Bird & Blend – Blueberry and Peach
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With the exception of hibiscus and blue pea flowers, everything in this Bird & Blend Blueberry and Peach blend is fruit. There’s plenty of fruit, I grant you, crammed with apple, blueberries, peaches and orange, this tea doesn’t skimp on the fruit content, but it’s just … fruit.
I’m a tea fancier (except when I go slightly off brand and identify as a rooibos-fancier) and while I venture into the potpourri-scented waters of fruit and herbal blends from time to time, I’m always left thinking “Is that it?” The lack of Camelia sinensis at the base of this ‘tea’ reduces my enjoyment by about 90%.
I know it’s an unfair criticism. Bird & Blend have set out to make a fruit-based beverage, and they certainly succeeded. This is a juicy, fruity blend that tastes rather like summer pudding. I just can’t get very excited about it.
Luckily, Bird & Blend aren’t just trying to excite my taste buds here. I am awarding a whole extra star to this tea purely based on how visually impressive the whole thing is. This is down to the inclusion of the aforementioned blue pea flowers. Pouring hot water over the blend evidently releases whatever ink-like natural dye is part of a pea flower’s genetic makeup.
The contents of the teacup turn blue. Not just blue-ish either. Proper actual blue. You know how we’re advised to eat the rainbow in order to cultivate a healthy diet? If you included blue pea flowers as part of your daily intake, you could actually tick off all seven colours in the spectrum.
Blue water isn’t the half of it though. Once the brew has had a chance to infuse, it releases a deep red colour (presumably from the blueberries). The two colours, lie on top of one another for a while, like two layers of differently coloured chiffon before languidly swirling together and creating a rich burgundy hue.
You don’t need to drink this tea to enjoy it. You could just look at it instead.
Today’s featured book is Fruit Fare (1982) by Mary Berry, a fairly comprehensive bunch of fruit-based recipes for all you fruit enthusiasts out there.
