292 Tasting Notes

80

Tea caption claims: “Your best friend for a tranquil, revitalizing cuppa”

Plum Deluxe has a lot of delightful, flavored bags of tea and a nifty sampler system. I did a three tea sampler today with three cups of similar teas from a tea sampler order. Brunch in Paris Black Tea, Comfort Blend Black Tea, and Rainy Day Puerh. All three are similar enough in ingredients and taste. Like many Plum Deluxe teas, despite the advertisement and the smell, the tastes are mellow and weaker for flavored teas.

Comfort Blend has a golden glow and a fragrant orange smell. The cinnamon chips give you the natural flavor of cinnamon without artificial feel. There is a bite of clove in the throat as an after taste the first sip or two. Ginger is very behind the scenes. I love orange and ginger and cinnamon, and while this is soothing and comfortable, it’s so mild it stays tranquil only a short time before it gets a little dull.

Like Brunch in Paris, this has orange, but the Comfort Blend buries it a bit deeper.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Orange

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec 3 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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80

Tea caption claims: “Transport yourself to a dreamy place in one sip”

Plum Deluxe has a lot of delightful, flavored bags of tea and a nifty sampler system. I did a three tea sampler today with three cups of similar teas from a tea sampler order. Brunch in Paris Black Tea, Comfort Blend Black Tea, and Rainy Day Puerh. All three are similar enough in ingredients and taste.

Like many Plum Deluxe teas, despite the advertisement and the smell, the tastes are mellow and weaker for flavored teas. Brunch in Paris was surprisingly the darkest of the three cups, with the other two being lighter and golden. I did the samples with 1/2 tsp in slightly less than 4 oz tea cups at 200 temperature and 4 minute steep, 1/2 tsp. sugar per cup.
Brunch is Paris comes across as calming, mellow, non-bitter, mild black tea with a touch of orange and a smidgen of honey memory. The cocoa nibs disappear. The flavor does not fully match the color nor the description. Brunch in Paris is drinkable, but not memorable. Fortunately the orange is there without the rind and this one doesn’t have an astringency pucker. It blends together well and naturally, just not strongly.

Flavors: Orange

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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44

Well, I did another order from Plum Deluxe. They’re a fun company and I enjoy trying their 5.00 sale deal bags. I ordered two sample packets as well. THIS one was included as the free sample of the order and thankfully no money involved.

While it has great reviews on the site, I hated this tea. I’m thankful I knew from ingredients to not go a full 4 or 5 minute brew – plus the Scottish tea description. I love Maple Syrup in black teas, so was hopeful, but… yech.

Brewed 7.5 oz 3 min 45 seconds with 200 degree and a few minute rest. One cube of sugar. Oddly hazelnut is first note (it should not be, is not in there?), then a strong bitter note and aftertaste, with a syrupy finish. Yes, not pleasant.

People who enjoy super strong tea may find this more to their liking.

Flavors: Bitter, Hazelnut, Maple

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 45 sec 1 tsp 7 OZ / 221 ML

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84

Yes and no on recommending this one.

I think PlumDeluxe may have discontinued this one – they do that often

It has a great walnut flavor and a little maple. You have to be careful on how long to steep this one. It gets too strong for me at a mere 4+ minutes – dark and robust. I’d imagine the 5 mark would bring out the bitterness that keeps hinting at earlier steeps.

It’s not a bad tea but it’s nothing special.

Flavors: Maple, Walnut

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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86

A good tea, although a little simple. I steeped at 3 minutes but will try 4 next time. Goes well with a cube of sugar, but honey does not complement it nearly as much.

Preparation
1 tsp 5 OZ / 147 ML

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77

I really enjoyed the last of this small bag in my order. It is unique. Not something I’d drink every day but good for certain and moods – and you can’t argue the name is not memorable. Planning to order some more of this one. The caramel comes through decently strong and is of course enhanced by some sugar

Preparation
1 tsp 5 OZ / 147 ML

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80

A pleasantly strong Early Grey tea with a nice aroma and flowers.

Flavors: Bergamot

Preparation
3 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 5 OZ / 147 ML

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93

Love the tin, so I picked this one up from positive reviews, description, and yes the tin (I have a small Edgar Allan Poe and Raven thing)

Happy to say I actually really enjoyed the tea. Pleasant all-around black tea with a silky feel. Not bitter, strongly flavorful. Dropped in a cube of sugar. Would go well as a breakfast tea or if you do want a splash of milk. I oversteeped it the first time and it wasn’t bitter despite this. It is not strongly smokey, so if you do not like smokey teas, this description note shouldn’t be a big deal. I like smokey tea myself, and Earl Greys, so blending that with a subtle black tea and oddly beet note was a treat.

Second steep even better. I steeped from the same leaves at 5 minutes exactly. Oddly as this tea cools even more flavors come out of it, well rounded tea. Hopefully I still enjoy it as much when I drink more of it.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 5 OZ / 147 ML
tea-sipper

Glad there is another fan of this blend out there! It’s one of the rare teas I have a tin for.

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80

I really thought I’d like this one and was excited to try, but sadly did not enjoy. To me it’s slightly bitter and cherry tasting like the same cough drop or candy type flavoring that I don’t want to see in my tea. Not my thing at all.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 4 OZ / 118 ML

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75

I wasn’t sure I’d like since the primary note is listed as Pine Needles, and then Maple Sap. I do like it well enough, but likely not for a reorder other than this sample.

Steeped at 4 min. I can see a tendency of this tea, and a few others I’ve tried from this company, to be easily bitter.

It’s a strong tea, and I added two sugar cubes to help offset. May try rest of sample at a weaker 3 minutes.

I do like that it’s different and unique, but not a huge fan.
Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 5 OZ / 147 ML

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Profile

Bio

I have a drink obsession in general – daily lattes and coffees, and of course teas of many varieties. I mainly drink hot tea in Florida, but still enjoy the occasional southern sweet iced.

My preference is black tea, although I’m open to trial and error with others. I like the old fashioned English style tea cups, tea parties, food pair-ups, mini desserts and pies, cubes of sugar, small collection of Rose Red tea pets, you get the idea. I will always have an old fashioned tea kettle on the stove, but have recently purchased an electric tea kettle that I absolutely adore. I’m lazy by nature, so I have switched to stuffing tea bags for the loose teas to save on clean-up and disposal with other strainers.

I love smokey teas, non-bitter, not overly astringent, strong tea background mixed with flavored teas, no artificial sweetener tastes, balanced florals IF there must be a floral. I used to love spice, but it has to be done right. A former chai fan – now it reminds me of colored pencils. Cinnamon sounds good but so many teas have it artificial or odd tasting. Same goes for chocolate, some things have to be done just right to work.

Primary Tea Companies currently in 2022 – Harney and Sons, August Uncommon, Simpson & Vail, Fusion, Tea Spot, English Tea Store for odds and ends, The Tea Table

Most missed tea place and tea: Plum Brandy Cheesecake by Butiki

Very picky with anything Roobios, and Darjeeling/Oolong are hit or miss depending on the blend and my taste buds. Mint works in a mood but I’m not a big fan. Gravitate toward good name blends and fall themes when doing yet more sampler orders.

I like adding a cube of sugar to almost all teas, not usually milks. I don’t like stevia or any artificial sweetener taste. I adore honey, but to me it doesn’t suit tea unless I have a sore throat as both the tea and the honey change their flavor profile quite a bit if I mix them.

Location

Lakeland, Florida, United States

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