Bird & Blend Tea Co.

Additional notes: Today is Towel Day for Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! One of my favorite things! So I’m drinking this today and 52Teas PGB! Today this blend was very blue and sparkly, which it hasn’t been before. It must have known to brew up special for its special day. Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend.

I had to buy this one during the sale for the novelty factor.  I’m a huge Hitchhiker’s fan.  <3 But to be honest, the mix of flavors here sounded absolutely disGUSting.  Black currant with peppermint?  oo boy.  And these flavors are STRONG.  It’s like I’m getting punched in the face on each side of my face at the same time, once by mint and once by black currant and then they are at war in my mouth.  Yowzaz.  A teaspoon and a half is enough to find five huge black currants floating at the top of the infuser and this was after a good mix of the pouch.  Sadly, I didn’t see any of those gold bar looking sprinkles in my tea pouch, which was another selling point.  I did notice a shimeriness when I got to the bottom of my first steep.  The blend is FIERCE especially with 1 1/2 teaspoons, but I expect nothing less from Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. This flavor combo is so weird, I might actually grow to like it or even crave it?  Time will tell.  It’s weird enough for the Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoon for a full mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 2 minutes after boiling  // 4 minute steep  
2020 Sipdowns: 11 (one of two pouches of Della Terra’s Blackberry Cream)

I’ve been trying to sip down most of my “Bird & Blend Tea Co. from when their name was still Bluebird Tea Co.” because… how long ago was it now that they changed their company name? Ya… it feels so long ago now, so I really should be sipping those teas down (my logic, anyway…) I recently finished off the packet of Choc It Rock It I got from one of tea-sipper’s cupboard sales a few years ago and now I’m working on this one. Thanks, tea-sipper! I had reviewed the former, but haven’t done so for this one yet.

The aroma of the dry leaf reminds me a lot of the Bondon herbal tea I sipped down recently by Steven Smith Teamaker… I get strong impressions of cinnamon and sarsaparilla, both things I like a lot. And then I take my first sip and… holy teabags, Batman, how much chili did they put in this?! A spice-wuss like me is not prepared for that at any time, least of all first thing in the morning. Phew. Damn. How can anyone focus when their mouth is on fire?! Unless the idea is to focus upon ones burning mouth. I can’t say if the yerba mate is waking me up, but that chili sure as hell did the job… can’t say it was exactly pleasant, though. It’s just… scratchy and burny at the back of my throat, and while I can taste the cinnamon in the blend, it is just overwhelmed by the spice so it isn’t adding a balancing sweetness. While I could smell sarsaparilla, I certainly can’t taste it against such a powerful flavor. Honestly, I’m having a hard time even picking up the taste of the mate base itself.

I would’ve been curious to see how the flavors in this would’ve worked if the chili had just not been present at all. Even old as this tea is, it is just still too strong for my spice-sensitivities and I can’t taste much against it. It’s just burning-heat-with-a-side-of-cinnamon.

My last tasting note is still valid.
Well, it’s vegetal and buttery, but quite tasty. I have enjoyed this afternoon cuppa :)

Unfortunately today can’t be exactly Duvet Day, I need to correct few things in my “truck drive plan”. I planned too short sleep breaks for driver. Haha.

Anyway… to this tea again: Liked it, but not enough to rate it higher than this 77. Maybe it’s going bit bland and the coconut suffers from age?

And very nice pairing this tea with salted caramel ice cream!

It seems I had this tea exactly 3 weeks ago. Now I prepared it again, as I have heard that coconut go bad quite fast, especially when the flakes are very small and here they are.

I also bought empty tea bags, but they are maybe too big for me, but at least, tea have some space to expand. They are 8,5 × 18,5 (in cm). Yes, they claim they are good for teapots of volume 1-1.6 litre. But what I can do? They did not have smaller ones.

Tea itself was today quite strong. It was, like Cameron B. noticed, quite buttery and, for me, bit vegetal. Then jasmine hit the taste and honestly it wasn’t that coconut heavy as last time. It turned out quite well; base tea was present well, then the coconut and jasmine. The jasmine sooths the “too much” cookie flavour that would be there if it wasn’t there. That was good idea from B&B.

But overall, I am not really sure, if I like coocnut in teas. It feels bit wrong for me, but maybe I just need to used to.

Another tea from January subscription.

My brother with his wife and daughter came this afternoon, so I wasn’t very into tea. Prepared two teaspoons in 300 ml, grandpa style.

And… it wasn’t bad, but I have expected maybe little more. Maybe steeping it western would make it much better, because brewing coconut in long terms means – it is too coconut heavy. I don’t know, as this is probably my first loose leaf tea with coconut. First sips were quite cookie like, with jasmine notes and was nice and pleasant. But with long brewing, the coconut went like bit stale or something and ended not so delicious. Maybe white tea went too strong in taste too. Moreover, coconut was on top, so all sips were coconut affected. I don’t mind coconut – to make it clear, but it was just too strong.

