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Oh my goodness, this smells so spicy in the packet! I only sniffed it a couple of times and my nose started tingling. I definitely took in a lot of black pepper!

It also tastes very spicy, too. The black base is very strong, though I think it needs to be in this blend in order to compete with all the spice. There’s a nice cinnamon flavour and a whole lot of cloves and pepper. Unfortunately I didn’t get much in the way of aniseed and nothing of the ginger.

I drank the first half of my mug straight as it comes, but I added a dash of milk to the second half. The milk seemed to bring out the aniseed, so there was a nice liquorice-y taste to it, but it also brought out more of the pepper.

This was certainly a good pick me up after walking home from work. It was a good, strong brew with a lot of spice, but I’m not sure I could drink this very often.

I couldn’t let Hallowe’en pass today without brewing up something pumpkin related! So I plumped for Pumpkin Cream, which I purchased from Confet-Tea in their stock clearance a while back. I think it may well be sold out now.

This is a rooibos, so perfect for my evening cuppa, and it’s a really, really nice blend! It works well as a dessert tea, too, as there’s a yummy cake like taste to it. I get enough pumpkin flavour to satisfy my Hallowe’en Night craving for it, but there’s a lovely, sweet fruitiness to it too. It’s very creamy and the rooibos Confet-Tea use in their teas is the perfect base for this.

I’m glad I picked this up while it was in stock.

This blend completely baffles me, though in a good way. The list of ingredients include apple pieces, pineapple cubes, flavouring and lemon grass. The apple chunks are massive and I can clearly see the lemon grass, but this smells mostly, to me, of lemon BALM and lime.

Brewed up, this is light and refreshing. I do get something in the way of apple and pineapple, plus there’s definitely a yoghurt taste going on, which must be from the flavouring, but I still mostly get lime and lemon balm. It’s really nice, though a little confusing. I think this would be gorgeous iced.

For a while, after this arrived in my first Bird & Blend order, I drank a mug of it every morning! I’d been drawn to it purely based on some of the reviews I’d read on B&B’s website, where the writers marvelled about how this tea settled their churning tummies and helped ease anxiety issues. This sounded perfect for me. I’ve suffered from anxiety for several years now, but it’s always stronger in a morning, right before I have to leave the house for work. If gives me the most awful stomach ache. So, I ordered a 50g bag of this, tried it out for a few days, and lo and behold… my tummy became less of a washing machine on full spin in a morning and a whole lot calmer! It’s times like these where I do wonder if my head’s playing psychological tricks on me. But I always say, if I feel better because I believe something’s working, then does it matter if it actually is or not?

Anyway, the tea! I don’t have a great deal of this left, which is the only reason I no longer drink it every morning, but having suffered a bit with a crappy tummy all week, I turned to The Digester (I hate the name by the way!) this morning. Straight away I get a lot of ginger from this, plus a slightly earthy aroma and taste from the pu’erh. The pu’erh though is completely inoffensive. There’s a nice spiciness from the ginger, and I can taste the orange more so with each sip. I don’t get anything in the way of oolong, but as this cools the fennel starts to creep in.

It’s quite a bizarre blend, and not something I would usually consider drinking in a morning were it not for the fact that my tummy does feel a lot better after a big mug of it. A definite on my re-stock list, though more for the tummy soothing properties than for the taste.

Currently sipping on this as I wind down and start thinking about my bed. It won’t be my last tea of the day, but it’s a lovely one to aid the transition between evening and sleep. This is also a great seasonal choice, given how absolutely freezing it is tonight! Brrr!

Sadly, there’s not much left in my packet of this. I was a bit stingy with the measuring for this mug, as there’s only enough left for one more and I’d rather my last brew was a perfect spoonful. Actually, there are a few Bird & Blend packets I’m almost out of. I noticed the Christmas blends were up today and I’m so tempted to put in another order, but, arghh, must not buy more tea!

