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“I’m going for an adventurous start to the new year, with another neglected Bluebird sample. I’m not so sure about this one. Straight off, the scent is telling me it’s a pu’erh. It’s earthy, kind of...” Read full tasting note
“Additional notes: Sad sipdown! This is a five year old blend and tastes brand new (somehow with COFFEE BEANS??) and I just love this mix of flavors. I really would like to buy more. Oh the trick...” Read full tasting note
“SIpdown! (26 | 435) Not very impressed by this one. I get an earthy base with some coffee, but that’s about it. Supposedly there’s vanilla in here as well, but I don’t taste it at all. Which is...” Read full tasting note
“After opening the zip bag my first impression is that this blend just looks very esthetic – dark pu’erh, black tea plus lightly roasted coffee beans create a great visual effect. And it smells nice...” Read full tasting note
So you’re a coffee lover are you? What’s up with that?! Think of all the wars fought to get us our humble cuppa! You’d better pick your side and quick… But be clever about it, try this full bodied, aged Coffee Pu’erh tea with its sweet notes of vanilla and you might just find a better way to get your daily hit!
Ingredients: Chinese Pu’erh tea, coffee beans, Ceylon black tea, vanilla
Company description not available.
I’m going for an adventurous start to the new year, with another neglected Bluebird sample. I’m not so sure about this one. Straight off, the scent is telling me it’s a pu’erh. It’s earthy, kind of compost-like, a little bit…putrid? There’s no mistaking it, unfortunately. I distracted myself looking at the coffee beans for a few minutes — there are at least 6 whole, actual beans in this one cup sample — and then I went back to feeling scared. I didn’t give this too long in the water, because I was worried what it would turn into. The liquor is pretty dark after only a couple of minutes, and it’s quite strongly scented. Fortunately, I can detect some coffee notes now, although the overwhelming scent is still pu’erh.
I waited for this to cool a good deal before taking a tentative sip. It’s not as bad as I was expecting — the pu’erh is actually quite mild to taste, but the smell is pretty overwhelming. Deep breath before taking a sip, then! I’ve tried a couple of coffee flavoured teas before, and they’re not really my thing. Logically, perhaps — if I wanted coffee, I’d drink coffee, after all. I requested this as a sample because I was curious to try a couple more pu’erhs, and it was one of a few fairly limited options available to me. I was also hoping that the strong flavour of coffee would mask the pu’erh a little while I get used to the flavour. That was a good assumption to make, but on the whole I’m not really feeling this one. I can taste coffee, but it’s not a particularly fresh tasting coffee. I am pleased that I didn’t have to dump the cup, though. It’s pleasant enough that I’ll be able to finish it, but probably not one I’d come back to again. Sorry Bluebird — it’s not you, it’s me.
mild pu-erh but you can tell it’s a pu-erh and it blends very well with the coffee.Additional notes: Sad sipdown! This is a five year old blend and tastes brand new (somehow with COFFEE BEANS??) and I just love this mix of flavors. I really would like to buy more. Oh the trick of having sipdowns not lead to more orders… It’s dark yet sweet and not a gross sort of coffee. This is the perfect coffee puerh and so happy it ages so well. If a reblend is like this, I will be impressed. Raising the rating from 93 for consistency alone.
Edited to add: Also, previous steep sessions have had at least seven coffee beans in the infuser, and I only see ONE coffee bean this time… so all of that lovely coffee flavor must be a flavor addition of some kind? I guess I like that much more than real coffee.
2020 Sipdowns: 60
I would love to drink this tea, because the concept of blending tea with coffee seems fascinating. I’m curious, do the beans seem heavily or lightly roasted? Logically, they should be lightly roasted to not overpower the pu-erh, but I’m just guessing here.
Sorry, my knowledge on coffee is very thin, so I have no idea if these are light or dark roasted. I only know it’s delicious.
It’s okay.
And I’ll probably try it myself soon, because Bird & Blend currently has some sale with free international shipping, so that’s definitely one of the teas I’m going to put in my basket.
Oh I hope you like it!
dreamloomer: thanks for your message, but unfortuantely I can’t reply. Please contact me on my e-mail: (first name).(first 3 letters surname)95 at gmail.com I would gladly share some my teas with you!
I can suggest from sale items: Chocolate digestives, The Night Before Christmas
From not-sale: carrot cake, moondrop dreams and Vicky’s Sponge Cake
SIpdown! (26 | 435)
Not very impressed by this one. I get an earthy base with some coffee, but that’s about it. Supposedly there’s vanilla in here as well, but I don’t taste it at all. Which is a shame, because I think this could really use some sweetness or creaminess or something.
It’s just coming off as very one-dimensional to me. Meh!
Flavors: Coffee, Earth, Roasted, Smooth
After opening the zip bag my first impression is that this blend just looks very esthetic – dark pu’erh, black tea plus lightly roasted coffee beans create a great visual effect. And it smells nice when dry, a balanced mixture of all the ingredients.
When steeped, it is very dark (obviously), with a mellow, balanced aroma, not dominated by coffee.
It is slightly sweet, slightly roasted, with malty and earthy notes from tea. Here the coffee also doesn’t dominate, blends very well in the overall impression.
Nice experience, on the middle ground between tea and coffee, with the best of both worlds.
