Library Blend

So this is one of several green-black blends that I ordered from Murchie’s – they seem to specialize in them so I figured I would try a few. This seems the most straightforward, just a blend of Ceylon and Keemun black teas with gunpowder and jasmine greens.

Steeped up, it looks like a black tea but tastes more like a green one. The jasmine is surprisingly subtle, just a whisper in the background. I actually taste the gunpowder the most – it has a strong earthy, mineral flavor that winds up in the forefront, potentially bolstered by the Keemun. Ceylon show itself in the finish, with its metallic, acidic character.

Overall, not sure about this one. I feel like the balance is a bit off for my tastes, I would prefer more jasmine and less gunpowder. There is also a noticeable astringency even though I only steeped it for 2 minutes, but perhaps that’s just a result of it being a teabag with very broken leaf. I’m hoping to be more enthused by some of the other green-black blends that have bergamot and lapsang and other fun things.

I like this one, but I don’t know when to drink it. I love black and green tea together usually, but this is sort of … mossy and smoky and black tea. It’s a finely made tea, but I’m not sure if it’s for me, or if I would buy it again.

Jasmine, jasmine, and more jasmine! Fortunately, I like jasmine. :D I also like libraries and teas with literary names, which is why I added this one to my cart.

It’s a perfectly fine blend. The jasmine overpowers the black and green tea base, although I am getting muted notes of each: something slightly grassy, something a bit tannic… but mostly it’s floral jasmine all the way down. I guess want something a little more, like a stronger black base to back up the jasmine? But I won’t have any problems finishing the bag.

Sniff Oh wow, there’s a flower garden in my cup.

This is the 4th day of my exclusive Sara’s Old Tea box. It’s very flower-forward, from the beginning to the end of the sip. I was curious how a green/black tea blend would taste… but I can’t taste the tea at all. It has more depth of flavor than a perfumy jasmine tea, but it’s still a bit much for me.

Happy National Library Week! In the United States, the second week of April is designated by the American Library Association as National Library Week, and since I’m a librarian, I try to find a “library” tea to try each year. Last year I sampled Haunted Library by Malfoy Tea Emporium, the review of which is here if you are curious: https://steepster.com/mastressalita/posts/375034

I’ve had this blend stashed away in my collection just waiting for National Library Week 2019 to try it for the first time! It is a blend of black and green teas, using Ceylon, jasmine green, Keemun, and gunpowder green. The jasmine is especially striking from the dry leaf, and I’m not a huge fan of jasmine teas because of how overly “perfumy” it tends to be, but I’m curious if blended with the black teas if it will be more tempered and come out more floral and less like grandma perfume than I tend to find jasmine.

The steeped tea is a proper copper-colored cuppa, though it does still smell quite strongly of jasmine. The flavor is… pretty nice, though! It does have a strong floral element, but there are definitely a lot of other elements to this tea, too; it has some depth. In fact, after the cup has cooled just a touch, I can get a malty note wafting up in the aroma and mixing with the strong jasmine fragrance, and that aroma/taste profile helps the entire cup veer far away from my typical issues with “grandma perfume” territory. The black tea in the base tastes of a medium body, and I’m picking up a bit of malt with a heavy citrus element. Mid-sip a grassy, refreshing, very vegetal flavor enters the tongue, a bit like wet stones and moss and then very sweet jasmine flowers. The end of the sip is a bit astringent/drying and leaves me smacking my tongue a bit, and I’m left with a strong smoky flavor in the aftertaste.

This is a very satisfying cuppa, especially considering my track record with jasmine. I think the rather strong astringency in the cup is my only complaint, but I already have plans to try making iced tea with this and seeing if that helps curb that.

My mother in law’s favourite tea!! She gave me some for Christmas and gosh I love this tea!! I don’t drink it too often just because I only have a little bit left and don’t want to run out! Like its name suggests it’s perfect with a good book :)

Backlog:

This blend was just “ok” to me. It was alright. Not something I’d want to return to and drink again, but if it were something that was offered to me, I wouldn’t refuse it. Although I might ask if there were something else available. Nor is it something I would recommend to others.

A soft smoky note, hints of grass, flinty. The one thing that set me off with this was the jasmine, because it tasted off. It tasted contrived. It didn’t belong there. I normally love jasmine, but here it just didn’t work.

I didn’t hate it, but not something I’d be hunting down to try again.

This was from the first round of the HH teabox and also a sipdown! I’d like to focus on sipdowns this week or next-cup-sipdowns. It’s so difficult though because I like holding on to those last teaspoons of teas to savor later.

Steep #1 // 20 min after boiling // 3 min
This is supposed to be a black and green tea. I didn’t see too many green tea leaves. I waited 20 minutes after boiling to steep it anyway. This is very tasty – it doesn’t really taste like green tea but the black tea tastes like sweet cherries. It’s pretty good! It isn’t the most brisk tea (a “library” tea should probably be pretty strong for focus) but it does have a bite to it.

Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min
Since I didn’t see any green leaves in the dry blend, I used just boiled water. I didn’t want to wait! But as I was pouring, I did noticed some green leaves that had unfurled! It didn’t ruin the tea anyway. I still can’t taste the green tea. I think the cherry flavor of the black tea might balance any astringency from the green. This one is unique!

I received 3 bags of this tea as an “overflow tea” from my friend Sandra. She received a boxed set of 3 types of tea as a gift, tried them all, and liked this one the least. And since it’s apparently well-known that I like tea it ended up wandering my way. I tried 2 bags before reviewing the tea because I was surprised with the first one.

This blend is a plain green-black blend. I figured there would be some sort of “flavour” added in, but nope. Just plain black tea mixed with plain green tea. When I found that out I instantly assumed: “yuck”. I’m not a fan of straight black teas. I find them boring, they make my tummy feel yucky, and they leave a wacky after-taste. I’m just not a fan. I think the green tea in this balanced out the astringency of the black tea because I (shockingly) actually liked this. After looking at the website I don’t like it enough to actually buy it, but I like it. A bit floral-ish, a bit smoky, a bit yum. I will definitely enjoy the last bag, and at the same time be sad when the last bag is gone. If you like green-black blends, you’ll likely like this tea. If you like straight teas, this one’s a pretty good one (saying a lot that I actually like it!).

Verdict: wouldn’t buy only because it’s pretty darn expensive for a plain black-green blend, and I like others much more that are cheaper than this one.