Bird & Blend Tea Co.

Holy bananas n cream in my cup! This blend is fantastic. I’ve been searching for a great banana tea and I think this maybe it. All the flavors mix well with the black tea.

Yum!!

part of the Cooking TTB

Lovely scent and taste. Not too ginger-y but like a nice gingerbread cookie taste. I was glad the rooibos wasn’t too woodsy and allowed the gingerbread to really shine. This tea tasted good even after I poured the cup and left it in the kitchen for 2 hours. I drank it room temperature and it was fine. Sometimes rooibos teas can get too strong when they sit too long but this was good. I drank the next one hot and it was even more satisfying. The tea wasn’t very chai but that was really no problem for me.

Thanks NayLynn and Brandon for this tea.

I’ve been drinking this for a couple of days after making a large iced batch. The reason for the delay in reviewing is that I can’t make my mind up about it. On the one hand it tastes so pepperminty that it reminds me of toothpaste, especially since it’s cold. It leaves my mouth tasting as though I just brushed my teeth. On the other hand it’s a handy drink to have if you’ve eaten something smelly like onion or garlic. And after all the taste is actually pleasant and refreshing,

Let me break it down. First sip is citrus(y) with a light infusion of lemongrass and lime (nothing sour, actually rather creamy) but this only lasts for a second. After that the peppermint kicks in and spreads itself around my mouth to leave a creamy and refreshing (almost tingling) sensation. This lingers well into the after taste until before you know it, poof, it’s gone.

The only conclusion I can come to is that it’s nice but because of it’s unusual nature (in iced form anyway) I would have to be in the right mood to drink it. That means it’s not perfect, but the fact that I can drink it at all also means something.

For that reason I will give a fair and rather medium score. ie – Could be better, could be worse.

Today is going to be a tea day. With clothes washing to do and a cross stitch that will take an hour or so to finish my day is pretty much free and open. Makes a change.

So Retro Ted will be kick starting my tea day. The blend is made mostly of large pieces and looks heavily herbal and floral. It smells fruity, tropically so, I’m thinking pineapple and coconut. It’s an interesting smell, fruity yes but heavy on the lemongrass too.

The taste is mildly tart and sour to begin with, also strong lemongrass tones with some generic fruit tones amongst it. After taste is creamy and coconut-ty in a mild way. I’m finding the blend of fruit and lemongrass and hibiscus rather strange. It doesn’t blend perfectly but neither is it terrible. Also dry and rather herbal.

Not a fan of this one, may try the rest cold steeped. I wasn’t a fan of the lemongrass and hibiscus blended together, it was too miss-matched for my taste buds and the only redemption was the coconut after taste. I wouldn’t buy this one again but am happy I can at least drink it.

Another sample sent from Nattie!

I enjoyed a mug of this yesterday at work after lunch. It seems more of a natural tasting pumpkin tea, vs a lot of the chemically flavoured ones. I mean maybe this is too, but there are actual bit of pumpkin in there rather than candy bits, so that’s a plus to me!

Again the base was a little weak to me, though I left it steeping for like 10 minutes and nothing bad happened, haha. So it’s forgiving!

It was a pleasant cup, though to me it was definitely more of a pumpkin enhanced chai than a pumpkiny dessert tea.

I don’t think I’d buy it but was great to try!

I’m very excited to try this tea since the combination of cocoa shells and a milk oolong interests me. Peppermint isn’t as exciting for me, but I’ll deal with it. When I opened the bag, I was overwhelmed by all that peppermint! It’s incredibly strong. I don’t even really detect any oolong or cocoa shells in the scent.

Sipping… I was expecting this tea to be sharp, but it’s actually quite smooth. The cocoa flavor comes through stronger than I was expecting which is just lovely! I can’t say that it’s a strong chocolate flavor, but one that is specific to cocoa shells.. I’m not sure how else to describe it. The peppermint is definitely present – a little bit stinky and lingering, though. I can’t taste the oolong at all, sadly.

I do enjoy the combination of peppermint and cocoa shells, but I wish that the milk oolong would shine through. I’m not sure I would buy this one again, but I’m happy to finish up what I have.

This is the last tea from the Bluebird group order a couple of months ago. I guess I’ve just never felt in the mood for a lime cola tea, but today is the day! I’ve only had one guayusa tea before, and I didn’t really get a good sense of the base because it had lavender in it… So this should be interesting! The dry leaf is quite beautiful. It has a lovely “herbal” appearance – all pieces of leaves, flower buds, etc. And everything is a lovely muted shade of green/yellow. Dry scent is lime with a bit of cola underneath.

The steeped tea smells a little bit lime-ish, and there’s a certain effervescent aroma and sweetness that suggest cola. Hm! It definitely tastes herbal, and a bit earthy in a good way. I can taste the lime and cola, but they’re both quite mild and they meld together nicely. I’m really enjoying the gentle and sweet herbal flavor of the guayusa/linden, and the lime is a lovely touch. Pretty yummy!

