Sweet Canadian

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So hubby and I made the long trek yesterday from the east (central) part of Canada to the western part to come home for Christmas. I gave my mom an advent calendar for her birthday, so we went got home she brewed DAY 16’s tea for us to enjoy together. I don’t think she brewed it properly, and I may have pointed this out and been called a tea snob….

It was spicy, but I felt like the mint was subdued. I think it was over-steeped and I’m going to try remaking it myself this afternoon.

I bought a little bit of this at the beginning of November to try. Another one I had experienced before but wasn’t super crazy about. However now I am craving it all the time like crazy, good thing it is in the tea for the holiday box!

I always thought I liked Read My lips better because it has chocolate. I’ve decided this one has redeeming qualities too, it is minty and relaxing, but black and energizing. If brewed properly it has this comforting candycane sweetness that I cannot get enough of because it is the holidays.

Alpine punch. I have had a love/hate relationship with this one for a few months, mainly because my friend LOVES it and I had such high expectations when she offered me some. I had two cups of it at her place before Davids announced it was part of the winter collection, and when it came out at the beginning of November it was the only one I didn’t buy to have at home.

Fast forward to now, I decided to give it another chance. This was inevitable because I got the tea for the holidays pack from Davids for myself, and it is one of the few caffeine free options in there. And I had a really nice cup of it last night, and I see why others would like it. It is a very comforting winter blend that faintly tastes like marzipan.

Advent Calendar Day 15! I straight tea! I have learned a lot since last year when I was advent calendaring and was very conscious this time about steep time and water temp.

I had a truly delightful cup of this. The colour was a light bright green. The flavour was very light, sweet, and almost earthy as well. I haven’t been very into green teas, but drinkings this one the way I prepared it makes me want to try some more highly rated ones.

Advent Calender Day 14! I can’t believe we are at 10 days until Christmas, December is flying by as always.

I don’t know that I have ever logged this tea before, but it is a part of my collection at the moment. I really love it iced. It has a distinct tart flavour to it, that I find lends itself particularly well to Gin.

The colour is a nice pinky shade. I had it iced last night because I think that is the best way to drink it.

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I just made the most wonderful chai latte from this. Not too spicy, flavourful, and delightful in many ways. I steeped for a really long time because I forgot about it, added a hint of sweetness, and poured some frothed milk on top. Yum yum. I still wish this one was a bit stronger in flavour but it was a nice way to end an evening.

Advent Calendar Day 13!

So I had this one iced last night. It is delightful as always. I had a tin of this a while ago, and when I finished it I replaced it with something else. But it is particularly delicious iced, the green rooibos flavour really shines and there is a light fruityness behind it.

Omnomnomnom Advent Calendar Day 12!

I love how nutty this tea is. I still prefer sleigh ride I think, but this is a close second for my fav hot herbal from Davids. Though I am a little disappointed in this sample, all the nuts were stuck together! I think it might have been stale…. But I also mixed it with sleigh ride and it was delish!

Advent Calendar Day 11 times!

This is my favorite holiday blend that Davids has this year. I recently bought a tin of it, and it was expensive because it is so heavy but worth it :)

I love how comforting this blend is. It’s truly the perfect evening blend for winter months. I’m glad they included it in the advent calendar even though I had just had a cup the day before.

I had this in a to go cup the other day from Davids because I had been wanting to try it for a while. It smells like something! I don’t know what the thing is that it smells like, but it reminded me of something I’ve drank in the past.

The colour is a nice yellow tea colour. Very traditional look here. The taste is very berry-y. I really liked it actually. I have decided I like fruity oolongs. I would consider getting more of this. However the flavour is a little off somehow, so I can see how others might not like it.

Advent Calendar Day 10!

I will definitely be drinking this tea post new year this year, but I don’t think it is memorable enough for me to want to stock up on more. I like the lemon thing it has going on. Saying that, it was just an ok blend. I don’t think it tastes bad, but it didn’t blow my mind.

Advent Calendar Day 9! Where is December going?

I really really really hate cinnamon hearts. I feel the way that some people feel about candy corn towards them. They taste gross. But I actually enjoyed this tea today.

It tasted like them without being overpowering. Maybe my tastbuds are getting weak and I actually liked them now. No, I think it’s that this tea takes away a lot of the gross sugar overpowering the gross cinnamon, and leaves me with a sweet spicy flavour. It had a kick to it to be sure. Would I buy more? No, there are far better chais other there. But I will look forward to finishing this sample.

Oh my gosh…I am having a winter love affair with this tea. It’s like David knows what I am going to want to drink every season with his releases. I don’t reach for pumpkin chai as much anymore because it tastes like fall to me. And even though it is technically still fall, my taste buds are already in late December. Cue this tea:

It tastes like spicy, dark, hot chocolate. You have to steep it long enough or it will taste watery. It’s got a very bitter cocoa taste that I love because it isn’t overly fake tasting. It tastes like a really strong dark chocolate with spice. Yummmm. I am going to be having this everyday until spring.

Advent Calendar Day Huit!

