Bird & Blend Tea Co.

Geek Steep S1E1 – Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Aaaaahhh! After months of preperation and recording, the podcast that I’m doing with my friend Marika officially launched on Thursday! It’s been many hours of love and labour, and is most definitely still an on going project. Basically, our podcast focuses on the exploration of both new and familiar fandoms through conversation shared over tea and pairings while “doing the geek” each week!

I made a discussion board topic with our mission statement/thesis, background on the podcast, an “about the geek” for each of us (though I think most of you know me pretty well) as well as little blog style snippets from Marika for the two episodes that have already aired on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts! We upload an episode every Thursday, and each week focuses on new fandoms and tea!

Here’s the DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

Our first episode looked at Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and this was the tea that I chose to drink during the recording of the podcast! Like I explained then, if we have picked episodes that fit the “typical” style of Buffy and weren’t such unique film styles/topics this is likely what I would have chosen to pair with my rewatch. It’s fun, campy and on the nose with the inspiration and that feels really appropriate for this fandom and its episode/narrative style!

In general, this isn’t my favourite tea – but I think I would have enjoyed the thick floral rose and sweet cinnamon notes a little bit more when married with a fandom that I love so dearly! We actually didn’t say it on the podcast, but I have TWO Buffy tattoos!

For our first episode – I think this was pretty perfect!

Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/

Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website

Cold Brew!

Didn’t love this one hot, but figured I’d try something different and cold brew it just to see if that changed anything. It didn’t – it’s still a very weird blend. The flavour is this super weird mix of cinnamon and rose with that weird “baby wipes” thing still coming through. I also just kind of feeling I’m drinking a lush bath bomb too, so it’s a pass…

I’ll be honest, the name pulled me in.

Like, I saw the ingredients list and realized I probably wouldn’t like it and I still wanted to try it because of the fucking name. Marketing is crazy, y’all.

As expected, this isn’t my jam. The cinnamon flavour is pretty nice – it’s that sweet “Cinnamon Hearts” kind of taste but a little softer/milder. I think if this was give a cinnamon (or spice in general) and green tea combo I’d be ok with it. However, it’s also really rose heavy, and almost has a fruity undertone as well? The mix of the cinnamon and rose is really unappealing to me – I don’t think they compliment, and it’s doing this funky thing where it also kind of tastes like Febreze or really perfumed baby wipes!?

Again – I’m not surprised, I knew when I saw the ingredient list that this wasn’t for me. I was hoping to be surprised, but it’s ok. You can’t love everything and I appreciate what they were going for here.

(And that name is still damn good.)

I’ve had a couple cups of this now and I can’t decide what I think of it. To me it is warm water. I can’t taste anything . Of course, someone else probably could taste it perfectly well, but with no sense of smell, I rely on the ‘feel’ . Like, peppermint and ginger and other spices leave a sensation on my tongue. I can taste sweet. I can taste bitter or sour. At least it is not bitter. That really ruins a tea for me. Or things like hibiscus are so tangy that it is unpleasant.

This is not at all unpleasant. I just don’t taste anything. Maybe I’ll double the amount I use next time.

Delicious! I bought a small bag of this the last time it came around as a seasonal without realising that it was a seasonal — very distressing when I came to re-order and found I couldn’t! There’s a lovely light, sweet nuttiness to this blend that goes along with a very rich mouthfeel to make a really delicious cup.

Really nice, full, sweet black tea — I can’t say I noticed the marshmallows made any huge flavor difference but they looked really cute.

Thanks to AJRimmer for this one!
I didn’t read the ingredients and added cream, and it curdled. Boo. I drank it anyway, though. Really enjoyed the cup. I could definitely taste the cherry and cocoa notes pretty equally. The more I sipped the more I actually enjoyed it. Very pleasant!

My first cup, I found this rather sour, even with the usual amount of sugar added. The second time I made it, I gave it a shorter steep and less leaf, and that helped cut the sourness a lot. The main flavor is hibiscus, but I can also taste something like pineapple in there. It’s a little tropical. I definitely would have enjoyed more strawberry since I don’t find it to be too similar to its name. I’ve been enjoying it room temperature or cold. If you don’t like hibiscus, you likely won’t enjoy this one. It’s not the best ever, but the flavor is strong and when brewed properly, the sourness is at a level I can enjoy, like a sour candy.

My boyfriend made me a cardamom, rose, pistachio cake for my birthday today! It’s absolutely delicious, and it went perfectly with a nice big pot of this tea. I made it over the stove in cashew milk and it was so delicious. It’s also slightly rainy and overcast today, so the milky chai perfectly fit my mood.

Reducing my rating for this A LOT. I’m not getting any banana. It’s just a spicy rooibos.

Tastes just like churro toffee from Disneyland!

I drank through my small stash of this last year, so I was anxiously awaiting its return. It’s as good as I remember, and perhaps my favorite pumpkin tea. The sweet, caramelized vanilla note works so well with the realistic pumpkin, and blend of spices (hello nutmeg and clove). It’s one of the few pumpkin teas that actually tastes like pumpkin (and not generic spices or carrots).

Sipdown. One of the few rooibos blends I actually enjoy (mainly because it doesn’t taste anything like rooibos). Smoky, ginger, cinnamon. So cozy. Sad to see this one go.

Excellent mixed with Butterbrew

Cold brew in oat milk overnight