Biscuit and Brew Tea House (formerly Arthur Dove Tea Co.)

This smells really interesting in the bag, but the flavor isn’t translating how I’d hoped. There is something a little savory and broth like in this for a second and it’s a little tart at the end from the modest level of hibiscus. I’d like to lower the steeping temp and maybe time in hopes to get a different cup from this tea. It isn’t bad, I just haven’t figured it out. I have no idea what hot cross buns taste like. I’ve only once recently come across a place that sells them, but they were sold out by the time I got there. It would be fun to do a side by side comparison of this tea and it’s namesake bun!

Aaaaaand it’s gone! I drank my last cup of this today. It was nice while it lasted. Never really got the whole salted part, but it was a tasty caramel with some milk. I enjoyed it, but don’t feel the need to reorder.

Getting close to the bottom of this bag. I’ve noticed it doesn’t steep as well a second time, which has helped me go through this bag a little more quickly. It has grown on me, but not quite enough to reorder. I’ve enjoyed it and prefer it with a little creamer, but I don’t think I’ll miss it terrible when it is gone. I still don’t quite get the salt part unless it’s just that it isn’t a sweet caramel flavor. Maybe the salt will all be in the last serving. shrug

Not as delightful as a goat milk latte as I had hoped. Or maybe it’s the corn chips I ate just before. I feel like the caramel is somehow more distinct. I’ll have to find a different type of milk before I try this as a latte again.

I had a cup of this the other day that I think I enjoyed a little more than this one. I recall overleafing it a bit. This smells like caramel when dry and steeped. There was a flatness to this cup and I added a touch of sugar to round things out a bit and it seems to have worked. In some sips I think I can pick out salt and in others not. Salt seems to be a tricky thing to add to tea because if you add it dry it just filters to the bottom of the mix. Guess I’m liking this because my cup is now empty! Time for a second steeping!

One of the mystery teas in my mix box! This is another one of the teas blended to one of Arthur’s songs. I’m finding the crossing of interests with music and tea fascinating!
This tea has a slight tartness to it at the start of the sip. I had to look at the ingredients because cinnamon was a prominent flavor I was picking up, but I didn’t see it on the packaging! I might have to double check. It’s more of a mellow baked cinnamon as opposed to the spicy bright cinnamon. This has pea flowers in it which colors the tea a deep purple/magenta and lends a little bit of earthiness to the flavor. A lot of pea flower teas I’ve had didn’t do much to mask or build on the pea flavor and I’m glad to see that isn’t the case here. There is a fruitiness I’m getting, but I can’t say what fruit. Like Sobre, this tea has a lot of flavors coming in and out of focus while managing to merge slightly as opposed to stepping on each other’s toes. There is a lightly tart cinnamon apple in the finish. Reminds me of apple cinnamon oatmeal! I’m looking forward to see how this tea grows on me over time!

Just got my second Arthur Dove order in. The box smelled amazing and juicy! I got 250g of two blends I liked from my first order and a selection of 10 random teas to try based on my stated preferences. This was a sample included in my order and smelled so intriguing that I had to start with it first. It’s blended to match one of the songs Arthur composed. When it was dry the eucalyptus and mint combo was most prominent, but when steeped the scent of jasmine shows up most. It tastes very complex! Rooibos, a touch of eucalyptus then mint. It’s almost savory for a moment. There are so many flavors jumping to the front and fading away making room for another flavor to appear. The flavors are all pretty mellow which works since there are so many. It’s so intriguing! I’m listening to the accompanying song on Spotify. I’m not quite sure what flavors translate into different elements of a song for me, but it’s a fun experience listening to what Arthur felt like the song should taste like! I want to try this cold steeped next time!

M is for… Mince Pie Chai!

Sipdown (1399)!

Thank you to my IG friend Sewwie for sharing this with me! I will admit I was curious about the profile, but not enough so to have wanted to order it for myself – blind buying chai blends is usually a no go for me. Love trying samples like this, though!

I found this interesting – it’s very peppery to me. Like, a whole big punch of pepper in a way that kind of made me want to sneeze from the very first sip up until I finished the mug. However, that aside, the warming notes of ginger and allspice did feel very festive and winter appropriate. We’re a little past that now (there’s green grass outside!!), but considering this was a Winter Blend that profile makes total sense contextually.

It’s ultimately not my cup of tea, but I’m really happy I got to try it because I think it’s a cool concept and not a bad execution if you don’t mind a more peppery chai.