Urgh, really DT? ANOTHER BLACK! I’m glad to get this one out of the way because I really have a so so relationship with breakfast teas. I’m sure there is a breakfast blend out there somewhere for me, but I really prefer earl grey if I am going to have something plain.

I think this tastes like what I conceived tea tasting like as a kid. And for that I deem it ok. It is a bit bitter, and I have to drink it with milk and sugar to really enjoy it. It’s not something I am going to be running to repurchase, but I’m sure lots of people who like these traditional flavours love it.

Advent Calendar Love Day 7!

I was excited to see a rooibos. I agree with the consensus on the DT facebook and Twitter, they did a horrible job this year spacing out the different types of teas. And some people haven’t been getting the right ones. I hope they still do an advent calendar next year because it seems to have been a big hassle for them.

I want to experiment more with this one. It had a nice light flavour, but I would like it to be more intense. I didn’t steep it that long though, and didn’t add anything to it, so maybe if I do it will be better.

Day 6 of Advent Calendar happiness!

I was super super hung over this day which is why I am a few days behind in my tea reviews. I like Glitter and Gold a lot. It is really fun to make this in a clear mug, and then put frothed milk on time because it swirls together in a sparkly way. Very exciting. My mom also liked this one a lot.

Advent Calendar Day 5!

Oh cream of earl grey, you are so nice. This is one of my husband’s favorites, he loves him some earl grey. I think this version adds something special to the classic because of how creamy it really is. I like drinking it when I’m craving something very traditional. I enjoyed this while I was trying to finish up my last pressure essay of a very long 3 weeks. It’s plain but still special.

I LOVE this tea. I could drink it all day. It’s so clean tasting, and satisfying by itself. I don’t know how to describe it, it just works.

Advent Calendar Day 4! Excitement! Three Weeks til Xmastimes!

Ugh. Ok so Salted Caramel story: I looooove Salted Caramels. A lot. Last year President’s Choice had boxes of them, and when I initially tried them I was like bleh, but then I couldn’t stop eating them, and then I was like yum. So yeah, they are something I will devour if we left alone in a room together.

When this tea first came out hubby and I were about to get married and looking for thank you gifts for our famjams. I added some onto an online order of something for his grandma, because I HAD to try this one. And I have never been so disappointed in a tea. It isn’t salty! I do not understand, and it smells better than it tastes. I’ve had 50 grams that I’ve been trying to drink down/get rid of every since.

So this morning when I opened the day 4 door, I actually delayed having my cup of this because I just wasn’t excited. I enjoyed a travel mug of chocolate chili chai on the way to school instead. Nomnom. And then when I got home I had a latte, knowing full well that the flavour just doesn’t live up to my expectations.

And it still doesn’t. I think I’ve managed to manipulate it enough times that I find it mildly pleasing, but like my mom said to me today when she tried it, it just doesn’t taste like salted caramels. I even tried to oversteep it to bring out the flavor. Nothing. So I look forward to something better tomorrow.

HOWEVER I have been drinking the Skinny all night now that I have some again (first time in a year) and it is AMAZING! Totally makes up for this. And that is my story. The end.

Advent Calendar Day 3! I have been wanted to expand into other Davids Chais after I realized how much I love Chai tea in general. I tried this one it last years advent calendar, and it clearly didn’t wow me then since I didn’t remember it, so it was time to give it another try.

I would say it is a very mild sweet chai. I don’t like it as much as chocolate chili chai (which I got a bunch of today, more on that later) because I don’t feel it has enough of a kick. I will definitely be giving it another try later though to see if I can bring out more of the spice. The flavours just seemed weak to me in this outting.

However all is not lost! I got a HUGE DT haul today. Like huge. I got refills of Birthday Cake, Chocolate Rocket, and Brazillionaire. And then I got a bunch of new tins: Pink Flamingo, Cocomint Cream, Chocolate Chili Chai, Read my Lips, and Mother’s Little Helper. And I got 50 grams of the Skinny. They were unfortunately out of Sleigh Ride so I will have to go back but yay so exciting, I’ve been holding off on this buy for a while

So this is the second of the three samples I got from Tea from Taiwan, and I am sad because I don’t feel like I did it justice. I am saving the last one for a day when I can really focus on my tea making and not be so distracted by papers.

So 1st steep was just ok, very earthy, not as sweet and light as I like my oolongs to be. Second steep I let sit WAAAAY to long so that’s my fault, and then I only got the chance to have one more that day. The last one was nice, still deeper and smoother than the milk oolong I reviewed from them a few weeks ago. I liked it but I think I would have liked it more if I had of done a better job with my preparing.

DavidsTea Advent Calendar Day 2!
Oh hello there my old friend. How are you? Yes I didn’t sleep well last night because I am freaking out that I got nothing done yesterday. Please make me productive this morning.

This is still my favorite blend ever. It is just so delicious and chocolately. I think what makes it so amazing is how warming it is. You really don’t need to add anything to it. It makes me realize why some people like coffee, because when you have something this comforting and energizing, of course you are going to drink it all the time.

I wish there was a night time equivalent of this tea for when I want to stay up but I don’t want to be bouncing of the ceiling. Any suggestions? And I don’t think it is possible to oversteep this one.