Bird & Blend Tea Co.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

I just love this tea a lot, okay? I confess that it’s really nice having a day off of work outside of the weekend, and I’m taking full advantage by, uhh, bingewatching cooking shows and drinking tea. Perfect. This one makes me so happy. It’s almond with cinnamon. How could I not love it?

This is my 100th tasting note. Woohoo!

I’m getting more cinnamon in this brew than I did my first go with this tea. I don’t think I did anything differently, so I may have just got more bits of cinnamon in the spoonful of tea. Regardless, it’s got a sort of very light texture that contrasts with the weight of the flavours. It’s niiiiiice.

Well.

A quiet weekend of not really trying any new teas, as Gentleman was visiting from Oxford, so my priorities were slightly less remembering all the tasting notes of new teas and more going shopping for new memory foam pillows and going to the best chippy in the city centre.

Now I’m having sniffly feelings because he’s going to Japan for a month. I wonder if I can convince him to bring back tea for me? HELLO, THERE’S AN IDEA!

But I digress. Back to the usual hamster wheel of useless cover letters for admin jobs I don’t actually want anyway, so I’m waking up to a nice cuppa. This was another one from my box of Bluebird tea roulette, and OH, IT IS GLORIOUS. I’m greeted by a beautiful rainbow of brown leaves and spice, and a soft fragrance of almond and cinnamon.

And it is so good. The dominant flavour is cozy, marzipanny almond, flanked by the tiniest whisper of cinnamon. Stick with it a moment longer, and the slightly roasty notes from the teas cut through the sweetness of the almond. This is one that plays well with milk, but is just as good naked. It’s making me feel a little better about the world.

Sipdown! This one is so much better brewed strong in a small cup. The toffee flavour comes out so well, resulting in an almost honeycomb or cinder toffee flavour, beautifully augmented with a touch of smoke. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to try this one, because it makes for a pretty awesome autumn/winter tea. Definitely one I’d consider restocking.

I’ve drank two cups of this tonight — one with milk, one without. With milk, I struggled to detect much favour. There was something kicking about in the background, but mostly I just got the black base. Without milk, the flavours were a little clearer. I can taste toffee, and a hint of smoke, although both are very subtle. One to try again tomorrow in a much smaller cup!

CRAP CRAP CRAP OH NO :(

Apparently my Bluebird order went through twice – a quirk of the way that your shopping basket times out if you haven’t done anything with it for a while, I think – but because I’m a muppet I only noticed that the total was oddly high after it had shipped, so what’s done is done. I don’t mind terribly because obviously I love Bluebird tea, but I am a bit poor, and half of that money was what would otherwise have been earmarked for my November bus pass. Crap. I am a sad Kelsh.

So, uhh, tell your friends there’s free shipping and $5 off in my society6 shop? (egregious spammy self-promo goes here: https://society6.com/samikelsh?promo=8JNJ6ZRQJY3J)

But I digress. Made this as a latte with supermarket value range almond milk. I can see why it’s value range, but the tea continues to be basically my favourite ever and the perfect spicy drink. OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.

So today I learned an important lesson, namely that sometimes it’s not stronger or braver to persevere, but to admit something’s not working, give up, and move on. And that’s how I quit my job.

Not an easy decision by any stretch, but really, if someone or something at work makes you cry more than 3 times in a week, get out. Don’t give it a little extra time or see if your boss can accomodate your concerns. Cut your losses and go. It will only get bad again.

So a cozy tea was in order, and OH GOD THIS TEA IS GLORIOUS. I’ve been nursing and resteeping the heck out of it because I desperately don’t want to run out of this beautiful stuff. It’s just got that wonderful spicy warmth that I love in a chai, and the spices are sharp, backed by a creaminess that manages not to be too sweet, which is a problem I find with many chai blends. It gives me strength. It is good. This tea, right here.

Fun fact: drink this to accompany a good cinnamon bun.

