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Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 13!

I’m never quite sure where gingerbread ends and lebkuchen begins! Regardless, the addition of salted caramel to either gingerbread or lebkuchen makes me chuckle… I feel like adding “salted caramel” to the title of any blend instantly gives it more cultural cachet (at least among some crowds).

Anyway, this blend has more of a buttery cookie vibe than a salted caramel vibe, but that’s OK. It plays well with the spice blend, which is nice and muted. (I often get a little bored by gingerbread flavors this time of year, just because they saturate everything.) The ginger is maybe a bit strong in some sips, but mostly I’m finding this pretty well balanced. I guess I wouldn’t mind a stronger black tea base; right now it just provides a bit of tannic dryness in the background.

Overall, I really like this one. The dry leaf smelled awfully strong, but the flavors are pleasant and balanced, not overwhelming at all. I could see myself snagging a bag of this in the future.

We celebrated Christmas/Hanukkah with my in-laws today, and my mother-in-law gifted me a six-month “tea of the month” subscription to The Whistling Kettle. I hadn’t heard of the company, so I was excited to try one of the brews that came with this month’s box!

There is a LOT going on in this Gingerbread Cookie tea—rooibos! candied fruit! toasted nuts!—but I’m digging it! I’m not getting much actual gingerbread flavor, probably because there’s no ginger in it (other than “natural flavours,” perhaps). Instead it’s like some other dessert I can’t quite put my finger on, with a hint of creamy sweetness from the coconut and a toasty breadiness from the nuts. It’s got a nice full body to it, which I appreciate. It reminds me of DT’s Forever Nuts, but maybe sweeter. I could see getting burned out on it if I drank too much in one go; I think I’ll stick to a single small mug at a time.

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 12!

I am… not a banana fan. I find their texture repellent and gag-inducing, and the flavor does not make up for it. I’m also very particular about their ripeness—the smell or taste of a green banana (even slightly green!) makes me retch. Nor do I really care for the faux banana flavor, like the kind you get in banana Runts.

One of the few ways I’ll willingly eat a banana is in banana bread (I also use them in smoothies). So I was curious about this blend—what kind of banana flavor would it feature, and would I care for it?

During the first steep, I got a distinct fake-banana flavor, but it wasn’t terribly strong. The chai flavors—particularly ginger—come through a bit more strongly, and the banana was totally gone by the second steep.

Overall, I found this one inoffensive but not particularly impressive… there’s no bread-y note at all, unfortunately. “Banana Chai” would’ve been a more accurate name!

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 11!

Ooh, I like this one! It’s buttery, fruity, tart, and just a little bit sweet. I don’t really notice the sencha until the very end of a sip, which seems fine—I’m not sure a more aggressive green tea base would really work.

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 10!

Seeing hibiscus and stevia in the ingredients list had me worried, but y’know… I’m not mad about this one! The tart hibiscus and sweet stevia balance each other out, and there’s a nice zesty brightness to it. I don’t get a ton of cherry—more generic red fruitiness—but that’s OK.

I actually liked the second steep quite a lot; most of that hibiscus tang was gone by that point, and the flavor was overall a bit deeper. Not bad!

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 9!

Well, now I’ve got this song stuck in my head. XD

I received a sample of this one in my B&B order last month, so this one is somewhat familiar to me (although I didn’t review it at the time). I find it mostly underwhelming. I enjoy coffee quite a bit, so I’m not opposed to coffee beans in my tea, but I’m not sure it adds much here—I just get a slightly sour, musty smell and taste that reminds of me old, stale coffee. I’d like the blend more without it—there’s a nice light creaminess and a hint of cocoa that’s generally pleasant, if not earth-shattering.

I do wish I were trying more of these B&B blends as loose-leaf rather than bagged tea—I’d add more leaf and try to bump up the flavor. Ah well.

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 8!

This is a divisive blend! I, however, enjoyed it. I’ve come around to smoky teas over the past few years, and something about this one just hit the right notes for me. I didn’t get a ton of cocoa, but that’s OK. The coconut was nice and subtle, more of a background marshmallow-y sweetness than anything overwhelming, and there was a hint of cinnamon toward the end, all rounded out by a gentle, woodsy smokiness. I’m not sure I’d drink it every day, but I definitely enjoyed my two cups today!

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 7!

Lovely concept, but it didn’t deliver for me. I couldn’t detect any hazelnut (nor any nut flavors, really!) and the chocolate notes were the fairly standard ones so common in blends like this (i.e., disappointing). My cup was pretty flat, weak, and generally disappointing.

Maybe I got a dud, though, because other folks seem to really enjoy it! I also have a cold, so perhaps that’s wreaking havoc on my tastebuds (although everything else tastes fine to me, and my partner was equally unimpressed by his cup). I even stole his teabag and steeped both of ours together for my second cup… still nothing. Meh.

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 6!

Well, hello there! I’m an absolute sucker for buttery, caramel-y flavors despite being vegan—or maybe because of it! Getting to try vegan versions of something that usually relies heavily on dairy really tickles me. That’s probably why I’m drawn to so many teas inspired by buttery desserts.

Anyway, this is a winner in my book. The dry blend smells very sweet and buttery, but the brewed tea isn’t sickly sweet at all. I was worried the rooibos would be overpowering, but here it’s an almost invisible base. Instead, most of the flavor comes from the puffed quinoa and toasted rice, giving this a lovely light nuttiness. At first I was a little thrown by how nutty and toasty the flavor profile is, but after letting it cool a minute or two, I could detect a hint of sweetness—more a suggestion than anything else.

I usually take my tea black, but I added a tiny spot of oat milk to this one toward the end and it really rounded out the flavor and brought out a bit more creamy sweetness. I’m currently going for a second steep on my tea bag and hoping none of the flavors gets lost!

B&B currently has a limited run of this one available for sale, and I’m debating placing an order. I wanted to wait till I was done with the advent calendar to stock up on some favorites, but I’m worried this one will be gone… sigh! What to do.

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 5!

They had me at “candy cane.” I could tell I’d enjoy this one after giving the tea bag a good whiff—it has that perfect creamy-sweet-minty scent that I associate with a candy cane tea. I think this is the first caffeinated version I’ve tried, and I appreciate it!

Brewed, the tea has a very slight mustiness to it—not quite sure where it’s coming from. There’s also a tiny citrus kick from the lime leaves, just at the back of the sip, but it seems to disappear as the tea cools a bit. Otherwise the flavor is lovely, with a full, creamy mintiness that is not at all overpowered by the accursed stevia. (Thank goodness for light touches.) I could drink this one all morning!

(I will note that the tea bag didn’t hold up well to a second steep—all the mintiness disappeared, leaving a slightly lime-y black base behind. Alas.)