Murchie's Tea & Coffee

tea from omgsrsly. Figured i’d start the day out with some new teas and then work on some samples later. I kept the steeping time short on this one as i know from experience with other scottish blacks that they usually become a little astringent if i do a full 3 mins.

I believe this might finally be the last sample I saved from the previous tea box. The flavor reminds me of the orange black tea I used to drink when I was a kid. I definitely overleafed this brew since I wanted to use up all the leaf I had saved, which somewhat detracts from the flavor. I don’t sense any spices, but also this tea tastes somewhat old, so maybe the spices were there originally. The black tea is a little brisk. So yeah, I’d prefer other versions of this tea over this version.

I saved a tiny sample of this tea from a previous tea box. It smelled like old coconut even back then, so I probably should have made an effort to use it up more quickly. The flavor was mostly old coconut as well, but just old as in stale/soapy, not as in rancid. The black base is gentle. I’m sure this tea was quite nice in its prime. It certainly wasn’t unpleasant to drink today.

Another board game night tea!

I was assured this tea was different from the previous tea I had tried from Murchie’s, and it did taste much more distinctly floral/jasmine – though still grapey. It’s also a green/black tea hybrid though. I felt bad because my first impression when I saw that my host’s BF had purchased basically three nearly identical teas from Murchie’s was kind of a soft sort of judgement – and then I had that “Wow, fuck you Kelly!” moment where I realized I was being a total dick/snob, because I own 800+ teas, and let me tell you that within those teas is a lot of flavour overlap…

There is NOTHING wrong with liking a particular style of tea.

I really hate that gatekeeper/tea snob mentality that some people have and I really try to actively stay out of that mindset, but when I was getting into “serious tea” initially I internalized a lot of that mentality, and this was just a reminder for me that I still have work to do in unlearning it.

Another tea from last night’s board games – just hot and straight.

I wish I had a little bit more information on this blend, but alas! I know it’s a green and black tea mix, but it tasted very grape-y to me which says one of two things to me (and maybe both). I think there’s either jasmine green tea in the blend, which notoriously tastes like grapes to me, or a very muscatel Darjeeling. I’m not actually sure though.

It was nice though, and probably my favourite thing from the evening.

TTB #6

This is completely different from other pina colada flavored teas I’ve tried. Usually the coconut is the dominant flavor, but this one has a very distinctive pineapple taste with a nice creaminess coming from the coconut. It also has an interesting buttery mouthfeel which is reminding me of an oolong, even though it’s actually a black tea. It’s unique and I like it!

From TTB 2019/2020.

This is a really nice tea! My husband had a cup earlier this week and didn’t care for it, but he’s not really a black tea drinker so I should have known I would like it. We typically like opposite teas. The dry blend smells mostly of pineapple, but I can taste some of the coconut after steeping. The base is strong but not overpowering. It really is such a pleasant cup, maybe one of my favorites in the box so far.

From TTB 2019/2020.

I love a good chai blend, but this one didn’t hit all the right notes for me. The maple was there, as well as some caramel, but the spice was missing. It was light on flavor, unfortunately, and not as bold as I would have liked it to be.

Another sample from the tea box. This one tastes pretty similar to another maple chai I’ve had and didn’t enjoy. I guess I just don’t love the way the maple flavor is being accomplished. I don’t taste much chainess to it either. It’s really just a strangely maple black tea that needs lots of sugar and milk to be pleasant. Not my thing.

I haven’t really been active on Steepster… At all… In years, and I’d like to change that. Both to breathe new life into the site (with the current dwindling numbers), and because now I have a purpose. Mostly just to train myself to get better at describing teas and picking things out (I mean, that’s why most people are on steepster but I degress).

Full disclosure, I recently ended up working for Murchie’s as a tea-taster in their warehouse. So I won’t be rating any Murchie’s teas from here on out (not that I rate many teas on here anyway). I know, a weird sudden career-path switch, considering I graduated with a full degree in geology just last year and am an accredited Junior P. Geo. Maybe one of my own blends will show up on Steepster one day.

The main notes in this are smoke from the lapsang and an underlying vanilla sweetness; it’s definitely there in the smell, and does also come through in the taste, dialing back the smoke a bit. The rose has always been a bit elusive for me in this blend; coming through in the smell of the dry tea the most. I don’t get it much in the taste here. I think it’s drowned out by the smoke and vanilla this time around, but I did also burn my tongue a little bit today.

Happy National Library Week! In the United States, the second week of April is designated by the American Library Association as National Library Week, and since I’m a librarian, I try to find a “library” tea to try each year. Last year I sampled Haunted Library by Malfoy Tea Emporium, the review of which is here if you are curious: https://steepster.com/mastressalita/posts/375034

I’ve had this blend stashed away in my collection just waiting for National Library Week 2019 to try it for the first time! It is a blend of black and green teas, using Ceylon, jasmine green, Keemun, and gunpowder green. The jasmine is especially striking from the dry leaf, and I’m not a huge fan of jasmine teas because of how overly “perfumy” it tends to be, but I’m curious if blended with the black teas if it will be more tempered and come out more floral and less like grandma perfume than I tend to find jasmine.