Backlog:

Having never actually eaten rhubarb, I often feel like I’m at a disadvantage when I review a rhubarb tea because I’m not exactly sure what a rhubarb should taste like because I don’t have that experience tasting actual rhubarb.

For this tisane, I taste the rooibos. The honeyed, nutty flavor seems to work well with the custardy notes and the notes of rhubarb.

In my full-length review, I mused a bit about the stevia in this blend: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/26/rhubarb-custard-rooibos-blend-from-bluebird-tea-co/

Overall, this is a tasty tisane. I enjoyed it.

sample sipdown!

Finished off the lot of this sample sent to by from Nattie – I decided to dump the rest of the package into the Adagio ingenuiTEA that my husband got me for Christmas.

This resulted in a much stronger, very flavorful cuppa. Really noticable chocolate and coffee notes, along with the requisite spices.
I added 10% cream, of course. I don’t know that I’m the biggest proponent of chai tea, but with dairy, it’s a nice once in a while treat.

I may have let it steep too long and it became slightly bitter, and gave me a bit of a dry mouth, but overall this is a chai I enjoyed. That’s actually saying a lot, trust me.

Thanks again Nattie!

I got a lovely parcel in the mail from Nattie a couple days ago – a swap from England! An English swap! I’m technically 1/4 British, a fact I’m very proud of. I have family over there to meet one day.

For NOW – i shall drink the tea!

I brought any samples that were teas which could be prepared with boiling water to work, because those are easiest to make with the crappy kettle we have in our little kitchen. And believe me I am happy we have a kettle at all!

I was pretty pumped to try this one, based on the smell.

It didn’t disappoint me, it was a tasty alternative to an after lunch dessert.

I found a nice blend between the coffee/mocha, and chocolate and chai spices. The base wasn’t SUPER strong but definitely made for a hearty enough cup and i did add milk as well.

Maybe I could just let it steep a bit longer next time… Nattie was generous enough to give me enough for 2-3 cups!

Thanks :)

283/365

It’s been a while since I had a cup of this one, so it was nice to reacquaint myself this evening. This month, Bird & Blend have added rainbow sprinkles to celebrate Pride, which adds a little something to the aesthetic and just a touch of sweetness to the flavour. Mostly, though, it’s the blend I know and love; my favourite thing about this one is the almost-starchy roast potato kind of vibe it has. There’s an underlying maltiness, but on the whole it strikes me as a fairly savoury breakfast option. It’s pretty robust, as well – definitely one I’d drink with milk, but sometimes that’s just the thing. Given that I’m still trying to get into a new routine, It’s absolutely the thing right now!

This is one that comes and goes from my cupboard. I don’t feel like I need to keep it around all the time, but when I do revisit it I’m always happy with the outcome. It’s probably one I should pay more attention to, but it’s really just a case of so much tea, so little time. If you’re looking for a solid breakfast option, this one’s 100% worth a try.

I’m feeling a little under the weather at the moment, so a straightforward breakfast-style tea is just the thing to cure what ails me. This is such a go-to kind of blend – an easy to drink, easy to brew, no fuss, crowd pleaser. I gave one teaspoon of leaf 4 minutes in boiling water, and added a splash of milk.

The resulting brew is a pretty solid example of an English breakfast tea. It combines an Assam, a Ceylon, and a Chinese Yunnan black, and the result is sweet and malty, with a hint of citrus brightness. The citrus, to me, is lemon, and it emerges primarily at the end of the sip. For the most part, this has a characteristic potato flavour, with an almost starchy element reminiscent of crispy, roasted white potato which emerges in the mid-sip. It’s hugely malty, with that wonderfully deep, molasses-like flavour that a really good malty black can take on. No sugar required here!

See my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/06/11/bluebirds-great-british-cuppa-bluebird-tea-co/

This one came to work with me this morning in the timolino. I’m working in a different office until 1.00pm, helping a short-staffed team, and I’m not familiar with the kitchen arrangements. It seems odd to other people that the thing that concerns me the most when I’m going to a different office is how I can make tea, but it’s such a huge part of my life that I can’t imagine being without it for 5 hours. I’d get a headache, anyway. Besides, everyone needs a drink! Rather than go without, I filled up my two timolinos this morning and here I am. This one I chose because I know it plays nicely in a flask, and it’s just as good as ever. Sweet and malty, with a wonderful starchy potato note. The other flask contains an Assam, so along the same lines but with slightly more of a pedigree! Enough to keep me happy until lunch, just about.

I’m still recovering from the bout of flu I had over Easter. It’s really lingering, and of course now I’m back at work and that’s not helping. Sad faces all round. I’ve graduated from Clipper to this, so I know I’m nearly on my way to proper recovery. I’ve also had the odd cup of flavoured tea (Adagio’s Anderson, a couple of cups of Tealux Orange Lemonade), but I’m still nothing like my usual self.

