Murchie's Tea & Coffee

TTB: Can I be honest? I hate it when companies use natural or artificial flavor unless they give specifics. It makes it different for those of us with allergies, and honestly, it just shows a lack of transparency.

Dry Aroma: Subtle notes of bergamot and floral notes.
Initial Steeping aroma: More jasmine is coming out now. Not intensely, but enough to give you a smile. Jasmine reminds me of Hawai’i.
Wet tea bag aroma: Nice woody notes with hints of jasmine.
Flavor: Not as appealing as the aroma was. Very little jasmine. No bergamot. Just some nice woody tones. Would probably be nice when some milk would be added but not too much as this one is not that brisk.

TTB. If one were to judge a tea by smell alone I’d be walking out the door.

Smells like fake caramel and slightly old maple syrup. And I don’t say that lightly because I only buy the good stuff. We have a company here called Faxon Farms that makes fantastic maple syrup. Anyway…

I’m having a hard time getting over the aroma
It hurts my stomach. The liquor color us very nice. Clear and deep rosewood. The aroma has tampered off quite a bit still a bit of the fake caramel but now with slight woody notes. The flavor is… nope. Started off okay. Dark wood noted. Then that fake caramel flavor comes out. Sorry… no. I can’t. I tried a few sips to really make sure that I wasn’t judging the tea by the aroma but I really can’t stand this flavor

One of the teas I brought back from Vancouver!

I love the name of this tea, and if I’m being honest I probably would have passed this one over if it had a name like “Orange Spice” that was a closer mirror to the flavour/ingredients. I do love a spiced orange blend, but I have so many of them. I did like this one a lot though – the orange note is really fresh, zesty and sweet. And cloves are fantastic, and add a nice nuance and complexity. Do I wish this was a bit more of an orange forward blend with a hint of spice, instead of as balanced as it is? Maybe a bit. But I think that’s coming from the place of just wanting something a little more different from other teas I own and less being unsatisfied with the taste of the tea. It’s a bit biased.

NEVERMIND!!!! I really like this tea, it was the timer’s fault. It was wildly overstepped!!!

Honestly, I still don’t love this… I’ll drink it but I think I placed it. The base is too astringent and the lavender is bitter. IDK if there’s artificial flavoring for lavender or if there’s too much, though it doesn’t look like it. Some how it is worse the second time. Maybe it needs to be a latte.

This is a nice blend but not as good as I was hoping it would be. I quite like lavender and I like cream teas. This didn’t necessarily hit the spot. It was a bit astringent and strong black tea heavy which I don’t mind usually but when I expect one thing and taste another it is a little disappointing. That being said, I might try to steep it a little lighter next time and see if that changes things. Though, I don’t think that this will be a blend I will be repurchasing from Murchies.

I’ve been very, very curious about this tea since AJ first wrote about it a year or so ago, so I jumped at the chance to pick it up while visiting Vancouver earlier this week.

I would imagine it must have been very, very tricky to balance the flavours of this blend. However, I think AJ had done a truly spectacular job at making sure everything is present without any one quality eclipsing the others. It’s smooth and more medium bodied with elements of both richness through the creamier and more custard-like notes of the coconut but also delicate and fragrant in the fresh, floral top notes and silky smooth oolong. Smack dab in the middle of that is a lychee note that it so juicy and lively, yet at peace with more fragile and silky sweet elements.

I so fully agree with the description of this as sophisticated, but it’s also kind of playful as well!? I really think I’m quite in love with the blend. It’s unlike any other lychee teas I’ve had before, but in the best sort of way.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DKLEcaThsY9/?img_index=1 (Eighth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWm0cPPm2BM&ab_channel=B%C3%98RNSmusicVEVO

Cold Brew!

I did try to mostly focus on picking up new (to me) blends from Murchies, but I couldn’t resist picking up a little of this beautifully straight forward black currant blend too. It may be simple, but that black currant note is so plump and purple tasting with a jammy thick sweetness and the perfect dense, “low hitting” fruity note to make it feel so rich without coming off as artificial or candy sweet. I really enjoyed this cold brew, which I made in a giant water bottle so I could sip on it throughout my work day on my first proper day working out in the city.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DKLEcaThsY9/?img_index=1 (Seventh Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4cMQyxYs44&ab_channel=InfinitySong

Cold Brew!

