Bird & Blend Tea Co.

I’ve been drinking this wrong the whole time (aka – hot). It’s alright as a hot tea, but man does the rhubarb pop as a cold steep (left in cold water overnight in fridge). I’m incredibly sad that It took me until the last serving of the package to figure out how I like it best.

I was cleaning up my cluttered desk and found this sample bag. Also it’s evening, and I have work in the morning (yay!), and this might help me get sleepy.

Since it’s herbal, I left the bag in. Mmm, this is nice. I can easily pick out the lemon and floral flavors. The rose flavor is very subtle, at the end of the sip. It tastes like taking a nap in a lovely garden. A++, would sip again!

Tired, with sore arm, both because of my first Covid-19 vaccine shot, but happy I got it. Unhappy about my exam from mathmatics I took yesterday, I will write the teacher, as I am a bit afraid they have not checked all the papers I retuned. If I truly failed, last attempt (ever!) will be 2nd July. So, there is hope. And well, time to focus on the problems and not the theory.

But after a few days hiatus, here I am again, drinking another cold-brew tea hot. I have to agree with Cameron B. in most of her tasting note. It is a bit flat, flavoured rooibos. I could notice a bit of strawberries, but coconut and creaminess nonewhere to be found. I have been expecting more jammy note as well. When I was adding a vanilla part of my vanilla-mango ice cream I had with it, it truly awakes the flavours, but I hadn’t got enough ice cream to add it completely to the hot cup. And mango would ruin it I am afraid; so I need to buy a bourbon vanilla ice cream soon.

While it wasn’t a bad tea, I have been expecting way more.

Happy National Red Rose Day! Today the prompt was to drink a rose tea or a tea with floral flavor notes. My first choice was actually a dragon ball containing rose that Derk gifted me ages ago, but I feel like that is better suited to gong fu, and I have to work this Saturday (boo!) so I needed something to brew-and-go. So I opted for this, which I put in my cold brew bottle last night (this time, I remembered to actually put it back in the fridge, too!)

The dry tea looks very pretty, with an abundance of rose buds, but I’m personally not much of a fan of rose buds and prefer just petals because the buds take up so much space and it’s hard to get a good mix in the scoop that isn’t a few rose buds filling the spoon. So I purposefully tried overleafing a bit, and tried to get more raspberry leaf in the final scoop. My tea this morning is a quite pretty champagne color… like a goldenrod and cotton candy pink sunset. The aroma is that of a rose garden freshly in bloom.

Honestly, despite my best efforts to diversify the leaf, all I taste is rose. Not the sweet herbal taste of raspberry leaf or any of the freeze-dried berries. As I often get with rose floral, there is a light peppery note left on the tongue, and I actually do taste a bit of an effervescent note that is alcohol-like, but that flavor is pretty mellow compared to the strength of the floral. While I have no problem with ice cold rose water, it’s something easy enough to make by just buying some rose petals from an herbal store. In a tea blend, I expect more, so even though it isn’t a flavor I dislike, I’m disappointed in it. I’m getting a little of the rosé and a whole lot of just rose… and absolutely no berry.

I’ll probably end up using up the rest of my packet making rose-flavored lemonade or steeping in milk to add rose-flavored milk to my smoothies.

Sipdown! (20 | 341)

Another cold brew from the subscription. I didn’t realize this had butterfly pea flower, so the color was a fun surprise when I started pouring the water into the pitcher. It came out a dark red-violet color in the end.

Unfortunately, this one is pretty generic and boring. It’s sort of just tart and vaguely fruity, with a noticeable mustiness from all of the pea flower. There’s maybe a bit of peach, but I certainly wouldn’t guess blueberry.

Meh!

Sipdown! (19 | 340)

I cold brewed this one, and the Blueberry Peach fruit tisane that also came in the May subscription box. After all, the theme was cold brew, plus fruit tisanes are sort of weird hot IMO. The dry leaf, oddly, smelled like banana candy?

This is very interesting. It actually sort of reminds me of their old Elderflower Prosecco, even though there’s no elderflower in it. I wonder if it’s the lime leaves that are giving me that impression? I do get pear, and it’s definitely crisp fresh pear.

There’s something about it, though, that reminds me of artificial sweetener or something. And it sort of ruins it for me. Otherwise, this is a very refreshing and crisp pear tisane!

Sipdown! (17 | 338)

Finishing this off as a cold brew.

If anything, I’m finding even less of the creamy custard flavor than in the hot cuppa. It’s mostly a pleasantly tart strawberry Jello sort of note.

Nothing special to my tastebuds, but still enjoyable!

From the May (?) subscription box.

I’m having this hot now, but put the rest of the packet in the fridge to cold brew, so will leave a sipdown note for that later.

