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Mastress Alita drank Treacle Sponge by Bird & Blend Tea Co.

1252 tasting notes

New month, new sipdown prompts!

It is with a sad heart that I pulled this tea out and stuck it over in the “Sipdown Corner” because it is one of my favorite Bird & Blend teas, but I haven’t seen them reblend it since the days they were still called Bluebird Tea Co. (which is still on the packaging). I may never see it again, once it is gone… but it isn’t getting any younger, so I know I should just bit the bullet and sip it down while it still has flavor. I’m using it for the prompt “a caramel tea” (though it could also fit "tea from a British company, but I undoubtedly have other too-old B&B teas that I should get through…)

The smell of this tea, both in the leaf and brewed, is intoxicating. I may have never had Treacle Sponge, but the pastry-like aroma that is a little buttery, a little caramelly, a little almondy, and a little cherry is so nice. Like gmathis’ Chocolate Orange cup this morning, this is a tea that leaves the empty cup still smelling like magic.

The brewed flavor is sweet, a bit of a buttery backbone with a caramel/vanilla flavor, and a hint of nuttiness and fruitiness. It is better after it has cooled; too warm, the base sencha is a little overly vegetal. That calms down and the sweetness shines once the cup cools down.

I will enjoy this bag for its final days!

Flavors: Almond, Butter, Caramel, Cherry, Creamy, Nutty, Sweet, Vanilla

Preparation

175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML

I Like This

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5 comments

gmathis
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Yum!

Skysamurai
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Hopefully you’ll be able to find a replacement someday! Here’s some interesting ones I found https://oldbarreltea.com/products/new-mexico-box

tea-sipper
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According to the new tea wall e-mail today, Treacle Sponge is back on the tea wall! However, I’m not sure if some of these will actually be “seasonal” part time teas, as some of the teas on the list seem seasonal…

tea-sipper
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*or will be on May 8th anyway…

Mastress Alita
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Hmm… Does that make up for Lazy Boy, though? ponders this

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Comments

gmathis
Delete

Yum!

Skysamurai
Delete

Hopefully you’ll be able to find a replacement someday! Here’s some interesting ones I found https://oldbarreltea.com/products/new-mexico-box

tea-sipper
Delete

*or will be on May 8th anyway…

Mastress Alita
Delete

Hmm… Does that make up for Lazy Boy, though? ponders this

Profile

Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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