Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
We don’t care who you are or where you’re coming from. No one can say no to a muffin. There’s no cuter – or more delicious – way to start your day. Even the name is a delight. And with cranberries, orange slices and cinnamon, this warm and comforting blend has all the taste of a freshly baked muffin…at next to no calories. Meaning you can get that warm, fuzzy feeling every time you steep a cup. Does it get any better? Muffin can compare.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I feel like DAVIDsTEA actually came up with some really interesting flavours this fall – this one in particular is very strange and I don’t know how on board I am with a muffin flavoured tea. Actually, in fact I know I’m not totally on board with a muffin tea. I know people were weirded out by a peanut butter tea, but this is so much stranger to me. For whatever reason.
Again, this appears to be another really heavy herbal blend. There are a lot of big cranberry chunks in the leaf that look as impressive in size as the ones in DT’s black Cranberry Pear blend that I’m accustomed to seeing. The smell of the dry leaf is really weird though: it’s got a really strong orange flavour, but in an off-‘orange peel’ kind of way rather than a sweet, juicy orange. I also smell cinnamon, oat, and something… else. Dandelion I guess? Whatever it is does NOT appeal to me. I mean, the smell isn’t gross but there’s just really no appeal. I cold brewed my sample; the liquor is pretty foggy and this weird orange/brown colour. The smell is quite fruity, with more orange/citrus notes than anything else. I also smell a lot of cinnamon, and a whiff of bran.
The first, most noticeable thing about the flavour is the fruity top notes. The cranberry is very piercing, and this lovely balance of sweet and tart. Somewhere in the mix, I can taste mango too. The orange follows quickly behind, but I can’t say I’m a fan of the flavour. It’s very semi-sweet bordering on not sweet at all and the combination of sourness/tartness and slight bitterness makes me image I’m chewing on an orange peel. Yuck! Unfortunately, those orange notes are really long lingering, well into the aftertaste. I’d love to swap out the intensity of the orange for cranberry.
The muffin taste is alright; I’d say it’s more of a weird starchy oat flavour and bran than a complete “muffin” taste, and there’s cinnamon peppered in there as well. Similar to the orange, the cinnamon is also very lingering. Once the initial fruit flavour subsides you can really taste the “muffin” element of the tisane quite well. I actually don’t mind the overall flavour, but it is strange to be tasting it in chilled, liquid form. Something else comes into play – probably the dandelion, and it’s putting a damper on the flavour too though. If anything I think that it (the ‘muffin’ and dandelion) would work better hot. However, with the unpleasant orange flavour I don’t know whether I want to experience a hot mug to test that theory out.
For me, this is a big mug of nope. Despite how accurate I think it is to the name, this is definitely NOT the tea for me. However, I do encourage people to give at least one cup a shot because it’s a unique flavour.
Honeybush Spice from Bird’s Eye Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Bird’s Eye Tea
Tisane Description:
Ingredients: honeybush, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, orange zest, star anise, pink peppercorns, and licorice root.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn more about subscribing to Bird’s Eye Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh! This Honeybush Spice tisane from Bird’s Eye Tea is delightful. I was very excited to try this when I read the ingredient list (above) because I love star anise and licorice … and I don’t often find them in blends together. I usually find either star anise or licorice root, but because they do possess similar characteristics, they aren’t usually combined. But I like them combined … it really pushes the sweet, sassy flavor of licorice into focus.
But, what I am really liking is that the licorice-y flavor isn’t all that I taste. There is warm cinnamon and cardamom, plus the zesty flavor of ginger. And the orange brightens the whole cup.
The honeybush is sweet, a little bit nutty, and very smooth. I like how the earthy flavors of the spices really come through to enhance the dimension of the honeybush – sometimes honeybush can taste a little on the thin side, but that’s not the case with this cup. The spices give not just the cup depth, but also lets me really enjoy the taste of the honeybush as well.
This tisane was one of Bird’s Eye Tea’s February 2012 tea selections that they sent me to sample, and I’m really glad I got a chance to try it. The warmth of this tisane is perfect for this time of year – it’s so naturally warming and comforting, something that you want to curl up with on a cold winter’s day like this. This is wonderful!