Your taste buds will thank you. It’s like they were made for each other.

I think I had a flavourgasm. I’m getting more of the chocolate this time, and cardamom and chilli besides. A good heat in the mix today. It’s a nice burn. It’s the kind of burn that reminds you that you’re alive, that life is worth living, and that you should take every opportunity to let your friends and family and partners know how much you love them.

Okay, so now I’m getting sentimental because I found out after work today that a dear friend of many of my dear friends has died quite suddenly. It’s that weird sort of grief, where his presence and influence has been known to me for ages despite never having had the chance to actually meet up with him myself, so I would feel wrong to grieve on a personal level, like it would be an appropriation of other people’s relationships and emotions to do so, but on the other hand, I feel so much for those I know and love who knew and loved him who are stunned and saddened by this loss that I can’t help feeling it too. More than anything, it makes me want more than ever to tell my friends, my partner, and my family just how much I love and value them all, because life and death are such fickle, unpredictable things, and you can see someone healthy and happy and in good spirits one day, and the next thing you know, they’re gone. So I treasure every moment I get to be with the people I love, because those moments are truly the most precious things in the world.

Gentleman is delayed on his drive up from Oxford for the weekend, so I’m killing time by making soup (slow-roasted tomato and chickpea; it’s SO GOOD, hot damn) and watching Portlandia. And I’m dressed and standing up all day, which is a major improvement on most of my days at home, which tend to be spent in bed and wearing an oversized sweatshirt in lieu of, like, actually looking like a human being.

Oh yeah, and this is today’s random selection from my exciting box of tea roulette. I decided to make it as a latte, because that’s how I like my chai, strong and chock full of soymilk. Not getting a lot of distinct chocolateyness from it prepared this way, which is the only reason I’ve rated it at less than 100. Because DAMN. This is good chai. I think the chocolate’s just giving it a bit of a creamy richness under the spice, where I’m getting a nice presence of cardamom and ginger. A definite heat from the chilli follows, leaving a lingering warmth. I like my chais spicy, so this is perfect for me. It’s like being hugged from the inside out.

Steeped this twice at the new office today, and OHHH BABY how much have I missed an office with a real kitchen. It was magnificent. They had mugs! They had spoons! They had a sink and so much fresh milk in the fridge and freshly ground coffee!

OH OFFICE, LET ME KEEP YOU.

Seriously though, I don’t know if I just got a lot of oolong in this spoonful specifically, but it was definitely prominent enough alongside the peppermint on first steep, the latter of which actually did still hold its own on steep two, albeit milder. Such an indulgently cozy combination. Ohhhhh baby.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA PANIC

So it turns out I’ve been drinking this all day and tomorrow I get up at 6 and go to Oxford for a job interview, then pick up Gentleman and arrive back in Mancunia at quarter to 10 at night. Yeesh. It’s going to be a ridiculous day.

But, happily, this resteeps pretty well! The first steep is more peppermint than cream, and the second steep is more cream than peppermint, and I even get a bit more of the oolong shining through, which is very nice. Then the third steep got pretty thin, and I brought it back by dunking a peppermint teabag in for about 20 seconds alongside. It’s such a comforting flavour to me, and since I’ve discovered its resteepability, I’m bumping the rating up just a touch.

It’s Thursday, and in spite of my having errands to run and possibly meeting a former colleague in the city to stuff around and take photos, I’m currently trapped in the house, because the washing machine is taking bloody AGES and I want to get my sheets out of there as soon as it’s done so they don’t go all wrinkly. I normally wouldn’t be bothered, but as much as he insists it doesn’t matter, I was raised to keep a tidy home when company’s coming over, and my gentleman’s up from Oxford this weekend. I miss him when he’s down south. Why is everything so actually quite near to everything else but annoyingly awkward and expensive to get to in this country?

