Welcome to Harney & Sons SoHo

Or better yet, "Hello New York City!"

Harney & Sons has been serving tea in the city for over two decades, and now we are excited to announce that our new shop in SoHo, at 433 Broome St (between Broadway & Crosby St) will be opening on Tuesday, November 16th.

Harney & Sons SoHo combines the high quality teas that continue to define the Harney & Sons brand,  with a knowledgeable staff and a beautifully designed tasting room & cafe that will allow you to enjoy over 250 single-estate and blended teas from around the world, in SoHo and at home.

In honor of our upcoming Grand Opening (to be announced soon), we'd like to highlight a flight of teas that will be available at our shop.  Our staff will present a flight of fine teas each week based on a variety of themes to help you decide your next tea or teas of choice .  If you aren't in the New York City area, you can order those teas from the Harney & Sons website.

The theme of this flight of tea is teas from the major growing regions.  For those of you that don't already know, tea (camelia sinensis) originated in the mountainous regions of China but spread to regions throughout Asia, most famously India and Japan.

Keemun Mao Feng

Keemun tea, from Anhui Province in Eastern China, between Shanghai and Beijing, gained popularity in the West when the British combined it into their English Breakfast blends, adding milk and covering up some of the complex flavors of this tea.  We prefer to honor this particular selection of Keemun by drinking it in its natural state to enjoy the light and sweet flavor, with hints of chocolate and baked apricots. For fine teas like our Keemun, we like to add a little extra to the tea pot and steep for 4 min 30 sec at 200°F-205°F (93°C-96°C).

Risheehat First Flush 2010

Darjeeling is a Himalayan region within the Indian state of West Bengal (major city: Calcutta), and is regarded as the "Queen of the Hills" by locals.  Our 2010 Risheehat First Flush SFTGFOP (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe...yes, that's the official classification) is a light and brisk tea with aromas of tropical fruit that was a bit of a surprise considering the drought that hit Darjeeling prior to picking season.  This is the type of Darjeeling tea that feels subtle at first, but lingers in the mouth and keeps you coming back for more.  Steep it at 208°F (99°C) for 3 min.

Sencha Scent of Mountains

Japan's green teas vary greatly from the bagged green tea that was commonly consumed in the West up until only a few years ago.  Sencha, loosely translated, means "whole leaf green tea" and ours comes from Kawane, in Shizuoka Prefecture, on Honshu Island (the "main" island of Japan).  We love to enjoy this highly vegetal tea, with a bright and sweet flavor, for 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minute, and no hotter than 170°F (76°C).  Try resteeping this tea a few times to get a sense of how the flavor changes.

We hope you can join us for tea service at our SoHo shop, located at 433 Broome St, between Broadway & Crosby St.  Be sure to check back regularly for our weekly flight of tea, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook,  Foursquare, and Steepster for additional updates and specials.