Murchie's Tea & Coffee

I’m a sucker for green/black blends, and this one is my ‘go to’ tea. I love it so much that I keep a tiny tin in my purse for teamercencies.
I find it a nice light tea, perfect for a mid-morning pick me up, or in the afternoon with a snack. I wouldn’t put milk in it- although I have been known to throw in a little bit of sugar with my first cup out of the pot (it is ALWAYS made in a pot).
Basically, this tea is a happy blend between green and black. And that makes me happy!

This is the perfect tea when you want something stronger than green, but not the full whammy of black. The green and black meld surprisingly well. I would never try it with milk.

This tea isn’t half-bad iced. It’s a little bit on the grassy, vegetal side, but it’s very refreshing and thirst-quenching. Maybe I’ll add a touch of agave nectar to bring out the fruitiness more and counteract all the ‘green’ – I have enough leaves for one more cup.

My mother gave my this tea, and while blueberry isn’t my favorite flavour, I like it well enough to give this tea a shot.

The dry leaves are long, folded needles of tea in a nice dark green shade. They unfold into fairly whole leaves as I steep them, which is one thing in this tea’s favour. The indigo cornflower petals are a pretty touch, but I don’t think they really add much to the flavour. The tea tastes vegetal with slightly nutty undertones, overlaid with a light blueberry flavour. It’s a nice, authentic taste, which is always appreciated and it manages to be fruity without being too sweet, but in the same token nor is it bitter.

Not a bad tea at all – this is also another one that I think might be good to experiment with having it iced.

Many thanks to Jillian for sending me a bit of this tea to try. I’m always on the lookout for my perfect genmaicha, so I was excited to try this new-to-me brand. This tea is one of the better genmaichas I have had the pleasure of sipping. The sencha is extremely buttery with a hint of sweetness that balances nicely with the popcorn flavor from the toasted rice. I’m having a great time sipping this tea out of my new Thermos that I bought for work (nothing fancy, just a cheap thermos but it does have a glass liner so that the tea flavors won’t hang onto the inside).

Jillian sent this one to me! Because I am in radio I had to try it! :) It’s not to shabby for a bagged tea! I can taste the black tea, the lemon, and a little bit of the jasmine in the background. I agree with Jillian’s comment about picking up a slight sour aftertaste…a little strange, but it isn’t something I cannot deal with…Thanks Jillian! Glad I got to try this one!!!

Thanks Jillian!!!! :) I appreciate the opportunity to try this!

Dry Leaves smell like artificial flavoring…like mango powder candy or something. As it infuses the scent is becoming less ‘fake’ and more towards the natural scent of mango. YAY!

It’s medium brown in color but still watery/see-thru and clear.

The Black Tea Taste and the Mango Taste are both there but not very strong at all. It’s a little flat. It’s not bad tasting but it’s not very flavorful either.

It has a slippery aftertaste…which is rather strange but oddly pleasant. This is “ok” and I’d like to try it iced or maybe some good-ole SUN TEA with it. For now…I will go with this average rating…

It’s “OK”

Finishing this one off as well.

I neglected to type up a steeping note when I picked it up a second time. I wanted so much to like it, and I couldn’t understand why the initial batch was so bitter. I got it in store again, and it tasted as wonderful as I remember, so I sprung for another two ounces.

I think I was write when I assumed it was something with the batch, because this one was fine all the way through. Probably one of my favourite tea blends. Grassy green and smoky, very unique—screams “Murchie’s”.

It’s up there with Library Blend as teas I will probably re-buy. Although I think I should truck through all their other green-black tea blends first.

I’m finishing off the rest of this blend today. Made a small pot. I actually went by Murchie’s about a week ago and had it in-shop again, and once AGAIN enjoyed it, but am disappointed that mine doesn’t taste nearly as nice. Maybe I should buy a package of their Queen Victoria teabags instead.

Only somewhat bitter today, at least. Almost enjoyable. Which may be because the tea itself included a lot of the fannings that settle to the bottom of the tin. Huh!

Perhaps I will get a box of teabags of this next time I find myself at Murchie’s. I just wish the difference in taste between the loose and the bagged wasn’t so significant.

No bitterness today, it seems. And it’s cooling fast. Still, not as flavourful.

I’m finding this one astringent and drying, but considerably less bitter than my other attempts. Although it hasn’t quite cooled enough to when I REALLY start tasting the bitterness, so I could be wrong. I’ll just have to drink it faster before it cools then.

Overall though, finding this cup to be considerably more enjoyable. Reminds me of drinking it in-store. Mmm.

Also just ordered samples of Dawn, Firefly and Honeybee from The Simple Leaf. All at once. I think I’ve strained my tea-budget enough for a while. Damn, I was thinking of ordering from 52Teas too. No! Next month! Must resist.

