Mulled Cider

Advent Day 15

Hibiscus ruining another cup for me. The tea wasn’t even that red, so there wasn’t as much hib as in other blends, but I got that murky alkaline taste and was done. :/

B&B Advent Tea #7

This is exactly what you mgiht expect from a mulled cider fruit tea. There’s a base of dried apples, some hibiscus and cranberry tartness, lots of spices like cinnamon. It really packs a punch with the strong ginger spiciness (which I like). So far I have enjoyed this hot and cold, but there isn’t anything remarkable about it. I love the ginger but cinnamon apple/cider is such a common combo that I’ve had so many similar blends.

2022 Bird & Blend Advent calendar Day #11

I love mulled cider and had high hopes for this one. It smells like mulled cider but definitely is lacking in punch. I get more hibiscus and a tiny bit of clove. I honestly, do not detect an abundance of flavor. I also think I may have just really wanted to drink mulled cider and will need to pick up some cider at the market next time I go.

While I had this tea from… one of the last pouches I have received from B&B, so I think it can be nearly year old and it was opened (by me?). Today I have prepared it as a pot tea for family, as my mother was asking for some kind of tea with spices and if possible caffeine-free. Looking on my stash, it seems I do not have many of those, so I should get some with upcoming fall and winter. For instance, today maximum were 10°C (50°F) and again it rains almost all day long.

But to the tea, honestly it smells wonderful in the bag, even brewed… but taste is sadly quite flat. Somehow spicy, not much of fruity. Rather like a light hibiscus brew with spices. Non-memorable.

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 2!

Another fruity tisane?! Color me sad. And color me vibrant purple-pink, because this blend has a LOT of hibiscus. It smells lovely and true to its name, just like a mug of hot mulled apple cider. Yet the taste is terribly weak—I’m not getting much of anything beyond a watery hibiscus with maaaybe a hint of cinnamon at the end and as it cools. I even threw the tea bag back in my mug to let it steep for longer, but it isn’t doing much. It’s making me appreciate yesterday’s blend (Christmas Cranberry Pie) a whole lot more.

I hope B&B mixes it up with something dark and caffeinated tomorrow.

(Edit: I cold-brewed my tea bag for a second steeping overnight, and now I can taste more of the mulling spices (maybe the hibiscus has been exhausted). Still, I’m leaving my rating as-is… I firmly believe a mulled cider-themed blend should be enjoyed hot!)

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #101 overall / Tea #17 for March

Sat 3/13/21 (WRITTEN 3/18/21) — Bird and Blend Mulled Cider I’m a weirdo but since I started working at the front desk of a hotel (this summer will be 6 years since started) I enjoy traveling and staying at hotels when I go on vacation.. getting an employee discount is nice and it’s nice to meet people in the same field as myself and it’s nice to have that stability (even if there are many different hotel brands from basic to very fancy full service upper class). In past year or so obviously that has been drastically reduced with everything going on the world. While I was off for almost a week, I got to squeeze two trips in (I live in Columbus, OH so one night to Cleveland area and one to Cincinnati area which are few hours away in opposite directions). I had a very old 4g sample of this tea that I made warm and plain (the hotel lobby water wasn’t very hot, it wasn’t that warm even but I was too tired to go back to front desk)… I steeped it overnight in one of the old skool design DT tumbler in a metal steeper basket. It tasted like a very weak flavored water in the morning. I pretty much dumped into the sink which I never do. I won’t judge it since the sample was so small and old.

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

Bird & Blend Advent Day 7 (7-December 2020)

This one smells apple-y sweet and delicious as the dried sachet. It brews up a beautiful pinky-red. None of the flavour really comes through, but also the hibiscus barely comes through either — it’s as though the opposing flavours cancel each other out.

I asked A how she felt about it:

“I love it!”
“What does it taste like to you?”
“I don’t know!”

I never buy cider type teas since I usually find them all to be the same. For some crazy reason, I decided to buy some of this one during the last sale. I’m drinking it very hot since that’s the way I would drink my cider during the winter as a kid. It’s definitely better than bagged cider teas. I’m not sure it’s super special, but I am enjoying it well enough. I can taste the fruit and the spices evenly. It’s a good blend. After I finish my 50g, I probably won’t buy any other ciders for another year or two.

Bonus tea from a previous order due to something I ordered being out of stock. Wasn’t overly thrilled about this one, because I’m a little over the standard Christmassy mulled cider blends. However, this one actually tasted quite authentic, and without some of the lingering sweetness that I’ve found in other blends. Can’t recall the specifics, but it was enjoyable enough.

This was the other herbal blend in the Bird & Blend Christmas gift set. While the Gingerbread Chai was a knockout, this one was just so-so. The good news is, the hibiscus didn’t overwhelm the blend as it does in so many fruity herbal teas! The bad news is, this doesn’t really taste like cider. The mulling spices are clearly present: I taste cinnamon, clover, and a hint of ginger, but just a vague fruity background without anything that distinctly says “apple”.