My last rating of this seems really, really high to me but I can’t deny that I loved this past cup. I do love pretty much any blend with Lapsang in it because I’m just that predictable, but it’s the unique contrast of the bright, green apple with the grounding savory smoke that really hooks me with this tea in particular. It does feel sort of enchanted and “story book” in a sense. I feel like this mug was the first time i really ‘got’ why this particular combination of flavour was picked for this romanticized New York inspired blend. There’s a pun in there somewhere about NY being “the big apple” and the smoke maybe being the dinginess of some specific areas, but also there’s sort of a Snow White feel to it all too…

Sipped on this one at work today.

I see that, in the past, I really liked this – I’ll have to go back and read my old tasting notes to understand exactly what stood out to me, because today I found it just sort of middle of the road. Definitely pleasantly smoky with a gentle astringency and nice medium body. The spice composition was a little muddled and generic to me – only the cinnamon really stood out as “distinct”. Still a good cuppa, though!

From this weekend…

I was craving green apple, and I think I chose this one in particular for it’s strength and complexity because – yes – it DOES have such a nice bright and crisp green apple top note but it’s also get such a haunting smokiness from the Lapsang and the perfect kiss of clove. Though I have no reason to make this connection, it makes me think of the change of seasons that happens from Summer to Autumn, and for whatever reason that makes me feel comforted and nostalgic…

Morning cuppa!

Steeped this up a bit strong because I knew I was going to be adding oat milk to it. It’s nice and spicy with some great notes of clove and a woodier cinnamon as well. I get some of those smoky undertones from the Lapsang but it’s not too much – and I like how it trails into the finish and aftertaste. The apple feels somewhat drowned out to be between the spices, smoke, and heavy creaminess of the oat milk but I do taste some of that sweet green apple note near the end of the sip.

It’s a nice mug of tea, and just the right amount of flavourful for the morning, but I definitely liked it better without the oat milk.

F is for… Fairytale of New York!

First time trying this tea – I ordered it because the combo of Lapsang and green apple was very intriguing to me, but it really felt like a gamble whether or not I would enjoy this blend because there’s a Chai component to it as well.

Overall though, I’m really pleased with how this steeps out! I think Arthur just has this very magical knack to take flavours that you wouldn’t assume would work together and weave them into something both delicious and with a very interesting narrative perspective. The dry leaf aroma of this is pretty smoky but it also has a sarsaparilla type note to it and a sweet from the green apple – it translates into a delicious and enticing mix that seems fresh. Do you know how hard it is to make something with Lapsang in it come off as fresh!? It’s hard, y’all!!

The taste is so well balanced. The first thing I get in a slow build of smoke and hints of clove and warming spices. The idea of mixing spices and Lapsang makes sense to me and is something I’ve seen done before – but the particular mix of spices that Arthur has chosen is surprisingly enjoyable to me, and as always I find that he’s managed to find the exact right amount of Lapsang to use to get a smoke note across without dominating the cup.

But we can’t forget the green apple – that would be a disservice to this tea. It would be so easy for a bright green apple note to feel disconnected/disjointed from these haunting and lingering notes of smoke and warming, ticklish spices. Instead it feels integrated – the savory elements of the smoke bring out the juiciness of the apple in the body of the sip, and it fleshes out the profile in a distinct and unique way. Nothing is too strong, and nothing is ignored.

Another magical blend, imo!

Cold Brew!

I was searching for something fruity to cold brew and I saw my bag of this tea. I couldn’t remember exactly what fruit flavour it was, but I did remember it has coconut in it so I thought it might be in my best interest to make a brew to put a bit more of a dent in the bag before those coconut shreds start to go off.

Without looking at the ingredients I’m still not totally sure what the flavour is supposed to be, but it’s bright and juicy with a sort of more tropical lean. Not just because of the coconut, though that certainly contributes to the vibe. Plenty of hibiscus but also, maybe, mango?? I happily drank it down though, and was pleased that I got no sense that the coconut was starting to turn yet.

Cold Brew!

I have to be honest in saying that as a cold brew I thought this tasted fairly generic. Mostly just a bright, sweet tropical and hibiscus muddle of flavours with a hint of coconut. However, did the blurred together and non-complex flavours bother me? Definitely not! It was juicy, flavourful and above all refreshing. Good for a non-complex cold brew.

Had this one super, super late at night in the middle of last week. It was my first time trying it and frankly I was so tired that I didn’t pay it the right amount of attention, but I did enjoy it a lot! Definitely on the sweeter side with a syrupy liquor – heavy notes of sweet and tangy hibiscus, mango, and coconut. Just a nice tropical flare.

Cannot wait to have it again when my brain has more attention to give it. Perhaps as a cold brew or iced!?

