Murchie's Tea & Coffee

Getting back to some Murchie’s teas… Too many tea purchases lately, I can’t keep up! :P

This is nice enough. The black base is a touch biscuity and fairly smooth today, and the apricot tastes natural enough. I do wish there was more apricot though, it’s a touch subtle for a tea where it should be the star.

So not a reorder for me, but would love to hear some recommendations for apricot teas!

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This wasn’t a favorite for me. It’s a pleasant tea, and it was nice enough for mindless sipping while working. But I was disappointed that I couldn’t taste much bergamot, and really almost no jasmine at all.

Anyway, definitely preferred the Queen Victoria for a similar tea with more of a citrusy lean, and perhaps a touch less smoke.

It’s a dark and rainy day here today, so I figured it’s a perfect time to sip a smoky tea. Not sure why I think those two things go together, but I always seem to want roasty, toasty, or smoky teas when it’s rainy out. The cozy factor, I guess?

Honestly, this one is just not very interesting. I guess I expected more, since the description mentions jasmine and bergamot. There is a hint of citrus (I would guess lemon), but the jasmine is subtle to the extreme. I can smell a bit of it, but I don’t think I would notice it in the flavor at all if I wasn’t specifically searching for it.

Mostly it just tastes like a mellow smoked black tea? Perhaps with a hint of lemon. It’s good and I’ll drink it, but I was hoping for more jasmine and bergamot here. :|

The first loose leaf tea I’m trying from Murchie’s! I ended up getting mostly teabags, just because I wanted to try so many teas but I didn’t want the volume that would’ve resulted from getting 50g of each one… XD

To be honest, I’m a little underwhelmed by this one. Maybe it’s because I’m used to Lupicia’s excellent strawberry teas, but the strawberry here is coming off quite candylike and artificial to my tastebuds. And then I don’t really get cake or cream either, there’s a touch of vanilla but it’s more woody than creamy. Also that astringent Ceylon probably isn’t helping.

It’s not bad, just not what I was hoping for given the name. Maybe next time I’ll try it with milk and sugar to see how that goes.

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Getting back to sipping down some of these Murchie’s teas, starting with the teabags.

Mostly sipped this one with oat milk, as the strong maple flavoring holds up well and it’s not the kind of black base I love plain. It’s a nice enough tea, with the same maple as the others I got. Definitely a fake maple, very sweet and buttery, but not over the top.

I think I would choose to order Canada 150 over this one, though I am very curious about their Maple Chai as well… I also want to try their Christmas tea, but am unsure if they will release more holiday teas…

Of course, I had to get all of the maple teas I could find from Murchie’s, because maple is delicious. :P

This is basically a maple-flavored black tea. The description mentions fruit because there are a couple of apple and cranberry bits sprinkled in, but they’re certainly not contributing anything to the flavor. The maple is the same as their Canada 150 blend – buttery, creamy, and sweet without being too cloying. Reminds me a bit of that maple & brown sugar instant oatmeal, actually. The black tea is quite light actually, and I don’t get much in the way of astringency, despite Ceylon being in the mix. I taste more of the woody/earthy notes of the Keemun, which is nice.

It’s honestly not that different from Canada 150, given how light the body is. Both are enjoyable though, very tasty maple flavor!

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Potentially my least favorite of the green-black blends I tried? It’s not bad, it’s just a bit boring IMO. Definitely leans to the green side of things, but there’s barely any jasmine and it tastes a bit cardboardy somehow. Not sure which tea that’s coming from.

I dunno, just a bit bland overall. I think if there was a stronger jasmine presence I would’ve enjoyed it more. Just needs more flavor in my opinion.

So this is one of several green-black blends that I ordered from Murchie’s – they seem to specialize in them so I figured I would try a few. This seems the most straightforward, just a blend of Ceylon and Keemun black teas with gunpowder and jasmine greens.

Steeped up, it looks like a black tea but tastes more like a green one. The jasmine is surprisingly subtle, just a whisper in the background. I actually taste the gunpowder the most – it has a strong earthy, mineral flavor that winds up in the forefront, potentially bolstered by the Keemun. Ceylon show itself in the finish, with its metallic, acidic character.

Overall, not sure about this one. I feel like the balance is a bit off for my tastes, I would prefer more jasmine and less gunpowder. There is also a noticeable astringency even though I only steeped it for 2 minutes, but perhaps that’s just a result of it being a teabag with very broken leaf. I’m hoping to be more enthused by some of the other green-black blends that have bergamot and lapsang and other fun things.

