Comfort Blend Black Tea

I’m rating this because I want the record of my first impression, but I also don’t know how fair the rating is. I steeped it to bring to work, at which point I was excited because the scent was a marvelous winter spice orange blend. The few sips I had hot were tasty, and I was quite excited to keep drinking it!

Then work got busy, and I had my mask on a lot, so I let the whole thing get cold. And cold I get almost nothing from it at all but black tea. Maybe a slight aftertaste of cinnamon.

It would be nice to try it again, but I don’t think it was quite nice enough for me to buy more.

Plum Deluxe Caffeine Advent, Day 12

Tea caption claims: “Your best friend for a tranquil, revitalizing cuppa”

Plum Deluxe has a lot of delightful, flavored bags of tea and a nifty sampler system. I did a three tea sampler today with three cups of similar teas from a tea sampler order. Brunch in Paris Black Tea, Comfort Blend Black Tea, and Rainy Day Puerh. All three are similar enough in ingredients and taste. Like many Plum Deluxe teas, despite the advertisement and the smell, the tastes are mellow and weaker for flavored teas.

Comfort Blend has a golden glow and a fragrant orange smell. The cinnamon chips give you the natural flavor of cinnamon without artificial feel. There is a bite of clove in the throat as an after taste the first sip or two. Ginger is very behind the scenes. I love orange and ginger and cinnamon, and while this is soothing and comfortable, it’s so mild it stays tranquil only a short time before it gets a little dull.

Like Brunch in Paris, this has orange, but the Comfort Blend buries it a bit deeper.

This is supposed to be an orange/spice blend, but I’m not getting much of either. There is a fairly muted cinnamon flavor coming through, and the black base is pretty brisk and bold. Perhaps a tiny bit of orange peeking through at the tail end of the sip. Overall, I’d rather just go with Constant Comment if I want this flavor profile.

This is the (tiny) free sample from my advent calendar order. It seems to be an orange spice sort of blend, which is fine with me.

Unfortunately I used a bit too much water because I wasn’t paying enough attention, but it doesn’t seem to have done too much damage. This has a strong sweet cinnamon candy-like flavor, sort of like Hot Cinnamon Spice from Harney but without the actual sweetness that blend has. The cinnamon dominates the beginning of the sip, and then a bright orange oil note comes in and takes over near the end. The orange reminds me of candy as well, making this a very candy-forward tea for me. The black base has some body but I can’t taste much else, possibly due to the whole too-much-water fiasco… There’s a hint of clove here as well.

Overall, it’s fairly tasty. Probably not something I would feel the need to order since I already have a variant of Hot Cinnamon Spice, but I wouldn’t mind drinking it again. :)

Aha! I finally finished all the teas from last year’s advent calendar! Just in time to start the new one…… But, I have been having varying luck with these Plum Deluxe black blends lately. This is another one that doesn’t taste like too much of anything. I feel like I get some light ginger and that’s just about it. Honestly, it wasn’t worth the caffeine for me to even finish it. Mildly flavored and boring to my tastes!

I’m sharing my review for the decaf version here, as the regular blend is very close in flavor.

The scent in the bag is zippy and sweet with lush orange peel and snappy cinnamon. Both flavors a suited to pair with the tanin-y black tea base. Brewed, the spiciness mellows out, letting the tea flavor itself come to the forefront. The orange peels add to the natural citrus flavors in the tea, while the cinnamon brings a specific warmth and sweetness.

The ginger and cloves are thankfully a bit to the background, as those ingredients have a tendency to take over a blend if not used sparingly. I like ginger and cloves, but if I wanted to taste a tea with them, I would go for a chai. I prefer this tea when I want something warming but with flavor beyond the traditional chai flavors.

The orange is the crown jewel in this blend, separating it from chai teas, and adding an uplifting brightness to my mug.

The fragrance on this is just amazing – luscious orange and spices, in a nice balance with each other. Unfortunately, the flavor falls a little short. It’s still good, but not as divine as promised. I don’t get any vanilla from this, and the tea base is a bit musty or earthy for these flavors. Again, it’s still good – maybe the fragrance was just so wonderful that I am let down by a perfectly adequate flavor.