Wild Maine Blueberry Black Tea

Back-logging from this morning.

So, I stopped at the Bar Harbor Tea Co shop on my way home from work last night (huzzah! I don’t have to pay shipping for this stuff! Na na na-na na. Ahem…) with the intent of picking up a Bodum travel tea press. I got the press but figured I’d pick up a new tea while I was there. I had smelled this one during my last visit (to pick up a new tin of the chocolate chai) and had been amazed at how much like the native blueberries this smelled. So I snagged a small tin.

Now for those of you who have not spent time in Maine or the Maritime provinces of Canada, there are two kinds of blueberries. Most of you are likely familiar with the big, plump, bursting-with-juice blueberries commonly found in the grocery store. Those are called highbush blueberries. What we have here in Maine is called the lowbush blueberry. The plants grow right down flush with the ground, no taller than 15" and usually more like 5"-10", and the leaves and berries are smaller than those of the highbush berries. But what Maine blueberries lack in size they greatly make up for in flavor. No highbush berry can compare to the sweet/tart/juicy fruits of the lowbush blueberry that grows wild in the acidic soil of the region. Yes, wild. While there are indeed fields where these berries grow and are harvested they grew there naturally, with no human hand to plant them, no field equipment to water them.

It is of course the flavor of the native, lowbush wild blueberry that is used in this tea. The bright, red-amber liquor is redolent with the aroma and flavor of these berries, even more strongly in the aftertaste. And I would love to know what variety of black tea was used as a base for this as the steeped leaves are quite colorful. Large, though broken, and green, but with red-brown veins and stems.

And writing this has made me want another cup of this tea!

A nice smooth tea with a very strong blueberry taste. Perhaps the strongest blueberry flavor of any blueberry tea I’ve tried. I think I’d actually prefer this as iced tea to hot.

Can anyone say “procrastination”?

This tea never tastes as good as it smells. But that’s ok. It smells flipping fantabulous awesomely amazing, so it’s only natural the taste falls a bit short.

Decent black tea base that doesn’t get bitter at the drop of a hat. Nice, natural blueberry flavour that isn’t sickly sweet nor watered down. This will never be a favorite of mine because I like milk in my blacks and this one doesn’t really mesh with milk. But still a solid blueberry tea, which seems to be a reaaaally hard thing to do * cough * DAVIDsTEA * cough *

Technically, it’s a good thing I’m not in love with this tea – they don’t ship to Canada. No broken heart like with the fabulous Arbor Teas :( Awww great, now I’m sad!

Sipdown 2 – 2024

Bought this on a trip to Maine and just finished it off. Really tasty blueberry flavor! No astringency or bitterness either.

It’s probably been at least 5 years since I’ve been up to Bar Harbor. I definitely wasn’t aware there was a tea shop up there at the time. This one was a birthday gift from a friend and she choose well. I love blueberries, especially wild ones. Last weekend the mountains were full of bushes with wild blueberries. They’re great for snacking while on the trail.
I have had this tea iced and hot. Both are good. This morning, I sipped it hot as this week mornings have been starting off at cooler temps. Steeped for about 5 minutes and took my favorite mug out on the deck to watch the hummingbirds. The blueberry is strong. There is a decent black tea base. Noted no bitterness and the sweetness from the blueberries was just enough for me. Perfect tea for an August morning.
I also like that the string on the bag is long enough for my travel mugs and that the bags are compostable. Yay!

I’m mixed with this tea. It’s very potent with the blueberry flavor (it’s very fresh tasting and not too sweet) but not enough of the tea aspect comes through. I think that a longer steep time is better for this one. The blueberry flavors stay but the tea flavors really shine when steeped longer.

Potent blueberry flavor, very drinkable.