Rockinâ€™ around the Christmas tea

Are you dreaming of a White Christmas? Would you like to drink something that promises to be “soothing, relaxing and invigorating?” How about taking a trip to the Tower of London or Paris? If so, simply purchase a tin of Harney & Sons Fine Teas and you can experience all of the above and much more. With more than 240 custom tea blends in its portfolio and exciting label names to match, anything is possible at Harney & Sons of Millerton.

According to Emeric Harney, son of the master tea blender Michael Harney, he designed the label and flavor profile of their number-one selling holiday tea, White Christmas.

“But how did you decide on the name,” I asked Emeric.

“I was on a treadmill with my father and I looked out the window and saw the snow falling. The name ”˜White Christmas”™ seemed perfect. I guess I was a master tea blender ”“ even at 16,” he said and smiled. “Now that I am in my 20s, I enjoy working with my mother (Brigitte Harney) in our family store, cafe and tea-tasting room. I hope to open my own place some day,” he added.

On a recent visit to the Harney”™s corporate office and processing plant, I felt like I had arrived up at the North Pole and inside was Santa”™s workshop. Throughout the building, employees were preparing for the monumental holiday rush. With my hair net twisted tightly around my head, I walked into the Harney web-site shipping department. Neatly organized on a 14-foot table were boxes of customized tea and sachet chests.

On another long table, hundreds of tins were in neat rows, sparkling from the Historic Royal Palace collection ”“ a line of unique tea blends specifically created for England”™s Historic Royal Palaces. (The independent charity is the caretaker of the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House and Kew Palace.) Each tin was designed to resemble Queen Elizabeth”™s crown jewels.

On the opposite side of the room, eclectic teapots, cups, Sticky Fingers Scone Mix, autographed books and tea cups were getting assembled into decorative baskets.

After watching the talented and dedicated staff work its way through a maze of orders, I became dizzy and started to stagger. I needed to find the in-house Chopra Center and rejuvenate my mind, body and spirit with a cup of tea.

As I walked up the stairs to the second-floor tasting room, I observed Mike Harney and his assistant Elvira Cardenas nose deep in tea leaves. They were diligently slurping tea samples shipped in that day from China.
“Whether I am examining new shipments or checking on our own teas, I taste around 80 teas daily,” said Harney. “Here, try this one ”“ an aged pu-erh. And don”™t forget to read my new book ”˜The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea.”™ It will turn you into an authentic tea connoisseur,” he stated proudly.

Like his son Emeric, Michael Harney started in the family business at the same age assisting his father, John, in 1970 running The White Hart Inn in Salisbury, Conn.

“My father had taken on a side project selling loose tea with a neighbor and Englishman, Stanley Mason. Then, in 1983, he started his own small tea company,” said Harney.

A few weeks ago, I had the honor to listen to John Harney, (voted one of the 2005 Food Artisans of the Year by Bon Appetit magazine) speak to a group of students attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. He was charming and gracious and immediately captured their young hearts just by being himself ”“ the King of Darjeeling. We gathered in the Apple Pie CafÃ© and sampled Harney”™s Organic Green Iced Tea ”“ a bottled and fresh-brewed beverage made with ginkgo biloba leaves.

“A national chain asked us to create a line of organic iced teas. And so we did ”“ Black Currant, Green, Bangkok, Peach and Black. Our bottles are successful because of my son Paul. He oversees the production and quality control of each flavor,” said John Harney.

With sheep-herding dog Rummy by his side, Paul Harney runs the company”™s national sales, the distribution center in Las Vegas and their membership in 1% For the Planet, an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging resources to create a healthier planet. The Harney”™s donate 1 percent of their annual net revenue to environmental organizations worldwide. Some of the non-profits include: Scenic Hudson, Connecticut Farmland Trust, Appalachian Trail Conservancy and Conservation International-China.

In Westchester, if you feel like taking an afternoon break from the holiday hustle and bustle, I highly recommend The Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown for its traditional afternoon tea. Executive Chef David Haviland”™s stunning three-tier presentation of sandwiches, scones and petit fours accompanied by a pot of Harney’s Paris tea will soothe your tired muscles. Priced at $35 per person, it”™s a winner.

Or how about a spicy Latin-American lunch finished with a cup of Pomegranate Oolong? Just knock on Rafael Palomino”™s front door. As the owner of Sonora Restaurant in Port Chester, Chef Palomino offers a selection of eight different loose tea sachets.

To order online: www.harney.com.
To visit the Harney retail store, cafe and tasting room:
518-789-2121.
For holiday retail tins: Barnes & Noble book stores.

Nancy Dacey of Ridgefield, Conn., has more than 22 years of experience working in the food service industry. In Dishing It Out, she offers information and suggestions on an array of food-related topics. Reach her at nancyjdacey@msn.com.