80

I’m back! I have had the best week and really enjoyed my much needed holiday, but I did miss my tea while I was away. Still, sightseeing around London, seeing 10 shows in 6 days and meeting some very cool celebrities (including David Tennant and George Takei, who was an absolute sweetheart) didn’t leave me much time to drink tea! I have laughed, I have cried, I have gasped in amazement, and I have spent a lot of money that was not necessarily in the budget for the trip.

Soooo… about my no-buy. Here’s the thing. I have been buying tea from Bird & Blend since their infancy, when they were a new company with a small online presence, no physical stores you could go to, and the orders were hand-packed by the founders/owners of the company themselves and sent out with little hand-written notes and hand-written stickers on the packets. You get the idea. It’s been nearly a decade since I placed my first order. Well… the company is doing fantastically well. Going from strength to strength, creating many new blends, employing a large staff and opening several brick and mortar stores. It’s fantastic to see! But being from the North East, there are none near me, and I haven’t had the chance to visit a store in person yet. So when I saw there was one only a single tube stop away from my hotel, I had to visit! I dragged my friends along and I was like a kid in a candy store, chatting to the staff and accidentally becoming a sales advisor and enabling other customers to pick up some of my favourites. My friend initially picked up 1 box of tea bags, and ended up leaving with a strainer and 10 small packets of loose leaf tea instead! So, it’s safe to say, I did some damage… My cupboard is now up 24 teas, but I don’t mind because I’m just so happy to have restocked on some old favourites and to have picked up some wishlist teas to try, including this one. I’m definitely going to have to work hard on my sipdowns now, though!

This was the first tea I made myself this afternoon when I arrived back home, picked at random from the pile of new teas, and it was a good choice! The scent of the dry leaf reminded my instantly of Parma Violets, a favourite childhood sweet of mine, and I was happy to find that this carried through to the sip. The front is all sweet powdery violet, and the creamy chocolate comes through at the back of the sip. I drank this cup plain, and found it sweet enough, but I bet with a pinch of sugar it would be very reminiscent of a violet cream chocolate. Yum.

Now to shamefully update my cupboard…

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
ashmanra

Whaaaaaaaat?!? That sounds like an amazing trip!

Kelmishka

Sounds like a lovely holiday — so many shows, wow!

Nattie

It was a great trip, I didn’t want to come home! I am a bit of a theatre nerd haha so was planning the next trip on the train home :’)

Martin Bednář

Well, that sounds like an awesome trip! I couldn’t stop myself and get some teas as well. Actually, I bought at least a pouch or a box when coming from a trip. Even I have a loads of tea at home.

Jen vB

That sounds like a fabulous trip! Shows, David Tennent and George Takei, and tea!

vallhallow

That sounds like such an amazing trip!! Did they try to recruit afterwards as sales advisor? ;)

Nattie

Martin – it’s really hard to resist, isn’t it?! I think it doesn’t count when you’re on holiday haha

Nattie

It was amazing, and I miss it already!!
Haha valhallow – I am genuinely considering it as a valid career move! :’)

Martin Bednář

It counts Nattie, I am sitting next to boxes of tea (as my cupboard is actually small), and I have no space left!
But how I could pass Basil&Lime tea in Romania?

Nattie

Oh dear! My new purchases don’t fit in my tea cupboard (which is actually a decorative suitcase) either. I think I’m going to have to instate a 1-in-1-out policy. That basil and lime tea does sound intriguing, though!

Martin Bednář

It is very aromatic; it’s sitting net to me on table, as the box is a bit creased and can’t be closed properly and I don’t want to ruin other teas with it.

Nattie

I guess you better drink it before it contaminates the rest, then! ;)

tea-sipper

Awesome trip, I’m glad you were able to visit a B&B store! I have also been a huge B&B fan since the days of their hand-sewn-with-thread samples! I have asked them if they would ever have a shop based in the US, but no, I think that is wishful thinking. I’m glad they are doing well enough in the UK anyway!

Nattie

tea-sipper – I was talking to the sales associate in the shop and she did say they have big expansion plans, so fingers crossed for you! I’m hoping they’ll open one up in the North East (where I live, at the total opposite end of the country to London) too.

tea-sipper

oooo expansion plans! I doubt it will be to the US but I’m hoping a B&B shop opens up in your area!

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Comments

ashmanra

Whaaaaaaaat?!? That sounds like an amazing trip!

Kelmishka

Sounds like a lovely holiday — so many shows, wow!

Nattie

It was a great trip, I didn’t want to come home! I am a bit of a theatre nerd haha so was planning the next trip on the train home :’)

Martin Bednář

Well, that sounds like an awesome trip! I couldn’t stop myself and get some teas as well. Actually, I bought at least a pouch or a box when coming from a trip. Even I have a loads of tea at home.

