Ellysa

Wow, so this is maybe the first oolong tea that I’ve tried and enjoyed. Given the choice, I usually like to go for flavored or scented teas, I rarely go for straight teas, let alone an oolong variety.

The first brew of this tea had an overpowering taste of ginseng, with not a lot of the oolong flavor. The second brew however, was much more well-rounded. Both had intense flavor, without over-doing it or being bitter.

There’s a certain freshness to this tea, and the after taste is one of the most astringent that I know of. If you have ever chewed on licorice bark, you are already familiar with the feeling it leaves in your mouth. It’s refreshing, and I think it would be a good one if you were feeling a sore throat coming on, or weren’t feeling well.

Overall, it’s a neat tea. Not what I was expecting, but delicious in it’s own way.

I get really excited when I’m a first to review a tea. :) I must be one of the biggest tea nerds on the planet.

You know that saying “it’s worth its weight in gold”? Well… this tea is worth its weight in CHOCOLATE. Holy moly. This tea is a cup of hot chocolate, but without the calories. It is winter, come early. Ice skating and mittens included.

I took a to-go from the store, in the form of a delicious latte, but I wish I would have bought a tin of it. And when I say a tin, I mean one of the big tins they keep on the wall. This tea is ah-mazing.

I LOVE THIS TEA.

I really don’t know how else to explain my love for it. Soy lattes made with this tea are to die for! There are so many well-balanced flavors in this tea that just… mmmmmmm. The almond is pretty potent, and the apricots give it a fruity body. It’s rich and creamy and delectable, and I’m just plain shocked there’s no liquor in it, damnit! SO GOOD.

This tea is terrific!! It’s hard to believe that a tea could actually sparkle, but if you’ve had this tea, you know it is absolutely possible. It glitters all the way through. My first reaction was “there’s a galaxy in my mug!”

This is such a smooth, comforting tea, with just the right balance of flavors. It’s unique enough that I don’t think I could compare it to much else. All I can tell you is that I have to restrict myself on how much black tea I can have, and this is one of the few that I keep around my tea cupboard for the occasional guilty pleasure brew.

So I’m not going to rate this tea… because I didn’t ingest it conventionally. I bought just enough of it to make some green tea matcha cupcakes (twice). Long story short, it was absolutely brilliant to use in my baking! I absolutely loved it!

WOAH.

This tea is way exciting! I was shocked to see that chili is in it, and even more shocked to be able to say that I actually liked chili in it!

Personally, I don’t think that it particularly tastes like chili. It tastes like mango and has the green tea background body. Where the chili really shines, is in the way it warms your mouth after each sip. I found it to be a pleasant warmth, not a building or distracting warmth, that makes the tea very unique and exciting.

My mom and I were unsure, so only purchased a 50g bag. But we quickly decided to split it 50/50, we were both so impressed!

“Like walking through an English garden after a spring rain.” — Precisely. As my British boss would say “super smashing lovely!”

I am a sucker for the smell of roses. Telling me that scent is edible, in the form of my favorite liquid beverage? I will tell you you have a heart of gold. This tea really is lovely. It is smooth, actually smells and tastes like what it is, and I think it’s beautiful. I’m sitting inside, the windows open, the rain coming down outside, and seriously, David’s Tea couldn’t be more bang on with the description of this tea!

The taste kind of reminds me of the British candies I used to love so much (back when I could find them), called Parma Violets.

I added nothing, and I won’t in the future either. This is a true, simple, beautiful, speak-for-itself kind of tea. Smashing darling, really!

Oh my lord. I had a sample of this in my cupboard from the last order I made online, and I finally got around to trying it tonight. I don’t like ginger. But I can hardly tell it’s even in this tea. The flavor of apples, almond and coconut is a creamy delight. I’m so impressed. I will be picking some of this up the next time I go by. I’ve been addicted to Jessie’s Tea for a few months now, but I might have to switch back and forth with this one!

My friend sent me a taste of this to try. I love sharing teas. She suggested I go full force ahead and have it with a little cream and some kind of sweetener. I’ve got soymilk and a touch of agave in my mug and I have to say, it’s rather delicious! I’ve never gone out of my way to seek a tea with chamomile, but I would look for this one. Creamy and sweet, but it still tastes like tea. :) Just the way I like it.

