Murchie's Tea & Coffee

This sample came from my friend who buys their winter teas every year.

This is better than I anticipated! I typically don’t like peppermint teas with any actual tea in it (I like pure peppermint leaf) but I think the Ceylon adds to the flavour here. I added a splash of vanilla soy milk and it cut the tannin bitterness. The black base has a lot of malty flavour, which makes this a great breakfast tea. The peppermint is quite strong, despite having very little peppermint leaf in the looseleaf mix.

While it is not something I would keep in my cupboard, I enjoyed this cup and would drink it again.

This blend is pretty good, I didn’t get much of anything flavor wise until I sweetened it. I found it best sweetened with milk but I don’t think I’m going to repurchase it again. This is going in the sipdown bin.

2024 sipdown no. 57

I’m going to chalk this down to user error. There was some fruitiness (not specifically blackcurrant) and some pepperiness, but they came across oddly muddled and just didn’t taste good. Nonetheless, happy to have tried and thank you Cameron for sharing!

2024 sipdown no. 54

This is a really lovely EG. The yuzu is mostly apparent in a slight peppery scent once steeped, though I didn’t find a lot of it in taste. The bergamot is mellow here and doesn’t have an edge, which is quite nice. The base is smooth and overall this tea steeps up very well.

Thank you Cameron!

Sipdown! (8 | 127)

Not entirely sure why I picked this one up, since generally I’m not a big fan of clove. I do love orange though, so I must’ve been tempted by the bright orange cover, which features the fruit so prominently. :P

Sipped through this almost entirely with oat milk and raw sugar, and it’s very tasty that way. The orange still shines through, with a zesty essential oil sort of flavor to it. Spices are present but not overpowering. Seems like a nice enough example of an orange spice tea, but not being a clove person, that’s not really a category I tend to reach for. I really need to find some nice, sweet & tangy orange teas without the spice!

2024 sipdown no. 51

Thank you Cameron for all the teas! <3

This one is maple-y, though I’m always left wanting with these maples teas — I wish for proper maple, not ‘maple flavour’ (perhaps too maple snobbish on my part) :P. The base is smooth enough with no noticeable atringency, though there is no cranberry or apple to speak of.

Sipdown! (2 | 121)

Finished this one off with sugar and oat milk. I don’t know whether they’ve changed the formula for this tea or what, but I was shocked to see multiple reviews calling the maple subtle? To me, it’s very strong and buttery-tasting, like maple leaf sandwich cookies. With the oat milk, it’s a decadent fall treat.

Probably not one I would reorder, just because I don’t tend to reach for desserty teas at this point. Plus they have other maple teas that I like better.

Sipdown! (12 | 118)

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Murchie’s definitely seems to excel at black-green blends, which is something I’ve never really liked in the past. This one has a soft smokiness from the Lapsang, which I don’t generally reach for, but here the citrus and jasmine help to smooth it out and brighten it up a bit.

Very nice everyday mindless sipping sort of tea. When I get around to reordering from Murchie’s, I might have a difficult time deciding which black-green blends to get. I think this one is quite similar to the No. 10, which I also enjoyed. But this has the addition of the lapsang and apparently Darjeeling. Will be interesting to see how the loose leaf compares as well, since all the ones I’ve tried have been in teabag form.

I might just do a pause on the backlog of tasting notes that I am trying to catch up on reading from everyone and just follow along with the new tasting notes for the month of December.  I don’t want to miss the advent avalanche as it is happening!   Personally, I don’t have any advents this year, and am away from most of my tea collection anyway… so there will be few holiday tea postings from me this year. 
Leaving a sipdown note of this one, to say there was more maple flavor than I remembered last time.  The description says it should be caramel and brioche, but to me I thought it was maple both times I tried it.
2024 sipdowns: 80

From Cameron B!  Thanks again!  I can’t complain about the lack of strength to this black tea!  It’s a kicker.  It tastes like a mix of Ceylon and Assam.  Might be TOO strong for afternoon… but I don’t think I have that problem.  Then there is a nice sweetness to it, with a maple flavor.  I definitely think this is more of a breakfast tea. I forgot there was green tea included here… I didn’t notice it.
Steep #1 // teabag for a mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

Thanks again, Cameron B! I had to read the description again while drinking this - and then realized the problem might be a muddling of too many flavors. There is a lot going on, which kind of leaves my tastebuds confused. This has some rose flavor. Then some fruit, which I didn’t figure out was raspberry until I read the description. It’s an okay raspberry flavor- not the best. Then there should be some bergamot which I think is hiding behind the rose and fruit. The flavoring might be acceptable if I liked the base black tea, but of course the base is hiding behind all the flavor too. Maybe this blend isn’t working for me because I don’t think I ever described myself as “a princess”. :D

Thanks again, Cameron B! I love when a strawberry tea actually has flavor, and this one does! It’s strawberries and cream for sure. It surprises me that this black tea consists of Ceylon and Keemun… it must be only a few tiny leaves of Keemun in the entire pouch, as I’m not noticing any keemun qualities at all. But I’m fine with such a light black tea being a bit disappointing in this case, because the strawberry cream flavor is so spot on and so delicious. Yuuum. I think my short, tame steep time really works on this one.