Eggh. Wow. I really wanted to love this one. A gorgeous color in the cup, but just unfortunate. I’ll give it a 70 because I’ve really enjoyed the other Arthur Dove teas and know he was going for something here. I paid the admission fee, I just didn’t dig the exhibition.
It smells really fascinating. Earthy and of course smoky with that Lapsang Souchong, but boy it is funky in the cup. I think the addition of the beetroot with the licorice might’ve tipped things to the medicinal. My husband HATED it — pretty much consigned it to the never list. I tend to be a bit more adventuresome when it comes to tea, but this one just went further beyond the bounds. It’s just too cloying in those offnotes, like something soured sweet.

I think this was actually the last cake tea that I snuck into the mix and, at that point, after ten other teas I was feeling pretty burnt out on decadent cups of tea. Combine that with the fact the orange notes in the mug were especially pithy and bitter and I just was feeling this one a lot less than I had the others. The chocolate notes were nice and the coffee complimented well with both them and the rooibos (even though I don’t love coffee), but that orange was just kind of grating…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CpxoE_fuAkC/ (10th Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSRrALMGRyQ

From eaaarrrlllyyy last week.

I was really craving the orange/chocolate combination but I didn’t want a black tea or something with a bunch of caffeine so I dug out this sample as an alternative. I had totally forgotten how sharp and slightly acrid the orange note is versus being a sweeter orange. So, while the soft coffee and chocolate notes set against the sweeter rooibos base were very pleasant, the orange was not the style I was craving and I didn’t end up finishing the mug feeling satisfied.

I was super intrigued by this tea and couldn’t resist ordering it. I’ve had Jaffa Cake inspired teas before, but I just had to taste Arthur’s interpretation of this seemingly classic British treat/snack given the fact he’s, y’know, British…

The dry leaf smells like all three of the key components – coffee, chocolate, and orange. In that order as well; but more of a sweet coffee and milk chocolate that reminds me of a Coffee Crisp! It’s because of that impression that I found myself a little surprised, when I drank the steeped tea, to find it was actually the orange note that stood out the most! Very bright, sharp and a little bit pithy like an orange peel. I enjoyed the tea but it didn’t seem to mesh seamlessly with the creamier chocolate and mild coffee notes that comprised the rest of the cup. It was almost just a bit too strong of an orange for me.

It was still a nice tea, but this might be my least favourite rooibos based blend I’ve tried from Arthur Dove so far – but I’m excited to continue exploring this one and see if my impression changes now that I know what to expect.

I got a lovely package of French tea samplers from Dustin today! Thank you so much, Dustin! (I think I’ll do a “French Friday” until I’ve sampled through them!) This was also included, so I’m brewing it up as my nightly herbal today! Sara’s Happy Hibiscus Rescue Habitat is always ready to re-home teas like this!

Steeps a lovely deep red. Smells of spices, particularly cinnamon, with some citrus and floral tones. It’s a nice spiced hibiscus tea; thick and filling mouthfeel, tart and tangy fruity note, with a strong orange flavor filling out mid-sip, followed by some lingering warming spices at the end of the sip, most notably a sweet cinnamon note and some clove.

I think I prefer T2’s Mulled Wine Magic a bit more, likely from the anise that is in that spice blend and is lacking here, but this is perfectly servicable for this type of tea.

Thanks, Dustin!

This is a nice cup of tea. I’ve had a few cherry flavored teas and this one has a nice balance of cherry and almond. Amaretto, for sure, but also this kind of nice gooeyness, like a slice of good apple pie. Also some creaminess too, or I might be imagining that. This is my first tea from Arthur Dove and I was absolutely delighted by it. As was the hubby who is not usually fond of cherry flavors — I opened the three bags we’d gotten and let him choose and he chose this one. And he went for a second cup too. Ah, yes, made for a two nice second cups off the same steeper load. So there’s that.

Sipdown. I have to say… this has grown on me. The addition of cream and sugar really helps make this cup delicious. I don’t know that I’d pick out the flavors as being banana fudge, but they are tasty. The cup is malty with banana notes when I think about it, but more as a creamy flavor than bright banana. The fudge part feels like it melts into the malt as opposed to standing out on it’s own. If I had more room in my cupboard and was doing another AD order I’d add a bag of this for sure.

Had a cup of this straight earlier in the week and felt so-so about it. The banana felt pretty light to me and hidden behind the tea base. I think I steeped it at 200 for 3 minutes. Today I did boiling for 3 minutes and I want to say it’s stronger, but it’s still more subtle than I like my banana teas. I added a little cream and sugar in this cup and that made the banana flavor feel more rounded and lively. I’m also not sure I get a proper fudge flavor. There is a deepness to the flavor that implies fudge, but it feels faint to me as well. The other AD teas I got are bursting with flavor and this one is much more subtle in comparison. I’ll keep messing with the steeping parameters to see if I can coax bolder flavors out of this.