I am absolutely loving the trend of Gardenia scented teas that I am very consistently seeing grow in North America, so I was SUPER excited to get a chance to pick this one up.

It made for such a lush and well balanced feeling cold brew with a crisp sweetness to the initial sip before being hit with that mouth-enveloping note of gardenia. I think part of why I like gardenia so much is that it’s naturally sweet and it hits a really good balance of fresh, delicate florals and the most pungent, thick and heady ones. Very, very rarely ever dipping into perfume zone either. This was just so clean tasting and thirst quenching.

I will 100% take a gardenia green over a jasmine green any day of the week.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DKLEcaThsY9/?img_index=1 (Sixth pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAqG1a37NWc&ab_channel=Parrotfish

Next up from my Murchie’s order! One of the many fruity black teas that I selected, this one was actually part of their Summer Fruit sampler, which came with 2 ounces each of Tuscany Orange, Raspberry, Strawberry, and Peach Rooibos. I was already interested in some of those teas, so I figured why not?

Sadly, this is just okay IMO. The raspberry is a bit hard candy-like. It makes me reminisce about when my grandmother lived in her own small apartment, and always had a crystal candy dish on her coffee table with ribbon candy, those sliced hard candies with the cute images inside (no idea what they’re called), and assorted fruit hard candies – including the raspberry ones, which were round and had the bumpy texture of a raspberry. I think they had some kind of syrupy filling too?

So even though this isn’t a fresh raspberry flavor (as promised), and has a bit of a chalky edge to my tastebuds, I still appreciate the memories it activated. Will perhaps try it as a creamy raspberry milk tea one of these days.

This was the main reason for my Murchie’s order. It’s a summer seasonal tea, and I love orange-flavored things. I will say, I became less excited when I saw that it also has spices in it, because why? They describe it as a transitional tea for late summer and early fall, but I guess I’m confused by that decision when they already have two other orange spice teas? So I hemmed and hawed on whether I even wanted it anymore, but ended up taking the plunge because retail therapy. I did remove all of the whole cloves out of protest! (Ashmanra will understand XD)

It is mostly orange, thankfully. I would describe it as being close to a true orange flavor, with just a touch of gummy orange slice and a bit of that essential oil sort of zestiness. The spices show themselves near the end of the sip, and the finish tastes very similar to their Christmas Tea (which is an orange spice black tea).

It does seem similar to Christmas Tea, though perhaps more orangey. I might have to try them side-by-side to remind myself. In any case, it’s nice, but definitely a fall-to-winter tea for me, and not a summer one.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for a nice, juicy orange tea, preferably without hibiscus or spices!

Just got my Murchie’s order, placed mostly because I was intrigued by the seasonal Tuscany Orange tea. I was in a fruity mood I guess, because I ended up getting three additional fruit-flavored black teas to try, this being one of them.

I have to say though, for something called “Lemon”, this actually just tastes like an Earl Grey. Maybe it’s the combination with the acidic base, but I’m getting more bergamot than lemon. Not that I mind bergamot or Earl Grey, but it’s not what I was expecting from this tea. Oh well! I’ll use it for lattes and milk teas.

This has a lovely darjeeling base with some other green and black teas thrown in. I purchased this because I thought it would be a nice addition to the TTB for folks who want to try some Canadian teas.

Light bergamot with floral citrus notes and a hint of perfumy floral but more honeysuckle than distinctly jasmine unless you look for it. There is a nice balance of tannins and it is not overly bitter but has enough flavour. It is not your typical heavy hitter all tannin CT black tea. This has a more well rounded profile with multiple notes adding to its complexity.

It’s like how 50/50 iced tea and lemonade creates its own better-than-the-ingredients drink. This is a nice darjeeling mixed with Lady Grey and its a great union of flavour but distinct in its own right.

