Honey Pear

Hrm, this one is a bit confusing.

So if you’ve been keeping up with the Golden Moon sampler count on this end, we’re up to the second to last sample here. I happen to adore both honey and pear, so this one is guaranteed to be a knock-out.

Or is it?

Well, to start with the smell coming from the packet. It’s a big strong, and smells sort of musky. And rather honey-like. But a dark honey… very dark. Fermented, almost? That’d make MEAD. w00t, learn your alcohol. There’s a pear overture as well, but to me, it wasn’t that juicy and strong and succulent. And I heart pear. Hard. It’s one of my favorite fruits! Messy, drippy, ripe pears! MMMMM.

The leaves here are of a fairly standard, flavored black tea size. I don’t really see any bits or pieces of anything else other than leaf, although that could mean I’m blind, since the ingredients list pollen pieces.

So we steep this one up, and the resulting liquid’s color is somewhat akin to the color of buckwheat honey. The smell coming off of it is very similar to the dry leaf; the wet just smells like spent black tea leaves. There’s a bit of sweetness highlighted in the aroma, but it’s nothing that’s going to kick your socks off.

Okay, let’s get to the taste, because the taste is strange. In a pretty good way, but still, it’s kind of weird. The honey is definitely the dominant flavor here, but it’s a pretty floral honey component. Maybe even a little soapy? Or maybe it’s that soapy that comes from some floral-tasting things. Anyway, it’s a pretty interesting dark-sweet taste. Very dark. I’ve tasted buckwheat honey before, which is closer to a woodsy brown than a golden color, and this tastes even darker here.

The pear definitely plays second fiddle to the honey. I mean, it’s clearly there in the aftertaste, but it’s not as strong as I would have hoped. It’s an echo of pear. Like if you ate a pear about a half hour ago and the sweetness is still lingering in your mouth. That sort of thing.

Basically, it boils down to this (hurrhurr boil get it tea joke woah I’m tired right now): the tea is not an every day drinking tea. At all. It’s kind of funky, in a good way. Like a weird ethnic food you’ve never tried before, and you’re compulsively eating it, even if you’re not sure if you really like it or not. This tea is akin to that experience. I had a quizzical expression on my face the entire time while drinking it.

It’s certainly thought-provoking, but I’m not sure in which way.

In any case, this is a tea experience that I’d definitely recommend, because the weird factor is way up there. I think this is also a love it! hate it! kind of deal, where the flavors either appeal to you heavily, or you think this is one of the grossest things you’ve ever drank.

This is the lapsang of fruit teas.

I felt like something sweet this morning, which I typically don’t in the morning. But today my desires drove me to Honey Pear tea, which is one of the sweetest teas I have. The delightfully sweet smell of succulent ripe pears rises from the cup and fills the room with sweetness. The honey smell and taste is somewhat overwhelmed by the pear taste, but notes are there. The black tea at the base is a good non-bitter, non-astringent black. Nice.

I had some of this at breakfast this morning, and while I don’t think this will be an everyday tea for me, it’s really nice for a change! Very sweet intense honey flavor, which I think is from the pollen pieces. Anyone know if these are bee pollen? It sure makes this tea different from any other I have tried.

holy honey! its has that distinct honey flavor with the back note the pear taste. the tongue feel reminds me of a juicy pear as well. it smells so much like hot honey. im very happy with this sampler.

I really wanted to like this. I really did. After reading several reviews of it I thought it would be nice. I like honey, I like pears, I like black tea. Honey pear black tea? That’s a no brainer, right?

Wrong.

The dry leaf smelled weird. Extremely vegetal with a sweetness that just seemed not to belong. A tragic foreshadowing….

The smell of the liquor was nauseating. I don’t know what it was. It smelled bitter, flatly sweet, like it had splenda or sweet and low in it. And it had that bad vegetal smell to it. Like boiled weeds.

I sipped it twice before dumping it in the sink. Tasted like sweetened bitter greens. The Flavor was muddy and disjointed with a slight whisper of pear dropped in there somewhere.

I wish this tea would have been good. I really do. I don’t know what happened but it was just awful…

Ahhh…deliciously smooth, a light hint of ripe pear with a bit of a floral pear blossom note with a sweet honey undertone. The main taste is of a quality black tea…maybe a ceylon or darjeeling? I wish it were more specific as the type of leaf.

