This Cherry Bakewell tea by Bird and Blend Co. has been sitting in my stash since January and I keep looking past it and grabbing other options. I am not sure why but this isn’t a flavor that makes me stop in my tracks to brew it. However, when I saw it posted on Instagram with the caption “This is dessert in a cup without being too sweet or artificial tasting”, it definitely piqued my interest. Now I don’t actually know what a cherry bakewell tart is but dessert in a cup sounds good to me.
The tea, which is made of Chinese white tea, almond, cranberries, hibiscus, rosehip, apple, currants, blackcurrant, and red and blue cornflowers, brews up a shade of pink that makes me worry that the hibiscus and rosehips might be in charge.
Though there is a that typical tartness from the hibiscus and rosehips, that is not the main flavor component but rather a topnote. The strongest flavor in my opinion is the almond. The almond and the white tea which makes for a nutty/buttery combo that does help create the idea of a tart shell. That tart shell transitions into a red fruit quality from the cranberries and currants, not a distinctly cherry flavor but alright nonetheless. However, that hibby/rosehip tartness then pops at the back of your throat and really takes you out of the the whole idea of a tart.
It definitely pushes towards dessert but it is not overly sweet or fake tasting. So, in that sense, the instagram posted that inspired me to take this out of the drawer was definitely correct. However, I just wish there was less tart and more cherry. Personally, I could also do with a little more sweetness since the blending of the tart shell and filling can be slightly one-note at times.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Bird & Blend Tea Co.
Description
Bakewell Tart is the classic tea time treat with juicy cherries and sweet almond. This luxury white tea blend is bursting with the same fruit juices and hints of sweet almond nuts, making it the perfect afternoon tea choice.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
The Love Dalek Tea from Adagio Teas (Custom Blends)
CuppaGeek’s Review:
Love Dalek Tea (from Adagio Teas Custom Blend platform) is a blend based off of the Doctor Who series, one of my personal favorite. After taking a whiff of the dry leaf mix, you can almost taste a white tea flavor with notes of tart cherry and hibiscus. A great play on flavor-tart and floral.
Brewed up with water at 190F and allowed 3 minutes to steep, I was eager to take my first sip. In this blend it seems, black tea is king. I was eager for those white floral notes to pop out and play with the tart cherry flavorings added- but that didn’t happen right away.
At the very beginning of each sip, you know that the black tea reigns supreme. What I was hoping would be a lovely floral cherry tea with a slight astringency, turned into a heavy handed astringent hibiscus tea party.
But I wasn’t ready to just say, this isn’t my cuppa. After all, this is a Doctor Who blend. So I prepped a few more sessions with this tea. And Eureka! After third infusion I was finally able to pull out a lovely white tea astringent tea with pops of floral and cherry notes. Delicious and exactly what I was looking for.
So what are my final thoughts on this tea? As confused as the blend seems to be, I think there is potential. This may be a tea that needs a good solid cold brew to allow all the flavors an opportunity to shine. I’m glad I have a few servings left to try just that!
All in all, I still love the idea behind Custom Blends from Adagio Teas. Drinking a tea dedicated to your favorite fandoms just gives one warm fuzzies!!
What to learn more about this tea?
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/White Tea Blend
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
YOU ARE DALEKTABLE. YOU WOULD MAKE A GOOD VALENTINE. INFATUATE! INFATUATE! INFATUATE!
Ingredients: White Peony, Black Tea, Rose Hips, Hibiscus, Apple Pieces, Rose Petals, Natural Wild Cherry Flavor, Rose Flavor, Dried Cherries
Learn even more about this tea here.
White Cherry from Tea and Absinthe
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Tea and Absinthe
Tea Description:
Ingredients: white tea China Pai Mu Tan, green tea Darjeeling, green tea China -Fog Tea, -Lung Ching, -Jasmine Jade Pearls, cherries, coconut chips (coconut, coconut fat, sugar), flavor, rose buds
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A couple weekends ago, my hubby and I had an amazing experience at St Louis’s Wizard World. My hubby had bought me a Doctor Who VIP package where I had my picture take with and met David Tennant and Billie Piper. I was crazy excited since they are two of my favorite Doctor Who characters and arguable the most iconic. While wondering around the convention, I stumbled upon a tea shop. I couldn’t believe it. Not going to lie, I think I squealed a little. It was a pretty neat set up and I couldn’t wait to check all of the teas out. I picked up a few and have started to finally dive into them.
Let’s start off with saying this tea is gorgeous to look at. Huge roses, cherries, gorgeous tea leaves. . .everything you would want to see in a tea, this has it. The dry leaf mixture has a lovely sweet floral smell. One that I couldn’t want to steep up.
While steeping this tea, I could definitely still smell the same sweet smell with a hint of an almost kool aid smell as well. Not offensive at all. Almost made this tea a bit more appealing. I was in the mood for a sweeter fruity tea.
I brewed this up per the package instructions, and about 4 minutes later, I was pouring the tea into my Doctor Who mug. The smell of the tea had a lovely almost bakery smell to it with a fruity sweetness. This is one of those smells that actually makes you hungry!
I allowed the tea to cool for a few and took my first sip. In the words of Doctor Who “Hello Sweetie”! This tea is incredible and a taste profile/experience I can’t say I’ve ever had before. And that is pretty crazy to say. I drink a crazy variety of teas each and every day and am always looking for something new. I can’t believe I have never came across a tea like this before.
Each flavor comes thru. You can pick up the flora white notes, the distinct Darjeeling touches, a rich buttery green tea base, with a lovely jasmine hint here and there. Throw in the sweet robust cherry (almost Kool-Aid like) flavor with hints of coconut all surrounding by again another sweet floral touch and you have yourself one amazingly complex tea. The tea isn’t so sweet that it is overpowering. I think the green tea and Darjeeling go a long way to tame the crazy sweet flavors down and bring a bit more vegetal feel to the tea. In just about every other sip you get a nice tart almost wine like flavor.
I am insanely impressed with this tea and can not wait to see how many infusions this tea will provide. I’m also excited to try this as a lovely cold brew tea. Especially for the summertime. I bet this tea will make a marvelous iced tea!
Really well done! If you haven’t checked out this tea company before, I encourage you too. So far I have had two of the 5 blends that I picked up from them and I’m impressed with both.