Sipdown! (6 | 83)

Finished off this delightful infusion from Murchie’s, which really does taste like carrot cake IMO. Even though I’m not a rooibos lover, I think the base here works well because of the addition of green rooibos and honeybush. It certainly doesn’t have that traditional rooibos woody/medicinal flavor. It’s sweet but not overly so, and has nice subtle warm spices with a touch of cream cheese creaminess. I’m not a fan of chocolate chips in tea, but there don’t seem to be a ton included here, and they also don’t melt all that well, so it’s not an overly oily cuppa.

I made a Murchie’s order a few days ago, as I want to try their summer orange tea, and another bag of this made the cut!

Gosh, this tea is fantastic. With flavourful, especially when brewed strong. I had this iced, brewed strong (500 mL cold water, 25 minutes, 2 tsp leaf).

Strong floral, fruity lychee and some lovely creamy coconut. The milk oolong is a nice base (I would have liked more oolong and less black tea, personally) with a complex tea flavour under the obvious notes. The after taste is even better than the initial.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2025 Tea #8 -A tea best for afternoons

Well, it’s in the name!  Afternoon!  An obvious choice, as usual. :) This is from Cameron B, thanks very much!  I like this one.  It’s unique and intriguing. It has a gentle smokiness, like a fragrant campfire.  Probably because there is rose here too.  So maybe if some roses were thrown into that fire.  So drama. There should also be vanilla and bergamot here, but I’m not noticing those as much.  I wish I were tasting all of these… what an interesting combination:  lapsang, rose, bergamot, vanilla.  Though I like the general effect of this tea, I guess I was imagining a better balance of the flavors.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep

The jasmine really comes through, which normally isn’t my favorite, but with the gunpowder and ceylon, it really blends for something both flowery and musty (postively) to remind you of books.

Kelmishka Homemade Advent Day 3! I’d been considering a Murchie’s order for a while, but I never got around to it, so I was happy to see this one this morning! The scent is so desserty too! I’m drinking this at room temperature sweetened with milk, and I’m really enjoying it! The spice combination strongly reminds me of S&V’s blueberry cinnamon crumble tea, though that has a rooibos base and this one is green/black. I’ve bought the S&V blend many times and would probably still choose that one because I prefer to minimize caffeine intake, but this version is a great option for people who prefer the opposite! I love a tea that somewhat approximates a baked good! I taste a light, baked cinnamon flavor along with a touch of fruitiness. It matches its name well!

I have limited experience with Assam, but I really like this one. Full bodied, delicious. I prefer this over Murchie’s Assam Superior Golden Loose Tea, which is considerably more expensive. That said, Murchie’s Darjeeling Estate is even more to my liking, and although different, Assam and Darjeeling play similar roles in my tea drinking habits. So I’m more likely to go for the Darjeeling, but this is a close second.

I’ve only tried a few Darjeeling teas, but this is the best I’ve had so far. Rich, full-bodied, not bitter. Delicious.

This was my winter 2024 Tasting Lab. Gently woodsy and pleasantly sweet, the cinnamon bark isn’t enough to make it spicy, but is evident in the smell and adds a sweet note in each sip. I picked it to pair with the birch bark because that has a light ‘wintergreen’ spearminty sweetness.

There’s no flavouring in this tea, so the wintergreen and cinnamon are gentle, melding in with the slight smoke of the Keemun; Nepal brightens this with a nutty floral, and the Nilgiri adds good body, oaky without being bitter.

I liked how this turned out. Really turned out to be a pleasantly fragrant tea. My office at work is a mishmash of vintage and antique containers I pilfered from around the warehouse and repurposed to hold my test-batches, so I had to go looking to figure out where I stashed this one.

Tried this with oat milk and sugar this morning, and it was much better. There’s a maple-y note to it, along with the rich toasted chestnut. I do still get a hint of that odd savory/herbal flavor, with the milk it leans a bit more toward fennel than dill maybe. It’s not a bad thing per se, just odd, and I mostly taste it in the finish. I assume it’s just part of how I’m interpreting the flavoring, since I’ve had plenty of their other black teas and never noticed it before.

I’m not sure if this is one I would reorder, since I happen to love Lupicia’s chestnut teas, but definitely a good one to have on hand for the colder months.