The steeped tea is a proper copper-colored cuppa, though it does still smell quite strongly of jasmine. The flavor is… pretty nice, though! It does have a strong floral element, but there are definitely a lot of other elements to this tea, too; it has some depth. In fact, after the cup has cooled just a touch, I can get a malty note wafting up in the aroma and mixing with the strong jasmine fragrance, and that aroma/taste profile helps the entire cup veer far away from my typical issues with “grandma perfume” territory. The black tea in the base tastes of a medium body, and I’m picking up a bit of malt with a heavy citrus element. Mid-sip a grassy, refreshing, very vegetal flavor enters the tongue, a bit like wet stones and moss and then very sweet jasmine flowers. The end of the sip is a bit astringent/drying and leaves me smacking my tongue a bit, and I’m left with a strong smoky flavor in the aftertaste.

This is a very satisfying cuppa, especially considering my track record with jasmine. I think the rather strong astringency in the cup is my only complaint, but I already have plans to try making iced tea with this and seeing if that helps curb that.

Another teabag sample. This one is somewhat disappointing. I suppose I like my chais to be cardamom-heavy, and this one kind of tastes mostly like a cinnamon black? I’m sure there’s some other stuff in there, but it’s not all that easy to pick out. I assumed “traditional chai” would be a bit spicier/more flavourful, but I guess not. Wouldn’t really recommend this to anyone looking for anything but a very mild chai. It’s certainly not terrible, but I’ve had much better.

Stole a sample of this from my mom while on vacation (it’s a teabag). Predominant aroma is orange zest; flavour combines orange with a surprisingly tasty base, cinnamon, and vanilla (creaminess, yum). Not bad; no objectionable flavours that are sometimes found in Christmas tea. It’s a touch drying, so might be better with a splash of milk and sweetener or some sort, but I really don’t need more calories right now! Ha.

1.25 tsp for 250mL water at 85C, steeped 4 minutes 15 seconds.

Wow. I didn’t expect such a creamy jasmine hit.

Dry leaf: brown and tan leaves. Aroma: faint smoke, faint florals.

Wet leaf: brown and amber, aroma of leather.

Liquor: tranluscent copper. Assertive jasmine aroma and taste, with a creaminess, and a smoky finish that could become bitter. I wonder what hotter water might do. I was torn about which temp to use: anything higher than 85 will likley scald the green, yet 85 is usually not hot enough to bring out everything in a black leaf.

Meantime, I love this at 85. Complex and surprising. Full marks.

1.25 tsp for 250mL water 100C, steeped 4 minutes 15 seconds.

Dry leaf: mostly small brown to black wiry leaves. Aroma: Keemun toastiness.

Wet leaf: dark browns, aroma of tannins and minerals.

Liquor: gorgeous dark red-brown. Keemun gives way to Darjeeling’s bite, which leads into a strong Ceylon finish with mineral and especially copper notes. It feels like the different teas in this blend travel over the tongue, in an orderly queue. Slightly bitter — often a risk with Keemun. Very nice blend, and strong enough to cut through and then complement other strong tastes. I imagine this would go beautifully with smoked salmon, or a sweet cake.

1.25 tsp for 250mL water 100C, steeped 4 minutes, drunk bare.

Dry leaf: lots of long and wiry brown leaves, small dark copper leaves, a few flecks of dull green. Aroma: toast , earth.

Wet leaf: brown, bright copper, dark green. Aroma: Ceylon copper.

Liquor: very dark reddish brown.

A four-minute steep yields a sweeter taste and stronger flowers-and-bread aroma than four minutes 30 seconds, though there’s still plenty of pucker and heft. This blend packs a good caffeine hit. It was first blended for an editors’ conference. I’m sipping while deep in revisions, and it’s plucking me out of the doldrums. I expect this would make a good studying tea, too.

1.25 tsp for 250mL water 100C, steeped 4 minutes 30 seconds, drunk bare.

Dry leaf: lots of long and wiry brown leaves, small dark copper leaves, a few flecks of dull green. Aroma: toast , earth.

Wet leaf: brown, bright copper, dark green. Aroma: Ceylon copper.

Liquor: very dark reddish brown.

A touch bitter, but I did oversteep — I got interrupted in my timing. That said, this is a strong and heavier-bodied tea. The bitterness seems to be from the Keemun, as there’s a touch of smoke to it. The Yunnan is malty and sweet, and the Ceylon gives brightness and heft. Potent and delicious.

1 bag for 250mL water at 100C, steeped 4 minutes 30 seconds.

I wanted to use two bags, I find teabgs in general skimpy and the resultant brew weak in taste and body. No, I said, these look like decent teabags. Let’s follow the instructions.

Well, I have some vaguely tea-favoured water here, some sweetness, a faint coppery-Ceylon scent … but meh.

A disappointment. I might try two bags later.

1.25 tsp for 250mL water 95C, steeped 4 minutes, drunk bare.

Dry leaf: brown flecked with some green and a few twigs. Aroma: winey wood.

Wet leaf: the green leaves brghten and open up fast — very pretty. Aroma: tannins, wet earth.

Liquor: medium brown, a bit darker than I expected.

Full and classic Darjeeing taste with a good body. I prefer a second flush, so I’m quite happy here. Lots of muscatel, and a slight bite back, almost like the pepper in some Yunnans.