I need to try it again. Luckily, I still have enough :) – thus no rating so far.

Received this in my January subscription from Bird and Blend, and was very excited, as it’s one I’ve had my eye on. The aroma was full of juicy fruits, and the flavor was surprising pineapple forward. I could definitely taste the chamomile, but it worked in harmony with the fruit notes. Luckily I know that valerian root has a very intense effect on me, so I drank this at bedtime. It felt like I was tranquilized (in the best possible way), and I ended up having a very, very restful sleep. I’m very glad I got to try this one.

Smells like a perfect lavender lemonade. There’s no tartness from the lemon in the flavor, though. It’s a very strong Provencal lavender that overpowers everything else. Though, that’s not a bad thing for me. I can’t taste the rooibos, which is also a win. I also added a bit of foamed oat milk, and it was excellent.

This one does taste a bit like honey – it’s quite a pleasant complement to the light black tea. I added milk because I thought that would make it even tastier, and it did! The flavor is mild, but nice. Really a perfectly sweet tea to start the morning. Thanks to tea-sipper for sharing this one!

SIPDOWN

That was quite quick sipdown, as I think I had it once or twice? Anyway, there were 3 teaspoons left and I used all of them for my 300 ml cup.

It was certainly very chamomile in flavours today, but as well creamy and bit of citrus fruits, mostly I think of oranges.

It was more herbal than last time, but certainly not bad and I will keep 85, even it’s quite high rating. But it was nice and maybe iced it would be nice as well.

January 2020 subscription

When I have received an herbal blend based on chamomile, I thought that this tea will rest for long probably. Nobody in my family is fan of chamomile, but when it is evening and family wants a tea – I had to pick up this one. Oh, okay, I had lots of other teas to use, but I thought I will brew something fresh. And nobody was fan of spicy teas (other caffeine-free alternatives) today.

I used maybe half of the pouch (that’s 10 grams) into big strainer, boiling water and… voilá – we have maybe 2 litres of tea?

Of course I took my cup and decided to make a tasting note.
It seems indeed chamomile is in based on aroma, but with some fruit notes, maybe a little bit like vanilla too? Blind tasting says it is fruit tea instead of herbal, again I notice vanilla there with some citrus (Scheherazade noticed grapefruit and I agree, but not fully). It’s as well creamy (as she noticed), certainly not chamomile herbal taste at all.

I have expected much worse, but actually it is nice surprise (and finally a loose leaf tea today).

So I really want to like this one because its got a bright citrus and passion fruit flavor. Like really, really refreshing and juicy. However, since this flavor seemed wrong for a matcha milk, I made it in water which creates two issues: (1) I feel the texture of the matcha a bit more than usual, which is not chalky as some can be, but still a little chalky perhaps and (2), I get that grassy/umami flavor that matcha should have but is usually covered up by the milk. I don’t like matcha which is why I drink flavored matchas as matcha milk. So while I know this is great flavorwise and could be awesome for someone who even remotely like the taste of matcha, for me, it is not the best. I wonder if making it hot would be better though…

ETA: I just saw Roswell Strange described this as “Five Alive” and she hit the nail on the head there…just with a hint of matcha.

I bought 50 grams of this during Boxing day sale, as I really like it! And after a few preparations for family members I decided to brew it for myself today.

2 tsp, 300 ml.

Oh my… the lavender is so strong! And citruses! Lemons!
Brewed.. it’s truly very floral. Probably more than I remember. Very refreshing. I neeed to cod brew it. I got some rosheips in which produced some complexity. But haven’t overpowered the other ingredients.

Ohh great!

I really enjoy this tea :)

It is nicely lavender / lemony / rooibos blend. Mellow in all aspects, but flavours are well executed.

I said everything about this tea in previous notes.

Why I feel writing about this (or any another) today is a must for me? It isn’t!

I just drank this tea unbeknown I already did earlier. I completely do not recalled drinking it all.

And while sipping it as just same… I do not remember drinking it.
2 tsp, 300 ml.

Lavender lemonade would be better name for this tea. It reminded me a lavender lemonde I had back in Uni. Ohh, almost 3 weeks university is closed, I miss people there, I miss lectures; I miss some courses. They said they will try to move semester bit into summer, but we need to have some logistics company experience, at least one month, so I wonder how they will make it…

Anyway, back to tea, as I wrote, it reminded me lavender lemonade, very fresh and crisp notes of lemon, as well nicely floral from lavender. As it is still available for order, I might pick up some to save it for worse times. I bet it would be awesome iced and my sample pack won’t survive till summer I guess. Moreover, I was playing with idea – support them, when their stores are closed because of coronavirus. At least do something.

Keep drinkin’ and stay safe. In my “county” are 13 infected, in all region 59.

Prepraed western, 6 grams for 350-400 ml glass mug. I don’t know exact volume and somehow lazy to measure.

