the tongue.

It’s been a long time since I had (and liked) Harney & Sons Indian Nimbu, but I’m pretty sure this is its twin sister.

Did the first test cup straight up, but I’m thinking this would be lovely with milk, too.

Even though this is one of the more plausible decaf teas I’ve tried recently, there’s just a hole in its middle where the kick belongs.

I oversteeped, not deliberately, but even with a bitter-er bite because of that, the lovely unadulterated black tea personality isn’t there.

Sigh. Oh well, off-kilter tea for an off-kilter day. (Time change, out of sorts, cloudy, cold, complications…you know, just a Monday. Glad today’s troubles are light and momentary.)

Our run-away-from-hype day yesterday was in the direction of Northwest Arkansas (Wal-Mart headquarters territory; lots of new shopping venues springing up). And in Rogers, to be exact, we discovered a nice tea shop with prepackaged sample sizes as well as tea by the ounce. With great difficulty, I limited myself to just two take-home treats.

…but I’m glad this one made it into my bag. I’ve often mentioned the desire for an unflavored decaf black tea that actually had some personality. This one’s decent. Steeps reddish amber and has some red-fruit undertones to it, even a hint of cola.

It even kicked out a fair second steep with the (fill-it-yourself) filter bag left in the cup.

After that, we hit the backroads. Two-lane Highway 12 snakes miles to the east of Rogers and leads to War Eagle Mill, a working grist mill in the gorgeous middle of nowhere with a gift shop that smells like fresh bread and a lovely view of War Eagle Creek from the top floor of the mill when sharing a serving of pecan cobbler with somebody you’re fond of. I didn’t want to leave.

Just getting home from a wonderful day with my awesome aunt, I thought I’d give the tea she had bought me for Christmas a try. At first I wasn’t sure, because mostly I drink herbal teas. But the aroma made my mouth water. i let it steep for the least amount of time it said, and it tastes just like fruit plate, I guess would be the right way to say the taste. I took a little taste when it was done without sugar, and it tasted fine, but I found a small, very small amount of sugar makes all the flavor come out perfectly. Thank you very much Aunt Mswhatsit!!! :D

It’s my Birthday and, as promised, I had Paris Morning dessert style (with sweetener and coconut milk) for the first time. It was as awesome as I imagined it would be and a great tea to have on my birthday.

Since I was in doing so depleting my tea supply a little, I just had to stop by Savoy Tea Company to replenish my supply and see what was new. While there, I couldn’t resist having one of their bacon cupcakes. OMG Om nom nom…

“I love Paris in the Springtime, I love Paris in the Fall,
I Love Paris in the Winter when it drizzles,
I love Paris in the Summer, when it sizzles…
(song from the musical “Can Can” by Cole Porter)

Ah, Paris Morning…How do I love thee? An awful lot, apparently. Running out of this was my main reason for returning to the Savoy Tea Company. Not that I needed more tea (I’m generally up to my eyebrows in it) but because I was out of THIS TEA and by golly, I had to have more right away.

I found it on my first visit to this shop while sniffing various sample jars. I caught a whiff of tea, vanilla, and bergomot and had to try it. If Paris is the city of love, well, it’s amore. Just taking it out of the cupboard makes me start getting all poetic.

This is a luxuriant tea, sensual and fragrant. Of course, the whole tea experience could be described as such. It’s time consuming to heat the water, steep it within the proper time frame, and then you have to wait for it to cool (though I’ll admit to occasionally dropping an ice cube in my brew out of impatience—I’m not much at this zen of tea stuff.). My point is, this is not the sort of tea to guzzle away in the course of a day or two. It’s more the kind I hoard like fine jewelry or expensive perfume, taking my time so I don’t run out too quickly. But even so, the days pass all too quickly and I’m alone again, staring at the empty place in my cupboard where my lost love once resided.

Paris morning is lovely stuff hot or cold brewed and like most of my favorites is fine alone, although cream and sweetener are fine for special occasions. Like my birthday. Yeah, maybe I’ll have it that way then.