Anyway, this one! There are huge chunks of apple pieces in the packet. Even in my measly measurement I still managed to get several in the spoon. There’s lots of rooibos too, though that might be because I’m down to the last of it. This smells so comforting, both dry and in the cup. And it does actually taste like apple strudel! Granted it’s been a long time since I tried apple strudel, but this evokes memories of times that I have. The apple is dominant, but there’s a really nice, light spiciness that instantly warms me up. The rooibos does taste stronger than I remember it doing so in the past with this blend, but again, this could be due to me being at the end of my packet.

I do think this would be on my repurchase list, though probably not this year. There are other Bird & Blend teas I prefer, and other blends of theirs I haven’t tried that I’d probably order over this one. Overall though, this is a very enjoyable, autumnal, cosy cuppa.

Varieteas Box (October) – 4/30

Hooray, I remembered to delve into my Varieteas box today! I chose this one because I’m not overly fussed on straight mint teas (I prefer a bit of liquorice in the blend or chocolate) and I kind of want to use up the bags I’m not excited about.

This was a pleasant surprise though. While there’s not a whole lot going on and it’s a basic, does-what-it-says-on-the-bag cup of tea, it’s super refreshing and tasted pretty good after my dinner. A decent palette cleanser, but not something I’ll end up buying.

This is my partner’s favourite bedtime drink and has been a staple in our house for some time. It’s readily available from our local supermarket and I’ve lost count of how many boxes we’ve gotten through. I hadn’t drank it myself for a while, so last night I made a pot of it for us to share.

I have to say, this is hands down one of my favourite bedtime teas, too. While I do love a good herbal to take to bed with me, this one is set apart from the others due to the spices in it. The combination of the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom with the chamomile and apple is just amazing. Even when I’m drinking something different to my partner, I can still smell the spiced apple drifting from his mug. The vanilla in this is also stunning.

I’m glad I revisited this last night. I was reminded of how much I love it and of what a great blend it is.

Oh, and for the record… both my partner and I slept straight through until my alarm went off. A job well done!

This smells absolutely wonderful in the packet, and also brewed up. It genuinely has a biscuit aroma which follows through in the taste. The chocolate is very strong and there’s a really sweet, caramel flavour to it. There’s liquorice in the list of ingredients, but I didn’t pick up on this.

This definitely tastes like a chocolate biscuit. I’m not sure I’d go with shortbread, but it reminds me of eating a Twix chocolate bar!

I made this before I left for work this morning and it was definitely the wrong time to try it. While I enjoyed it very much, and it certainly gave me the strong caffeine boost I required, it was far too sweet and sickly. I’ll make this as an afternoon drink next time.

My first experience of flowering teas, and a happy one, I’m pleased to report! My brother and his wife bought me a gift set from Teabloom for my birthday, which contained a tube of twelve different fruit flavoured green teas. Now, while fruit teas are something I’ll happily drink, they don’t rate at the top end of my favourite blends. Green teas – I’m still exploring! Still, the concept of flowering teas has always intrigued me and I’ve been excited about trying out these (not to mention the teapot and teapot warmer that came with them)!

I chose the Pomegrante one first and I’m more than pleasantly surprised. This tastes unbelievably fruity. It’s juicy and flavoursome, rather than the watered down artificial-ness I get from a lot of the fruit teas in my cupboard. I was halfway down my cup before I even remembered this is a green tea! There is a grassy edge to this, but the fruitiness dominates by far. I hope I enjoy the other teas in the tube as much as this one.

Varieteas Box (October) – 3/30

I keep forgetting to delve into my Varieteas box, so I still have a huge stash of teabags to work my way through. This one wasn’t a hit with me, though, unfortunately. I do quite like lemon and ginger teas, especially at this time of year, but I just didn’t get a lot of either with this sample. The lemon is slightly stronger than the ginger, but I really don’t get much in the way of either. And as for the ginseng, I don’t pick that up at all! It’s an extremely watery tea and not one I’d drink again.