What to say about this tea? Well, it reminds me lavender lemonade. It is tasty, aroma strongly lavneder. But when sipped, it turns into floral notes and lemon aftertaste. As it cools down, lemon is more prominent and floral notes are weaker. It is as well somehow refreshing, easydrinking tea. Maybe bit creamy as well; rooibos base is not present in taste at all.

I wonder if it could be good iced?
And derk – I got box from you! Thank you! All already in cupboard (real as well virtual)

This is one of those weird teas that doesn’t pop up in searches properly so it was never added to my cupboard but today I was going through the teas I keep at my sisters and there it was. It sounds good to me but mostly it was hibiscus to add sour to the cherry flavour. While that was fine, it didn’t really have marscapone.

Having this iced tonight as the heat and smoke roll back in. It’s a nice mix of herbs. Licorice is the focus and it blends well with the mint and chamomile. I like it, but it seems pretty basic as far as my bar for ordering things from overseas goes. Guessing I can find something similar if I were to really miss it, but since it’s been in my cupboard for over a year at least, maybe two, I doubt that is likely to happen. I’ve been exhausted lately and having trouble getting to sleep at night. Maybe the chamomile in this will help if I don’t stay up all night listening to audio books by my new favorite narrator, Peter Kenney!

Looks like this tea got a name makeover! I wonder why. At first it seems like another chamomile tisane, but the more I sip, the more I appreciate it. The sip is dominated by chamomile, then licorice comes in with a hint of sweetness, then the mint and they all dance together. I like this more than I initially thought I would.

Another SIPDOWN!

Today it wasn’t that great as last time, but it was decent milk chocoalte with almonds.

Happy to try this tea, but nothing I will return to. Definitely a winter blend.

Hmm… 78 is okay I think.

Not from Advent calendar, but could be :)

I have to agree with previous raters. I took two teaspoons for my 300 ml cup and it turned out very nice!

I notice both, chocolate as well hazelnuts. I prepared it grandpa, so when it brews a nuts came on the surface and could even eat them. It was nice addition.

Tea itself, tastes after hazelnuts and chocolate. It is more on the chocolate than on nuts, but it is nice. Quite sweet, maybe more cocoa shells, or overall make it more bitter would be better. But I am dark chocolate person. I can imagine it can be better for some other people. The dry aroma is bit like marzipan, but luckily, it did not transformed into taste too much.

Brew is light, cloudy brown. Nothing pretty for eyes, but okay. Black tea base is not much distinctive, maybe some more malty tea would be nice in this blend.

From the TTB
It smells like banana, both the dry leaf and in the cup. The first few sips were like banana cream pie. As it cooled I got more of the dark chocolate bittersweet taste lingering. Not tasting the licorice, which is probably a good thing because I’m not sure it would go well with the banana and chocolate flavors. I do like this blend the banana stay at the tip of my tongue and the chocolate lingers in the back.

Quick note. I see mixed reviews on this one but I really liked it. It was a very light fruity taste, but it was perfect for one of those super thirsty days. Good sencha. I really like the Bird & Blend teas, at least the ones I tried. They aren’t overly sweet and they don’t have artificial sweeteners. At least the ones I tried.

Lemony, raspberry flavor, a hint of apple. The color threw me off before I tasted it. It’s so… BLUE! lol, It looked like Koolaid. I recommend it and look forward to buying some B&B teas and matcha once I get some more sipdowns. Thanks so much, Tea-Sipper!

Decided to finally brew this one up tonight; I had a freebie teabag of it in my Boxing Day Sale order (I had to get that Jasmine Poached Pears while I had a chance!), but I’ve actually had one of the 20g sampler pouches from B&B for ages and still haven’t opened it up yet… so typical of me!

I love floral teas, but this does have chamomile in it, so depending on how strong the chamomile presents compared to the rose and lavender (two flavors I really love), this really could go either way for me. I am able to smell it pretty strongly in the aroma of the cup… but I’m also smelling the rose and lavender, and the tea is a pretty pink color rather than chamomile yellow, so maybe the small addition of the hibi (another thing I love… I know, controversial!) will go a long way in mellowing out that soapy chamomile taste for me.

The flavor… huh. Interesting, the main note I’m getting is lemon. There is lemon verbena in the blend, but I wasn’t even picking up any citrus in the aroma. I do taste a bit of the chamomile, but with the lemon presenting as the strongest flavor note, and it coming out a nice, pleasantly tart sort of lemon, it is rounding it out so nicely that my typical chamomile-blechniness isn’t bothering me. I get a hit of sweet florals toward the end of the sip; I’m not really picking out a distinct lavender flavor, sadly (I quite like the taste of it, and it pairs nicely with lemon citrus, too) but I definitely taste the rose.

This is far more enjoyable than I thought I was going to fare with it. It’s a gentle lemon tea with strong floral notes, and a good evening herbal. I’m not sure if I’d restock it, but I won’t have any issues going through the other sampler pouch I have stashed away nor any other freebie teabags that make their way to me.