Flavors: Coffee, Earth, Malt, Sweat
This is a delightful pu’erh that balances the bitterness of coffee with the funkiness of fermented tea. It really met my caffeine craving and had a nice, deep roasted flavor (much better than the caramel macchiato from Lupicia or cafe mate from Capital Teas)
Thanks Nattie for sending me this from across the pond as part of our Hapa-tite! Tea Swap!
Flavors: Dark Bittersweet, Espresso, Tobacco
There’s this tea place in town that’s fairly new – it seems to have an impressive selection on hand and I’d love to sit down and pick the brain of the person who does their baking. The trouble is, they’re cool. And by cool I mean that the staff are attractive and thin and act like your presence is a major imposition on their time and they’d rather do anything other than make you a cup of tea. A friend of mine chalks this up to the fact that North American style customer service is a relatively recent import into the UK, but I’ve seen this in North America. It’s that shitty snobby attitude some cool shops have that they think makes them cool.
Which is crap, because I’m cool and I’m also really friendly. And you know what? Bluebird are cool and they’re really friendly, too. There’s something really lovely about people who are clearly passionate about what they produce and are enthusiastic about sharing it, especially when it’s really, really good.
I wanted something grounding and smooth this morning, and this fits the bill perfectly. Unlike coffee, which tastes weird to me with anything lighter than half and half cream (which is all too rare in Manchester supermarkets) this is so creamy and good with milk, and I don’t know how the farm flavour of pu-erh works with coffee, but it does so well. Mmmmmmm. Good.
What’s the tea place called? Thinking of making a trip to Manchester in a couple of weeks and want to bring back some tea (there is no loose leaf in Huddersfield!!)
It’s called Propertea, just next to the cathedral. What’s weird is I think it’s part-owned by the same folks as Teacup Kitchen, where they were really nice. There’s also Sugar Junction, which I intend to test out with Gentleman when he’s back from Japan; their Northern Quarter blend sounds gooood.
yay for new tea shops…boo on blechy service
Agreed. What’s with places who think indifferent shop assistants is good for business? Maybe I’ve just spent so many years in giving excellent customer service myself that I’m hyperaware of when somebody is plainly just, like, snooty and awful.
Wow, that is a lot of tea places! I’ll have to check them out, thanks (: as for the service, I noticed last time I was in Manchester the service in a few places I went wasn’t great, compared to back home (near Newcastle) where I’m used to super friendly American-style service. It may have something to do with the North East in general, or because it’s a small town compared to a city like Manchester. Whatever it is, it saved me a tip!
It’s definitely in part a size thing, as I always notice that people are less open and friendly in London than they are in Manchester! And if you get a little bit out of the city, a random kid on a walking trail will start chatting to you and your friend about whether you like England or Canadia better.
(He called it Canadia. SO cute. Then he shouted ahead to his sister, “Hey Laura, this lady’s Canadian!” and I sort of waved and said hi and it was so cute)
Yeah I definitely think that plays a part in it. It makes me miss home when I go somewhere people are cold ):
Haha aww, that’s adorable! ^^ kids can be so cute
I think that’s why I feel so much more isolated a lot of the time in certain big cities: less so Manchester than London or Toronto, mind. Then there’s NYC, which is a whole other kettle of fish that I absolutely adore. And then there’s LA, which is a terrifying, terrifying place that I only go to for professional development (read: getting tipsy with a bunch of friends who write for Doctor Who and probably snogging some people) but I feel more comfortable in mid-sized cities, where it’s not so nuts.
Yep, mid-sized in best for me, too, I’ve found (: I rather love London, though! I was taken there for my 13th birthday and fell absolutely in love with the place, whenever I go back it still feels magical. I don’t think I’d like to live and work there, though, and see the big industrial side of it. Manchester is great, too. I went there for the first time only about 6 months back!
And I’m sorry, but “friends who write for Doctor Who”??? :O That would be the best job ever.
I think living sort of on the fringes of London might not be so overwhelming – like, but I doubt I’d ever have a high enough income to find out anyway!
I am so sad that I have yet to write for Doctor Who. One of these days…
Haha yeah, it is ridiculously expensive down there! Manchester is a great place to be anyway for a writer, what with the BBC and everything (: I’m sure you can do it! It would be so amazing.
I’m going to keep trying to infiltrate the moat until they file a restraining order :p
Sounds like a good idea to me! But then again, I may have occasional boundary issues…
Heehee, I try very hard not to!
Thanks very much for this – it made me smile. Nice to know we’re getting customer service right!
I want to try more pu’erhs, too. They can seriously range all the way from horrifying to delectable. This is a flavoured one I loved:
http://steepster.com/clareborn/posts/196900
mmm i second puerh gourmand. You might also like lupicia’s chocolate/strawberry puerh and there’s another one i can’t for the life of my think of right now..
Ugh! This website will be the death of me. Okay, FINE, Sil, adding Lupicia’s choc/strawberry to the shopping list.
be warned it’s more flavoured than puerh…whereas i consider puerh gourmand to be puerh with some flavour…if that makes sense.
It does make sense. Either way, you’re evil.
if it makes you feel better i now have a cart built at lupicia, though i will do my best not to “buy.”
That makes you even more evil, because I can’t get Lupicia tea here and it makes me want to cry. They only ship in/to France, and I won’t be in the US until March. Patience. Patience is a virtue.
they don’t ship to canada…i have to beg my tea mule to bring it up for me heh
Okay, I feel better now. Shared tea pain is lessened tea pain.