Elderflower Prosecco

Thank you very much Mike from Bluebird Tea Co for this sample. :) Your a star.

This is such an interesting blend and it sounds perfect to celebrate the start of my weekend with. What sounds better than brewing a pot of Elderflower Champagne tea before lounging on the sofa to recover from a busy week? (I do love my rhetorical questions).

In raw form this blend is a very lively mix of which I can see: small dark green/brown Oolong balls, large apple pieces, tiny yellow elderflower petals, nice green lemon verbena leaves and a few dark red hibiscus petals. The other ingredients are hard to spot but with so much going on it’s nice that I have been able to pick out the lot that I did. :) It has a herbal rather strong elderflower scent: that slightly tangy yet sweet essence.

Once steeped this tea is pale yellow in colour with a sweet, light, floral aroma.

The first few sips reveal a mellow, sweet, floral and fruity blend. Very similar to chamomile but with added undertones of flavour and naturally sweet. At first tasting there is a honeyed floralness that strengthens into a sweet, apple melody before smoothing itself out to leave a refreshing and fragrant after taste. As it strengthens the citrus really shines through over the apple and it becomes increasingly buttery from the Oolong.

Overall it’s a wonderful delicate blend and very fitting to it’s name. I feel very relaxed after my first two cups (like it’s already gone to my head). I would recommend this to anyone that likes elderflower, a creative blend that is certainly a very tasty one. :)

http://www.bluebirdteaco.com/products/elderflower-champagne.html

Sipdown, 784. Thanks again to Bluebird Tea Co. for this free sample :)

Although this tea certainly didn’t look like it contained any oolong at all, it does almost have an oolongy sort of flavour to it… Apparently it’s supposed to be a green oolong, which makes more sense (I was thinking dark oolong).

Anyways, the aroma is very herbally. A bit fruity, a bit of lemon verbena. Reminds me of some other tea I’ve had recently-ish (maybe Feng Shui from Tealux?). The flavour is definitely herbally, with touches of lemon and sweetness, and a flavour that I’m not quite enjoying (I’d say mint or chamomile, but I’m not sure if either is in here??) Or perhaps it’s the hibiscus I’m not enjoying? (Although it’s not a tartness issue here, just a flavour thing.)

I think, actually, that it might be that this reminds me to some degree of either Earl of Anxi (Verdant) or Citron Oolong (DavidsTea), both of which I like… but at the same time, had a bit of an aversion to that I couldn’t figure out. Something about flavouring a green oolong??

I’m not sure, this isn’t a bad tea at all, but something about it isn’t quite clicking for me. Perhaps I infused it incorrectly (I just went with my standard oolong parameters)? Oh well, they can’t all be winners! Don’t let my review discourage anyone from trying this tea though! It’s just not for me :)

Another sample from Bluebird! I was thinking of placing a small order from them but the shipping is too high for me.

This is a unique blend of ingredients. I waited for the water to cool a while and steeped for three minutes. It’s like a fruity oolong. Apple, orange, lemon. And hibiscus? The hibiscus here is barely noticeable but maybe that was because there was barely any hibiscus in my sample. I’m not in love with this blend though. There is an odd flavor I can’t place… possibly the elderflower. I can’t say I noticed a ton of oolong in the leaves. I’m just glad the hibiscus wasn’t at the forefront. This cup isn’t my thing, but I can’t love everything they have over at Bluebird.

This tea brews to a blush pink / beige colour with a scent of citrus accents over sharp berry floral and something slightly earthy that
gives the tea some depth. There is a sweet almost minty undertone followed by lemon verbena and a slight tartness. There is also a sweet fruity floral with a bit of slightly deeper tang as a result of the citrus peel, rosehip, and hibiscus. The oolong lends a fruity sweetness to the tea and smooths out the base and gives the tea a slightly thicker creamier body. It has a pleasant tastes almost like a well balanced herbal that leaves you with a feeling of pleasant alertness. The floral taste is almost like the scent of yarrow and leaves a slightly earthy aftertaste, so it reminds me of sunny days and picnics in the countryside. I re-steeped this tea four times. This tea tastes a little bit like sumac lemonade if you’ve ever had that.

1 tbsp for 248 ml

Lemon citrus flavour. Slight tartness from the lemon- very authentic lemon flavour. Slight soft sweetness. Difficult to detect the oolong

Home – 8:30 PM

This one intrigued me enough to get added to my order. I do generally enjoy elderflower, especially in cocktails. We’ll see how it translates to tea! There’s not a ton of oolong in here, it’s more fluffy herbal stuff.

Hm, this is an interesting one. It is a little bit citrusy, but not as much as I expected from the description. I certainly wouldn’t describe it as “zingy”. It’s more of a soft herbal lemon flavor. Interestingly enough, this one tastes cakey to me. Especially in the aftertaste, it reminds me of pancakes or something. Just plain pancakes without syrup. The elderflower is soft and light, but very tasty. It almost reminds me of chamomile, but with a slightly different, more cakey flavor profile.

I can sort of see where they get the champagne/prosecco idea here, as it is very light and almost bubbly tasting. But to me, it’s more like a very light lemon & cream cake tea?

Barf.

I really thought I’d reviewed this tea already, but apparently not… I didn’t enjoy it as much this time around, brewed western style, as I usually do, brewed gongfu style. I have no idea what it is about this tea that makes me want to gongfu it, but in the past that is usually how I’ve drank it. Both of my gaiwans are in storage at the moment, so western is the only method I have right now, but I did still enjoy this tea. At first, I was a little disappointed as I couldn’t really pick any flavours out of the ‘herbal’ taste, but as it cooled I began to really enjoy it. The flavours are still not as distinct as when I brew it gong fu, when the flavours of the oolong and elderflower are very prominent, but the more it cools the more the elderflower comes out at the end of the sip, and I do get the feeling that I’m drinking champagne in tea form. My rating reflects the sessions I’ve had with this tea brewed in my gaiwan.

Backlog:

A tasty and refreshing blend. I enjoyed the balance of citrus fruit and floral tones. I was also happy that I didn’t taste much of the hibiscus. Hibiscus just doesn’t belong in an Oolong blend and that would be my one big criticism with this blend. No hibiscus, please. But fortunately, the hibiscus didn’t interfere with the enjoyment of the tea and I didn’t get a heavy texture or thick, syrupy or tart hibiscus note.

I enjoyed this and I liked that I got more Oolong flavors in the later infusions. It was a nice, fruity tea for the first cup, but later infusions I got to enjoy more of the Oolong characteristics.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/09/27/elderflower-champagne-oolong-blend-from-bluebird-tea-co/

Finished this sample off at work over the last couple of days. I love elderflower, and I feel like it could really be stronger if it’s to live up to its name. Also the “prosecco” is a bit misleading as they’re really saying that oolong is the “prosecco” (used to be champagne…) of teas, rather than that this blend actually tastes of prosecco. Which it doesn’t. It tastes of oolong, as you might expect, and it’s kinda grassy and herbaceous. It works well with the elderflower, but yeah…

As much as I like elderflower, I probably won’t revisit this one for a while.