Harney and Sons (Quitting Coffee Day 3)

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Update: Harney & Sons now has a storefront in Soho

I’ve been an equal opportunity coffee drinker every day for eight years. I drank it from deli-carts, from Starbucks, from the best coffee joints in the city, and from freeze-dried Flavia packs at work. I drank it black, no sugar, while working, from paper cups I wouldn’t chip my teeth on in buzzed distraction. Lately I noticed I’d been sipping less, but I still wanted that daily cup, the bright spot in thousands of ordinary days.

This week, when I walked past my usual morning coffee spot three days in a row without stopping, my abstention wasn’t planned. I’d long suspected that maybe I didn’t really love coffee, but this new realization–maybe I don’t have to drink this today–was surprising. I could have predicted the next thought though, because it’s the same one I had when I first stopped smoking: so now what do I do instead?

Luckily I had picked up some artisanal teas from Harney & Sons during a recent visit upstate, and this was my answer. Founder John Harney has been a master tea blender for 25 years, and his company is the high church for gourmet tea. Harney & Sons crafts over 100 varieties, many of them kosher and organic, available in looseleaf tins, teabags, or gorgeous nylon sachets. They even sell art-teas, tea-spiked flowers that bloom when steeped in hot water.

All of Harney & Sons Teas are available to be taste-tested in their serene tasting room and tea shop in Millerton, New York. Millerton, a village of cute shops and ramshackle outskirts just under cityslicker radar  is located about two hours north of NYC and sprinting distance from the Connecticut border. If you’re nowhere near the tasting room I might suggest ordering their premium teabag sampler cube (20 bags/$7.50) online.  I’ve been digging the Tropical Green blend. This pineapple-flavored green tea smells like a citrus flower when it brews, and it’s a welcome break from the morning cup of joe. As a bonus, the tea is beautifully packaged and lovely to display in a box or tin.

Harney and Sons
1 Railroad Plaza Millerton, NY
Also available online at www.harney.com