Tasting Lab: Singbulli Flowery 2025

Light and floral, with a distinctly green character, the effects of the growing region and processing style of Darjeeling shape their teas into something very unique, unlike anything else we would call 'black tea'. They’re a rare treat. We carry Margaret's Hope first flush and second flush year round, and I'm glad I've got the Tasting Lab platform to showcase some more of what Darjeeling has to offer. This Singbulli Flowery was plucked and processed only a few short months ago, at the beginning of 2025, and exemplifies some of the fresh florals and distinctive muscatel flavours Darjeelings are prized for.

Tasting Lab: No. 9

One of the more difficult aspects of reviving old recipes from our Blend Book, is that styles of tea production have changed over the years. For the particularly old blends, sometimes there's not a perfect analogue in available teas today. This leaves recipes open to interpretation, and can result in a lot of variation.

Tasting Lab: Bard's Blend

Bard's Blend was developed in conjunction with Poet's Blend, so it made sense to release them back to back. They're in a sense 'sister blends', following the same blending principles, despite how differently they turned out.

Whereas Poet’s Blend mixes black tea with floral-scented green and oolong teas for an aromatic, garden-in-your-cup experience, Bard’s Blend takes a different approach. Using a mix of malty and nutty black teas from India and China, they’ve been paired with smoky gunpowder green tea, and a blend of roasted oolongs. The result is a mix of toasted grains, and the barest hint of smoke. I’ve described it as ‘buttered toast’.

Tasting Lab: Poet's Blend

The Tasting Lab has been an Idea and pet project for a while, so I'm glad I get to see it come to fruition. It was conceived as a way to showcase ideas, finds, and old blending classics from the Big Black Book that haven't seen the light of day in decades, possibly even a century. A way to glimpse the ideas that go on behind the scenes at Head Office, and bring others along on an interesting taste-journey.

Experimentation has its ups and downs; occasionally you come across a tea you adore, but can't source the quantities you need for a full release. Sometimes you have ideas for flavour combinations that are so out there, you don't know if anyone else would be willing to try. Murchie's has a lot of history, and I look forward to exploring some of it with interested tea drinkers.

Mother's Day gift-giving inspiration from extraordinary mothers!

Need Mother’s Day gift giving inspiration? Look no further because we asked 10 mother figures from our community what their favourite Murchie’s ritual is and there’s a little bit of everything!