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I received this sample as a gift from Derk, thank you!

It’s a rainy morning here so a darker oolong just sounded right. The aroma is an amalgamation of roasty, earthy, and nutty notes… like nuts harvested from wet, metallic ground. Also a hint of nutmeg aroma on the nose.

It tastes as it smells. Rain-soaked earth, walnuts, a hint of spice. The roast is pleasant, giving it a mild char aftertaste without tasting like chewing on charcoal ash. There are some undertones of very dark, bittersweet chocolate. I don’t get the fruity notes that so many others have noted — maybe a hint of apple sweetness beneath the roast, nuts, and earth? — but perhaps that is due to my heathen Western brewing preference over gong fu.

The warm roastiness and metallic earth really do make this a nice accompaniment for a drizzly morning. Thanks for sharing, Derk!

I received this sample as a gift from Derk, thank you!

The steeped tea smells of warm cinnamon bread, malt, stewed cherry and dates, with some nutty and umami overtones. Smooth and malty with an oat/rye quality, with some fruity orange notes and a sweet ’n sour sauce flavor that lingers on my tongue. A hint of Chinese black smokiness.

Very tasty! Thank you, Derk!

This was kindly shared with me from Derk, thank you so much! I’ve been having trouble sleeping the last few nights and it is really catching up to me, so I’m hoping an IV drip of black tea at work today will keep my eyelids open just enough to power through.

The dry leaf is long and spindly with a plum-like aroma. Brewed, the tea is high aromatic, with a strong aroma of thick, golden floral honey and apricots over warm, overbaked bread and malt. It’s very smooth… I get a lot of stewed stonefruit and grilled/smoked pineapple fruity notes, with a sort of BBQ sauce umami note as well. The end of the sip is very malty with a bit of drying on the tongue and some lingering honey sweetness.

It’s a very pleasant morning black, and a nice palate cleanser in-between sweet gooey bites of Clif Bar for breakfast.

Thank you, Derk!

As I have continued to sipdown teas without making any purchases, a lot of “staple” flavors have been disappearing from my cupboard… rose black tea being one. So when I saw these teabags at my local grocery, I didn’t have high hopes, but thought it would be better than nothing.

My expectations were completely blown away by these, though! The black tea base has a much nicer flavor than I’m used to from grocery store blacks, having that rich, slightly smoky and slightly leathery flavor of a Keemun, with brassy-malt undertones. The rose fairly strong… it is perhaps a bit oily/artificial but I really love the flavor and like my rose teas on the strong side. I imagine those that do not have my floral grit could find this “perfumy” or “soapy.” It’s not as good as naturally scented rose petal tea, but for a cheaper and more easily accessible option, I’m really pleased with the flavor. It’s been great both as a warm morning pick-me-up-cup and coldbrewed in the fridge and gulped down as chilled tea.

I really enjoy violet tea, but both that I have tried from Bird & Blend (this one and “Purple Rain”) have both been a miss for me. In both, the black tea in the base just came across really bitter, even with the most careful of measures during the steeping process.

This one isn’t quite as abrasive as “Purple Rain,” since the added chocolate flavor does add a bit of sweetness, but it also doesn’t really seamlessly mesh with the floral violet, either. I love chocolate paired with lavender and rose, but this just tastes a little weird to me? The fact the chocolate note is coming off really artificial probably doesn’t help. Having “cream” in the title, I’d expect more of a vanilla note in the flavor rather than chocolate, and I wonder if that would’ve improved it a bit more.

It’s not so bad that I won’t finish this off, but I wouldn’t order violet tea from Bird & Blend again.

I have really enjoyed this tea. The dry leaf has a lovely sweet, lavender-forward aroma which carries over to the steeped cup. The flavor does make me think of a lavender frosting… it is very sweet with a vanilla cream undertone, and the lavender is lovely, strong enough to be a pervasive flavor but not so strong that the tea gets floral-bitter. My only complaint is that the apple comes off a bit strongly fruity, which does break the buttercream illusion a bit. The tea is also very sweet, so it has taken me a while to sip down my package, since it very much became a “mood” drink.

I’ve been mainly drinking this hot and plain, but decided to use up the last of the leaf in a frothy vanilla almond milk latte, which is very indulgent. The added creaminess of the milk and vanilla really pushes the sweetness, without drowning out the lavender which is by far my favorite part (I’m a big lavender fan).

This sample was gifted to me by AJRimmer, thank you!

We are still getting intermittent snow in my neck of the woods, so I brewed this up as a warm thermos. Has that same dark, rich, roasty and slightly nutty coffee flavor as the other Teeccino flavors I’ve been able to try, but I find the pumpkin spice a bit lacking. I really only taste the nutmeg, and it is a strong nutmeg flavor, which I find rarely stands out in spice blend tea mixes I’ve had. It is a nice flavor and I like seeing it shine, and it compliments the coffee notes really well, but I don’t get even a hint of cinnamon, ginger, or clove, so it doesn’t really make me think of “pumpkin spice.” If they just named this “Nutmeg Coffee” it’d be spot on.

It’s good and I’m enjoying my thermos, but I liked the French Vanilla and Chocolate Raspberry flavors a bit more.

This was gifted to me by AJRimmer, thank you!

I’ve finally worked my way through the tin, making hibiscus coldbrew. I drink it ice cold without any sweetener, and find it so refreshing. I actually get a strong cranberry note from the hibiscus in the absense of other fruit (a flavor I notoriously can never taste in cranberry flavored teas). It’s really nice! Tart, tangy, and hydrating.

This sample was gifted by AJRimmer, thank you!

It smells pleasant in the cup… gentle spices and a subtle sweetness. The flavor is nice, too. I get more of an orange spice tea than gingerbread, but it is also one of the better orange spice flavor profiles I’ve had in a while. The citrus isn’t too potent as a flavor, but I think it really makes the clove notes pop, which is coming off as the strongest spice note. The ginger is present but not without any unpleasant burning. The tea isn’t as sweet as it comes off on the nose, and the spice notes are strong but not aggressive.

It’s a nice cold morning tea. (Spring still is hesitant to spring in my neck of the woods, and it’s a comforting profile against the random snow/rain/wind that keeps popping up the second I think the weather is going to turn).

A sample from AJRimmer, thank you! I actually prepared this as a liter coldbrew combined with another sample from AJRimmer, “Cranberry Lemonade Green Tea” also from 52Teas, but the ratio was 4g Blueberry Limeade to 1.5g Cranberry Lemonade, so I decided to put the review here as I’m expecting that to be the main flavor profile (albeit likely a bit more lemony).

This is such a refreshing coldbrew! The base is fresh and just a touch grassy, with a strong lemon-lime citrus zing and a sweeter, juicy blueberry note. The citrus is tangy and lingers after the sip. The blueberry mixes with the citrus nicely. Easily gulpable ice-cold from the fridge!