Murchie's Tea & Coffee

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Recent Tasting Notes

70

Maple is one of my favorite flavors of all time, so I’m always on the hunt for a tea that satisfies my maple cravings. This is the tea that led me to place a Murchie’s order in the first place—it sounded right up my alley.

I think I probably overleafed and oversteeped it, though, because it’s slightly bitter and nearly all the delicious maple notes in the dry leaf are missing in the steeped cup. :( I get a little bit of maple, but mostly I’m tasting the tannic, almost soapy black base. Which, y’know, is fine for a strong, bracing breakfast tea in and of itself; I just wish there were more maple. I’ll have to try again soon! But not today, because I’m absolutely buzzing with caffeine already… this morning I got a gingerbread latte from a local coffee shop to celebrate clear scans (I get mammograms/MRIs every six months to make sure my cancer hasn’t come back), and now I’ve just had a strong cup of this tea. My teeth are practically chattering!

Flavors: Malt, Maple, Soap, Tannic

Courtney

I really enjoyed the Maple Tea from Camellia Sinensis! I should re-order…:P

Maddy Barone

A big congrats and clear scans!

Kelmishka

Courtney, ooh, I’ll have to check that out!
Maddy, thanks so much!

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77

The problem with getting more active on Steepster (after being an intermittent lurker for years) is that I’m now discovering SO. MANY. TEA. COMPANIES. I want to try! Hence an order from Murchie’s, placed one night when I was staying up far too late playing Sims 4 and browsing tea websites. My order arrived in record time and I’m very excited to try all my new blends.

This one is a truly decadent dessert tea and I am digging it. It maybe reminds me more of blueberry pancakes than crumble because there’s a slight maple-y element, but no matter. The blueberry is pleasant (if more present in the aroma than the taste) and not too artificial or anything. It’s got a nice graham-y, crust-y element that really works with the blueberry to create a rounded flavor, all layered on a fairly unobtrusive green/black base and accented with the barest hint of cinnamon.

Is it terribly sophisticated? No. Do I want to drink it every day? Probably not, given that it contains sugar and could maybe get a little cloying with too much repetition. But is it bringing me great joy on a rather blah Monday afternoon? Sure is!

Flavors: Blueberry, Cinnamon, Graham Cracker, Maple, Sweet

Courtney

It’s a slippery slope being more active haha!

Kelmishka

So very slippery!

ashmanra

Late at night is when I am weakest. I really shouldn’t be on here right now…too likely to cave in and buy something.

Kelmishka

Yep! It’s like the rules and/or common sense don’t fully apply after, say, 11:00 p.m…

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80

I’ve been drinking this cold brew and have just emptied out the pouch.

While I enjoy the “fruity hibiscus” style of tea, I never really expect much from them. Fruit punch with a different dominant fruity flavor plastered over the top. Non-complex, good thirst-quenching water bottle tea. (Plus, I enjoy the tart!)

So I was surprised with how much this one really does taste like Pink Lemonade. At its core, it really is just a “fruity hibiscus” with citrus being the dominant fruit flavor plastered over the top, but the citrus is so juicy and authentic tasting that even I, the Queen of Tart Tea, puckered on the first sip (I was fine after that, though, so it didn’t manage to de-throne me). Bright, juicy, and pithy, with enough of that fruit punch flavor from the hibiscus to sort of bring in that non-descript punchy/berry taste of Pink Lemonade. I’ve really enjoyed it!

Not sure how I’d feel about something like this as a hot cup, but it’s a bangin’ iced tea.

Flavors: Citrus, Fruit Punch, Fruity, Hibiscus, Lemon, Lemon Zest, Orange, Orange Zest, Pleasantly Sour, Tart

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 4 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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This was a fine black tea. It’s not overly vanilla flavored at all, and it doesn’t really have a bold black tea flavour after 5 minutes of steeping

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Disclaimer: Another one of my blends. This dropped last week. I really liked how Lavender Cream came out, and wanted to keep pairing sweet and floral notes together… This’ one I’ve seen done before, but never tried, and it stuck in the back of my mind because I wanted to try it. So I worked on this one from about spring last year (it didn’t make that release date) until this year, tweaking the ratios right up until the end.

Initial nose is creamy vanilla, the jasmine coming through as an undernote, so that it’s not just an overly strong vanilla black tea but a subtler jasmine green balance. It’s not too soapy, or at least by my tastes.

Taste: Probably could have used cooler water, but I was impatient today; curled up and drinking this at home. I used a black base of Chinese teas, so not particularly astringent, a bit of Yunnan for sweetness and body, and that comes through with the vanilla. The green teas and oolongs hit with a particular green note that’s more floral and perfumy than vegetal. Slurping gets a hit of the jasmine that trails into the aftertaste and an aroma that permeates the mouth and throat, but isn’t cloying or overpowering. The vanilla is still stronger, but I don’t think it dominates it.

