Bush Berry (formerly New Moon Tea Co.)

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 24

This was fine, but not very orange-y. To me, it tasted like a weaker version of their masala chai blend from earlier in the calendar. Still pleasant, and nice spices with no flavoring, but I was hoping for more orange.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 23

This was nice, mostly a peppermint tisane. The elderflower lightened it up a bit and made it not quite so intense, which I liked. I’m not sure what yarrow tastes like, so dunno if I tasted it or not. Either way, this was a pleasant and relaxing cup for the evening.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 21

I’m not a big fan of hibiscus-heavy infusions, but I enjoyed this more than I expected because of the tulsi. The slightly basily, minty flavor helped add some interest and depth to an otherwise mostly hibiscus tisane. Not something I’d ever order, but it was pleasant enough.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 20

Just a classic blend of peppermint and spearmint. It’s a nice mix of sweet, refreshing, and relaxing. The peppermint isn’t the freshest ever, it does have an herbaceous flavor to it. No wet rag though ha ha. Anyway, a pleasant cup for a mint enjoyer such as myself.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 17

Not the most exciting pick, but I did enjoy their Masala Chai more than I expected, so high hopes. And this one is lovely too! Definitely heavy on the star anise and fennel notes, but not in an overpowering way. I do taste the ginger, cardamom, and clove as well. It’s a nice blend of spices, and I love the sweetness the anise brings. Not actually tasting much rooibos, so it’s more like an herbal chai ha ha.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 16

Holiday tea number four from Bush Berry! This is a white tea with walnut flavor. Honestly I don’t love walnuts, so wasn’t terribly excited, but the package is really cute so that helps ha ha.

It’s actually a lovely tea – the bai mudan base is so light and fluffy with its soft hay notes. And then the flavoring is a bit like a cookie or pastry of some kind, yes it has definitely walnut notes, but also a buttery element to it, sort of like the Simpson & Vail walnut shortbread tea from earlier in the month. Not sweet per se, but definitely rich. Almost like a macadamia nut? Really liked the pairing with the lighter base.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDp0qPoPgtX/

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 14

Well this is certainly interesting take on a breakfast blend – Assam, hojicha, and lemon peel. A bit odd really, since hojicha is low caffeine, but sounds intriguing.

Honestly… I don’t think I like lemon with hojicha? It’s a bit of an odd combination, and also brings out the more tannic side of the Assam. It wasn’t a bad cup per se, but each sip kept making my mouth dry which wasn’t the most pleasant thing ha ha. And the roasty, toasty hojicha with the tart lemon… I’m just not sure how I feel about it, they don’t seem to mesh well together.

A fun one to try though, and something I’ve never had before!

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 12

Of course, when I rearranged the order of this advent, I had to put this one on day 12! :P

Despite having so many ingredients, this was very mellow and smooth. Mostly I tasted the sweet and refreshing spearmint, soothing lemon balm, and leafy, creamy nettle. Maybe a bit of the elderflower in the finish as well. It was pleasant enough, nothing to write home about IMO, but made for a relaxing afternoon cuppa.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDf1jLLPhXP/

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 11

So I wasn’t super enthused to see this today, but once I cut open the bag and sniffed it, I was much more excited to steep it up ha ha. Nice, natural spice smell with cinnamon at the forefront, but also star anise, ginger, etc.

However… Oddly, something in this is tasting like soap to me. I don’t really smell anything off, but for some reason I taste cinnamon, ginger, and then soap. I have no idea what it could be that’s giving me that impression, and no, I am not one of those people who thinks cilantro (this has coriander) tastes like soap.

A bit baffled, ha ha…

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 10

Ugh, lol… This sounds good to me in theory – mint, chamomile, lavender, etc.