But I digress. While the hideously inefficient washer/dryer chugs along in the kitchen, I’m filling in futile applications for jobs they’ll never give me at the BBC and sampling a cup of peppermint cream. I was intrigued by the fact that this is an oolong blend, though as far as flavour goes, I’m really mostly getting peppermint. Maybe the oolong is there to provide a bit of texture rather than flavour? Or maybe I need to muck about with brewing times to get more of an oolong-ness out of it. Regardless, it’s still a lovely brew, and good at every temperature (as I did rather take bloody ages to drink the whole thing and it was as cold as my unheated winter apartment by the time I was finished) though interestingly, I think I liked it best when it was just warm. Not hot, not tepid, just warm. That’s the best place for it. And with milk. I like a mint that pairs well with milk. It’s super-cozy and comforting, but less dangerous than hoovering an entire thing of After Eights like I was tempted to do when one of my new headshots was emailed to me yesterday and I had a major wibble at the thought that THAT’S what I look like to other people, I’m fatter than I thought I was, and I hate my face.

(I’ve been assured that the photo in question doesn’t do me justice, but it’s still tempting to spend tonight crying into a giant-ass bowl of macaroni and cheese)

I am currently battling with my office’s financials programme.

LIKE SERIOUSLY THESE TWO REQUISITIONS ARE EXACTLY THE SAME SO WHY DID THE TAX ENGINE ONLY RUN ON ONE AND WHY CAN’T I GET IT TO DO IT NOW AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA curls up and weeps

This is the actual worst. I’ve been wrestling with it for like an hour and it’s destroying my soul. I think Oracle Financials R12 is gaslighting me. Bastards.

This is probably my second-last cup of this blend, before I have to face the decision of when I’ve depleted my cupboard enough to be allowed to re-order. Sigh. It’s been good to me, this one. It was markedly tasting on the pu erh side of things today, with that sort of coffee-ish smoothness taking a backseat to pleasant earth. It’s a good, grounding brew. It probably helped me to not throw my computer out of thE BLOODY WINDOW BECAUSE OF THIS SODDING TAX ENGINE DECIDING IT DOESN’T WANT TO RUN, BLOODY BLOODY BLOODY

sobbing

I’m going to be crazy sad when I run out of this stuff, as I’m surely in no place to buy anything else until I whittle my collection down a little – there’s some stuff I’m just not really drinking I should probably see about passing onto others, come to think of it.

In the meantime, what few cups remain of this tea. Oh man. I had two steeps of it this afternoon, and it is joyous. It’s the perfect choice for those times when you can’t really decide if you want coffee or tea, and honestly you could use something that will settle your tummy a bit and nothing that gets terribly bitter. Because of the pu’erh, this doesn’t really get bitter at all and has a nice earthiness that I’m always happily amazed melds so seamlessly with flavours of coffee. I like this one like I like my coffee: a little sweet and with a splash of milk. Jolly good.

One of the perks of being a temp is getting to fascinate/horrify a whole new group of coworkers with my interesting teas every time I start a new contract! As it happens, today’s the last day of my new contract (only 3 days, and I bloody like it here! Boooooooooooo) and I think the response to my interesting teas has been largely positive, though I must say this is a very coffee-and-tea-friendly workplace to begin with, with two fully stocked kitchens. GLORIOUS. So I decided to make another steep of this while waiting for the messenger post to arrive.

Ohhhhhhh baby. I don’t quite understand why coffee works with tea, but I suppose if it’s going to work with any tea it’ll be a pu erh, with its complete lack of bitterness and dark notes. I think I actually like this better than coffee (and I do love a good cup of coffee), and it’s one of my favourite pu erhs. It’s a kind of magic. I love Bluebird a lot.

