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Tea & Toast two ways!

This is the third of Bird & Blend’s summer collection, and the one that had me most intrigued. The name made me think it might be smoky flavoured (I was clearly thinking of burnt toast), but in actual fact it’s a raspberry jam flavoured black. I went straightforward for my first cup – 3 minutes in boiling water, no additions. I have to say, I love it! The base is a blend of Assam (my forever favourite), and a Kenyan tea, which together are malty and jammy in the best possible way. I taste the base first, before the “raspberry jam” flavour emerges in the mid-sip. It’s quite subtle to begin with, but somehow seems to develop towards the end of the sip until the raspberry is the main player. It reminds me a tiny bit of Butiki’s Ruby Pie (just a tiny bit, though – something about the raspberry), but also of Bird & Blend’s Vicky’s Sponge Cake; it’s like it takes the problems that blend had and smooths them over, so if you wanted to like that one and didn’t, this might be a better alternative.

The cup as a whole tastes like tea with a side of jam – not toast, so much, although I can see why they called it that. I suppose you could argue that the base tea provides a baked bread kind of flavour, but to me it’s all about the jamminess, and the choice of base teas complement and support that aspect of the flavour more than any other. I’m not sure I’d drink this one as a breakfast blend, although I guess I could be persuaded, but it’s definitely a mid-morning delight!

My second cup is actually a glass, because I took inspiration from Bird & Blend’s instagram and decided to cold brew 4 tsp in coconut milk. They say it tastes like raspberry ripple ice cream…

It does, in a way, although it’s heavier on the coconut (obviously! ) than raspberry ripple ice cream would usually be. It’s sweet and creamy, though, and the raspberry jam flavour does just about manage to make its presence felt. It’s a fairly close thing, though, and I think if I tried it again I’d probably use more tea – 6 tsp, perhaps, rather than 4. You wouldn’t know it’s a black tea, when prepared like this; instead, it’s got much more in common with milkshake. I think I prefer cold brewing in lemonade for clarity of flavour, but this is pretty yummy just the same!