Unfortunately, a big ol’ pile of licorice root comes and smacks me in the mouth, and I just can’t drink any more. So mouth coating and ick! XP

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 9

This was an enjoyable mint green tea, though I didn’t get a ton of green tea flavor. It was a little heavy on the herbs vs. tea, but I love mint so I still enjoyed the cup. The lemongrass added a bit more herbaceousness but didn’t necessarily taste citrusy to me. I did find it a bit odd that there was peppermint as well as spearmint, which doesn’t really fit for a Moroccan mint tea.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 8

This one was, unfortunately, just okay. I love chocolate and orange together, and I always have to get a dark chocolate Terry’s orange during the holidays he he. But this mostly tasted like honeybush. I get it, there are no flavorings, so the only added flavor is coming from orange peel and cacao nibs. But there just wasn’t enough of it for me, especially the chocolate. I could taste a light orange note, especially toward the beginning of the sip, but no cacao at all.

Oh well, good thing I like honeybush! :P

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDVMzktSmYJ/

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 7

A turmeric infusion, how exciting… XD

Yep, it’s turmeric. The ginger comes in with a bite at the end of the sip, but otherwise I don’t taste any cinnamon or lemongrass. Just earthy turmeric with a spicy finish. Best thing I can say about it is that I’m happy to have it out of the way. XD

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 6

Hmm… This doesn’t have any cream flavoring listed, but it definitely has something because there’s a distinct sweet, vanilla note. It’s not super creamy but there’s no way that’s a natural note of the tea or the bergamot ha ha.

It’s nice! I’m not an EGC fan, but I actually like this one because the vanilla/cream part is somewhat subtle. I do get a little of the orange peel as well, which helps to sweeten up the bergamot.

An enjoyable tea, but I’m a little wary of the seemingly misleading ingredients list ha ha…

(ETA: I’ve seen this company source from Shanti Tea before, and I’m pretty sure this is this one: https://www.shantitea.ca/home/product/royal-cream-earl-grey)

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 4

The first holiday tea! I reordered the teas in this advent when I got it, and spaced out the six holiday teas so there is one every 4 days, and the most festive on the 24th. Because really I just can’t help overthinking every single thing… XD

This is an herbal that’s mostly ginger with licorice root, cinnamon, and hops. Not gonna lie, I was afraid of the licorice root (lol) so I sipped mine in a teacup with a slice of lemon. It was very lovely as a relaxing afternoon cuppa, earthy and spicy (but not too spicy) ginger with the right amount of soft lemon tanginess. I could still taste the licorice, especially at the end of the sip, but the lemon did a good job of reining it in. Didn’t taste the cinnamon, but there was a little floral, effervescent hoppiness in the finish.

Really enjoyed it! Not something I would order, as it’s essentially just ginger root, but lovely nonetheless. :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDK4FjSS3UY/

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 1

Okay, so I think this is one of the teas that wasn’t actually in the advent originally. The teas came randomly ordered, so of course I felt compelled to go through and rearrange them, to make sure the different bases and the holiday teas were well distributed (lol what is wrong with me). And when I did that, I decided to swap out one of the teas (a plain rooibos, no thanks ha ha) for this free sample they sent along with my advent order. Because who wants a boring tea from their advent? :P Anyway, long explanation to say this tea isn’t technically part of the advent originally.

There was very little black tea in my sample, so it’s more of an herbal pumpkin spice. Very nice spice mix though, it’s strong enough to taste all the components but not too strong or spicy. The spices are well-balanced, I can taste equal parts cinnamon and ginger, then next is cardamom and clove, with nutmeg mostly coming out in the finish. Don’t really taste much black tea, though I didn’t expect to either. Just a really nice, fresh-tasting chai blend with all real spices and no flavorings. I’m not even mad at the lack of black tea. :)

This is from Cameron B!  Thanks very much!  I wasn’t expecting much with this tea, as I knew this was probably full of rosehips and strawberry teas are usually a let down.  The hardest flavor to get right, I think, is authentic strawberry.  Surprisingly, both steeps at least had a bit of strawberry candy flavor.  Surprising because it looked like half the blend was rose hips!  So really it tasted like strawberry flavored rosehips, as I couldn’t really taste any white tea.  So this was better than I expected?  But the bar was very very low here. 
Steep #1   // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  20 minutes after boiling // 3 min

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 22

Backlogging notes from yesterday. One of the puglets is not feeling well, so we spent most of the day watching shows on the couch with her snoozing in my lap. Vet appointment today, so we’ll see how that goes.