This is a reliable, if plain tea, but it’s about all I can stomach at the moment (and I wouldn’t really be able to taste anything else!). It’s strong, malty and comforting, and that’s really all I’m asking right now. Hopefully I’ll be back properly soon. Being ill is grim.

I’m sure I’ve written more than one note for this one, but never mind. This one was the second tea that accompanied me to work this morning, and it’s always a solid choice. I really like the combination of sweet maltiness and roasted white potato that I get from this one, even though it sounds odd. There aren’t many “breakfast” style blends that really stand out to me, but this is a shining example. Good thing I have a huge tin!

I’m convinced I’ve written a note for this one before. Utterly convinced. Still…

I have a huge tin of these at home, because they’re such a go-to kind of blend. Easy to drink, easy to brew, no fuss, crowd pleasers. I gave one bag 4 minutes in boiling water, and added milk.

The resulting brew is a pretty solid example of an english breakfast tea. It combines an assam, a ceylon, and an unspecified Chinese black, and (perhaps as you’d expect) it’s sweet and malty, with a hint of citrus brightness. The citrus, to me, is lemon, and it emerges primarily at the end of the sip. For the most part, this has a characteristic sweet potato flavour, with an almost starchy element reminiscent of crispy, roasted white potato which emerges in the mid-sip. It’s hugely malty, with that wonderfully deep, molasses-like flavour that a really good malty black can take on. No sugar required here!

I love this one for indecisive moments, or when I just want a good, solid cup of plain black tea. It’s such a straightforward, no nonsense blend with plenty of flavour – there’s nothing not to love here! Well done, Bluebird!

Additional notes:  I had to snag a pouch of this old favorite during the sale!  I’m surprised they still had this available, as I think they discontinued it a while ago.  Though I haven’t had a new harvest in a while, I can tell this is vastly different from what I remember.  In the harvest from a few years ago, I could taste more guayusa and definitely more cola flavor. I wouldn’t even guess this had any cola flavor.  Now it’s very tart lime and very one noted.  Ah well, glad to have fresh guayusa anyway.

Here’s a tasting note to celebrate!! I just noticed sorting is working again after months! Awesome! I hope a lot of things are back to normal, because I’ve been noticing for a while now, if I post two tasting notes around the same time, both will show up in my tealog and the page for that tea, but it will not show up in the dashboard. Well, as long as they aren’t disappearing completely, I’m fine with it…

Another from the order – I definitely wanted to try this one! I was a little worried this wouldn’t be lime cola at ALL, but the leaves certainly have both a lime and cola fragrance and the FLAVOR is definitely there as well — both steeps! There are some big leaves here… not sure if that is the guayusa or the linden. I also made sure to include a big lime piece – rind and all. But there is a nice sweet lime and cola flavor… almost candy like. Certainly delicious. I could hardly taste the usually earthy guayusa itself, to those who are a little afraid of the guayusa flavor. But that could be due to the not-at-boiling steep. Maybe the flavor of the lime and cola dominate the cup. The flavor of this one exceeded my expectations with its perfect balance of lime and cola. I wouldn’t have minded taking a bigger risk with more than ten grams from the split order.
Steep #1 // 1 tsp (+ really big lime piece) // 20 min after boiling // 2 min steep
Steep #2 // 15 min a.b. // 3-4 min

There is a definite rhubarb and custard flavor to this tea however unfortunately the stevia is ruining it for me… note to self, you don’t like stevia so stop buying teas that contain stevia!! The addition of milk brings out the custard and creamy notes. The remainder of this tea is going into the swap pile for the Herbal TTB.

Wow. This tea is pretty fantastic. It tastes like a holiday spice cake that isn’t overwhelming with the spice. You can definitely taste all the different ingredients and they mingle so very well together. I’m drinking this iced now since I didn’t hear my Brevile beep for me to get my next cuppa. Can’t wait to try this one hot. I’m not a huge fan of spiced teas but this one . I could drink any day.

Another sample from the kind Naylynn. Thank you!

Helloooooo, ginger! This chai is missing the “bread” part of gingerbread, but it has the ginger part down pat. The heat settles in the back of my throat which is nice. There is also a woody note from the rooibos, and I must admit that I like it with the spice. The combination is earthy and comforting.

Backlog:

This tea was at the top of the list of teas that I wanted to try from Bluebird because I love Anise. And even though I don’t love hibiscus or stevia, I was willing to overlook the presence of these ingredients if I was about to try a tisane with licorice, aniseed and star anise … and chili!

I wish the hibiscus wasn’t there. That said, this is still an enjoyable tisane for me even though there is hibiscus and stevia. I’d like them not to be there, but I still enjoyed this even though they are there.

I love the licorice-y flavor to this. This is not for someone who doesn’t like the flavor of black licorice, but I love licorice so this tisane was right up my alley. The chili adds just a little warmth to it but doesn’t make it too spicy.

Read my full-length review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/13/aniseed-balls-tisane-from-bluebird-tea-co/