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Dry aroma was surprisingly rather fruity and mostly pear. It reminded me a bit of Hong Shui oolong.
While steeped, aroma changed to quite woody and bit of honey I guess. It has changed the colour of water quite quickly too and it looks like dark copper, maybe with red notes. Quite nice one I have to say.

Taste, is unfortunately bit bland. Yeah, it is still rooibos as I remember (who knows when I had last). So it is woody with little vanilla notes. Apparently I expected something more from this one. I think because of big sachet. Drinkable, but far from something phenomenal. Just very good I think. The flowers do not change anything I assume. Only that bag is not so empty.

Preapared in preheated gaiwan, 85 ml, 80 °C

Dry aroma is strong, floral, roses, fruits.
Lots of rose petals (about 1:1 ratio) with Ti Guan Yin oolong. Few cascara cherries, which makes blend quite interesting.

Wet aroma – creamy oolong with rose notes. Maybe bit jasmine. Overall it is nice.

Liquor specs: Colour changes from slight pink – green colour towards more green, can´t say if clear – because loose petals weren´t strained :) so does bit of dust. but overall it is nice.
Aroma: Really similar to wet leaf aroma, while rose and cream is stronger.
Taste: At first it was bit tart, but now it is creamy easydrinking tea with bit of rose. I never tasted rose though. Floral.

Not really my cup of tea, but it is not so bad and I like it. TGY is getting stronger each brew while roses are disappearing. Leaves itself aren´t so big, but usually they aren´t broken anyways, nor bitten.

This is very interesting tea. Thank you Derk for small sample, so I can try it!

Douglas firs aren´t common in my country, they are usually planted as park trees. And I really like their aroma.

Visual: light green, clear liquor
Aroma: really strong! Finnish forest, lemons, citrus fruits, sap
Taste: Unique, lingers for really long; firs, lemons, citrus fruits. But really dry. Sap taste as well. Needles.

I was keeping the bag in a cup for whole time I was drinking it. Maybe I will try to make another steep later. Lovely experience which brought me to Finland.

This was disappointing.

Actually there is nothing, but temperature suggestion on foil tea bag. So I had to google, their website did not say anything too. Than I found an importer website – where was 2-6 minutes. Quite variety for black tea bag.

Anyway, in the mug it comes. As dry it smelled like fresh lemons with hints of bergamot. Pretty straightforward. While others prepared their morning coffee, I used same water (stovetop tea kettle). I think it has about 90 °C.

After three minutes steep, tea was dark, opaque and with oil spots. I thought that it is quite enough, so I took the bag out. Aroma was quite strong of crushed tea with little lemon notes. Taste – it was so bitter it was really hard to drink, with biting lemon notes. The lemon probably smooths a bit that bitterness. But overall it was unpleasant.

I am not looking forward to next three tea bags I have from this company.

6 PM, certainly time for not caffeine tea. I was not sure if fruit one, or caffeine-free. Then I picked this one.

Colour is dark red; well hibiscus is in. And rosehips. Well more like herbal blend than fruit blend.
Aroma: good work, it smells after ripe raspberries and no funky notes. Though nothing else but raspberries.
Taste: sweet raspberries like mixed with sugar. Just cream is missing :-) For me too sweet.

Overall: Pleasant, yet quite plain. Good for easy-drinker in the evening, when you don´t want to care about noticing aromas and tastes.

And thank you Derk

Well, a loose leaf sample from Derk. Thank you again.

5 grams, gaiwan 85 ml, steeps 15/30/45/60/75/90 seconds

Trying to describe it somehow, but maybe my brain is working on standby yet (7 am), or it is so complex? Oh, by the way, this is spring 2018 origin.

Anyway, colour is wonderful, clear, dark golden. Really lovely!
Aroma: dried fruits, maybe bit smoky, bit tobacco (but very nice), bit sweet, floral, of course really smooth.
Palate: here it is going even harder than in aromas :D – fruits, malt, lingers for very, very long. Bit woody, spicy (3rd). Maybe bit like Darjeelings? I do not know again. Ah, I think I know now (4th) – grapes! Probably red ones. I did not noticed any chocolate notes, nor alcohol. But it is completely okay.

I like it!

Thank you Derk for variety of tea bags, as well for loose leaf.

I just came home from University, so I really wanted something simple – as well I am having a terrible headache. I took this, as it is a green tea with mint so I thought it could work together.

Honestly I am disappointed. The tea is having brown-green colour, without any dust, which is good. Smell is artificial lemon, and taste is not better. Maybe bit of cardboard. Something does not work as I have expected. More over, I think there is much more lemograss than actual tea, so it is not so good.

Well, at least I tried something new. And that is always nice.

Hmm, I have received a sample quite long ago. But week or so ago I have received an e-mail from the company how I liked it. Honestly I have to say I forgot a bit about this one and I can not remember it much. So I took it once again (few last leaves) and writing this review.

If you are reading this Will – it is because of you! (No offence)

On small resealable bag (as just a sample) there is 60°, 1-1.5 min. I had to buy a thermometer as I don´t want to ruin tea like this one. So, first steep – 1.25 min, 58°C or something, 1 tea spoon, 250 ml mug, ball strainer. (I need a proper teaware)

Appearance: cloudy, light green, with lots of “dust” of tea, I guess my strainer mesh is not fine enough. So it looks bit like matcha on the bottom.

Aroma and taste: Honestly, very complex. Spinach, flowers, lots of Umami. Aromas are almost same, but add a freshly cut grass. It also smells like meadow.

Ahh, I think I love it! (Keeping 100 for something really extra)

Let´s make second brew now.

Second brew is very similar: Color is more vivid, so does tastes and aromas.

I received a Bird and Blend subscription envelope yesterday. I prepared Cloud 9, but I was too tired to make some notes.

Today I took another one. This one. Mug (300 ml), heaped their tea spoon and strainer. I do not know how much grams.

Aroma: Chocolate, cherries – quite strong for brew. When dry, it smells more like sherry liquor. It reminds me my first (and last) sherry experience. That was when I was 11 years old. I had to admit I liked it.

Colour is as expected – copper with bit of dust. And clear.

Taste: very interesting, quite vivid and changing with temperature. At first it was more creamy and chocolate notes. Now it is much more cherry and bit sour. But it is very pleasant.

Nice black tea blend – I found out that it is with tea, so I hope I will sleep! If I took that as a fruit blend – it is really nice. If I take it as a “real” tea – not so perfect. But still very high rating from me for this one

Tea bag (well, I am a collector, so I bought a pack of different ones).

I took it from the foil wrapping which is around and strong aroma hit me. Banana. Not chamomile, or honey but banana. Then some chamomile notes started to appear with faint honey. I guess I won´t like it.

Colour is not so clear and golden.

It smeels quite reasonable now. Quite herbal – but yeah, it is herbal blend.

Taste, flavors, et cetera: Actually, it is not so bad! Bit spicy, bit of bananas (I really wonder), chamomile flavour is weak. Not much honey. Not my cup of tea I assume, but I understand why somebody can like it. But for me, it is just a little above average.

By the way, there are two entries of this tea, so it should be merged up.