Bird & Blend Tea Co.

A risky buy given my feelings on red rooibos, but it paid off this time. While I am getting some of the woodiness from the rooibos, the spices are strong and give me an excellent cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and cardamom blend. The banana is stronger in the scent than the taste, but the flavor is still there. I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to find nuts in the ingredients with the scent either. A solid choice for a little morning sweetness and spice.

Sip Down & Backlog

After visiting the fair and enduring the exceptionally hot day on Tuesday (September 24), I needed an iced tea for the evening. I didn’t want to drink anything with caffeine since I was drinking tea after 21:00…This created a perfect cup with a nuttiness from the rooibos base and a mildly puckering sweet apple finish!

Sip Down/Backlog

I sipped the remainder of this with a friend who stopped over on Labor Day.* Thankfully, they are prone to drink any tea I offer, and I was two cups away from sipping this down. This was a great cup of tea to have with a meal and helped ease us into dessert (Strawberry Pretzel Salad). I enjoyed that the tea and flavors blended well enough that they worked together and neither overpowered the cup.

*Yeah, I’m very backlogged.

2024 Sipdown Challenge | September | A tea that Kermit would drink

I’m picturing that meme of Kermit sipping tea, and for whatever reason, I can totally imagine him drinking THIS tea. :D

This was another 20g package I picked up at Bird & Blend in Cardiff and stuffed into my 28L backpack for the flight home. It’s a nice ‘un! Gets the job done with a gentle jammy fruitiness, although I didn’t notice much of the toast aspect.

2024 sipdown count: 32

This is very much strawberry and Nutella at first sip! It stays that way throughout the whole cup, hot to warm to cool. A said she could taste pancake, though I didn’t pick that up. Nonetheless, we both loved it!

Thank you for sharing Cameron!

I spent a week and a half in Wales this summer, mostly in the countryside, but I also was in Cardiff for a few days. I had totally forgotten that B&B has a storefront there! So despite traveling really light and not having much room in my carefully packed 28L backpack, I bought a couple 20g sample bags to take home.

This was one I hadn’t tried yet and I gotta say, I’m digging it! Maybe it’s because I am READY for fall, but — it’s really nice! I do get both toffee and apple (more the latter), and then a very inoffensive hint of smoke. Nothing too complex, but enough to get the job done. Super satisfying and cozy!

Sip Down and Backlog

Vanilla and creamy. Second best of the bunch.

Sip Down and Backlog

Not too much to note…This was a good standard matcha, I liked it best of the matcha teas I’ve tried from B&B. I drank the last of this as a latte and it was a nice bold cup.

Sip Down & Backlog

The tea leaf reminded me of burnt toast and apple jam. However, the flavors were more balanced and less off-putting than I was expecting with the aroma. There were mild notes of caramel, clothes after a bonfire, smoke, and BBQ fruit.

Sip Down & Backlog

I made two mistakes with this last cup of matcha. Firstly, I made it too strong in mind of making it a latte; however, I ran out of milk (the milk was supposed to cut the intensity of the heavy-handed serving size). Secondly, I made it too strong. Perhaps there was too much matcha for one last cup of tea. Ideally, there was plenty of matcha to make TWO lattes…I was feeling the desire of the sweet, sweet caffeine rush to take the 5 seconds to scoop out the extra matcha. Whoops. I’d note that amongst the stronger, bitter notes, there was a bit of lemon zest. Lol

This probably isn’t a blend I would have picked out for myself because of the green tea, but I’m finding myself delightfully surprised by how fresh and zesty the citrus flavours are. I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised, though, since the trio of lemon myrtle, lemon balm, and lemon verbena is such an impressive force of cheerful, aromatic positivity. A little like drinking liquid sunshine, I suppose. Naturally sweet with a lingering lemony finish to round out the medium bodied and grassier leaning tea base combo. I imagine it will make for an incredibly refreshing and summery iced tea!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9VSgZyOKGw/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovxRSJDky8

Backlog/Sip Down

It took me ages to figure out if I liked this one or not. I hadn’t disliked it, but I felt that the rooibos was taking too much away from the Rhubarb and Custard experience. However, I realized that I never tried to make it sweet or iced, so with the last batch, I added 3 tsp of monk fruit sugar for 32 oz of water + 7 tsp of tea (what was leftover). That is the way to do it! This tea hits another level within your cup. Adding sweetener elevates the sweetness/tartness of the rhubarb and brings out a creaminess in the aftertaste. It was much more pleasant than all the other cups before it.

