Murchie's Tea & Coffee

Been drinking this one a lot from omgsrsly it’s the right sort of every day tea that doesn’t give me anything to complain about and just eases me in to the day. Will be sad when this one is gone but i have a few more cups to enjoy before then

tea from omgsrsly. Figured i’d start the day out with some new teas and then work on some samples later. I kept the steeping time short on this one as i know from experience with other scottish blacks that they usually become a little astringent if i do a full 3 mins.

I believe this might finally be the last sample I saved from the previous tea box. The flavor reminds me of the orange black tea I used to drink when I was a kid. I definitely overleafed this brew since I wanted to use up all the leaf I had saved, which somewhat detracts from the flavor. I don’t sense any spices, but also this tea tastes somewhat old, so maybe the spices were there originally. The black tea is a little brisk. So yeah, I’d prefer other versions of this tea over this version.

I saved a tiny sample of this tea from a previous tea box. It smelled like old coconut even back then, so I probably should have made an effort to use it up more quickly. The flavor was mostly old coconut as well, but just old as in stale/soapy, not as in rancid. The black base is gentle. I’m sure this tea was quite nice in its prime. It certainly wasn’t unpleasant to drink today.

Another board game night tea!

I was assured this tea was different from the previous tea I had tried from Murchie’s, and it did taste much more distinctly floral/jasmine – though still grapey. It’s also a green/black tea hybrid though. I felt bad because my first impression when I saw that my host’s BF had purchased basically three nearly identical teas from Murchie’s was kind of a soft sort of judgement – and then I had that “Wow, fuck you Kelly!” moment where I realized I was being a total dick/snob, because I own 800+ teas, and let me tell you that within those teas is a lot of flavour overlap…

There is NOTHING wrong with liking a particular style of tea.

I really hate that gatekeeper/tea snob mentality that some people have and I really try to actively stay out of that mindset, but when I was getting into “serious tea” initially I internalized a lot of that mentality, and this was just a reminder for me that I still have work to do in unlearning it.

Another tea from last night’s board games – just hot and straight.

I wish I had a little bit more information on this blend, but alas! I know it’s a green and black tea mix, but it tasted very grape-y to me which says one of two things to me (and maybe both). I think there’s either jasmine green tea in the blend, which notoriously tastes like grapes to me, or a very muscatel Darjeeling. I’m not actually sure though.

It was nice though, and probably my favourite thing from the evening.

TTB #6

This is completely different from other pina colada flavored teas I’ve tried. Usually the coconut is the dominant flavor, but this one has a very distinctive pineapple taste with a nice creaminess coming from the coconut. It also has an interesting buttery mouthfeel which is reminding me of an oolong, even though it’s actually a black tea. It’s unique and I like it!

From TTB 2019/2020.

This is a really nice tea! My husband had a cup earlier this week and didn’t care for it, but he’s not really a black tea drinker so I should have known I would like it. We typically like opposite teas. The dry blend smells mostly of pineapple, but I can taste some of the coconut after steeping. The base is strong but not overpowering. It really is such a pleasant cup, maybe one of my favorites in the box so far.