It’s not bad hot. Mostly it tastes like a slightly tart strawberry candy rooibos. There’s just a little bit of creamy custard here as well, though I wish there were more. I think the rooibos base is a good call, as it does meld well with the flavors. I’ll be interested to see if the creaminess fares better in the cold brew, as that’s what B&B intended for me to do with this tisane. To be continued!

Prepared hot, although this tea should be cold-brewed. I shall try that preparation method once! Suggestions welcomed.

Honestly, again not much of pears here. A bit more than in Jasmine Poached Pears though and less bubblegummy for sure. If I would drinking it cold, I think I could manage to feel the cider-y flavour. Hot… not that much. I was able to notice the lime leaves though and overall, it was pretty okay. Nothing to have necessary right again, but as cold drink it will be good I am sure.

No news about my job application so far; I had an interview (rather replying on a video my replies only) back on Tuesday. But other great news is that I have registered for Covid-vaccine today (as it opened for my age group today midnight) and now I am waiting for a dates I could go there (you can choose). I have it about 10 minutes from my home by foot and I have been to that place countless times.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day.  I was a bit hesitant with this one, but B&B sent me over a single teabag sample.  Any rooibos blend shouldn’t have anything resembling “breakfast” in the name!  Unless it’s what I imagine is for the very small market of people who do not drink caffeine at all.  Even then, I can’t really see how this is supposed to be a breakfast inspired blend.  So I steeped this alongside an actual black tea yesterday morning, so I’d actually be drinking a breakfast tea during breakfast but also be trying this “breakfast” tea in the morning.  What we have here is rooibos, honeybush, sunflowers and flavoring.  I can’t really tell what the flavoring is.  Is the name hinting at honey?  Reading the description later says yes to honey. Some sips it seems like a very mild sweet orange, sometimes strawberry, at the very end of the cup a biscuity flavor.  Not sure.  I intentionally went for a short steep to get as much flavor as possible without the rooibos drowning out the flavor.  Confusing all around.  It’s definitely not something I would seek out.
Steep #1 // 21 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep
2021 sipdowns: 78

I signed up to the subscription box for a single month purely to try this tea since I enjoyed the bacon tea from 52teas so much. I don’t like the lapsang that B&B uses, so it may have been a bad plan. I had this with oat milk to cover up the smokiness as much as possible. Really I only tasted lapsang, rooibos, and a little weirdness. Nothing about it says bacon or pancake. So far, none of B&B’s pancake teas have been pancakey for me. I had this twice and didn’t love it, so I put the rest in a TTB.

Sipdown! (35 | 312)

This is similar to the Peach & Elderflower Bellini blend in that it’s a bit bland and generic.

I will say, this last cuppa came out a bit more flavorful than the rest, I guess there must have been some extra hibiscus lurking at the bottom of the bag. But it also mostly tastes like a fruit tisane, with very little noticeable oolong flavor.

So mostly I taste hibiscus and tart apple. There’s also raspberry, but I’m not sure I can distinguish it from the tart hibiscus. Meh!

Sipdown! (27 | 304)

I had this on Monday as an iced latte, and it was pretty tasty. Definitely heavier on the cream than the peach for me, but I wasn’t sure if that was just due to the milk that was added.

So I’m finishing it off as a cold brew today, and the cream flavor is definitely the dominant one for me. There is some peach in there, and it comes out a bit more in the aftertaste. It’s reminding me a bit of peach ice cream, which tends to be very creamy with a subdued peach flavor. There’s also an odd waxiness to it? Which is making me think of those wax bottle candies that are filled with liquid, and you have to bite the top off to drink it.

So overall, it’s a bit mediocre for me? But I guess that’s because I just wanted more peach out of it.

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

An Ode to Tea challenge – B

A sample from B&B!  Nothing I was really eager to try, as it’s a plain black and I can get the less unique teas other places than B&B.  But always happy to try a tea!  The CTC leaf has a seemingly misplaced floral aroma on the dry leaf.  Not present in the flavor though.  Really just a solid plain black.  The flavor is strong but not too strong!  Not much to say here.
Steep #1 // 16 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min
2021 sipdowns:  67

Sipdown! (11 | 288)

The B&B subscription for April made me a bit sad. They were all teas that sounded so good to me, and they were all disappointing. Womp womp…

To be fair, this one is a fine tea. It’s inoffensive. There’s a light honeydew melon taste and also a light strawberry candy taste. The base tea tastes like dry grass, as is common for Chinese sencha, and occasionally I get a hint of seaweed from it. It’s not bad, it’s all just a bit ho hum for me… I need a bit more from the fruit flavors I think, and some tartness from the strawberry would be welcome as it’s a bit generically sweet and candyish for me.

