Gingerbread Chai

Finished off my old tin of this last night, which means…which means…that I only have a free sample sachet of this one left (from my latest order, I hasten to add) before this becomes a sipdown! It seems odd to be pleased about that, because I do love this tea. It’s the best gingerbread tea I’ve tried, with a good kick of spice and delicious “Jamaica ginger cake-esque” cake flavour. A real treat. I think the novelty has worn off for the moment, though, and I could do with a rest from this one. As it’s now nearly summer (sort of, anyway), I guess that makes sense! Hopefully I’ll come back to this one refreshed at the end of the year, but for now it’s almost goodbye.

2022 Bird & Blend Advent calendar Day #1

It’s funny. I vaguely remember being disappointed in this tea in December. Today, I’m loving it. Just goes to show, my ratings are purely based on the moment. I wouldn’t say that April equates to Gingerbread but it’s a gloomy rainy weekend/week and it definitely feels like a good wake up tea. The GINGER is very present as is the cinnamon and cardamom. I didn’t feel the need to add milk today to make it more creamy. It’s not as sweet as the typical gingerbreads I have had. I have a terrific maple gingerbread cake that I make during the winter. So perhaps I am missing some of the sweetness that the mallow flowers are supposed to contribute. I think some brown sugar to sweeten might bring it closer to gingerbread. It’s a decent ginger spiced tea though

I rooted through my stash for this after a discussion with whosbradpitt about the potential similarities and/or differences between gingerbread in the US and UK. Neither of us has tried both, so I decided to pull it out, steep it up and see how similar to gingerbread it seemed to me. I took this very seriously, making myself two cups steeped regular western style (one plain, one with additives), as well as a tea latte, which I’ve been making almost every night lately.

I think my final answer is… a bit similar?
When drank plain, the similarity is less noticeable, more of a rooibos chai and less of a ‘baked goods’ vibe. The spices are well-blended, which would usually be a plus, but the ginger isn’t particularly prominent so the ‘gingerbread’ feel is missing. Adding milk dulls the whole thing down, but a pinch of brown sugar adds that dessert feel which was missing and makes it feel much more like gingerbread. I even think the ginger becomes a little more prominent this way!
Prepared as a latte, this is where it really shines. Double strength tea, 1/3 hot milk and a teaspoon of premium grade maple syrup – this is how you make it taste like gingerbread! Now ginger isn’t my favourite spice, but I love cinnamon, and this is a really nice blend of the two. The rooibos isn’t particularly woodsy, but somehow is adding to the ‘cakeiness’ of the whole thing. If there were a brown sugar or vanilla note to really amp up the dessert notes, I think it would be spot on!

So in conclusion, is it gingerbread? Kinda. Is it tasty? Heck yeah.

I’m new to Bird & Blend and thought that sampling from their advent calendars would be a good way to decide if I needed to place an order. (The answer is already yes, because of their Spiced Pumpkin Chai I got as a sample). I couldn’t decide between caffeine free and regular, and figured I’d go for both since I’m not aiming to keep up with them this month – plus the matcha because it’s fun and different.

I should have realized that this would mean I’m in for a good deal of rooibos; why is it just now occurring to me that this is going to be heavily featured in caffeine-free tea?

Actually, this one isn’t too terrible for me. The ginger is spicy and stands out above everything else going on, and it’s almost enough for me to ignore the wood-chips flavor I get out of the rooibos. I don’t know that it feels like gingerbread, but I’m wondering if that might be a regional difference in what Americans consider gingerbread.

I wouldn’t buy it, but I’m not mad about having a few bags of it.

Bird & Blend Caffeine & Caffeine Free Advents, Day 1

I wasn’t too fussed about this tea until I sweetened it, which seems to unlock the more biscuit-ey flavours as upposed to the rooibos. It’s still not my best spice-heavy tea, if i’m honest. Glad to have gotten the sample, so I know that.

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 16!

I waaay over-steeped this tea bag because I got distracted by (1) the mail carrier’s arrival and my subsequent need to keep my pups from noticing his approach by plying them with treats, and (2) reading reviews of today’s 52Teas holiday blend here on Steepster. :D I’m very excited to try that one later today—it smells incredible!—but for now I’m sticking to the B&B advent blend because my stomach is slightly unhappy, and the gingerbread chai spices seem more appealing at the moment.

Anyway! My partner sniffed the dry tea bag and made a face. After looking at the ingredient list, he realized he’s probably not a fan of rooibos. An interesting discovery! Something to keep in mind for any future joint tea-drinking experiences. I personally like rooibos, so I’m fine with it as the base for this one.

Brewed, I’m not getting a super strong scent of spices. It’s just sort of rooibos-y with some muted ginger and clove (??) and a bit of vanilla. Taste-wise… wow, the ginger is strong! Which is not the worst thing for my unhappy tum, but maybe not the best thing if you want a more balanced blend of spices. As it cools, I’m getting a little more vanilla and noticing more of the rooibos base, along with a tiny bit of creaminess from the mallow flowers. The ginger is still really strong; I’m not noticing much of the cinnamon or cardamom but I am getting a hint of allspice, even though that’s not listed in the ingredients.

I think this would be better described as a ginger chai, as I’m not getting the fuller mouthfeel I’d expect from gingerBREAD. It’s decent, although I can’t see myself craving it in the future.

This came as a sample in a holiday gift A ordered for me.

The dry sachet smells intensely of ginger. The steeped tea smells a bit nicer to me with ginger still being the dominant note, but some other spices and maybe a hint of what I can consider a tea-ified gingerbread cookie.

Drinking this hot and the ginger is much more muted in the drink, but I can’t decipher any of the other ingredients. On the upside, I actually forgot this was a rooibos base at all. As the tea cooled, it became more perfumed ginger. I ended up dumping the last of my cup.

A sweet friend sent me Bird & Blend’s Christmas gift set and by exercising remarkable self-control, I managed to save it for a special treat on my vacation last week. This one was worth the wait! I’ll have to do a side-by-side comparison at some point, but this blend may have topped Market Spice’s Gingerbread Rooibos as my very favorite gingerbread tea. The balance of spices is just the right combination of sweet and spicy and with a splash of milk, a mug of this feels just as indulgent as eating a gingerbread cookie. I’m already almost through my 1oz sample and will definitely be re-purchasing!

I enjoyed the spice blend of this one, but I made the mistake of leaving it overnight and it just tasted bad in the morning, which I’ve come to expect from rooibos/honeybush. So most of that cup was dumped. I think it might make a nice latte though?

4 grams of blend / 300 ml water, grandpa.

While dry it really gets me into Christmas season. Well, it is just around the corner and more over yesterday, when I was doing another inventory check (in my hometown! – so I was back home soon) I was counting Christmas wrapping papers (rolls) and Christmas greeting cards. It was kind of fun, as I was doing it with my friend.

I have to say that aroma of dry leaf was not really appealing, but when brewed, it filled whole living room. Ginger mostly, followed by cinnamon.

In taste it is mellow and then the fire comes! It is maybe too strong of ginger. It is nice, kind of christmas cookies – but well quite spicy for me. Maybe brewing it grandpa wasn’t most clever thing.