Rhubarb & Custard

Just wasn’t doing too well on the tea front yesterday. After two general misses, I went for this one (avoiding an expected miss from another advent calendar as well), and it didn’t work for me.

Hot, it has a little bit of a fruit element, mostly overpowered by a sweetness that must be the custard – and rooibos. As it cools I get nothing but rooibos (well, maybe still a hint of sweet, but not enough to override wet wood). I know I do like some rooibos blends even with red rooibos, but I’m starting to get really nervous about the rest of these!

Bird & Blend Caffeine & Caffeine-Free Advents, Day 3

Bird & Blend Advent Calendar 2021: Day 20!

The tea bag smells delightful—sweet and fruity—so I was really looking forward to trying this one. Alas, I’m not getting any rhubarb in my cup. It’s just… weak rooibos with a mildly creamy undertone that might be custard if I metaphorically squint. It’s not actively bad, but I also wouldn’t say it’s actively good.

I shouldn’t be surprised, though, because this Monday has been royally annoying. Just a series of irksome happenings one after the other. Blah!

I’ve been drinking this wrong the whole time (aka – hot). It’s alright as a hot tea, but man does the rhubarb pop as a cold steep (left in cold water overnight in fridge). I’m incredibly sad that It took me until the last serving of the package to figure out how I like it best.

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #194 overall / Tea #18 for May
Tuesday 5/11 - Bird & Blend Rhubarb + Custard sample cold brew 20 oz in glass jar since 5/8 or 5/9? It’s hard to keep track of anything anymore these days. Tastes like rooibos, no rhubarb or cream coming out. (sample is very old, not going to say no/yes because of that)
#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown

Yup….I’m trying another rooibos. I’ve been interested in this tea for quite awhile, but never purchased it because I knew I couldn’t commit to more than 1 serving of a rooibos. Luckily, this came as a sample in a recent Bird and Blend order.
As for the tea- the rooibos flavor is pretty strong, which is unfortunate because I’m liking the creaminess and the tart rhubarb flavor. This would be absolutely excellent on a green base.

Wonderful smell from the zip bag, Rhubarb, vanilla, fruit pie. After steeping it becomes much more mellow, in a liquid, custard-like way, just like a sweet vanilla custard poured over the soft, baked rhubarb pieces. Base rooibos notes remain in the background.
And the taste is barely sweet (which is good), with distinct rhubarb/vanilla character.
Very warming autumn tea, really matches sweet desserts.

Got this as a sample and am drinking it now… And it’s a lot better than I remembered. I definitely taste the Rhubarb, and there is a little bit of vanilla going on in the background. Very creamy, not tart, and not too sweet. The aroma gives a strong custard and that’s really good too while I’m sipping it. If I do taste the custard, that’s probably why :P.

Because I wasn’t able to log on for so long… I have so many reviews to catch up with so I’ll probably just start from today if I drink something new. I’m actually still drinking the tons of tea I bought last year and the year before so here’s to the inner fight to continue to get more sip downs before purchasing more.

I hope you are all well and safe <3. I’m same ol’ same ol’.

After seeing so many good reviews of this one, I had to try it. The scent is such an accurate rhubarb. It’s pretty irresistible. I had to overleaf it a little in order to get the flavor I wanted, but it’s pretty perfect. It’s light and dreamy with the rooibos acting as the custard to the slight sourness of the rhubarb. It’s nice to have some lightly fruity teas like this one around.

Sad to reach the bottom of my taster packet of this, but it definitely goes on my must buy again list, because of the following: not a strong rooibos flavor, which is not my fave; a definite lovely cooked rhubarb flavor without strawberries (because I just didn’t want the distraction of strawberry with the rhubarb); a bit of a custardy flavor, that goes WAY up when I make this as a latte, as I just did a little while ago, and I now sit staring forlornly at the bottom of my cup as well as the bottom of my packet. sigh

This is a nice tea for me since I’m not super fond of herbals in general, yet can’t have the black tea I would actually prefer before going to bed, and the full body and lovely flavor of this is juuuust right for my pre-sleep tea yearning. mmmm.

Holiday Tea-son! I was excited to see this one today; I’ve wanted to try it since Cameron B. has spoken so highly of it. I do have a Strawberries and Cream Rooibos from TeaSource that I quite like, and I enjoy the flavor of rhubarb (TeaSource’s Rhubarb Oolong is another of my favorite teas!), so I’m sure this will be quite good. But I prefer herbals before bed so I took another cuppa of Holiday Marmalade to work and have saved this one for this evening. Maybe it’ll lessen the blow of having to take my car back to the mechanic today, and my repair bills now totalling near $800 in cumulative fees between all the missed work, rentals, tows, new parts, mechanic fees… sigh

The dry leaf smells divine, like creamy vanilla and strawberry, and steeped it smells even better, with that more tart rhubarb note coming through, but still a berry sweetness and vanilla cream aroma. I really like the flavor! I’m surprised how well the rhubarb flavor is coming through, and I can tell since I have that Strawberries and Cream rooibos as a comparison; this tea isn’t nearly so sweet as that blend, with more of a subtle, pleasantly tart open to the sip, that becomes sweeter mid-sip to finish with strawberry, cream, honey, and cherry wood notes. The two blends are similar flavor profiles, but comparing the two, this one is easily the superior blend, as it offers a bit more complexity. Once I finish off the other one, I’ll definitely restock my cupboard with this one, instead. Yum!