Sip Down

My energy levels are low today. I worked extra late, went to bed late, and woke up early after a lousy night of rest. Oh well! At least there is tea!

I didn’t have much leaf left in the sample bag, so I decided it was time to drink it down. The dry leaf didn’t resemble banana, but there was an off-putting buttery note. I didn’t allow that to deter me from making a cup. I tossed 195F water into the mug and brewed for 3.5 minutes (I wanted a strong cuppa). The tea is quite smooth, a little buttery, and a bit of coconut laced banana chip note. Normally, I don’t find a mouthfeel to be unsettling, but this cup brews thick and leaves an odd oily texture on the teeth, cheeks, tongue, and top of the mouth. Otherwise, it’s not too shabby!

Another sipdown from last week.

I wish they’d gone with a milk oolong base rather than a tieguanyin. Otherwise, I actually like the tart hibiscus, cherry, and floral silk profile – especially on the second steep. I just want more creamy mascarpone too.

Backlog and Sip Down

I drank this on Saturday before hosting food and party games with friends. I needed a jolt of caffeine to allow me to stay up past my (weekend) bedtime…Typically, I go to bed between 00:30 or 01:00 during the week since my shift ends at 00:00, but for the weekend, I prefer the 22:30-23:00 bedtime and 06:00 rise from sleep. I know what you’re thinking at this point, Wow, thank you for including us in your sleep schedule. Ha-ha.

Okay, here we go…

I recorded a video for the YT channel and will have it posted tomorrow (Wednesday) at some point. However, I prefer dropping my thoughts on Steepster early since this is the OG place for tea reviewing. I brewed this tea hot with and without oat milk.

With oat milk: Pineapple and bitterness.
With oat milk: Sweet pineapple and creamy coconut.

Preferred brewing method is with the oat milk and hot. I attempted a sip of the iced version I made later in the evening, but the milk was stronger than the tea itself. Hot really seems to extract the flavors of the matcha waaaay more.

Sipdown!

This tea has a cloying aroma and has ingredients that make me doubt life (chinese sencha? With cinnamon AND cocoa?). Yet I bought a sample pouch anyways because I’m apparently a masochist.

I didn’t love it during most of our time together. I thought it would work iced but it somehow became more cloying in a licorice-like way. Something must have changed with age (or me) though because the last few cups were enjoyable! Sweet, syrupy faux-honey & butterscotch, with notes of cinnamon, aniseed, candied fruit, and… chinese sencha.

Yeah, I don’t love it to bits – those ingredients are on my “nope” list – but it still is an awfully creative blend.

Sip Down

I find it interesting that I’m finally drinking through these matcha teas from Advent. They all found themselves in the far depths of the sip down pile/shelf, so I dug them out. Today’s motivation for this tea was that it 1. An office day; 2. I’m tired; 3. Going back to work after 4 days off is a sad reality one must face—therefore, it’s matcha time!

I pushed a lot of the notes on these matcha teas out of my head during the holidays due to either not being my cuppa or I forgot to make any note whatsoever. Upon opening the bebe tin, I noticed that the matcha is “greyer” than I remembered. I’ve been too spoiled with the good stuff, I guess…or the ginger is the reason for the greyish color. Anywho, I whipped up some 168F water and frothed a little oat milk for flavor & presentation.

Behold! An actual good brew. The oat milk enhances the biscuit component of the tea, and the ginger is light enough to support the biscuit (or cookie, I’m assuming). There’s a bit of a molasses cookie aspect to the taste, reminding me of the holidays.