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Woo, finished the last of my Murchie’s teabags! Good thing too, as I just made another order yesterday… XD

This is my favorite of their maple teas, I think because the decadent, buttery maple flavoring isn’t quite so strong. It becomes a bit much for me in some of the other blends. I don’t really taste the green tea here, there’s a mineral note that could be coming from it if it’s gunpowder? This is a blend of three teas but ends up mostly tasting like a lighter-bodied black tea to me. A touch astringent from the Ceylon, but nothing major. Sometimes a raisin-like note from the Assam pops its head out, but mostly I taste Ceylon with little hints of other notes from the other teas.

I like it, I’ll have to try it in loose leaf one of these days, when I get around to making a reorder purchase instead of feeling compelled to try new teas… :P

Another one from Murchie’s – couldn’t resist ordering this black-green-oolong blend with maple flavor!

I’m glad I got it because it’s really lovely. I’m not sure I taste green tea at all, but I do get the maltiness and slight astringency of the black tea, along with a deep woody note that I assume is coming from the oolong. The maple is the perfect amount – noticeable but not overly sweet or cloying. It’s a touch creamy as well, it smells and tastes like the filling in those leaf-shaped maple cream sandwich cookies to me. They call it a “hint of maple”, but it’s definitely stronger than that IMO.

Anyway, really tasty, and I can see it being nice for the morning or afternoon. The mix of teas gives it a lighter body, but I would still enjoy it for breakfast because of the maple. :)

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Really enjoyed this one, it’s probably my favorite of the teas I ordered from Murchie’s. A bit like Harney’s Paris, except I actually like this one. It has a nice combination of rich and jammy black currant with a swirl of whipped cream and a touch of refreshing bergamot.

Definitely on my list to reorder! I’m sure the loose leaf version will be even better.

Welp, my cupboard has exploded with no fewer than 17 Murchie’s teas, so I’d better get cracking on tasting some of them… ^^’ This is one of many that I got in teabag format, mainly because I didn’t really want 850 grams (total) of loose leaf tea to get through, but I wanted to try so many of their teas.

This is a black tea with currant, cream, and bergamot, and it’s quite tasty. It reminds me a bit of Kusmi’s St. Petersburg, which isn’t specifically blackcurrant but has that dark, syrupy berry vibe. I actually like this one better though, it tastes less syrupy and cloying to me, maybe because of the cream lightening it up? The blackcurrant tastes deep and jammy, and the bergamot helps brighten it up a bit. The cream isn’t super strong, but I can definitely taste it and it lightens and smooths things out.

I will say it’s a bit tannic, probably the Ceylon, so maybe next time I’ll steep a bit shorter. I’m not used to having such broken leaves as I don’t often buy teabags, and very rarely are they the traditional paper kind like these.

I don’t like this quite as much as Parlour Room Blend, but it’s still really delicious and very up my alley. Smokey with a little bit of a brisk bite to it, but also sweet and lush with silky notes of vanilla and a hint of citrusy fruit from the bergamot oil inclusion. I’ve had smoked Earl Grey blends before (though I wouldn’t call this an EG) and not loved them – it’s just a little too much going on all at once and the notes get competitive. However, the bergamot inclusion works here to add complexity and brighten the top notes. Maybe because it’s a lighter touch.

Batch-tasting this at work right now, and just generally vibing with how it turned out. It’s similar in vibe to Vanilla Jasmine… An oolong to help round things out, milky, gentle, floral rosey-like lychee, sweet and slightly tropical coconut note. Lychee on its own can be very powdery-floral to me, grandma-esque, but it’s made slightly creamy with the coconut. It’s probably too light for milk, but also really inviting iced… If I hadn’t gone for lychee, I think this could have tasted really nice with rose instead. Rose Coconut Milk, hmm.

Definitely another tea that I held onto my original test-batch for. Been drinking a lot of this, and a lot of No.9 in between batch-tasting and pre-shipment sample-tasting. One of our main big blenders is out of commission and being worked on, so drinking this and staring forlornly out at it.

The most current batch of this needs to rest a bit though; the ratio tastes a little off, so I’m holding it back.

I asked for an Earl Grey when I was in the shop and this was what was recommended to me! I love this blend. It’s warm, sweet and creamy and has a sort of a dreamy quality to it. Still definitely an Earl Grey but it has a lovely body that I think some Earl Greys don’t always have.

My goal is to taste it in a tea latte with lots of milk, but so far it’s just perfectly lovely on its own and I’ve been enjoying it black. Super sweet without being cloying and just a pleasure to drink.

