I thought it’d take some time before I can open a new tea, but I managed to finish the Santomi Black tea! One tea out, one tea in, so I decided to open Tea & Toast, a very intriguingly named tea from Bird & Blend Tea Co. This was part of the Autumn Sampler Pack I bought last year, when I was also ordering the matcha calendar.

Here’s the description of the tea from the packet:

“English breakfast tea with sweet raspberry jam.”

Short but sweet. Brewing instructions were to brew the leaves for 4 minutes and that this would be fine with or without milk.

First Impressions

This is a very pretty looking tea, probably because of all the pink from the raspberry. It smells fruity and, promisingly, not too sweet.

Tasting Notes

The first time I made this, I brewed the tea for four minutes and poured out two cups – one to drink straight and one to add a splash of milk.

Let’s just get this out of the way: four minutes is far too long if you’re drinking this tea straight. The tart raspberry notes may have been very prominent, but there was also a very strong bitter note that was unpleasant. I could barely finish the cup. In retrospect, the dark tea liquor should have been a hint that I shouldn’t have poured more than a sip to try it straight.

On the other hand, four minutes was perfect if you’re adding tea. The tea liquor was very pale once you added milk, but it really did remind me of toast with jam. The milk gave the raspberry notes some sweetness and mellowed out the harsh notes of the black tea. There was absolutely no taste of the bitterness that dominated when drinking the tea straight and I basically marvelled at what a great name for the tea this was. By the way, there’s no need to add sugar, I felt like the tea was sweet enough with it. It will smell tart rather than sweet, but the tartness isn’t that present while you’re drinking the tea.

The second time I made this, I shortened the brewing time to one minute just to give the straight tea another try. This time, the tea was pleasantly fruity but I didn’t really have the impression of toast with jam. I liked it, but not as much as the tea with milk version and that’s really saying something since I drink most of my teas straight.

Overall Thoughts

This is definitely a blend that’s made for milk. I think that the name for the tea is spot-on, it’s really like having a piece of toast while drinking tea. The Bird & Blend website suggested using oat or coconut milk, but I’ve been using old-fashioned dairy milk and enjoying it very much.

Have it plain, if you must, but I would recommend cutting the brewing time in half or less from the recommended 4 minutes.

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