Mint Pistachio

Thanks again for your sale, Cameron B! More B&B teas I have the chance to try! This blend sounded like an intriguing combination, unfortunately I can’t taste much of the pistachio or cardamom at all, with the leaves in my teaspoon being mostly mint. The black tea that did end up in the teaspoon didn’t result in as light of a brew as expected, so that’s a plus. Hopefully they upgraded that too-light Ceylon in their blends a while ago. The mint was quite strong, which I like, with also a bit of a creaminess — a quality I definitely enjoyed from their Brighton Rock. This is mostly a black tea with creamy mint which is good thing, I can always enjoy more mint blends, especially when headaches roll in, though the blend is nothing spectacular. Unless it’s in how I’m brewing it. It’s also a little too much like their Candy Cane blend I had the other day. I have 25grams to experiment with. I usually have two teas with caffeine in a day and I thought this one especially paired very well with TeaPots n Treasures’ Chagas, Chestnut & Chocolate which is an old favorite I have once in while. I was please to see the company still in business today (though a kind Steepsterer originally sent me this blend, I didn’t think the company would still be around after all these years. Sadly, no Chagas, etc currently in stock but they make a point of letting you ask about blends.)
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoons for my smaller mug // 8 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Home – 8:30 PM

This was one of the bonus 50g bags from my Bird & Blend order. It looks like this was a spring blend that they don’t carry at the moment. I do like both mint and pistachio, so hooray! I was surprised that this is a black tea – if I were to blend those two flavors, I would likely put them with a white tea base.

Wow, sniffing the dry tea certainly cleared my sinuses out! It smells like peppermint Altoids… O.O

Luckily, the steeped tea doesn’t have such a strong peppermint aroma. Hmm… The peppermint here goes a little “wet rag” for me. I sometimes have that issue with peppermint leaf. I do taste just a little bit of cardamom, which is a spice that I really enjoy when it’s not too strong. To me it almost tastes like a combination of citrus and floral with some additional spiciness. I’m not sure I can taste the black tea at all here. The pistachio (which really is almond extract, like in pistachio ice cream) comes at the end of the sip, and it is quite subtle. It gives the blend a slight creaminess as well.

Personally, I could do with less peppermint leaf here. I feel like it overpowers the other two flavors, and it definitely overpowers the black tea.

Maybe next time I’ll try picking some of the peppermint out to see if that improves it.

In my head this tea is called “Pistachio Mint” because of how strong and rich the pistachio notes are to me – though definitely some mint that still comes through fairly strongly along with the cardamom. This one has realllllllyyy grown on me over time, and sooner rather than later I’d like to place another Bird & Blend order to try a whole bunch of their new matcha flavours. I think this is the only loose tea that I’m actually looking at including in that order – and probably a good 100g of it.

That is, if it’s still being carried – I haven’t checked the website yet because I’m a little scared to find out that maybe it’s not.

Side note – I wonder what adding mulberry leaf would do to the flavour of this? It’s got such a nice, rich nutty/creamy flavour that I feel like it would really make the pistachio pop even further!

196/365

I’m kind of behind with Bird & Blend’s spring collection, mostly thanks to the cold I got a couple of weeks back. It’s been the lingering kind, and I’m only just starting to feel like I’m finally getting rid of it. The weather also took a turn for the worst at about the same time, and all things considered I just wasn’t feeling spring.

Now things are finally looking up, I decided to give this a go. Bird & Blend (I still type Bluebird every time…) have an amazing looking recipe for Mint Pistachio Gelatte on their website, so that’s what I did. It uses 2 tsp of Mint Pistachio and 1/4 tsp of Ice Cream Matcha. I whisked up the matcha in a splash of water while the Mint Pistachio brewed, the combined them over ice and topped the glass up with milk.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but the end result is pretty good. The mint is the main flavour, in a way that’s reminiscent of moroccan mint without the sugar. I was really pleased to find that the pistachio has a strong presence, too, since I thought it might get drowned out. It’s creamy and mildly nutty, and complements the mint perfectly. The ice cream matcha works nicely as a base flavour, adding a hint of extra sweetness and creaminess. It doesn’t have as much impact on the flavour as I thought it might, but it adds a nice dessert-like backdrop that helps to bring out the best in the other flavours. I imagine a latte without the matcha would be a little flatter and more savoury, although I would probably add some honey and vanilla essence to compensate for that. It’s definitely something I’ll try before I say goodbye to this one.

I’m really pleased with how this worked out, but mostly with how clear both the mint and pistachio were as flavours, and how well they worked in combination. I feel like it’s an unusual pairing, but one I’d seek out again in the future. I hope they bring this back again next year!