Jen vB

That sounds like a fabulous trip! Shows, David Tennent and George Takei, and tea!

vallhallow

That sounds like such an amazing trip!! Did they try to recruit afterwards as sales advisor? ;)

Nattie

Martin – it’s really hard to resist, isn’t it?! I think it doesn’t count when you’re on holiday haha

Nattie

It was amazing, and I miss it already!!
Haha valhallow – I am genuinely considering it as a valid career move! :’)

Martin Bednář

It counts Nattie, I am sitting next to boxes of tea (as my cupboard is actually small), and I have no space left!
But how I could pass Basil&Lime tea in Romania?

Nattie

Oh dear! My new purchases don’t fit in my tea cupboard (which is actually a decorative suitcase) either. I think I’m going to have to instate a 1-in-1-out policy. That basil and lime tea does sound intriguing, though!

Martin Bednář

It is very aromatic; it’s sitting net to me on table, as the box is a bit creased and can’t be closed properly and I don’t want to ruin other teas with it.

Nattie

I guess you better drink it before it contaminates the rest, then! ;)

tea-sipper

Awesome trip, I’m glad you were able to visit a B&B store! I have also been a huge B&B fan since the days of their hand-sewn-with-thread samples! I have asked them if they would ever have a shop based in the US, but no, I think that is wishful thinking. I’m glad they are doing well enough in the UK anyway!

Nattie

tea-sipper – I was talking to the sales associate in the shop and she did say they have big expansion plans, so fingers crossed for you! I’m hoping they’ll open one up in the North East (where I live, at the total opposite end of the country to London) too.

tea-sipper

oooo expansion plans! I doubt it will be to the US but I’m hoping a B&B shop opens up in your area!

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Bio

I first got into loose leaf teas when a friend of mine showed me Cara McGee’s Sherlock fandom blends on Adagio a good few years back, but they weren’t on sale in the UK so I started trying other kinds instead and have been hooked for almost three years (and have purchased several fandom tea sets including the Sherlock one I lusted over for so long).

Flavoured teas make up the majority of my collection, but I’m growing increasingly fond of unflavoured teas too. I usually reach for a black, oolong or white tea base over a pu’erh or green tea, though I do have my exceptions. I will update my likes and dislikes as I discover more about my palate, but for now:

Tea-likes: I’m generally easily pleased and will enjoy most flavours, but my absolute favourites are maple, caramel, chestnut, pecan, raspberry, coconut, blueberry, lemon, pumpkin, rose, hazelnut and peach

Tea-dislikes: vanilla (on its own), ginger, coriander/cilantro, cardamom, liquorice, pineapple and chocolate

I am a 25 year old bartender, English Literature sort-of-graduate and current student working towards finishing my degree. I am hoping to one day complete a masters degree in Mental Health Social Work and get a job working in care. Other than drinking, hoarding and reviewing tea, my hobbies include reading, doing quizzes and puzzles, TV watching, football/soccer (Sunderland AFC supporter and employee of my local football club), music, artsy weird makeup, and learning new things (currently British Sign Language).

I should probably also mention my tea-rating system, which seems to be much harsher than others I’ve seen on here. It’s not always concrete, but I’ll try to define it:

• 50 is the base-line which all teas start at. A normal, nothing-special industrial-type black teabag of regular old fannings would be a 50.

• 0 – 49 is bad, and varying degrees of bad. This is probably the least concrete as I hardly ever find something I don’t like.

• I have never given below a 20, and will not unless that tea is SO bad that I have to wash my mouth out after one sip. Any teas rated as such are unquestionably awful.

• This means most teas I don’t enjoy will be in the 30 – 50 range. This might just mean the tea is not to my own personal taste.

• 51+ are teas I enjoy. A good cup of tea will be in the 50 – 70 range.

• If I rate a tea at 70+, it means I really, really like it. Here’s where the system gets a little more concrete, and I can probably define this part, as it’s rarer for a tea to get there.

• 71- 80: I really enjoyed this tea, enough to tell somebody about, and will probably hang onto it for a little longer than I perhaps should because I don’t want to lose it.

• 81 – 90: I will power through this tea before I even know it’s gone, and will re-order the next time the mood takes me.

• 91 – 100: This is one of the best teas I’ve ever tasted, and I will re-order while I still have a good few cups left, so that I never have to run out. This is the crème de la crème, the Ivy League of teas.

I never rate a tea down, and my ratings are always based on my best experience of a tea if I drink it multiple times. I feel that this is fairest as many factors could affect the experience of one particular cup.

I am always happy to trade and share my teas with others, so feel free to look through my cupboard and message me if you’re interested in doing a swap. I keep it up-to-date, although this doesn’t mean I will definitely have enough to swap, as I also include my small samples.
Currently unable to swap as I’ve returned after a long hiatus to a cupboard of mostly-stale teas I’m trying to work through before I let myself purchase anything fresh

I also tend to ramble on a bit.

Location

South Shields, UK

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