6444 Tasting Notes
The lime smell is so strong and mouthwatering in this blend that I guess I expected more of it. Not to say this doesn’t have a lot of lime flavor because it does but I guess everything else on top of the lime threw me off. So now that I know a little more of what to expect (mostly the rum flavor), I think I can adjust my expectations and I’ll enjoy the next cup more.
I drank the cold brew of this and it is very similar to the iced tea. Serving this cold seems to tone down the menthol aspect of the mint which lets more of the lemon through. However it’s lemongrass and lemon myrtle which is sweet (but not the lemon pie type sweet) but herb-y and not my favourite. So this is definitely a hot tea.
Also since I didn’t mention it in my last note, I just quickly want to say how awesome this company is. It’s one of the companies I discovered through compiling the list of Black-owner tea companies with Shae and Roswell Strange. It’s one of the few Canadian companies so while most of the blends weren’t super appealing to me (they were more standard blends that I’ve tried many times, though still worth checking out the site) and they were a touch pricey, I wanted to show them a bit of support.
Honestly I’m so glad I did place an order because this company is amazing. I ordered on Sunday and an hour after ordering I got A notification that a shipping label was made. The package arrived by Wednesday. It truly was some of the fastest turnaround I’ve seen.
The speedy turnaround should be enough reason for my recommendation but in addition to that, I received a personalized email from the company owner (rather than the standard business email/confirmation companies send) on the Monday thanking me for my order and offering to answer any questions I may have. It was just a lovely added touch of customer service.
Speaking of lovely, the packaging for the teas is really nice but more than just the packaging, even the bubble envelopes (and boxes and tissue paper per their Instagram) are branded. Now we all expect that from DAVIDsTEA, with their signature teal mailing boxes, but it was awesome to see from another company as well. I genuinely get more excited for these things, which I know is shallow but it’s true.
The attention to details and level of customer service is just really amazing and I’d recommend buying from them if you can. Plus, my order came with a thank you discount for a next order so they are also really appreciative in a financial sense as well. It’s just clear that their focus is customer satisfaction and retention and that makes shopping with them a pleasure.
Bird and Blend has a terrible habit of sticking hibiscus into things that should not have hibiscus. For instance, I saw Affogatea and thought that made sense for an iced latte until I looked at the ingredients. Hibiscus, rose hips, Apple – all present and then mixed with things like coffee beans and black tea. That just seemed like curdling waiting to happen so instead I used this.
Normally I line the cup with chocolate syrup but this time I used caramel syrup since it seemed better suited to the flavor. Now I don’t know if it’s the syrup or the tea but this is hitting the spot. Just a whole lot of caramel/butterscotch creaminess. Personally I think it’s a combo of both because when I first started drinking this and the two were more separated, the sips I got from the bottom of the cup where the syrup was was too sweet and the sips from higher up that was more of the latte was more mediocre black tea. So I doubt this is good plain but made this way, it’s good.
I made this iced yesterday and wasn’t loving it. I added lemonade and that wasn’t doing much for me. Today I set up a cold brew and once I had the tea out, I decided to make it hot as well. The cold brew is still in the fridge but the hot tea was really quite nice. Where the iced tea I found to be on the sweeter (almost cloying) side with more muted mint, the hot tea was a lot more refreshing. The mint came more to the forefront with a nice citrus flavor from the lemon. I will see how the cold brew goes but this might be just a hot tea going forward.
Hot Tea and Cold Brew Sipdown (267)
I divided the sample in half and made one as a cold brew and the other as a hot tea. The hot tea is a little bit waxy but has nice cranberry flavor. A little tart, a little sweet, and then the nuttiness of the almond comes through at the end of the sip. It’s nice enough that I wouldn’t turn down a cup if offered, though not something I’d seek out again.
The cold brew is actually sort of bland. I get less of the cranberry flavor which was what I liked in the hot tea. Instead it’s like a muted Forever Nuts with some fruit.
Iced Tea Sipdown (268)
Had this with dinner. I was putting it off for a while but when I did a big send off of teas to my friend a little while back, I saved single servings of teas I wasn’t too into so I could finish them easily. Despite the amount of time I put this off, I’m actually enjoying this cup quite a bit. It’s not earth-shatteringly good but it’s fruity and has a lot of sweet pomegranate flavor. The base is so subtly there that it adds the slightest touch of earth to the otherwise fruity drink.
Awesome iced latte with Death By Cocoa by Hotcups. See the review here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/403872
:)