I’m starting Easter early with this tea. There are only three days of work this week, so that’s more than enough reason to celebrate. Also, I just realised that I still have my sample of this tea from 2015, so I’m catching up with that before I start the 2016 version I got with my recent Bluebird order. So, anyway. The tea.
I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup. It looks predominantly rooibos based to me, although there are a decent amount of ceylon leaves also present – maybe 70:30. The scent of the dry leaf is massively fruity, mostly orange. It reminds me a lot of undiluted cordial. I left this one for around 3 minutes before I added a splash of milk.
To taste, it’s actually more flavour accurate than I was expecting given the scent. It does remind me of hot cross buns, particularly when you first open a packet of fresh ones. I can taste orange (lots!), a pithy kind of taste that could be citrus zest, apple, cranberry, and currants. There’s also a hint of cinnamon lurking around in the mid-sip, but it’s not particularly prominent.
The vanilla is more of a scent than a flavour for me, but it does translate as a mild creamy flavour that’s very reminiscent of the white cross and maybe melted butter at a push. I’d like that to have been a bit stronger, but it’s there and I’m happy for that. I’m aware that this blend contains some Lapsang Souchong, but again it’s not a big part of the overall flavour. I get flashes of it every now and then, and they make me think of toast – or toasted hot cross buns, maybe. Love.
What I’d have liked here is more of a “bread” flavour, to go with the fruit and spice, creaminess and smokiness. That would really have set this one apart for me. As it is, it’s just a bit too fruity (orangey) to really capture the true flavour of hot cross buns. It’s close, though – so close.
Sounds lovely! Bluebird is a company I’d love to try, but I’m scared of the prospect of UK shipping to Canada.