Anyway! This was fine. I’ve had it before and it’s never been my favorite. The mint is the strongest flavor, and I don’t get a ton of cocoa from it. Still pleasant, just not one that I would order for myself.

Sipdown! (3 | 3)

Interesting, apparently I’ve never written a note for this? It’s not my favorite, but I’m liking it more than I remember. I’m not sure the black tea is really adding anything, as I’m mostly tasting the herbaceous (but not wet raggy, thankfully) peppermint, the refreshing and bright spearmint, and the lightly toasty, creamy cacao. I think the blend of mints here is quite nice, as it combines the strengths of both and is refreshing without tasting like chewing gum.

Nice enough tea, especially for a chocolate mint blend, which are usually underwhelming to me. I do think you could remove the black tea and not notice much difference though.

Sipdown! (4 | 45)

I’ve been sipping this one with milk and sugar lately, as a sort of lazy London fog. Having this last cuppa plain though.

Honestly there’s not a lot of flavor to it? Bergamot is mild, vanilla is very mild, base is mild… It’s a bit bland overall. The black base is smooth and softly woody, but lacking in flavor.

It’s not bad per se, just bland. And at this point, I’m not sure how I feel about New Moon anyway after they claim to blend their own teas and yet confirmed that many of them are from a wholesaler after I confronted them about it…

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 5

This one is just okay? I was expecting more orange and more tartness given the name and bright color. Really, it ends up tasting very herbal with just a side of sweet orange, and almost no tartness at all. It’s fine and pleasant, but not what I was expecting and I can’t help but be disappointed ha ha. I don’t even get much of the spearmint, mostly I think I taste blackberry leaf and lemongrass. Meh!

Sipdown! (1 | 399)

Happy to see this one finished off. I’ve had a similar issue with a lot of New Moon’s herbal blends, in that they all taste sort of muddled and same-y.

The dry leaf had a nice soft, orange-y scent to it, but there’s almost no orange to be found in the steeped tisane. It’s all a generic, muddled mix of mint and licorice with a bit of turmeric and ginger thrown in. There’s a subtle bitterness that I’m not a fan of, and it’s an odd combination with the sweetness of the licorice root and blackberry leaf. I’m not sure I would even know it was spearmint over peppermint?

Anyway, it needs much more orange and hibiscus in my opinion. As it stands, I wouldn’t even know there was orange here at all… Fewer ingredients would also help it taste less muddled.

Sipdown! (3 | 412)

Yay, finished off another herbal tisane!

I’ve been enjoying this one as my before-bed tea lately, it has a pleasant soft herbal flavor with a nice combination of mint and chamomile. There are a bunch of other ingredients as well, but those are the only two I taste.

Not something I would reorder, just because there are a bunch of other companies I want to try for herbal tisanes. But I still have quite a few to get through before I can buy any new ones! :P

On to the next New Moon Tea Co. herbal tisane after finishing one last night. Happily, this one is much more successful. It still has about a billion ingredients, but it doesn’t taste like a muddled herb soup. Probably because I can only taste a couple of the herbs.

The mint is the dominant flavor, and apparently it’s a mix of peppermint, spearmint, and mountain mint. I definitely get the peppermint, and I don’t know what mountain mint tastes like so I can’t really comment on that one. It’s a nice cooling peppermint though, not the wet rag sort that I often find in mint blends. Maybe the other mints are helping to freshen it up a bit? The chamomile is present as well, more as a background note adding a bit of honeyed sweetness and a softness that’s very calming. I think I get a bit of lemon balm as well?

Anyway, it’s a perfectly fine herbal tisane for the evening. It’s not amazing, and I probably wouldn’t reorder it. But I’m happy enough to be finding it pleasant, as I have quite a bit of volume to work through! :P