PS. I sipped it down quickly, so it must show that I’m enjoying it or waiting for the sweet, sweet rush of caffeine to flow through my veins, giving me the motivation and energy to mentally prepare for the long 11-12 hours ahead.

The second of the free Easter treats from Bird&Blend with my ohh deer order.
It´s nice to try teas I´ve never tried before, but the name of this blend refers to the Cadbury cream eggs and the smell alone of these cream eggs already makes me sick. Needless to say, I wasn´t really hopeful to discover a tea I would be convinced to buy ;-) …and no, it wasn´t a success, although I feared it to be worse.
In nose the typical Cadbury drinking chocolate powder – I used to like when doing my PhD in UK in the ´90s – with a pseudo boozy touch to it. This could result in a nice after-dinner drink, but an infusion in water is just too thin IMHO. I used to prepare the Cadbury chocolate drink powders in hot milk for the exact same reason, to add density and body. Although I´m not so fond of chocolate drinks anymore, I would advise fans of these drinks to use the chocolate powder with milk instead of paying far more for a tea blend like this. BTW, I didn´t even notice the black tea backbone here, nor the jasmine blossom indicated in the list of ingredients.

Backlog & Sip down

Hot and unsweetened is boring. It’s mildly tart and uneventful with the exception it has hibiscus, but okay.

Iced with monk fruit sugar is dandy. It’s like drinking cherry kool-aid as a child (or fruit punch? Been ages since I’ve partook kool-aid).

71/100

I really wish I added more tasting notes to the sticky note on the back. Ha-ha.

A few months ago, we celebrated our new home by placing a massive order from B&B since it was a bucket listed tea vendor (especially for the lady love). Upon the very large quantity of teas purchased, I snagged a few that seemed interesting to me. Sticky Chai seemed intriguing due to addition of honey to the mix of tea and spices. The aroma is lovely, but muted. I love a strong spicy/bold chai with the most minimal sweetener added; however, milk is necessary.

Anyway, I made the attempt around the time of receiving this to stove top it. I noted that it was “ok” and put it in the sip down pile. And there it sat until today. I brewed it Western style at 200F for 5 minutes and frothed oat milk as the topper. I’ll note that this is the brewing method of choice since the tea, I believe, isn’t meant to be anything extreme. It’s supposed to give you the essence of chai, without the punch in the face. Which is unfortunate for me, but this will be a solid session for a local friend who advised that they like a chai, but not a bold chai. So, into the “drink at work” pile it’ll go!

Isn´t it wonderful to receive an unexpected present? Like a couple of individually wrapped tea pyramids from Bird&Blend?
I had ordered from a fun stationary site (ohh deer) in UK, and my husband brought me the order when he returned from a visit to his team in UK (a colleague was so friendly to receive and store my order), and this was a special treat for Easter.
Chocolate Digestives is the right name for this tea where cacao is well present in nose and mouth, but the sweetness is controlled (by the liquorice and fenugreek, which I cannot detect separately?) so one feels like having a chocolate biscuit (digestive), more than a chocolate cookie or a hot chocolate. Nice

This one is really weird. There’s a bit of a murky strawberry on a murky rooibos base. It doesn’t taste like jammy dodgers. There’s nothing cookie-like about it. It’s drinkable, but it’s not good.

There’s a weird fakeness in here that I can’t quite place. But also…it does slightly remind me of cookies and cream. Ha maybe the artificial-ness of that weird flavor is managing to make me think of the cream in an Oreo, which of course is vegan and made of who knows what. So this tea isn’t bad, but it’s a little fake for me. Decently well executed and accurate tasting with some sweetener and milk. The last time I had this, I tasted the popped rice quite strongly.

I’ve been putting off trying this one because I’m a little fickle about ginger, but it was actually kind of perfect!? Just ginger-y enough with undertones of cinnamon and a smooth but full bodied black tea base. Most importantly, though, it really nailed that more golden and kind of malty biscuit flavour. From sip one I really felt like it was quite accurately conveying the namesake inspiration, and I ended up enjoying the profile a lot. Made me want to dunk actual biscuits in it!