Plum Deluxe

This is my new favorite tea! All of the flavors balance super well – the cornflowers bring a delicate floral sweetness to the spicy nuttiness, and I’m not sure if it is the blend of oolong and rooibos, but I don’t get the vaguely bitter aftertaste with this blend that I typically do with nut teas. I personally add beet sugar crystals and a splash of cream, and it’s worth drinking even in 90° summer weather.

Since the sliders don’t work well on mobile, I steep at 195° for 7 minutes. (I prefer a little bit lower temps with a longer steep time, I like my tea strong)

Y’all! It took basically all of my braincells tonight (all seven of them), but I finally managed to focus enough to clear through the queue of tasting notes that I wanted to write about today…

I had this one late in the afternoon, and it was also a really damn good mug of tea! It’s been a long time since I last had cherimoya so the flavour isn’t really fresh in my mind, and it’s not something I had a strong familiarity with either. However, I think this is pretty on track with what I do remember it tasting like? It’s sort of sweet, bright and a little bit juicy golden yellow and crisp green apple meets a hint of fresh, sweet custard with a silky/creamy mouthfeel. This also has some type of mild warming spice element, which I actually felt like amplified some of the fresh sweetness of the blend and added an element of a “baked” fruit/apple type of vibe too.

Warming, golden, creamy – all great words to describe this delicious tea!

The rooibos here is a little peppery. Maybe that’s from the hazelnut flavoring. It’s not a flavoring I prefer in any blend I find it in. I love all other nuts, but hazelnuts are sometimes weird for me. I don’t sense any chocolate here. The blend is rather thin and unexciting. I wish I’d had milk in the house when I drank this one because I’m sure that would have helped, but even so, it wasn’t up to par with other chocolate rooibos blends. Or I guess it kind of was because many chocolate rooibos blends aren’t super great. But some are. Not really this one.

From the “Great Steepster Freeze” – and something I didn’t take notes on, so crappy tasting note incoming…

- Lively cup and bright flavours
- More raspberry forward with a softer lemon
- Like that I can still taste the yerba mate in it, even if slightly

I will write a longer tasting note for this in the future but right now it’s the last tasting note in my queue and I’m ready to just celebrate being caught up on tasting notes so we’re going bullet point style!

- Smells great as dry LLT; sweet raspberry and lemon candies
- Steeps very similarly to the dry leaf smell
- Raspberry and subtle hibiscus are the immediate noticed flavours
- Followed by bright, sweet lemon then a hint of more herbal/earthy mate
- Would describe as light, vibrant and sweet but NOT sugary/syrupy
- Initial feeling is that this is REALLY nice!

Sipdown (901)!

A free one cup sample from a small Plum Deluxe order I made recently. I know this is supposed to be blackberry and hazelnut, but mostly I just got the hazelnut from the blend. I’m not upset with that; it’s hard to convey hazelnut well and I liked that nutty sweetness in this cup. I wouldn’t probably gravitate towards having it in a larger quantity because I found it a little to simple and I think over extending drinking I might easily tire of the flavour but as a sample it was very nice, and I’m glad to have experienced it!

Thanks to Plum Deluxe for the sample! The nuttiness is the main flavor. If you’re in the mood for something nutty, this would definitely do the trick. This blend is more rooibos than anything else, which I’m a fan of. Nuts and quality rooibos just combine so deliciously. I’m not sure I notice the black tea there too much. Really, this is a tasty, deep blend. I’m glad these samples are so big because I’m going to enjoy several cups of this one!

It’s starting to get hot in my part of the world. Like, 90 degrees hot. Ugh. Despite the fact that I grew up in this hot climate, I’ve never really liked the heat, preferring weather where I can cozy up with a cup of tea.
Oh well.
I picked this up because lemon and elderflower sounded delightful, refreshing, nice! In reality I’m finding my cup a little bit sour. Maybe I need to adjust the steep time?

Another tea from the tea box! This tea is a pretty good mix of fruit and oolong. Both flavors are light enough to be subtle and enjoyable, yet still quite flavorful. Once it cools, I also notice a metallic flavor that I don’t love. So my first impression was good, but in the end, I ended up finding this tea to be more average than I had hoped. I really wish I’d noticed the almond in the flavor, but I missed it!

The flavor here is lightly minty. It’s pretty nice mixed with the green rooibos. It’s not super special, but it’s pleasant. To be honest though, the Simpson & Vail version of this is so great that I would always pick that one first.

Tangy, like a sour apple, sweet like a pineapple, and creamy with a a fragrance of banana is how I characterize the cherimoya. While this tea is not an exact replicate, its flavor profile is right there. I am glad it isn’t an artificial scent. The woodsy green rooibos allows this tea to be resteeped with a lingering flavor that still comes through. I coldsteeped my cup after brewing with hot water. Not a must-have but definitely try it if you like a unique fruity herbal blend.