(And yeah, you’ll notice I’m going through my Bluebird samplers again. They’re just the right size bags to carry with me to work and back without weighing me down/looking a bit crazy)

There’s this tea place in town that’s fairly new – it seems to have an impressive selection on hand and I’d love to sit down and pick the brain of the person who does their baking. The trouble is, they’re cool. And by cool I mean that the staff are attractive and thin and act like your presence is a major imposition on their time and they’d rather do anything other than make you a cup of tea. A friend of mine chalks this up to the fact that North American style customer service is a relatively recent import into the UK, but I’ve seen this in North America. It’s that shitty snobby attitude some cool shops have that they think makes them cool.

Which is crap, because I’m cool and I’m also really friendly. And you know what? Bluebird are cool and they’re really friendly, too. There’s something really lovely about people who are clearly passionate about what they produce and are enthusiastic about sharing it, especially when it’s really, really good.

I wanted something grounding and smooth this morning, and this fits the bill perfectly. Unlike coffee, which tastes weird to me with anything lighter than half and half cream (which is all too rare in Manchester supermarkets) this is so creamy and good with milk, and I don’t know how the farm flavour of pu-erh works with coffee, but it does so well. Mmmmmmm. Good.

So I went a bit mad and decided to invest in Bluebird’s Tea Roulette sampler pack to see what would turn up on my door. Two days later, somebody buzzes my apartment from the front door. This has never happened to me before and I had no idea how that retro-telephone contraption by the door works, so I quickly threw on oants and ran down the four flights of stairs to my building’s front door, where the patient postie was dutifully filling out a delivery card for me. I asked if he’d just buzzed for my apartment, and he answered a lightly bewildered yes, and handed over my coveted box of shiny new teas. HOORAY!

First one I’m trying is coffee pu’erh, because there’s something morbidly intriguing about what I’ve always considered to be the unholy fusion of tea and coffee.

Mind you, it’s something I’ve hitherto only experienced by mistake at Tim Horton’s, where, out of habit, they do occassionally put a teabag in your cup and dutifully top it up with delicious coffee instead of the hot water that is more standard. Worst of both worlds, right there.

But I’m nothing if not adventurous, and as such am more than willing to give this a good go. In the bag, it smells very much like a really good quality coffee, and indeed I can see a few sweet little beans floating around in there. As someone who enjoys a good coffee almost as much as a good tea, we’re off to a good start.

I’m careful to observe the aroma as it’s brewing, and I notice that it starts to shift from something that smells very much like coffee to something much more resembling a roasty, earthy tea, as it approaches the 4-minute mark. Taken straight, that’s more or less just how it tastes as well, and the addition of some milk and sugar lightens it to that wonderful chocolaty pu’erh colour and brings out the tea’s creamy farm notes. How is this so good? It makes me very, very happy.

Sipdown! (31/368)

I’m really sad about this one ): I know I can’t buy more tea at the moment but this is one of my favourite summer teas! I have only just finished up with my pouch and I wanna buy more already D:

The last cup was perfect. A lot of the lemon bits were at the bottom, so this cup had a better balance between the strawberry and lemon than there has been in previous cups. The smell is still insane and the sweet fruity strawberry as I remembered. Only this time the lemon provides a more rounded note at the back of the sip, and this is exactly strawberry lemonade, only hot. I wish I had more of this for the warmer weather to have iced – it’s so much better than the Costa iced strawberry lemonade!

I didn’t post anything at all yesterday I’m so sorry! I try to post at least one note a day, which isn’t much considering I usually drink at least three different teas in a day (four yesterday) and I still didn’t manage to get anything posted. I’d like to say I was super busy, but really I just forgot.

So, backlog from yesterday. I had this again last night, but in a larger mug so I added an extra teaspoon. I also let it steep for almost half an hour as I forgot about it.

I don’t know which element caused it to change so drastically, but this time the smell was less bowl of fruit and more metallic coins. I found this really off putting, but the strawberry smell was still present in the background so I held out hope.

Nope.

