Blueberry Almond Streusel

Inkling Advent Day 11. I usually steep my black teas at 200 for 3 minutes maximum, but the steeping parameters on the bag encourage a longer steep time (plus higher temperature, which I didn’t follow). I definitely wish I’d gone with my usual steep time as well, because I feel like more negative, approaching bitter flavors are appearing in this cup. I taste a bit of blueberry as well, but none of the other flavors that are supposed to be in this blend. I refrigerated this to see if that would let more flavoring show, and that definitely worked. Then I could taste a good amount of candy blueberry, and the black tea is toned down as well. Leaving it overnight let the whole cup go flat, which was a shame because it was pretty nice last night, but I didn’t want a lot of caffeine too late.

Was craving blueberry tea earlier today and this was the first one in my stash that I came across. The black tea used here is a little more tannic and astringent, but I think it works well since the blueberry has that round, deep sort of jammy sweetness that’s a little more like blueberry pie filling versus actual blueberry. Having something to cut through that is actually pretty beneficial. The almond is present, though more raw and almost a little pasty tasting. All of that is accompanied by a really distinct homebaked bread flavour. Hot out of the oven bread, too! It’s warm and inviting with a surprising level of nuance and depth to the different flavours. I could do with a bit less of that “raw” almond taste, but overall I like this blend a fair bit!

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge: a tea with a name that begins with a Periodic Table abbreviation

Ba

This is probably one of my favorite of Deb’s blends. Tastes like a delicious blueberry almond muffin. There is a definite baked/pastry quality, with the blueberry and almond matching in intensity.

Intended to latte this tonight but ran out of milk, oops. So I steeped it a bit too strong, and added some coconut milk. Good blueberry flavour, and I tasted the almond this time, but it was astringent. I’m not sure if the increased flavour was worth the astringency, but I still drank it.

Sipdown! (35 | 487)

I quite enjoyed this one. It reminds me of a cereal I used to like when I was younger, called Blueberry Morning. Apparently Post still makes it, I just haven’t seen it at any stores near me in a long time. I’ll have to keep an eye out!

Anyway… I don’t generally like almond flavoring, but I don’t really taste it here. It reads more sweet and jammy blueberry with a little bit of toasted almond. There’s a brown sugar sweetness that’s reminding me of the sweet granola clusters from that cereal. The black base, as usual, is not my favorite and has a slightly tannic character but not much else.

I will say after having several cups, I remain surprised that there’s no blueberry flavoring in this. The blueberry taste has been very present and consistent, which is unusual for something with just dried berries.

My only complaint is it’s a bit too sweet, and because of that it won’t be a reorder for me. I enjoyed my 25g pouch though! :)