Bird & Blend Tea Co.

Advent Day 13… and it’s a Friday!!!

Happy Friday the 13th! I have no idea who Ruby Granger is, the collaborator for this tea. I had to look on the B&B website to find out she is an influencer on tiktok and youtube. I’m trying really hard to stay off social media because my feed is overwhelmingly negative and it sucks time away before I realize an hour has gone by.

While sniffing this tea I keep trying to find malty notes. I don’t know why my brain wants to go there, but I’m not finding it. I get a hint of creamy coconut and something that makes me think mellow warmth, something cozy. Is this what a warm library smells like? Is this what aging books smell like? Something like chocolate in the scent, but not quite. When sipping I can pick up a tiny bit of the roasty hojicha. It’s very mild. Maybe the tiniest bit of malt at the back of the sip with that aging flavor in the finish. Some sips have a ghostly showing of coconut rounding any edges. It’s funny how much the name is making me try to connect the flavors to an old library. This is a tea I’m having to concentrate on. If I didn’t I think I’d just mindlessly sip it because it is so subtle and there is nothing trying to jump out and grab your attention. It’s a fun experience, but I’m left pondering how I feel about the tea.

Advent Day 12

Steeping up very red and I’m hoping it’s beetroot related. Nope, hibiscus. This had a citrusy fruity flavor in the first few sips and smells like strawberries and lemons, but it changed over to that gross hib tang in the start of the sip and then alkaline at the back. Very unpleasant, but it’s what I’ve come to expect in blends that have hib in any amount above the most miniscule. Hibiscus is like my cilantro. This tea is not for me!

Loved this one! Will definitely be purchasing more. Advent 2024

The rose was over-powering and very perfume-y. Not a big fan. Advent 2024

Advent Day 8

I swear I’ve had this tea before, but I thought it was smoke and roses. This cup is not smokey. It’s got rose for sure, but there are other flavors in the mix. I swore I tasted Makrut lime leaf along with cinnamon and maybe a hint of lemongrass. It tastes very similar to Dozy Girl with that Turkish delight like flavor. It’s interesting and I’m on the fence on if I’d order it or not, but I will certainly enjoy the rest of this cup!

Advent Day 8

This smells a little malty and like chocolate. The flavor seems really light on the sip. The coconut comes through as creaminess, but the cocoa part is pretty muted. I do like the malt flavor. There is something in this that is irritating my throat and it has a slick of oil on the top. I’m trying to ignore it, but between the flavor being super light and the tea causing irritation, I don’t think I’m going to finish this cup. Next!

I liked this more than I thought I would. I’m usually not a fan of plain black tea, but this was really smooth and enjoyable with milk.

Advent Day 3

It’s late and I’m tired from picking persimmons all day. I’m forgetful, easily distracted, plunked the bag of this in my cup, set a timer, walked away and totally spaced that I had something steeping. I think it’s been sitting 30m or more, but it tastes more than fine. It has that soft mint flavor that you associate with the buttermint candies. It tastes like a there is a little vanilla to round out the mint. It’s almost slightly sweet. I like this one!

Advent Day 2
Earl Grey Creme? No. Nooooowah! Someone mixed up the teas. I bought two of this advent to give one as a gift and will have to check with my friend on her tea for today. The box for today says EGC, but there is zero EG here at all and the tags on the bags don’t have the tea name on them. This tastes like a breakfast tea. It’s malty and a little tannic. Slightly brisk, but no bite. It tastes like I should be having this with creamer. Once added it proved to be a solid cup of breakfast tea. Not special enough that I’d replace my cupboard favorites with, but good enough to drink again. I hope the EG shows up later in the month. I’m tempted to look through the other days of tea and see if a breakfast tea has EG in it.

Sometimes when I take the first few sips of a tea the flavors will hit harshly. A few sips in things seem to mellow and I’m left with a nice cup. That didn’t happen with this tea. I steeped it for 3m and every sip of the first 1/4 of the cup were bold and overwhelming. The rose dominated and was so overpowering that it was bitter. Once I put some milk in it all changed! The rose instantly mellowed and the cardamon came out. There is just the hint of it maybe thinking about pepper notes and then that fades. I like rose and I love cardamon, so this was an intriguing tea to try despite the fact that a lot of B&B’s black teas are a miss for me. I’d wager that with the addition of some sweetener this cup would make an amazing chai. I’ll have to try it on the next cup, but this one is almost done. Glad I took the gamble and added this to my order!

I used way too much tea the first time I made this and thought I hated it. Decreased the amount the next time and it was as bad. Not a favorite, but not bad. I definitely wanted more of the buttery flavor to come through.

Received as a sample with a larger order. I actually really enjoyed drinking this before bed. Was feeling very calm and sleepy by the time it was gone. I’d buy this to keep on hand, for sure.

It was ok. I’m not sure how I feel about the smokey smell / flavor. I drank it with milk and it grew on me, but not a favorite.

Backlog/Sipdown

Yikes, it’s November! I completely left these empty tea bags sitting without any reviews for the majority of October! Life got away from me. I still cannot fathom that we’re midway through November already. As much as I’ve been prepared for the holidays, I really wish they’d take their time to get here…

My wife made a batch of iced tea with the Peach Soda. She absolutely loves this tea; which means I’ll need to snag a few 50g bags next time. I don’t think B&B has the 150g bags anymore. This tea is similar to drinking a peach ring, and it’s incredibly sweet in itself; however, my wife enjoys her tea southern sweet, so I cannot drink more than a small sip.

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.