Rating’s going up.

I’ve had this a few times since I got it, but haven’t logged it.

I remember REALLY liking this when I had it at Murchie’s, so I came home with two ounces. Only to find that it… tasted quite different. I’m guessing it was a difference in tastes from the bagged fanning-form that they serve, and the loose that I went home with.

It was a bold, black tea flavour with this faint green sweetness/vegetalness underneath, just enough to compliment, and then a hint of smoke. I brought it home, and all I got what a bitter, burnt charcoal taste. Very bitter, green, not nearly as much bold black, and burnt not smoky.

So I started experimenting with my steep times and temperatures. I don’t know what temperature their water is, but I steeped it at around four minutes and it was good. No bitterness!

This time around I brought the temperature down to 180F, the steep time to 2:30, and replaced 1/4 of the tea I used with Murchie’s Assam tippy golden.

There’s a difference, and it’s a difference for the better, although I don’t like how watery it tastes with the reduced steeping time. But I know if I steep it any longer it’ll go bitter (especially since I added Assam black). Maybe I’ll have to buy a little box of their bagged stuff. Damn.

Enjoyable, though. Blacker in taste—closer to the bagged form that I remember—with a bit of a bittergreen taste, and then a faint burnt not-quite-smoky taste.

Just used up the last of my sample today. Slightly different steeping parameters, and I made much more than I was initially going to because my mother spotted me making tea and wanted in. She has never tried an oolong before; hopefully she will enjoy it.

Higher steeping temperature, I think, may be the reason this looks darker. But it also might just be because I poured into a mug rather than a small teacup. I can’t quite remember how this tasted the last time I had it (I’m not going to cheat and read my old notes), but it’s pleasantly light in the vegetal taste, a stronger floral almost sweetness coming through with a sort of milky aftertaste. Sometimes I think I might be getting a nuttyness as well in there somewhere. And occasionally there is a sort of sweet yeasty ’bakey’ness, but it’s hard to pick out as a flavour on its own—I think it’s more of the taste I get because of how the other flavours blend together. Hmm. Especially since otherwise there’s no way I would consider this tea at all ‘bakey’. It’s light, maybe buttery, sweet.

I still think ‘magnolia’ just smells like jasmine, but it’s much lighter, so it’s nothing like A&D’s Jasmine Green, which seems to be much too strong for me to handle.

I plan to resteep this a few more times and enjoy my book. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke) if anyone wants to know. I’ve been reading this book on and off for four years. I love it, but I just can’t seem to finish it.

Giving this an actual RATING now, because I realized I hadn’t given it one before.

This sips like a good book-reading tea, I think.

And for the record, my mother really likes it and came back for a second steep. This second one seems to have a slight tang to it, I think, but otherwise I’m not finding any significant difference.

Trying this again, different steep temperature and time! At first I tried to measure the temperature, but couldn’t seem to get anything over 170 even for freshly boiled, and the needle started going down so QUICKLY (I blame Canada and our temperatures, for some reason), that I just, instead, boiled water fresh, living it only enough time to STOP boiling before pouring it (I’m hoping that’s somewhere over 185, I was hoping for 200). Steeped for five minutes.

It only smells MORE green (and floral jasminy). About the same temperature of the first steep last time.

Huh. This is definitely more pleasant, somehow. Vegetable and greenish, but also sort of milky, I think.

That peppery taste in the back of my throat after the first steep is back. I’m describing it as a sort of harsh grassy taste. Or feel. Hm.

The smell’s not as veggie-like. In fact, I can’t really smell it at all… But that might just be my younger brother making scrambled eggs in the kitchen.

Buttery taste, I think. Lot less veggie tasting too. Last few drops are more vegetable tasting (due to the piece of leaf and leaf dust at the bottom of my cup). Didn’t really consider this one as closely as the first steep because I was talking to my brother as I sipped it. Sweet butteryness. Hmm.

Free pop tart from my sister’s boyfriend! SCORE.

Third steep—the colour’s not getting any lighter (in fact, it’s been identical all three steeps so far) but I’ve got more tea particles in this one. I smell… Ehr. Nothing. Hm.

Wow veggie taste. And not green tea veggie taste. Just VEGGIE taste. Wonder if it has anything to do with the poptart I just ate. That probably wasn’t a very good idea in terms of timing. The other tastes sat sort of in the middle-to-pack of the tongue, but this one’s mostly at the front, reaching towards the middle. It’s… acidic, but not at all sour. Metallic, I guess. Yeah, I’m getting metallic.

Rinsed my mouth out, but still getting the same taste. A normal sort of grassyness returns too—the metallic taste has sort of faded.