2024 sipdown no. 49

I used two teabags for my 15oz mug of this tea. This one has that similar apricot-perfume scent as H&S, but more toned down. The flavour is subtle apricot and the base isn’t as bitter as the Murchie’s blackcurrant. This one isn’t bad, perhaps not overly memorable.

I cold steeped a single teabag in a smaller mug and the apricot is more washed out, resulting in very little flavour and a relatively un-noteworthy black base (no bitterness).

2024 sipdown no. 48

My colleague shared a few teabags with me of this (and Apricot). I steeped two teabags for my 15oz mug and it’s underwhelming. There’s a bitterness with some blackcurrant in the background, but more like dried blackcurrant that’s been sat in the back of the cupboard for too long. As far as a bagged blackcurrant, H&S has this one beat.

I cold steeped a single teabag in a smaller mug and it tastes very similar, though with less bitterness. This variation is overall a nicer cup and more refreshing.

Sipdown! (1 | 107)

So this wasn’t my favorite. I like the idea of it, aside from maybe the rose. But something is tasting quite powdery to me, and I assume it’s probably the fruit flavoring. Berry flavors can often taste chalky to me for some reason, so that’s likely the case here.

That being said, I still sipped my way through the bag, and I think the levels of smoke vs. fruit are spot-on. It has a nice raspberry tang to it as well, and I don’t get a ton of rose.

Sipdown! (11 | 117)

Quite enjoyed this one, it’s my favorite of the green-black blends I got (though I haven’t tried Queen Victoria yet). Just a nice, easy-drinking mix of a lemony Earl Grey, earthy gunpowder, and sweet jasmine. Very well-balanced and nice for the morning or afternoon.

Whenever I end up ordering from Murchie’s again, I think I might give this a try in loose leaf form (I had a 10-pack of teabags this time).

So I wasn’t expecting much after the other black-green blend I tried (Library Blend I think?), but this is quite nice. I really like the combination of the light jasmine and bergamot flavors together with the mixed bases. I get a bit of the gunpowder’s mineral earthiness for sure, but there’s some black tea adding a touch of heft as well. I also enjoy the bergamot that Murchie’s uses – it’s almost lemony and not perfumey at all.

I might have to put this one on the list to try in loose leaf… :)

This was a risky choice for me, as it’s described as raspberry and rose with a hint of bergamot. Not being a rose lover, not sure why I was so compelled to order it ha ha.

Well I’m not a fan, but it’s not because of rose. This just tastes very powdery/chalky to me overall. Sometimes I have that issue with mixed berry teas, so perhaps it’s the raspberry flavoring here. But it tastes like Tums or perhaps Smarties (the US kind).

Into the rehoming box it goes!

Need to get back into sampling more of my Murchie’s purchases!

This one is nice enough. It mostly tastes like a black tea, but with a much lighter body. Not watery, but just not as heavy overall. The flavoring is buttery, which makes sense given the brioche descriptor. It also reminds me a bit of toasted pecans. I don’t really taste caramel at all. The buttery flavor and light nuttiness make this remind me of Almond Sugar Cookie from Simpson & Vail. It’s not really sweet though, it leans more bready or croissant-y.

I like it, but I don’t think I need it in my cupboard, and I prefer the somewhat similar Canada 150 blend (which has maple instead of this brioche flavor).

Love this blend! This is the first I’ve tried from Murchies. It’s decadent and desserty, getting more soon!

knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 11 (my pick)
Theme: Fireside Glow
Her pick: Russian Country from The English Tea Room

So I admit, this is not one of my favorites. However, I suspected Marjorie would enjoy it, and she did! I’m sipping my cup with maple syrup and oat milk, because this tea seemed like it would be well-suited for that.

It’s nice enough, but unfortunately this preparation seems to have brought out the rose notes quite a lot, and I am not a rose fan ha ha… My experimentation seems to have backfired. XD Still drinkable, but tastes like a creamy rose tea with a touch of smoke instead of a mostly vanilla and smoke tea. Oh well! XP

This is stone cold now (oops).

Pleasantly smoky without being overly so, just enough to give that savory, chewy meatiness. I taste a little vanilla, but I wish there was a lot more – the smoke could certainly stand up to it. The bergamot is also subtle, just adding a hint of a citrusy top note.

Nice, but I guess I was hoping for more of the added flavors. Will have to give it a try with milk one of these days.

Finally trying another of my loose leaf selections from Murchie’s. I keep getting distracted by the cute teabag boxes sitting in front ha ha…

This is quite lovely though. Very citrusy and bright on a somewhat smoother base than usual – maybe the Darjeeling and Nepal black teas are helping curb the Ceylon a bit. I will say, it lacks that distinct piney note that I associate with yuzu, and because of that it’s reminding me more of a mix of grapefruit, orange, lemon, and bergamot. But I almost prefer that really, as sometimes I find yuzu to be a touch overbearing when it’s very prominent.

Lovely extra-citrusy Earl, and it’s making me miss Troika from Kusmi. :P

Sipdown! (2 | 108)

I ended up sipping through this one as an iced tea, as I preferred it that way. I did add a bit of sweetener, which brought out the apricot nicely. I will say, this wasn’t specifically apricot to me, more of a sweet peachy note with a little bit of apricot in there. Overall the flavor lacked depth to me, I felt like it needed some tartness or something to round it out. Made a perfectly nice iced tea though, especially for the summer.