Murchie's Tea & Coffee

It’s not Christmas (obvs), and it’s not a really great morning tea (in my head it’s more for afternoons or evenings), but I like it, and I want to have it now. I only have about 2-3 cups left! :O

sample sipdown! thank you cavocorax for sending me this along with a few other teas to try from murchies. This is decent enough blend, though i’m not sure it’s as “raspberry” as i want it to be. The black base in this is fairly smooth and blends well with the flavour.
Thanks again cavo!

This is truly a flavored tea that tastes as good as it smells. When I first opened the bag after purchasing it a couple weeks ago in Vancouver, I was greeted by a strong (but pleasant) banana scent, a medium scent of creamy coconut, and a pinch of spice (Allspice, I think). Brewed, the tea has a lovely blend of creamy coconut and banana. I find I like it sweetened mildly. It’s also good with a hint of cream. It would probably also be really nice accompanied with a little touch of black rum! This is a keeper from Murchie’s.

Cold-brewed this and K adored it. I had the last of it this morning – yum! He likes to add sugar + lemon to his which I don’t understand but whatever :P :P

Now I have mint cold-brewing… which I loooove.

I keep forgetting how good this tea is, and my roommate has about 6 oz of it just waiting to be sipped. I love how it’s smokey but not as hit-you-in-the-face strong as a lapsang souchong. I think I might even prefer this to lapsang souchong as I’m more likely to be in the mood for this than extreme tea.

I think I understeeped this because it’s far too weak. Or maybe I just rrrrreally want a coffee right now. :P

Very cute fun tea to look at…pink elephants. Anyways a coworker brought this in for us to try. I brewed it for approx 4 mins or so. I didn’t add anything else in it. Tasted like tea mixed with weak coffee to me. Someone else tried it and said she didn’t taste the coffee but the tea had a slightly sweet and bitter flavour and another person said it tasted roasted. It’s interesting how everyone tastes different things in this tea. Anyways fun to have tried it.

I remember when I thought this tea was too smoky and now it’s just right. I think part of my love of this tea is sentimental but tea is an experience and so in a way I’m creating an experience of the moment I first tried it in Victoria, BC.

This is pretty decent!

As it’s a Murchie’s tea I was worried about astringency so I steeped a double-dose of leaves for 2 minutes and that seems to have been perfect. It’s nice and mild and fruity. I’m looking forward to drinking the rest of this sample!

My roommate has some teas that she offered to let me try, so I thought I’d give this one a shot. It definitely tastes like a milder Earl Grey which is more up my alley. It’s nice. The base has a bit of a warm caramel flavour that is intriguing, and the tea has only the slightest hint of bitterness.

Pretty good! This may be one of my favourite black teas from Murchie’s! That, or Earl Grey Cream!

Sipdown!

Ok, now that I’m down to 67 teas I think I should go back to focusing on the teas that I really enjoy, instead of drink this down, get rid of this, make it go awaaaaay… (I have been alternating some of my favs, butt seems like every 2nd cup was something meh I wanted to drink away).

Still! 67 is great! When my orders all arrive I should still be under 100. :O

I’m not too impressed with this tea. Not much else to say, really. Just that there are other teas in my cupboard I’d rather be drinking.

Of course, I have a couple bars of soap that essentially smell like this tea. So it’s not the smell that I don’t like. Just the execution in the blend is kinda meh.

I’ve had this a few times, and I keep meaning to review it but don’t because I’m being lazy about tea notes. And that’s allowed right? If I ran to the computer to write a note every time I drank a cup, I wouldn’t leave the computer. (Cuz I’d get distracted too)

Anyways, this is a pretty nice mellow oolong. I enjoy it. It doesn’t ooooh me, but I might get it again someday.

Last bit of my “curry” earl grey ;) idek, guys. Oversteeped this while listening to SYSK podcast on allergies (nothing I didn’t know e_e but they’re always super enjoyable to listen to, anyway)… podcasts and cbc radio are the best things for clean kitchens, ever.

Goodbye curry tea! <3

JUST AMAZING! Best tea Murchie’s has put together defiately.

This is really good iced. Like really, really good. I wish I’d figured that out an ounce ago!

YAY! I’m such a dumbass. It wasn’t Zen Tea’s EG Cream that tasted like curry, it’s THIS ONE! I wasn’t just sick and tasting things!

(Or maybe cavocorax just stored this one by the curry powder? Didja, huh huh? It’s so good! I found this on the buffet while cleaning for my FIL’s arrival tomorrow! AWESOME SCORE, I knew as soon as I picked it up and caught a whiff of that spicy scent…yesssss! I don’t care it’s after 8pm, I’m having it!)

>:D

If you are trying for something very traditional in flavor or quality this is a good option. I was downtown on the 23rd of February for a bit to take pictures of the architecture and the blossoms when the morning chill really got to me. (Bad thing to admit doing a day after recovery but I digress) Being close to Murchie’s Tea Shop I popped in to get warm and the first variety to test was this one.

It was very delicate in its floral notes and has a bit of an English breakfast sort of flavor. The scent just warms from head to toe. I was tempted so much to get this as a latte but I decided on the new Black Forest tea latte. A latte that was just as nice and did taste a lot like its namesake. Just to let you all know for future visits.

As I had a dance event in the afternoon after the photo shoot I also picked up some Marzipan squares at the same time while at Murchie’s. If you haven’t tried the small bakery café there I tell you that it is well worth it. The freshly baked treats are light and delicious. The use of the most exquisite of ingredients definitely shows.

For smaller events I’d also recommend their French Macaroons as they really are very delicate and are just the right touch. (I think they might be one of the few places in Victoria that sells them, please correct me if I’m wrong.) All in all Murchie’s is always worthwhile to visit. Cheers!

I cold-brewed this for about 5 hours in the fridge and this was the first of many experiments to come! While this is one of the Murchie’s teas that I’ve always consistently enjoyed, this is smoother and mellower. Maybe I understeeped it as it almost feels like this is a green/black blend instead of all black.

Interesting! Not what I’d expect if I bought something called chai, but yum enough anyway. Thanks Cavocorax! >:D

Time to finally get some backlogging going. This is the first EG cream I’ve ever had! I assume the addition of a vanilla/cream flavor is what separates the cream from the usual. I think 4 min is a bit of overkill on this tea. I definitely could taste bergamot in here, but vanilla, not so much. It was probably borderline bitter, but tolerable for at least half the cup…I ended up making dinner in the midst of drinking it and honestly didn’t miss it.

Next time, shorter steep.

Thanks, Cavocorax!

Ok – now that I know how weak of a ‘chai’ this is, I steeped it for a bit longer with more leaves. It’s better?

While it was hot/warm I got a lot of raspberry with a touch of cream, and it was pretty enjoyable. Now that I’ve let it cool to room temperature (I blame the baby!), it’s mostly bitter with a little bit of berry. Bleh.

So… this would be good if I kept it covered while I sipped away.

At first I thought this was a little bitter, but I find that with each sip it tastes better. It’s supposed to be medium strength but it might be stronger than that. It’s actually a quite pleasant black tea.

Mmm. It’s super tasty with a splash of milk.

This was my choice for Steepster’s book club. I picked it because it sounds fancy and the tea was first blended around the same time that the book is set. I hope the others I’m swapping with like it.

Not too bad, but I made it with milk and the milk totally overwhelms all the flavours. I’m getting a smidgen of raspberry and that’s about it. At least it’s distracting me from mindless snacking.