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This one was included as a sample with my last Bluebird order (I got lots of samples this time…) I’ve tried it many times before, and it’s become one of my favourites. I drank this one up last night while watching Game of Thrones and working on my crochet blanket. I’m such an old lady sometimes, but it made me feel a bit happier after a stupid day at work.

This one will always return to my cupboard before too long an absence.

145/365

This one came as a free sample with my first Leaves of the World order. While I appreciate the pun in the title, I wouldn’t say this isn’t really a currant tea. The main flavours are strawberry and blueberry, and they’re super juicy, natural-tasting, and flavour accurate – but they’re berries. It’s probably just me, but currant makes me think either of blackcurrant or dried fruit, and this is neither of those.

Name aside, this makes for a really lovely cup. The green base (almost certainly sencha) is light and delicate, and works well with the fruit flavours. It’s nice to find a fruit blend where the individual flavours come through well without seeming overdone or artificial, and for them not to meld together into a generic “berry” mush. I can clearly taste both strawberry and blueberry here, and they’re distinct, individual flavours. There’s supposed to be ginger also, but that’s totally lost on me. Perhaps my bag needs a shake up.

I think this would make an excellent iced tea come summer, but I doubt it’ll still be in my cupboard at that point. I could be tempted to buy some more, though…

144/365

Another of my older LPs, finally seeing the light of day. One thing I’m quickly realising about this challenge is that once it’s done I’m going to have a lot of opened things to sip down. I’ll likely need another challenge just for that!

LP says that this one is a blend of 1999 and 2006 medium roasted tieguanyin, aged in dehydrated lemon for over 60 days. He also says it’s an ugly tea, but I find the lemon segments quite beautiful in their own way. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it around 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 180. It smells like lemon pie that’s burnt a bit in the oven, and it tastes quite like that too.

The TGY brings a pretty toasted taste to the initial sip, and it pretty much as you might expect from any roasted oolong – a little brassy, perhaps, but pleasantly so. I was expecting more pungency, but it’s really very palatable. The lemon almost explodes in the mid-sip, in a bright, sunshiny burst. The tangy, sour citrus cuts through the toastiness in a swathe of wonderous efficiency. It’s a pairing that works really well, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly. I feel like lemon is an accessible flavour, whereas TGY perhaps isn’t so much. I hope it encouraged a few of the less experienced oolongers to give it a go when it was on sale.

As the lemon wears off, the tieguanyin flavour returns in full force and lingers well into the aftertaste. It’s a pleasing contrast, and an inspired pairing. I’m glad I’ve got plenty more!

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!

142/365

This is the first tea I’ve tried from Bluebird’s 2018 spring collection. I waited to order until their Easter teas were in stock, and I’d hoped to get to those first (i.e. drink them over Easter weekend) but the parcel didn’t arrive until today, so…

I also don’t have any honey in the cupboard, so making a latte is a bit of a struggle. The recipe for this one didn’t need any, though, which is primarily why I chose it. I wanted a latte, and I didn’t want to go out. Figures.

This one smells delicious. It’s absolutely, definitely peach, with a background sweetness that reminds me a lot of crumble topping. To taste, it’s very similar. The peach is the main flavour (as you might expect), and it’s pretty natural and flavour-accurate. There’s also a really prominent butteriness that’s actually a little distracting, but I imagine that’s the “cobbler” element. It’s creamy and fairly sweet, definitely a dessert tea (at least, as a latte). I plan to try it straight at some point over the next couple of weeks, and I imagine it might be quite different like that. Today was latte day, though, and nothing else would do.

I like this one. It’s definitely a spring-appropriate flavour, and it’s brightened up what proves to me another wintery morning. It’s April now. WHEN is spring going to get here properly?

141/365

Another from the regional group buy. I tried the Bitaco Black a few days ago, and so I’m intrigued to follow that up with the green. This is the February 2016 harvest.

On the whole, it strikes me as another subtle, lightly flavoured green. Perhaps I’ve just had too many of those lately, but I was hoping for some oomph and I’m really not finding it. It has a pleasant flavour – at least, what I can find of it. It’s like fresh garden pea, quite sweet, with a slightly deeper flavour (green beans) towards the end of the sip. I suppose I could brew it longer, or use more leaf, and that might increase the flavour to a level I’m happy with. I’d be a little worried about the potential for bitterness and/or astringency if I tried that, however.

I like this one – it’s a palatable green, with a pleasant, mildly vegetal flavour. It’s just a little on the watery side for my liking.

