Bird & Blend Tea Co.

I’ve never had an actual hot cross bun, but if they taste like orange cranberry rolls with a good amount of cinnamon, then this blends nails it. Doesn’t taste like a Rooibos, and if I didn’t know from the ingredients that it contains hibiscus I think that one would have slipped right by me, although it is a tart tea. Instead I get a bready citrus aroma. I can taste the cinnamon baked good flavor at the front of the sip, followed by orange and cranberry. I don’t sweeten my teas, but this one makes me want to try the next cup with a bit of honey.

Waited for several cups to review this one. I kept hoping it would make a stronger impression on me. It’s pleasant— I can taste the rhubarb and a subtle creaminess. I expected stronger flavors based on the reviews, but I am thinking that it might be my taster since I have some sinus symptoms going on.

This tea leaf is super pretty, something I’ve come to expect from Bluebird Tea Co. their teas are always so visually appealing!! Cold brewed the tea is the prettiest pink color but it has a slightly strange taste… a little chemically which Im attributing to the stevia and it really isn’t that sweet which I’m attributing to the cold brew not melting the hundreds and thousands… holding off on rating this tea until I’ve brewed it as recommended…

So I have no idea why, but I thought this would be sweeter than it actually was but I guess I should have realized as it’s got hibiscus in it which always makes tea a little tart. Opening the packet there was a tonne of big huge juicy looking strawberry pieces mixed in with apple, lemon and orange and I decided since I only had 10g to brew this tea up hot and cold to see the difference.

Hot this tea was tasty but it felt kind of wrong with the flavor profile… Cold brewed it was delicious but really needed some sugar to cut through the tartness , well that, and maybe some fresh lemon and strawberry slices to really amp it up. Nice but not a favorite and not something I plan to restock.

A sample from the EU TTB box round 3 return.
Not a huge fan of lavender in tea but I will give it a go, on the upside I love lemon verbena so it may work out well.

Ooopph, perhaps not! The raw scent is lavender, with a side of lavender and more lavender. Strong yet sweet and pure but lavender all in all. Some herbs behind but not strong enough to work them out.

Steeped scent is sweet but still uber lavender. Also the tea is a pinkish tone. At times I think I can smell rose but it’s too difficult to tell.

Flavour is light-ish (at least) and while being lavender dominate is also highly floral and herbal too, giving it more elements. Quality wise it’s fresh with only minimal dryness in the after taste. Also some sweetness in this, though not as strong with the lemon verbena as I was hoping. Drinkable though for a non lavender fan, to the point where I may consider getting more as a bed time tea. It’s rare that I can stand lavender in tea but it truly does make me tired.

So not a great tea but it does the job, and in reality it’s quite nice.

This tea arrived with five others from my very first order from Bluebird. The dry leaves have a strong cherry scent and when brewed it tastes just as good as it smells. The green tea base is lovely and not at all bitter and I just can’t get enough of the cherry flavour. The minute my cup was done, I made another!

Another sample from Nattie!

I admit I didn’t notice the apple until I read the description. Obviously the name doesn’t suggest apple at all.

I noticed a mild toffee with some mild smoke and a milk black base. I had added 10% cream.

I did enjoy it, I was happy it wasn’t super smoky because the idea of smoky teas still terrifies me. There’s a whole world of lapsang out there that I’m afraid to touch with a ten foot pole.

Ultimately I wouldn’t buy this, but it made for a good mid morning “snack”!

Thanks Nattie :)

Sweet and jammy raspberries? Check. Creamy vanilla-like pastry? Check.

We’ve got take off!

the base is clean, with a lingering fruity aftertaste and indulgent in a midday relaxation sort of way.

I was fortunate enough to unwittingly combine the last bits of my cup with the White Rabbit candy I was eating, and it bordered on positively sinful and really amped up the creaminess exponentially. I love accidentally finding tea pairings. Yum.

I have just finished dinner and was in search of something sweet and savory. This little guy was the winner! The word custard, when used along with tea, automatically intrigued me. I brewed this western. The aroma of silky rich creme emitted from my brew basket. I inhaled the scent of a rhubarb cream pie. I sipped this down rather quickly. Surprisingly, the taste of rhubarb dominated this brew. It had a finish of cream and vanilla. This brew had both of these flavors swirled around with a dusky earth taste. I actually really enjoyed this tea. The taste was not overwhelming. I think a flavored tea is beginning to grow on me.

Additional notes: Sipdown thanks to it being in the B&B advent yesterday.  This is, shall we say, AGED.  From the first B&B group order, I think?  So it was time for it to be sipped down anyway.  It does kind of take on an odd characteristic to the flavor, or maybe it always had that characteristic and is now more noticeable.  I’m not sure how to describe it… kind of like play-dough… though B&B’s recipe could have changed by NOW so don’t let that dissuade you…  at least the hibiscus didn’t show up here. I would like to stock up on this again, but because of this odd flavor, it isn’t really the perfect apple tea.  I had it a few months ago though and I must have steeped it excellently.   I had today’s advent tea ‘Snowball’ a couple weeks ago, so I’m skipping that for now!  (Another one I’d like more of…)
2020 Sipdowns: 96

Another one to try from a while ago, the combined Bluebird order! This blend looks like mostly those yogurt bits.. a little odd but I don’t mind them! A little odd in an apple strudel tea though. I tried to mix it a little bit before taking a teaspoon. The cup was barely pink, if that says how much rooibos actually made it to the teaspoon. I’m very glad I didn’t notice any hibiscus/rosehips. The flavor is delicious – it does taste a lot like a dessert. Equal parts creaminess, apple, cinnamon. Another amazing Bluebird blend!
Steep #1 // few min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 min

(I must also mention I had the Pumpkin Pie recently too, and I’m amazed at Bluebird’s consistent flavors over the years. Teas that I sampled years ago have the same flavors that I remember in new batches.)