Fourth steep—again with the sharp green metallic taste on the tip of my tongue. Curse you poptart! I somehow know this is all your doing. I think I’ve pinned down this kind of vegetable taste as a sort of spinach taste. With almost slight butter. Butter’s getting slightly stronger. Spinach green taste… butteryness is gone again. Hmm. I don’t think I’m going to steep this a fifth time. Seriously drank too much tea at one in the bloody morning. Hmm… It’s sort of a slightly sweet spinach taste. Butteryness comes and goes.

I don’t dislike or like it, but I have so little experience with oolongs that I still don’t feel right attempting to give this a rating. I think I just like babbling about flavours.

I would really rather my first oolong NOT have been scented, but the lady at Murchie’s gifted me a sample of this “On The House” because it was apparently top-rated and one of the best sellers last year. Very nice of her.

Going to brew this in my Libre because it’s glass, and I wanted to watch the leaves unfurl. I plan, once it’s done steeping, to pour all of the tea out into a teacup (I’m not making very much).

Water is cooling… I have no idea what temperature to brew this at. I tried to look it up, but oolongs are quite variable anyways, and I was getting results anywhere from 180-boiling. So I went “screw it, 180 it is”. Or, rather, slightly under 180. Nevermind. Steep Time was another issue, so I’m going to do four minutes.

The dry leaves are a sort of milky green jasmine maybe? The milky smell was more evident in the bag, but I transferred them to a small tin. Slightly floral sort of smell too, that reminds me a bit of Andrews and Dunham’s jasmine green.

This is very pale. Sort of a tinge of green. Light a light green tea. Dunno how it should look—the tea leaves themselves did look fairly ‘green’, so.

No milkyness in the taste. Very… green. That’s really all I’m getting. It was interesting to watch the leaves, though. They didn’t open up as quickly as I thought they would. Slightly sweet. As I continued drinking it started to get sort’ve astringent. I always figured that I would enjoy a “blacK” oolong more. This hasn’t changed that opinion. Although this is only the first steep.

Wet leaves smell… vegetal, green. Something else, which I want to say is nutty, but it’s not.

Oooh leaves are huge now. Got this water closer to 180. Going to steep this one for four minutes too. While waiting for the second steep, I noticed a weird taste in the back of my throat… Uh. Peppery, maybe?

Second one is darker, probably because the leaves were already open for this steep. Only slightly, though. Stronger smell, but still just green. More strongly vegetal than before. That almost maybe? Not quite pepper taste is back, stronger. Don’t know. Still don’t really like it. Floral jasminy smell’s still there. Oh! Buttery! I got a buttery taste for a moment there. Like a watery, milky buttery taste. I’m not sure.

Not liking this one again. Ehrck.

Third steep smells… Sweeter? Tastes sweeter too. This one’s actually kind of pleasant. When I breath out there’s a butteryness. Vegetal pepperyness.

I’d go for a fourth steep (I hear good things about fourth steeps!),but I’m too full of tea now.

Don’t know how to rate this. Hrm.

De-cupboarding this tea as well. I’m glad I found a good Russian Caravan that isn’t too astringent or smokey; I’d definitely buy this one again the next time I’m in Vancouver.

This tea is ok with milk, but like I thought in my last post about this tea it doesn’t really add anything. Some Russian Caravan’s I’ve had (like that lovely one from Lavender Basics – *sniff *) went really nice with milk and actually tasted fuller and took on a slightly sweet note when drunk that way.

You get a big waft of smokey-BBQ when you open the bag and I was afraid that it would be too heavy on the Lapsang Souchong. My fears were allayed however, and while there’s some smoke, it doesn’t take over the tea and drown out all the other flavours. I’m picking up a slightly astringent, tannic sort of note that comes from the Darjeeling I think, aswell as a rounder, mellower flavour that might be from the Keemun.

It’s a nice, well-balanced black tea that goes down smoothly and that doesn’t really seem like it needs a ton of milk and/or sugar. Although I suppose you could add it if you wanted – I don’t think it would wreck the taste or anything.

Sweetening this tea doesn’t seem to really do much for it – if anything it seems to emphasis the sour/acrid aftertaste slightly. So taking this tea with plain milk and nothing else seems to be the way to go.

I was worried that adding milk would destroy this tea, but it actually seems to hold up to it fairly well. It takes off the bitter edge that the plain tea has, which I really appreciate, and it gives the tea flavour reminiscent of an earl grey with some jasmine added to it.

The black tea in this blend definitely seems to dominate the flavour, unfortunately it has a sour-bitter sort of aftertaste and I don’t know if it’s the Ceylon, the added lemon, or the jasmine green. Which ever it is I can’t seem to get rid of it by changing the steeping time, so next time I drink this tea I’ll try it with milk and see if that changes anything.