140/365

From the Regional Group Buy. These are some of the thinnest and pointiest silver tips I’ve come across – I can definitely see why they’re known as needles now! They actually remind me of pine needles in shape and size, although obviously these are white and downy. Christmas tree needles covered in snow?! Irrelevance, anyway.

I struggle to get much flavour from white teas, so I followed the instructions to the letter this time. I used 2 tsp of leaf (or there abouts – it was hard to measure using a spoon…) and gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to 185 degrees.

This one is mostly still sweet water, with a mild hay-like flavour and a touch of dustiness towards the end of the sip. In other words, it’s very similar to 99% of other plain white teas I’ve tried – more delicate than some, perhaps, but broadly the same in flavour terms. I imagine this is a lot more expensive than some whites, and white tea is expensive to begin with. Sure, it’s better than the bagged clipper stuff I started out with (you know, the one that I used to brew like black tea and put milk in. It was an easy mistake to make, though, given that it brewed up to a pretty solid amber colour all by itself.) This tea is in another league entirely, but I can’t really say what, if anything, distinguishes it from most other silver needles offered by other vendors, and that’s a sticking point for me. I understand flavoured white better, I think, because sometimes an airy base is just the thing. Plain? Perhaps I’m just not subtle enough to really appreciate it…

139/365

Another white! It’s not even deliberate, just a result of working through the older teas in my cupboard. I guess either I was on a real white tea jag at one point, or I’ve just left the white tea in favour of others. I have a feeling it’s more likely to have been the latter, but it wasn’t the result of any conscious deliberation. I feel like I’m back on safer territory with flavoured white tea, though, so I’m hopeful about this one. It’s also a LP, so, of course…

Autumn Warmth is supposed to be apricot, cinnamon, and cream. That description sums it up perfectly, pretty much, but it’s also something more than that as well. The creaminess is a lot more prominent than I expected it to be, and it verges a little on the artificial side, but it works well with the other flavours so no complaints really. The apricot is most noticeable in the mid-sip, and is more of a dried fruit kind of flavour than fresh/juicy. It’s a fruitiness that’s concentrated, tart, jammy, and almost thick-tasting – spot on dried apricot, really.

The cinnamon is all in the background, just about there in the aftertaste, but it still has an impact on the flavour. It definitely adds the “warmth” of the name, making what would be quite a summery flavour combination into something much deeper, richer, and more autumnal. The white tea base, which is a white peony, also adds a mild leaf pile kind of flavour, in addition to a hay-like starchiness. It’s a perfectly named blend, and I like that all of the ingredients contribute something both unique and significant to the overall effect.

One word: yum!

138/365

I ordered these last month, I think, so they’re still pretty new to my cupboard. Gotta mix things up a bit! I made this one as a latte this morning, partly to use up the last of my milk before I go off to my parent’s house for a few days, and partly because that’s the recommended prep method. Also, I love a latte.

I used 2 tsp of leaf, and gave it 4 minutes in 300ml boiling water. It’s topped off with 100ml hot milk, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence. I probably should have added some honey, but it turns out I don’t have any.

To taste, it’s pretty good. I get the “jam” resemblance straight away; it’s sweet, a little tart, and just, well…jammy. It claims to be strawberry, and I get that, but there’s also a deeper, richer undertone that I associate more with blackberry or blackcurrant. It makes me wonder whether the base might not be a keemun, but as the pouch doesn’t provide any more info than “black tea”, I guess I’ll never know. That would be my guess, anyway.

Did I mention that it’s good? Liquid jam, anyone?

I’m not usually a fan of cold matcha, but this is one I can tolerate. Perhaps because it’s so sweet and desserty? I made this up today using Bluebird’s Ice Cream Matcha Soda recipe, which is basically 1/2 tsp of matcha whisked into a splash of hot water, poured over ice, and topped off with 150ml lemonade. It’s a little bit vegetal in the background, but it’s mostly creamy vanilla with a little something else (I still think it’s the carob…) that’s making me think of a Mr Whippy. My only complaint is that it tends to settle a little, so you’re left with a powdery sludge at the bottom of the cup, but I think that’s just how Bluebird’s flavoured matchas are.

I have a couple of sample sachets of this left, but I’m pretty sure it’s one I’ll purchase in full size once they’re done. There are a couple of things I’d like to try with it yet – an iced latte, for one – but I love it as my go-to hot latte, so it’s virtually made the cut already.