The floral oolong doesn’t really stand on its own, but more smooths and bridges the gap between the more perfumy jasmine and the sweet vanilla. It’s a very green oolong, so there’s no notes of roast, more a spectrum of honey black/vanilla to nuclear floral green, to scented green teas. I did try this originally with an unscented oolong with a faint roast, but found it didn’t fit at all.

This makes a really nice afternoon tea, so I broke out my great grandma’s old porcelain pot and teacup. As it cools, I think the jasmine comes through more and more. Brewed fresh and hot, it’s vanilla-forward, likely the volatiles from the flavouring used; once those dissipate, the jasmine dominates more.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec
tea-sipper

Sounds like a tea I’d enjoy!

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73

Happy National Pancake Day! Tpdau the prompt is to drink a maple-flavored tea or a tea with maple flavor notes!

Last time I had and reviewed this tea, I’d prepared it as a latte. I’ve been meaning to revisit and make a straight-and-hot cuppa and hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Until now!

Most of the leaf is quite fine… looks like a CTC black mixed with another full leaf black. The aroma from the leaf gives me a strong autumn leaves vibe, underneath a sweet aroma of caramel and maple. Steeped, it produces a very dark, coffee-colored cup. The sweet aroma is very prominant off the warm cup; I smell burnt sugar, maple, and a sort of fruity berry sweetness.

The black tea is quite strong… I definitely taste malt, toasted bread, and autumn leaves, with a bit of astrigency left on the back of my tongue after the sip. I think it would probably come off even harsher if not for the sweet maple which mellows it somewhat. The maple really does give off a burnt sugar/honey sort of vibe.

This is definitely potent enough to have “breakfast” in the name of the tea. It’s fine plain, but I think I enjoy it with milk more. It’s strong enough to take it, the maple tastes really nice with that added creamy element, and the milk takes away the bitter aftertaste.

Flavors: Astringent, Autumn Leaf Pile, Bread, Burnt Sugar, Malt, Maple

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML

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73

My migraine yesterday correctly predicted waking to a fresh cover of snow this morning. It left me in a latte sort of mood.

I’ve been trying to use up a box of rice that is a brand that just isn’t a favorite that I bought when my norm was perpetually gone during COVID, and had just enough for one more rice bowl, so thought I’d try a “breakfasty” one for a change. I like to flavor my rice with tea, so I grabbed this one to give it that slight “breakfast” feel. But instead of leaving the teabag in the water the whole time, I fished it out after the rice came to a boil and decided to reuse it to make my latte, as there was a lot of leaf in it — two perfect teaspoons, more than I would ever use making a normal cup of black tea. So with slightly used leaf, I steeped for three minutes in 12 oz. 205F water, then added 4 oz. frothed regular oat milk.

Tastes like a very malty English Breakfast tea, with a honey-glazed baked bread note, and also a bit of nuttiness (which may just be the oat milk, but at least accompanies nicely). A warm maple syrup note is noticeable, and quite pleasant in latte form. I definitely need to try this one sans the milk to see if the tea has any hiding astringency and better judge the sweetness of the maple, but it does make for a good latte choice. I think I’d even enjoy mixing it with a really roasted tea too, like roated mate or houjicha. Hmm…

Flavors: Bread, Honey, Malt, Maple, Maple Syrup, Nutty

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
gmathis

You win the prize for healthy and creative breakfasts! My out-the-door protein bar kneels in admiration.

gmathis

Additionally…maple flavoring makes sense in a Canadian breakfast tea. The only Canadian breakfast I ever remember sampling (far too long ago to remember brand or purveyor) was a straight-up black blend that wasn’t very muscular.

Mastress Alita

I just happen to be off this week, my norm is just grabbing a smoothie (that I made the night before) out of the fridge and gulping it in the car, haha.

gmathis

I can’t even get the night-before routine down!

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44

Sniff Oh wow, there’s a flower garden in my cup.

This is the 4th day of my exclusive Sara’s Old Tea box. It’s very flower-forward, from the beginning to the end of the sip. I was curious how a green/black tea blend would taste… but I can’t taste the tea at all. It has more depth of flavor than a perfumy jasmine tea, but it’s still a bit much for me.

Flavors: Floral, Flowers, Jasmine, Rose, Vegetal

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 30 sec 3 g 13 OZ / 384 ML
Mastress Alita

Jasmine is the only floral in this blend. I actually really like jasmine paired with black tea. Seems you are jasmine-averse regardless.