I bought this tea because I’m always looking for an afternoon tea that is black, but not super caffeinated. This was really lovely! It tastes better than some of the higher-end teas of the same ilk.

This is a black tea and a green tea blend, and sometimes the tea can feel very separate, but in this case, they suited each other very well and worked well. The tea is sweet, but has a nice caramel base with lots of toffee flavour. I like it just below boiling and brew it a little more like green tea though it’s also lovely (and still very flavourful) when it’s gone cold as well.

It’s sweet, sort of buttery, but not oily and just feels like a very sophisticated tea. I’ll have to come back for more.

Hmm, I’m surprised I haven’t reviewed this one. The first few times I drank it, I enjoyed it: The rose was mild but present, just a gentle whisper. But I’m drinking it today and it’s not jiving with my tastes — there’s an unctuous, slippery, almost cloying sugary rose note that’s turning me off. It’s probably coming from the artificial flavors… I’ll need to find a rose congou that’s scented with petals but doesn’t have additional flavors. :(

TTB tea! This has a level of smokiness that I can stand. I would have preferred a bolder black tea as the base, but this is not bad. My partner who doesn’t love tea actually quite enjoyed this one. I didn’t taste the jasmine at all.

Cold Brew!

Drank this one last night and it just had such a pleasantly bright and fresh pucker to it. Lemongrass forward but with elements of hibiscus, berries, and oranges to it as well. Like a less thick/sweet and more citrus forward fruit punch, in some ways. I always wish for a little more lemon with this tea to just nail the lemonade namesake but it’s such a good tasting tea even without!

Cold Brew!

I get a lot of lemongrass from this tea, but it doesn’t quite read as pink lemonade to me despite that distinct note. Maybe it would if it were a little brighter and more lemon forward? But even still, it was very good. Juicy, tart, and tangy with enough sweetness to balanced it all out but in a saturated kind of way. I taste a lot of hibiscus, a little bit of a berry kind of vibe and, honestly, grapefruit. Lots of rich pink grapefruit.

Cold Brew!

Picked this one up while in Vancouver this summer. I can’t remember exactly how expensive the tea was, but I remember the sale associate warning me before buying it that it was a lot higher than most of their teas – so they must have experienced customers dealing with sticker shock in the past. I have some theories on why it might be on the pricier side compared to a lot of Murchie’s other blends, but I’ll keep them to myself…

Regardless, I didn’t mind the price tag and I’ve found this to be a really enjoyable blend. It’s got a very punchy flavour with a lot of bright, lively citrus notes. The colour is obviously very in the realm of pink lemonade once brewed, but I do feel like it’s maybe a bit off in terms of taste? Don’t get me wrong, it’s delicious like I said. However, I taste a lot of orange. A very juicy orange, but orange nonetheless. With the mix of lemongrass and almost berry-like hibiscus flavours that also come through this reads a bit more like a citrus heavy punch to me. I think, for a lemonade, I would expect a lot more lemon and more bright acidity to the top notes. In the kindest way, this is almost too “dense” and saturated of a flavour to evoke lemonade – at least for me personally.

Still, so delicious!

Going to send the Strange VariaTea TTB on its way soon, so I want to get some tasting notes up before I do. Not a lot of black teas/blends caught my eye, but this one did because I’ve been wanting to try a Murchie’s tea. I ended up enjoying this one more than I expected to given that I don’t like lapsang. The smokiness is well-balanced though – think something cooked in a campfire rather than face full of ashtray. Probably because it’s a blend. The floral note from the jasmine comes through and actually works well here. 

This isn’t one I’d go out of my way for – just because I don’t love black tea and have to limit my caffeine – but glad I got to try it!

Strange VariaTEA TTB #25

There was no description on the bag, but I smelled the Lapsang so decided to give it a try. It really threw me when I realized there was jasmine in here too! I’m not sure the combination of floral and smoke is working for me, but it was certainly an interesting blend to try.

This is one of my favourite teas from Murchie’s and has been a favourite for like eight years, despite the fact that I only bought it once before. When you open the bag, it smells like maple syrup. And not like, table syrup, but actual maple syrup, which is just lovely.

There are apparently fruit notes in this tea, though I don’t taste them. It does feel a little acidic at times, but that feels more like the the tannins from the tea than any fruit flavour that might pop up. It has a lovely flavour when it’s hot but it does start to taste more like water as it cools.

Still, really warm and buttery and comforting. I enjoy it a lot!