Black Forest

Last night’s after dinner cup! I pulled out a stack of Bluebird teas when I went through my tea box on Sunday, so it’s no surprise that I’m starting to work through them. As ever, I only wish I’d done it sooner because this one. Is. Amazing. It smells great as soon as you open the pouch, but I’m always slightly wary of building up hopes at that point because scent and flavour are two entirely different things. I’ve learned this the hard way when it comes to tea and expectations. It’s not the case here, though, because this tea actually tastes like black forest gateau in a cup! I used 1.5 tsp of leaf, gave it a good 4 minutes in boiling water, and then added a splash of milk.

The initial flavour is cherry – concentrated black cherry, and a little syrupy. Second comes the chocolate – dark chocolate, rich and creamy. It has a lightness that really reminds me of sponge cake, although I have no idea how that’s achieved. Last of all is a hint of vanilla, which puts me very much in mind of the whipped cream topping a black forest gateau would have. Altogether, it’s pretty well a spot-on recreation in liquid form. I wasn’t expecting to be quite so impressed, but I’m more than glad that I am. This will definitely be a repurchase once I have my cupboard a little more in order. I’ve just placed an order with Bluebird for their new Spring collection anyway, so it’ll be a while yet I suspect.

One thing that did stand out to me is the sheer amount of different berries that went into this one – elderberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and cranberries, but no cherry. I just found it interesting that the effect they create is so different from what they actually are, and that it took so many different berries to achieve it. There’s also apple and hibiscus, so go figure I guess. In some ways, Bluebird strike me almost as a smaller, UK version of David’s Tea. “All the ingredients”, huh? Given that it tastes this good, though, I’m not really complaining!

I feel like I’ve been super absent from everything the last three weeks due to work, traveling, being unwell and just life in general but fingers crossed I’m back into the swing of things… more or less… I had such high hopes for this tea, I mean seriously, Black Forest Cake Tea!! And although the dry leaf smelled super amazing and was fully of the most chocolatey-cherry-berry scent the liquid was a disappointing and lacking in flavor… and I’d even gone a little above and beyond by trading my usual skim-milk with heavy cream!!! I’m not giving up yet however, I’ll give this another go (probably with a little more leaf) and see how it goes… I’m starting to realize I’m a chronic over-leafer and prefer way more leaf than recommended in order to get the flavor I want and I really shouldn’t hold that against a tea when I’m brewing as per the recommended parameters!! Watch this space… I have faith in Bluebird!!