Todd

Yeah, I think you’re right.

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Work tasting. We’ve been so busy I’ve been bringing home batch-samples to do reports at home.

This one is a pretty heavy flavoured tea, leaving a sort of thick, creamy mouthfeel and a lingering coconut aftertaste. Not much of the base teas come through, but taste-wish it’s got a heavy toasted note to the coconut. It’s less ‘fresh’, definitely not a ‘pina colada’ type of coconut milk, but more a creamy baked consistency like coconut in a custard or pastry. The almost roasted quality does make it stand out to me, compared to other coconut teas I’ve come across over the years.

Flavors: Coconut, Cream, Roasted

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 2 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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drank Earl's Gold by Murchie's Tea & Coffee
477 tasting notes

I thought I’d posted a note for this tea already, but I guess not.

Full disclosure, I can’t give this tea an honest review and you can take what I say with a grain of salt, because this is the first blend I created from the ground up and released through Murchie’s. So I’m a little biased and pretty proud of it.

I like earl greys, but personally, am not a fan of Murchie’s earl grey. It uses a lot of bright, light and brisk teas—Darjeeling, Nepal and Ceylons—with a very heavy dose of bergamot. I find it a tad too acidic, so I set out to make an earl grey I’d drink.

This’ what I ended up coming up with. Going the complete opposite direction, this uses Assam, Yunnan and Keemun teas. The result is a very deep, malty brew, with a bit of smoke, a bit of nut, a faint natural sweetness, and overall just very smooth. I opted for tippy Assam and Yunnan teas, hence the name. The amount of bergamot used is medium-light; I was hitting for a ratio that complimented but didn’t dominate it.

It does use artificial and natural bergamot, because the sad reality is natural bergamot oil lasts a whole month on tea before dissipating completely, in every test I tried.

We’ve been extremely busy at work so I’ve been spending a lot of long hours and guzzling Earl’s Gold a lot. I’ve also been bringing a lot of my work home (namely samples that need tasting), so I had this on-hand. I reach for it often enough.

Bergamot in the right context smells a bit like Fruit Loops to me, and this is one of them.

Flavors: Bergamot, Cocoa, Malt, Nutty, Smoke, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
tea-sipper

Congrats on the first tea you created! It sounds like a good Earl. Added to wishlist. :D

EstrafaDC

Wow. This one sounds REALLY intriguing in so many ways. A smokier earl grey. Also, I didn’t know that about natural bergamot oil. TIL!

Roswell Strange

Congrats! Seeing one of your blends go from concept to finish cup is such a rewarding feeling! Also, I feel very validated right now because I also quite often get that “Froot Loops” association from bergamot!

AJ

Thank you. I’m pretty proud of it, which also means I end up chattering on about it whenever people make the mistake of asking.

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77

From the Samurai TTB
A decent maple flavor in this cup that smells a bit sweeter than it tastes. Not sure I’d go out of my way to purchase, but sure was a nice way to start the day. More maple than chai, but that’s fine by me.

Flavors: Maple, Sweet

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90

This makes an amazing iced tea. Super fruity and lots of great stone fruit and champagne flavours. Extremely flavourful, resteeps well several times (cold brewed 3 times and all three steeps were great).

Flavors: Champagne, Fruity, Peach, Pear, Stonefruit, White Wine

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more

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67

Brewed gongfu style 30s/5s/6s/9s – 180-170 F, 2g in 50 ml gaiwan.

Aroma of the dry leaf was fairly smoky, so I was pleasantly surprised that the first infusion came across as more sweet than smoky. The flavor definitely improved with the second and third infusions as some slight astringent notes came out to complement the sweetness and the body filled out. The third infusion even brought with it a faint hint of lemon.

Though Murchie’s calls this a green tea, it both tasted and appeared much darker than what I’m accustomed to with greens. Liquor is a medium-dark yellow orange, and the leaves are a deep, deep, brown green. I’d imagine some of this is due to bruising that may occur in the rolling process. None of this is a particularly bad thing as it tastes just fine, but if you’re looking for the freshness and vegetal taste of greens I’d suggest you look eslewhere. Overall a nice enough tea, but not one I’ll be racing back to.

Gaiwan drinkers be warned, as the leaves aren’t fully open on the first infusion they can easily stop up your pour if you aren’t careful!

Flavors: Astringent, Lemon, Smoke, Sweet

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 30 sec 2 g 2 OZ / 50 ML

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75

The smell of this tea is so enticing. I wish I could smell it every second of the day.
While brewing, the tea fills the room with a sweet maple scent that is so inviting. The brewed tea is very black tea forward and the maple scent is gone from the tea. I get a slight maple note at the back end but its all black tea forward.
I have yet to try it with milk. Maybe that will bring out other flavors from the tea?

