Irish Cream (formerly Fairytale of NY)

2022 Bird & Blend Advent calendar Day #9

It’s March, so tea reflecting Ireland seems appropriate. I’m not a coffee fan at all. I try but I just don’t find it enjoyable to drink. I was worried that the coffee beans in this would put it in the “absolutely not” category. However, I like this blend well enough. Pretty sure that’s because my expectations were to really dislike the tea. It’s earthy and creamy. I definitely taste the coffee and cocoa. I remember passing off my first mug of this to the Mister, who does love coffee. I was thinking about passing this one off as well.

An unopened pouch (with former name), which must be from December 2021, my last subscription month from B&B. As I don’t like coffee and I don’t drink it either, this prompt from ashmanra was a bit hard — Jan. 20 – a coffee flavored tea. I actually wasn’t sure if I had some coffee flavoured tea, but when searching tea for tea pot yesterday, I found this one. I was so puzzled, because unopened packages are very rare in my stash.

I am not surprised, that I am not a fan. It tastes like Venetian Tiramisu by Harney & Sons; but much weaker and more boring base — well the rooibos isn’t as potent as a hojicha.

Actually I am not tasting coffee much and it wasn’t creamy at all?! It was rather drying. Shame, as it smells nicely.

such an amazing tea from bird and bland, really creamy with touch of coffe that makes it amazing, and i am so thankful to my dear friend for this tea and many others.

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 9!

Well, now I’ve got this song stuck in my head. XD

I received a sample of this one in my B&B order last month, so this one is somewhat familiar to me (although I didn’t review it at the time). I find it mostly underwhelming. I enjoy coffee quite a bit, so I’m not opposed to coffee beans in my tea, but I’m not sure it adds much here—I just get a slightly sour, musty smell and taste that reminds of me old, stale coffee. I’d like the blend more without it—there’s a nice light creaminess and a hint of cocoa that’s generally pleasant, if not earth-shattering.

I do wish I were trying more of these B&B blends as loose-leaf rather than bagged tea—I’d add more leaf and try to bump up the flavor. Ah well.

Discovery Advent Tea #7
When tea meets NY, NY punches it in the face and adds coffee. I found this one to be bitter. Strangely earthy with chocolate tones.

B&B Advent 2021 Day 9

This one wasn’t as delicious as I recall from last year. I’m starting to think perhaps these teabags in wee cardboard boxes are becoming contaminated from the nearby teas.

meh. I know what they were going for here, but i never seem to really love teas that add coffee beans to the brew. I think it’s because i’d rather drink coffee not tea trying to take pieces of coffee in to it.

The name is lovely…but that’s the only thing this blend has going for it, in my opinion. I’ve never really understood coffee-flavored tea blends. I drink tea because it tastes better than coffee, so why would I want it to taste like coffee? And blending it with rooibos seems like an especially strange choice. I don’t like the flavor of rooibos to begin with and the addition of actual coffee beans to this blend means it’s an “herbal” tea that’s probably more caffeinated than black tea! I’ve never had Irish coffee, so I’m not really sure if the flavor is correct or not. To me, it smells like coffee and tastes like coffee and I am just not a fan. Hopefully I can find a coffee-loving friend to pass this on to!

14 inches of snow and no garage make Maddy crabby. I spend about 25 minutes trying to dig the car out. I got it half excavated. I don’t have to go anywhere until Friday so I (wheezing and and cursing) decided to do a little more tomorrow and then a little more Wednesday. The whole parking lot is a mess. The wind is still blowing so although it isn’t all that cold, it felt like it with the wind.

I came in and brewed this sachet for the advent calendar. I am not sure what I thought of it. It appears to be well liked but it just wasn’t that good for me. Nothing wrong with it. It wasn’t bitter or astringent or sour. And it was nice and warm when I was cold and crabby. Maybe I just was in the mood for something familiar and beloved and didn’t get the same kind of comfort from an old favorite. Oh well. Tomorrow I will drink something from the stash that I know I love.

I have been a bit MIA because I have been enjoying myself in Montreal. Part of that enjoyment was finally getting to meet my tea twin, Roswell Strange, which was perfectly wonderful. I can’t speak for her but I think we hit it off in person just as much as we do online. I guess when you know someone is a friend, you just know. Of course this meeting also served as an in-person tea swap…my few samples to literally 7 lbs of tea samples from Roswell Strange. Christmas definitely came early for me :P

Yet, despite having all those teas, I have yet to get a chance to log them so who knows what number my cupboard is about to hit. My guess is 250, for sure. Most likely more…we will see. And, they have all made it safely to my home…with no apparent crushing from being shoved into my suitcase. Hooray!

This tea, however, was my advent tea for today. It seemed like the easy cup to make seeing as I haven’t sorted through everything yet. That will be tomorrow’s fun. I actually don’t recall picking this one. While it is entirely possible that I did and just don’t remember, I have been having this odd feeling that some of the teas in the advent were not ones I selected. I swear I picked more matchas/powders than what I got and I know if you were over a certain amount of matchas/powders there was an additional fee. I am starting to wonder if I was not charged that fee and thus was given random other teas. Or, I just don’t really remember what I picked. Either way, it worked out with this tea.

Rooibos and coffee beans is not a combination I usually love because why add caffeine to a caffeine free blend. However, it really works here. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this cup. It tastes like how I always want coffee-flavored things to taste…which is basically less like actual coffee and more like a creamy and sweet mocha-coffee-ish flavor. No bitterness. Like coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s. Even my sister commented on how this one smelled good (I made her carry it upstairs for me since my knee is quite sore following the trip and I needed my hands to help myself up the stairs). All in all, I was quite pleased and would actually consider stocking this blend.