Another sipdown! First cup of this yesterday was brewed hot and had milk added and it was tasty, the flavors developed as the tea cooled and there was a nice amount of raspberry but I didn’t get a lot else… Reading everyone else’s reviews I decided to cold steep the remaining leaves…. BINGO! Cold brewed in the fridge for 10 hours or so the tea developed some amazing flavors!! Suddenly I was blown away with the coconut, raspberry, cream and even the slight hint of cake. Hot I wasn’t sad to see this tea leave my cupboard, cold brew makes me rethink another sneaky order to Bluebird Tea Co. sometime in the very near future.

I also recently received a super-generous swap package from Nattie and haven’t gotten around to writing any of her teas up yet! Time to make amends and work through the ones I’ve tried :D

I really liked this one – it was lovely and lemony, with the green tea staying as a nice non-dominant background! I did get a hint of that astringent fizz that you get from a sherbet, and this tea was definitely sweet enough for me. Then again, as someone who hasn’t eaten a lemon sherbet/similar sweet for a good long time, I’m not exactly the best judge XD

Still, I happily drank this down and will look forward to my second (and probably final) cup – thanks Nattie :D

Resteeped my leaves from the cold brew. BAD idea. Yeesh, seriously, what was I thinking? There is zero watermelon flavour in the resteep. Or any flavour at all come to mention it. Other than what can only be described as ‘lightly fishy’. Blech. Stick to the one steep for this one, methinks.

A few days back, I was craving a light tea and also something I could gulp as I was super thirsty. My solution was to grab a bottle of ‘tea’ I’d picked up from Marks&Spencer out of curiosity, labelled Watermelon and Coconut White Tea. It was delicious, and I finished it pretty quickly, and was still craving more. It occurred to me that I’d had a pouch of this one lying around for a few months unopened (I bought it just as the weather was turning colder, since it was a limited edition going out of stock, but always just seemed too summery for me to try). I tossed 6tsps of the leaf into my 750ml bottle, filled it with water and left it in the fridge for ~20 hours.

As soon as I poured the water in, the liquid turned a very pale pink, and was quite a dark pink by the time I took it out. Because of this, I was a bit worried that it would be too hibiscusy. I’m not a hibiscus hater like many people on here seem to be, but still, I wanted a sweet drink not a tart one. Happily, though, the hibiscus doesn’t come through in the flavour. Cold-brewed, this is amazing! I plan on re-steeping the leaves tomorrow, as I still haven’t tried it hot.

I might have brewed it a couple hours too long, ‘cause I’m detecting a very mild astringency from the base. Nothing I can’t deal with, though. It’s pretty much exactly what I wanted. The watermelon is sweet, but not too sweet, and I could taste coconut too, which I was pleasantly surprised with – I didn’t read the ingredients list. The tea lends some grassy notes, but stays very much in the background when cold brewed. Part way through the bottle I started to notice a floral note to the background, reminiscent of jasmine though not as strong. I have no idea whether it’s an ingredient or an element of the green or white base teas, but I think it goes quite well. The only downside to this tea is that my cold brewing used up almost all of my sample pouch, and I probably only have enough left for one or two hot cups, and definitely not enough to indulge in another cold brew! Yet another reason to resteep my leaves tomorrow. I hope this is brought out again in the summer (not that there’s much chance of me being post-hiatus by then).

I was going to have this tea the other night, but I fell asleep after I made my cup.. so no apple strudel for me! Tonight I’m giving it another try and hopefully I’ll sip before I fall asleep!

The scent of this tea reminds me a little bit of stewed apples. I love this smell and it weirdly brings back memories for me. Sipping… the start of the sip starts out not tasting like much.. perhaps a little bit of a watery rooibos? I taste a bit of sweet, stewed apple next. The finish is where the cinnamon pops a bit more. I really love that the cinnamon isn’t spicy, but adds that lovely sweetness you’d get on top of an apple crumble or a baked apple. The combination of the two is spot on! I’m missing out on the pastry bit of the blend, but the apple-cinnamon combination is tasty enough to appease me.

I can see myself ordering more of this in the future since it’s different from any other apple or rooibos blend in my collection. Happy to have tried this one!

A sample from a swap, which has been languishing for a while – it´s winter, and I am craving tea and new teas but trying to watch caffeine intake which is annoying.

This was a perfectly nice earl grey, just the right level of bergamot for me. I can not particularly noticed the vanilla, but I was absentmindedly enjoying it.

Looking back, it looks like I’ve had this one before but this go around, my tastes must have changed. I didn’t get a rich bold banana flavor like I had hoped, but a very muted one. I have some of the 52Teas Banana that was just released a month or so ago and I need to try that one.

This one just didn’t deliver that banana flavor I am constantly searching for. That’s ok. I’ve already found a home for it.

http://www.cuppageek.com/index.php/2015/05/15/tea-of-the-day-monkey-chops-from-bluebird-tea-co/