I’m pretty certain Savoy is either relabeling Harney & Sons Paris or there is another company out there that has copied it almost exactly. That means I love the tea, but I’m not sure I’ll go out of my way to get it from Savoy again when I order from Harney frequently anyway. If you’ve had H&S Paris you’ve had this. :)

About a week ago, I went to Savoy Tea Company to renew my supply of their Paris Morning and pick out some new teas. The nice lady behind the counter asked if I was looking for anything in particular and I said I was interested in seasonal blends for autumn and the holidays. She pulled out a tin of this tea. One whiff and I had to have it.
In the package it smells deliciously minty with hints of butter and vanilla. Brewed up hot, it smells like some kind of fabulous.
At this point, I’d like to state that I am something of an uncultured barbarian where black tea is concerned. I’ve sampled lots of bitter, rancid, seriously nasty, and probably inferior examples of it. Most of the blends on my shelf are either simple herbals or blends of green tea and other stuff. It’s only in the past few years that my husband, a native Ozark hillbilly, brought me around to an appreciation of the syrup-y goodness of southern sweet tea. There followed a gradual appreciation for some of the better black teas in small and very occasional doses, but none of the obsession shown by any of the true connoisseurs on this site. Indeed, I’ve found myself scratching my head and puzzling over a few of their reviews. “What’s with all the nuance and esoterica? It’s just black tea!”
This was not JUST black tea. Despite the label making no claims of anything exotic, I’m pretty darn sure the base black tea used is quite a few levels above any black tea I’ve ever tasted. The scent coming from my cup was less minty than the dry mix, and it was complex and wonderful, as was the taste.
Yeah, I know, there was also mint in there and “natural candy cane flavor” you know, from the sugar plum forest where candy canes grow on trees. I drink a lot of mint blends and this was a very nice one, it’s minty-ness pleasant but not distracting. This is, in my opinion, a very well put together blend, and the whole combination works harmoniously.
But wow, that black tea! Complex, smooth, even having (I can’t believe I’m saying this) a little of that malty-ness I keep hearing people make reference to. Yet it’s so well fitted to the blend I wouldn’t have noticed all this except that usually I don’t find black tea remarkable at all.
All you black tea enthusiasts can now have a hearty laugh at my expense. I’ve just been assimilated.
Anyway, I had this blend without cream or sugar and found it interesting enough to stand alone. Just for yuks and grins I added a bit of sugar towards the end and found it makes a fabulously complex sweet tea as well. No cream for me though…the idea seems strangely sacrilegious to me, though I couldn’t say why.
The blend was lovely hot and I am looking forward to trying it cold brewed sometime to see how it fares by that method.

When I was shopping for Autumn teas, the scent of this one grabbed my attention. You know the aroma that wafts towards you from a candied almond stand? Yeah, just like that, with a hint of apples as well. I didn’t so much want to brew the stuff as eat it, but I curbed my enthusiasm and put the package in my tea cupboard.

Lately, I’ve been cold brewing my teas but this one called for a nice hot steep instead. Disregarding the directions (which I later learned call for 10-12 minute steep…who knew?) I gave it the customary three minutes and sampled it. It seemed weak, so I added some coconut milk (I don’t use dairy much) and a bit of sweetener, then on a whim, put the little tea cage spoon thingy (Ok, so I’m a greenhorn at this) back in to steep some more, and sat down to watch Dr Who until the tea cooled a bit. The flavors intensified and between the extra steeping, the richness of the coconut milk, and the sweetener, it became a lovely warm cup of autumn comfort. I’m going to have to get some more of this as the nights get colder. Yum.

My disappointment at seeing the bottom of the cup was modified a bit when I noticed all those re-hydrated apples among the source material, gave them an experimental nibble, and realized there really wasn’t anything in this tea that wasn’t safe to eat. So I did follow through with my original impulse to munch on some of the tea. And it wasn’t bad, though munching on leftover steepings may not be everybody’s cup…well, you know…
In conclusion, I rather liked this tea, but don’t disregard the directions-It needs a good long steeping to bring out the flavors. And a little added sweetening and richness don’t hurt either.

Powerful vanilla scent before and after brewing, but the vanilla doesn’t come through as much in tasting. It’s possible that my water wasn’t hot enough, or I should have steeped a minute or two longer to really bring out the flavors. Still enjoyable, but could have been more flavorful.

Smooth, with caramel finish. Delicious with a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of soy milk.