Preparation
3 min, 45 sec 1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML

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Probably a shame to review this when it’s sold out. But I’ve still got a little left in my personal cupboard.

This was such an interesting tea to drink, and to look at. Most fine-pluck tippy teas have a smattering of gold tips amongst black tips. But with this one, each individual leaf has some gold and some black on it. Very careful sorting, almost all of them delicate whole buds.

Brewed this in a gaiwan, rough steeps of 15-20 seconds as I like a strong black. The cup is a deep red (the photo doesn’t do it justice, that’s much too light unless you’re intentionally trying to brew it light), and if you catch it in the light, you can see the fuzz from the leaves floating. The smell and taste is remarkably unique to me—burnt sugar and/or buckwheat honey is the best I can describe it. Very rich and sweet, with a kind of syrupy mouthfeel that lingers. Lighter steeps almost bring out a muscatel, winey note, alike but very different to any Darjeeling I’ve ever had. There are little notes of… I want to say grain or malt that verge into the ‘burnt sugar’ description.

I find this doesn’t get bitter, but it can get STRONG, due to the small size of the leaf material. Second steep really filled my mouth and nose with aroma. Wine. Fruit? Something of that sort, thick honey—it was given the name ‘honeysuckle’ at the importer-level due to that unmistakable syrupy honey flavour; I specifically wrote down ‘buckwheat honey’ in my own notes, because if anyone has ever tried THAT. It’s downright molassesy, and definitely still applies here.

The muscatel/wine notes in particular come through at the end of the sip, sort of lingering on the tongue.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCho90IgiVP/

Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Honey, Muscatel

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
Roswell Strange

Natural honey notes are one of my favourite things to find in tea, but buckwheat honey in particular is something that I ADORE (fan of all things molasses-y it seems). This would probably be right up my alley, were it not sold out.

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65

I’ve tried a few different Rooibos EG’s and haven’t liked a single one thus far. I’ve had this one in my cupboard for ages and have yet to have tried it, probably because of my bad track record with bergamot on rooibos. However, I’m out of a black lavender EG and that was what I was craving to go with my lemon poppyseed cookie, so I finally decided to try this. Maybe the lavender made a big difference, because I actually didn’t mind this. The bergamot tastes a little grapefruity, but doesn’t come across too sour, even on the lighter base. The lavender is lovely and strongly floral, and pairs well with the strong citrus flavor of the bergamot. The rooibos is a strong flavor, a bit woody, hay-like, and sweet. I wouldn’t select this over a good black lavender EG, but this is surprisingly suitable for a rooibos alternative when I have traditionally hated bergamot paired with rooibos.

Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Floral, Grapefruit, Honey, Hot Hay, Lavender, Sweet, Tart, Wood

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML

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80

Made a pot for myself. Lightly Floral and the lavender flavor comes out pretty well. The black tea base is smooth and light. It works together pretty well. Really desserty and delightful

Flavors: Lavender

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80

First time having this tea. Brewed for 3 mins in boiling water.

The dry leaves smell exactly like a strawberry shortcake. I would eat it if i could. The leaves are shiny and heavy as if there is a lot of artificial flavoring - although you can already tell that by the smell.

The brewed tea – smells more like a black tea and less like a dessert.
The taste of the tea is like strawberry flavored cake or cookies— not ones that use fresh strawberry . This would be good with some milk and sugar ,which might help enhance the strawberry flavor and give you the creaminess of a cake.
I am drinking this tea plain and it is perfectly fine. The black tea is smooth and very refreshing. The aftertaste of this tea leaves a wonderful artificial strawberry flavor.
If you have ever eaten the pink frosting/ strawberry flavored cream biscuits or pocky sticks, that’s the artificial strawberry flavor I am getting.

Flavors: Cream, Strawberry

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78

SIpdown! go me! almost the end of July and i’m still working through my samples and smaller quantities. Mostly i’m just glad i’m drinking tea haha Thanks again for this one omgsrsly been enjoying it a lot

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78

Been drinking this one a lot from omgsrsly it’s the right sort of every day tea that doesn’t give me anything to complain about and just eases me in to the day. Will be sad when this one is gone but i have a few more cups to enjoy before then

gmathis

I always figured Scottish breakfast teas would be strong enough to clobber you over the head, like the blunt end of a claymore, but the ones I have tried have been surprisingly mild. Good, but gentle.

OMGsrsly

I do like this one, and have a ton of it because someone at work bought 250g and ended up not liking it! Munchies has robust mail order though… I’m putting together an order for Sept as I’m almost out of Russian caravan. And they roast coffees too!

Sil

Nice!

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