I felt like something fruity and sugary, so I chose this.

Oh, this is honey alright—pure wild honey. It’s a musky, pollen covered, honeycomb dripping of honey one day old. The scent is like a sticky, sappy honey-coated pear so sweet and overripe it’s almost turning to brandy!

The taste is less brazen, more candy-sweet and “translucent” like a lollipop or pear jello. Underneath, the black tea base is toasty but sweet—as if the leaves have been so completely infused with the flavorings that they’re almost indetectable.

The tea is cooling now and I really am reminded of Middle Eastern desserts! Something about it reminds me of pistachios and saffron and rosewater…and syrupy baklava.

Yummy tea..I like it!

I am trying to switch back and forth between the higher and lower rated samples from my GM sampler so as it’s the lower scores turn I am trying the Honey Pear. I used a little under a cup of boiling water with the whole sample which was 2 full teaspoons. Wow—this is definitely exactly what it claims…honey, then pear. I always take a little taste without sweetener before I add my usual agave nectar, I almost always sweeten. Not this one—it’s perfect as is. This is so different from anything I’ve tried so far in my tea drinking journey and I LOVE it!! It’s very layered, reminds of a good red wine in that way. It doesn’t taste like wine, just the layering of the flavors. I am so happy with this tea…I am definitely ordering more.

I must confess that I was becoming jealous of all the posts today that mentioned their GM sampler had arrived. Then I went out on an errand and came home and saw the package in my entryway. I let out an earth-shattering “squee” that sent my cat tearing across the room for cover. But I digress and would like to post my tasting note and then re-digress so anyone who wants the review can read it up front and then ignore the rest of my rambling.

This was the first tea I chose out of the 31 even though so many called out to me. I have never tried a black/fruit tea combo (oops – just realized that I’ve had decaf apricot ::facepalm::) and this one just sounded happy. I’m also hoping to expand my understanding of black teas. I’m generally not a fan of many of the black teas I’ve had – I’m turned off by their astringent bite. I popped open the bag and holy schnikees! It was pear. It was uber-pear. It was pear that shouted “I will suck your soul!” Underneath that there was a bit of musky-polleny smell.

I steeped that sucker and held off eating (I was really hungry) just to try this without distraction. I found it utterly yummy. I’m not a fan of pear and I’m not a fan of honey. Who knew that this blend would do a dance of happiness in my mouth? I drank the whole cup without eating since I was enjoying it so much. Afterward I did get a dryness to my mouth, but that doesn’t bother my noob palate – not yet. I’ll try more teas, but so far this is on my shortlist for my next GM order. And I’m dying to try this one iced. TG

Okay – so now I wanna have a moment to express my utter joy with tea. I’m a HUGE lover of books, but I can’t recall squeeling over a new book’s release. In the short time I’ve been discovering tea (with loose leaf being a mind-blowing new experience), I have fallen in love with the drink/experience. I love tea. I love the process. I am a tea-aholic and that brings me joy. I’ll find myself running my hands over the tea pots as the tea steeps and that makes me happy. I wish I had better words to express how much tea has rocked my world and I’m so very grateful that there’s Steepster. I’ve gained so much insight and pleasure from reading others’ thoughts. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

That is all :)

Edit: Okay, so not quite all. After my second steep I think I was coming down from my first ever “tea high” – like a runner’s high only yummier. There was something odd about this tea that I couldn’t put my finger on, so I read through more tasting notes and takgoti nailed it: “strawberry runts and banana boat suntan lotion.” And after reading others I thought that there must be a better fruit tea out there – so I bumped down my rating a bit. I still like this tea, but I’m more uncertain about reordering. The TG stays for now since at that time I definitely was euphoric, but not due to this tea alone. I shall try this one more time in a saner frame of mind and possibly readjust the rating one more time.

Zarafina: black, loose, medium
sweetened with rock sugar

There’s a strong musky honey note dominating this tea. Detecting the pear taste is difficult, and I’m realizing that I much prefer teas flavored with actual bits of whatever rather than flavor oils.

I got this as part of Golden Moon’s sampler set, but I won’t buy it.