Quarantine life isn’t much different from everyday life as far as my schedule goes, but I do enjoy working from home. A silver lining in all of this uncertainty. Today is a beautiful day so I have windows and doors open to the back porch, and there are lizards on the sill and bees buzzing around our blueberry bushes. We are truly fortunate to be safe and well at home.

Much like Shanie O Maniac, I find myself lacking the motivation to drink tea lately, though I’m surrounded by it and am working right near the kitchen. I felt determined today to have at least one cup so I pulled this, my final tea from Plum Deluxe, from the bin under our tea cabinet. Yes, we are in overflow.

I’m so grateful to companies like Plum Deluxe who make such an effort to share and introduce us to their teas. They could have done many other things, or nothing at all, but they sent three full-size pouches of tea plus a sample for me to try. This is my last of the bunch.

I’m not sure if this is a chocolate tea, but I taste chocolate. It reminds me of one of those hazelnut-flavored coffees, though I don’t actually taste hazelnut. That’s just the most common nutty flavor I think of when I think flavored coffee. And it is nutty, especially as it cools, but it’s not specifically pecan. I really think coffee drinkers would love this. It’s deep and dark and quite flavorful.

I woke up craving this one! Had to make a cup right away. This is such a good tea.

When I first received this tea from Plum Deluxe, I had to check the description on their website to see what the flavors are. It smelled so familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It’s listed as a vanilla creme brulee tea, which sounds amazing, and vanilla I could see but I wasn’t getting any creme brulee vibes. Even after having a cup, I still don’t think I experienced creme brulee. Not exactly, anyway.

But oh my goodness, what I did experience was magic. Don’t laugh. This is going to sound pretty ridiculous to most grown-ups – and maybe it’s just nostalgia talking here – but this tea smells and tastes just like Chocolate Chip Pop-Tarts. My favorite Pop-Tarts growing up. Maybe even my favorite Pop-Tarts of all time. My brother and I, we would pop them in the microwave for just a few second longer than we reasonably should have, so that the inside was lava-hot and oozing and the crust was bordering on burnt but not and eat them while they were burn-your-fingers (and mouth and tongue and cheeks) hot. I remember like yesterday the chocolate dripping down the corners of my mouth, a molten river of bliss burning down down down.

So like I said, maybe it’s nostalgia, but this tea took me back and I loved every last drop of it. I tasted vanilla and chocolate and even the pastry with its sweet, burnt edges. Maybe that’s the creme brulee I thought I was missing. This, to me, is a true dessert tea. I love a good vanilla tea, but this surprised me and gave me much more than I was expecting.

Many many thanks to Plum Deluxe for reminding me of a happy memory from my childhood and gifting me a tea that truly put a smile on my face.

Strong scented floral lavender, not at all camphorous. I enjoyed it as an herbal tea with the enjoyability of the dry astringency that Ceylon tea brings. I took it plain as is my custom for most teas, without addition of sugar or milk. It won’t be my daily go-to but I look forward to adding this to anything I want lavender to stand out.

Thanks to Plum Deluxe for the sample! The main flavor here is the rooibos with the caramel flavor adding some sweetness/dessertness. I feel like you can also sense the black tea and the almond in some sips. The almond isn’t an amaretto-like almond, but more of a natural nuttiness. This blend is decent, but I’m not sure I prefer it over similar blends I could get at Adagio for much cheaper per ounce.

Another lovely tea that Plum Deluxe sent me to review! Thank you Plum Deluxe!

This has an ok flavor. I will admit when I first cracked open the pack, I was concerned because it smelled like dirt. It’s unfortunate, but it translates over a bit. There’s a dusty quality to this that isn’t the best. The main flavor is heavy on the floral. I added two splendas to this but it still has the dusty flavor. It’s depressing. I really wanted to love this. It’s decent enough, but I can’t get past the dustiness.

I mean it’s not bad. But it’s not great. It’s drinkable, but considering how wonderful the last one I tried was, I’m disappointed. Oh well.

Thanks again Plum Deluxe!

Thanks for the samples, Plum Deluxe!

I’ve never had a custard apple before, so I can’t attest to how much like one this tastes. If they’re anything like this tea though, I’d be happy to try one. It’s got a sweet, creamy, fruity taste that’s a little bit appley (although that could probably also be due to the apple pieces), and maybe just a bit like a pear.

I’d like to give it a shot iced. It’s lovely hot, but I’d imagine it’d make a nice iced tea too.

Another of the lovely samples that Plum Deluxe sent me! Thanks!

This is a lovely Earl Grey. The rich but smooth bergamot, blended with flavorful vanilla leads to a wonderfully blended cup of EG Cream. It’s just so dang smooth. I love this! It’s kinda like a warm hug wrapping around my core and smooshing me. I wish I had the words to express this but I don’t. Smooth smooth smooth. And yet not overly subtle. The flavor is strong, yet kind and loving at the same time. So yummy.

Def recommend!