Luckily for me, I happen to have a strawberry and melon green tea from Dammann that I really like, so I’m not too upset to not love this one. :)

Mmm, I really like this. It’s like drinking a warm hot chocolate milk. It feels too light for hot cocoa, so I would compare it more to chocolate milk. I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat, maybe because I was sleeping under the AC vent in the hospital room. My dad was able to go home last night, so I’m hoping some good sleep in an actual bed will help me start to feel better. Until then, this feels soothing on my throat. I’m hoping the caffeine boost will help too because I am so sleepy.

Oh, I almost forgot, this is my late entry for Mother’s Day. My mom loves chocolate more than anyone I know. She usually has empty Sixlets wrappers scattered across her computer desk, or a bag of trail mix filled mostly with M&Ms. My favorite story about her chocolate cravings is when she realized that she was out of chocolate in the house, so she ate a spoonful of dry Nesquik powder. Didn’t try mixing it with anything, nope. Just ate it dry right out of the tin. So here’s to my mom and her love of chocolate. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. <3

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #194 overall / Tea #18 for May
Tuesday 5/11 - Bird & Blend Rhubarb + Custard sample cold brew 20 oz in glass jar since 5/8 or 5/9? It’s hard to keep track of anything anymore these days. Tastes like rooibos, no rhubarb or cream coming out. (sample is very old, not going to say no/yes because of that)
#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown

This was a freebie with a Bird & Blend order.

The brewed tea smells like nice holiday spices. Wow, there are a lot of flavors vying for my attention here. It’s kind of like a mulled wine flavor. I’m hit with a wine/fruit punch kind of flavor with some rooibos, then lots of spices I can’t seem to pick out individually beyond the cinnamon.

Beyond the cinnamon, I don’t understand the name. It doesn’t taste at all like bread or a bun to me.

I enjoyed the other popcorn tea from B&B, so I was curious as to how this would be different. Hmm I’d say this one is a lot less like popcorn. Basically it’s just green tea with some vague sweetness, maybe some saltiness, maybe a bit of popped rice. The green tea base is all right. I think they should have gone harder with the genmaicha vibe with lots more popped rice and added a bit of flavoring and salt to that. Since they held back too much, the vision doesn’t come through clearly enough. I do enjoy the lightly sweet, slightly savory green tea flavor, and I’m sure I could finish the bag if it were caffeine-free, but I’ll probably save enough for a couple cups and pass the rest along.

Sipdown! (6 | 283)

I’ve really been slacking on these B&B subscription teas from last month…

This one isn’t my favorite, but I didn’t think it would be. I don’t tend to be very into dessert teas lately. I will say, it does remind me of both honeycomb and cookie dough somehow. There’s a sweet honey candy note but also a doughy quality. It’s also a bit butterscotchy, which is reminding me of the somewhat similar Butter Toffee Popcorn.

So meh, not something I would order, but mostly due to personal preference. But the little popped quinoa bits are super cute! :3

Huh this didn’t turn out how I expected based on the name and my experience with the soda blends from 52teas. The dry leaf was mostly fruit, and it smelled strongly of lime, so I decided to have this cold. It tastes like spiced fruit cider? That’s not what I was expecting at all. I prefer it to B&B’s mulled cider, but it’s not a flavor profile I’m in love with overall. I wouldn’t buy it again, but I actually did enjoy my 50g of this one.

I think I like this better than the Adagio version I recently had. It still doesn’t taste 100% like EG, but it’s good. The main flavor is rooibos with a bit of bergamot. I like it better with milk. I may stop ordering rooibos EGs because they don’t really hit the spot in the same way. For what it is, it’s decent though. It doesn’t have any weird flavors, and it has a strong second steep. I almost taste some vanilla or something creamy bringing it all together, but I think that’s my imagination.

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #168 overall / Tea #39 for April
Monday 4/26 — Bird and Blend Cococabana Coola started the brew Tues 4/20 — aka 4 days decanted into small bottles evening Sat 4/24 to drink Sun 4/25 but ended up sipping 4/26. An old 20g “sample” that was turned into a cold-brew pitcher.. delightful fruity herbal tea, I love the tropical fruity taste. If I didn’t have 3238420948294829043820432904234 teas, I’d actually consider getting a new bag of this for my collection.
#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

Although I’ve enjoyed their mint teas in the past, the last two I’ve tried from B&B haven’t really worked for me. Here, the hibiscus is just so hibiscus-y and tart, and the mint isn’t the tastiest of mint. I got the smallest bag, anticipating that I might not be a fan. I guess I wish there were more going on here and that the mint were more refreshing. It made a strong resteep that tasted like the first. Cold brewing made this taste a little mellower, but still the flavor was pretty boring.