Even though it had steeped for so long, I could still taste tap water, with an added taste of sucking on a coin. There’s a vague strawberry taste behind the coppery awfulness, but it does not dominate as it did last time. This really disappointed me, as I seriously loved it then, and I hope future brews work out more like the first one. It’s also extremely tart, and I have a feeling the hibiscus may have gotten the better of this cup. Like I said in my previous review, the dry mix of fruit etc. is so varied and chunky that it’s hard to get the same thing in two spoonfuls, and I definitely had more hibiscus and less strawberry this time around. The longer I drink it, however, the more the strawberry comes out, so it’s not so bad.

If this was my first cup, I would have rated it somewhere around the 38 mark and left it untouched in my cupboard for months. I’m not going to change the rating, though, as I use it to reflect the best a drink can be, and always use how I best enjoyed it to give my rating.

My latest Bluebird order arrived today and I’ve already tried all of them! Apart from the sample, which was of a tea that I already have so I suppose it doesn’t count. This was the last one I tried, as my bedtime drink to replace the Berry Blues from Adagio that I finished last week.

The dry mix is overwhelming strawberry. It smells very strong, and reminds me of a block of jelly/jello before you add the hot water to it. This tea looks AMAZING in the bag, it’s so pretty with huge chunks of strawberry and other fruits, and sunflower petals. I’m kinda sad that I bought this so early in the year, it just makes me wish it was summer already to look at it. It also makes it kinda difficult to get an equal amount of ingredients in each spoonful though, so that could be a downside. It could also be a plus, though, as I can’t really get bored of a tea which is slightly different each time. Steeped, it turns a deep reddish colour, which I was a little surprised at, thinking it was going to be a pale infusion. On second thoughts, the colour is probably down to the hibiscus. The smell is also insane – exactly like jelly once you’ve added the hot water! Which is very fitting considering the smell beforehand. Still so so strawberry.

I have read a couple of reviews of this tea that noted a lack of strawberry flavour, but I honestly have no idea where they got that from! Maybe Bluebird changed their recipe? Whatever the reason, my first sip is pure strawberry jam. Like, it’s as if I have just dipped a spoon in strawberry jam and shoved it right in my mouth. A little tart, but nowhere near as much as I had expected considering the lemonade aspect, and actually I can’t taste or smell the lemons at all. Regardless, it is a lovely hot fruity tea.

I added a spoon of sugar to compare with the berry blues tea I used to drink (which needed two, because hibiscus) and it instantly becomes super sweet. Now, it actually tastes like strawberry jelly! But hot, and liquid… Still no sign of the citrus aspect, which is disappointing, but this is an amazing strawberry tea. I have a feeling it would also be great iced in the summer, and that this might bring out the ‘lemonade’ more. Maybe I just got a disproportionate amount of strawberry in this cup? I’ll have to wait and see.

Not my favourite fruit tea – Berry Blues is a tough act to follow – but a close second, and one which I will be happy to drink as a replacement.

TTB: This one was not all hibiscusy! I enjoyed it

I’ve had a busy week and can finally sit down and write a tasting note! I’ve had this one for a while and decided it was time to give it a try. This is a nicely bold cup of tea with a hint of banana. I find that the banana comes out at the end of the sip. It’s not artificial tasting, but reminds me of a pulpy, perhaps overripe banana. This particular cup is more astringent than I think it typically would be. I happened to forget about it and steeped it a minute longer than I should have. I think that this cup would take milk and sugar very well, though. Likely will try it that way next time! There are other teas from Bluebird that I like more, but I am happy to have given this one a try. Thank you KittyLovesTea for a sample!

I preferred this with the old Bluebird base, as the new Bird & Blend one is a little bit astringent and drying after a while, while the old one was really mellow and suited this tea… to a t? I might experiment with lowering the steeping time or temperature to see if I can do anything about that. Never mind though, it’s still delicious and a favourite I will stock up on in February (although probably the year after next, my cupboard is still ridiculous). I just read up on my old notes on this and it made me chuckle – I was incredulous that I had 3 year old tea in my stash. If only the me back then knew…