Easter Egg Nests

Another tea with popped rice, and I absolutely agree with why it’s in there. I’m not really a “Easter Egg Nest” eater but I think I can guesstimate what the taste should be. But I’m still not sure if I like that flavor in my tea. The chocolate is nice. I wish there was more of a creamy element, like more marshmallows in the bag? Not bad. I’ve yet to have a bad tea from B&B!

Got this as a free sample. It’s nice enough, but just reminds me of hot chocolate mixed with tea, which has a bit of a flat taste. The green tea blend and toasted rice is a nice addition as I’m a fan of genmaicha, but the overall experience didn’t blow me away. Not one I’d seek to buy regularly.

143/365

I finally woke up enough to go to the shop, so that meant I could buy some honey and make a start on Bluebird’s Easter collection. The first of those – and one I’ve tried before – is Easter Egg Nests. I think it was probably the year before last when I picked up my previous sample, so my recollection of it isn’t the clearest. The most I ever did was stick 1 tsp of it in water, though, so it wasn’t particularly exciting…

This year, I’m following Bluebird’s recipe and making it up as a latte. The instructions stipulate 3tsp of tea in 100ml water, topped off with 300ml milk. I adjusted slightly, using 250ml milk and 150ml water, because 1/4 litre of milk is enough for anyone and I want to actually be able to taste the tea. I was slightly dubious anyway, because it brews up basically white. More so when I added squirty cream instead of frothed milk. I needn’t have feared, though, because it actually tastes really good.

A lot of chocolate teas taste, at best, like watery hot chocolate. This one actually tastes of melted milk chocolate, even given the quantity of milk I’ve drowned it in. What sets it apart is the light background toastiness (a little like a genmaicha, although perhaps not as strong…) which is absolutely reminiscent of puffed rice cereal. In fact, what this tea actually tastes of is cocoa pops. That’s spot-on accurate for this flavour of this one, and I’m glad I managed to figure that out before trying to put my finger on it drove me mad. More specifically, it tastes like the milk cocoa pops have sat in for a while (you know, when they’ve gone a bit soggy), at least as a latte.

I don’t get “mini eggs” as such, although it’s sweet enough to invoke thoughts of their crisp sugar shells. I certainly get the “nest” part, though. That’s there, 100%.

I’m glad this one works well as a latte, because I’ve basically been waiting for it to be released this year for that reason alone. The only other tea I’m quite so eager to see back is Spiced Pumpkin Pie in the autumn, because I’ve got plans for that. Hopefully this won’t be the year they decide to skip it!

Anyway, for the moment, Easter Egg Nests is love!

Finally writing a tasting note for this one. I’ve had it a couple times. I LOVE chocolate marshmallow combinations in anything, especially if it’s a tea that actually uses cacao shells. Yum. The marshmallow melts really well so I taste equal parts chocolate and marshmallow on this light base but I come to expect the light base with most of Bluebird’s black teas. That might be because this one is also mixed with houjicha green teas, but I can’t really tell that other than from the description. There is also a toastiness from the toasties (ahem… the toasted rice). Basically I wanted to try this one because it was like Bluebird’s Snowball blend but without the coconut which would slowly ruin the blend. I’m very happy with this fun delicious tea!
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug// 8 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep

Ok, so first off, this tea is adorable. The tiny mallows and sunflower strands? You’re killing me, Bluebird.

The dry and steep aromatics are distinctly those of the marshmallow bunny coated in chocolate. Yeah, you know the one, yes you. The popped rice, I think, does just as much of the heavy lifting in that regard as the mallows and cocoa shell bits.

On the tongue, the chocolate pulls riiiiight through, the mallow easing it onto the palate, and the overall taste has the acidity of the black balanced by the distinct flavor of the green. I actually didn’t notice until the first taste that this was a black-green blend.

All-in-all, this is the Cocoa Krispies of tea. Just add Saturday morning cartoons and you’re set. I wouldn’t likely be moved to purchase again, but I am really glad to get to sample 10 g, and the cuteness of it all has me won over for sure.

This tea. This tea caught me off guard. I expected to like it (chocolate teas seem to be my thing lately), but I didn’t think I’d like it THIS much. Truthfully, I had no idea what easter egg nests were until I googled the phrase. Apparently easter egg nests in the US typically contain coconut. Easter egg nests in the UK seem to contain cereal, usually popped rice. This tea tastes like a chocolate covered Rice Krispie treat. It’s really quite delicious – great chocolate flavor, slightly sweet, and a lovely toasted rice note. I sampled it hot and straight, but I imagine it would be even tastier with milk and sweetener. I’ll be stocking up on this as well.

There is sooo much going on in this lovely blend it’s hard to know what to focus on first. On tasting Easter Egg Nest a handful of the ingredients barge through to the taste buds and start fighting for control, all holding their hands up, screaming me, me, me. Not one of these flavours wins out though, because they all combine in an unexpectedly glorious way to reveal a sweet, robust, flavoursome tea. To define this I’ll run through the key identifiers. The toasted rice is no doubt what provides the flavour akin to the classic egg nest cakes, making the two easily compatible for a pairing, but also providing a psychological linking, whisking you back to childhood. Secondly, there is a subtle chocolatey, slightly nutty element, no doubt provided by the cocoa and the chocolate chips. Finally, the marshmallows provide a delightfully sweet element to the flavour.

More at: http://tastethetea.co.uk/2016/03/01/bluebirdspringcollection/