Mmm. I think this might be the only straight green tea that I would be interested in buying more of. I got this as a sample in a package I ordered from David’s Tea. I was cooking up some vegetarian dumplings tonight and thought – wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a bit of green tea with my dumplings?! This was the only thing in the cupboard that wasn’t flavored or fancy, and I’m glad I finally got around to trying it. Great flavor, smooth and consistent. Just what I was hoping for!

Mmm. While not spectacular, I still really enjoyed my mug of this. I probably won’t buy more of it, but I do like it.

Part of my advent calendar (sorry, I lost track of days!).

Gosh this tea sure is pretty. And I quite like it. I had it with a bit of soy and some agave (cause that’s my favorite way to have earl grey – I find it brings out the richness of the flavors). I don’t think it’s anything extraordinary, but I love love love earl grey, and it compares to all my other favorite greys, so that’s a good sign!

And as a note, I brewed less than I needed to. I find earl greys are really strong… so I always brew either a little less of it, or I let it steep for shorter periods of time.

This is my day #15 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

Well, I had to cut my way into another tin… I couldn’t get the lid to screw off. David’s – I LOVE these tins, but please make sure they work!

Smelling it in the tin, I was curious. I could smell the vanilla and I had high hopes! Buuuuut brewed… it smells like rot. Rotting wood or something. I’m so disappointed. I can’t stand it. I’ve taken a few sips, but I’ll be pouring the rest out. :(

This is my day #14 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

Oh my goodness. It smells like an apple crisp. With the granny smith apples, and an oatmeal, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon crumble on top. I was nervous about this one… after having a not so great experience with nuts in one of the past calendar tasters.

As for the taste, I had to add a bit of sweetener (I use agave) to really bring out the flavors. It’s delicious though! It really does taste like an apple crisp. I love it! It’s light and fresh and still incorporates the warmth of cinnamon on your tongue. Tasty tasty tasty!

This is my day #13 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

Aaaaahhhhhhhh this stuff is to die for! My friend swapped this with me via snail mail with the instructions to boil with soymilk. What a treat! So creamy and rich and smooth and mmmmmm…

LOVE.

Ommm nom nom nom nom nom. nom. nom. nom. (Sung to the tune of “fa la la la la”.)

This could easily become a seasonal substitute for eggnog, especially with a touch of soymilk. Gosh this is good! So so so good. This and Jessie’s Tea (which I’ll probably drink more of just because I’m sure if I drink as much of this, the black tea will serve me with a heart attack) are really similar and both just so darn delicious!

I was starting to get nervous that I wasn’t enjoying as many of the teas in the calendar, but then Santa’s Sleigh Ride and this happened, and my faith has been restored!

This is my day #12 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

Holy chunks of cinnamon batman! This is like… apple cider, but tea. And delicious. Certainly a magical touch for the holiday season. There’s cinnamon, and apple and popcorn (reminds me of popcorn strings on Christmas trees!) and it’s this wonderful red/purple color. Mmmm… I might have to pick some of this up before the season’s over! Love it!

This is my day #10 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

This tea tastes like… if mint tea and chai tea had a love child. The cardamom is a sweet surprise to my taste buds! I was disappointed to find another tea in my calendar with licorice in it, since I haven’t enjoyed the last few, but I don’t mind how it mellows this tea out so nicely. I’m usually pretty lazy about watching steeping times. But I’ll be careful with this one. The longer it steeps, the stronger the licorice gets.

Anywho, I’m pleasantly surprised! With all the mint teas in my tea stash right now, I’m not sure I’ll be buying this one right away, but I do like it!

This is my day #9 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

I’m not convinced I like the licorice in this tea. It seems very heavy compared to all the other light yumminess in this tea. Otherwise, I really don’t mind it. I haven’t had many chamomile teas before, so I don’t have much to compare them to. It’s tasty though. I think it would be a nice, soothing tea when sick, with a little honey.

This is my day #8 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

Ick. Not something I’ll be fishing for in my cabinet anytime soon. I’m weird about my ginger. I love gingerbread and I love chai tea with ginger, but I hate ginger itself and I hate candied ginger, etc. It turns out I also reaaaally dislike ginger in this tea.

I’m also not sold on pu’erh tea yet, sooo… that could have something to do with it. But anyways, I didn’t finish my mug. Not “my cup of tea”.

This is my day #7 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

The only thing I really have to say about this one is “nyeh”. It’s tea. It’s one of those things that, yeah maybe it’s good for you, but I’m not fussy about it. Nor do I not like it. I got this in my advent calendar, and there’s enough for two servings in each container. So I’ll try it again on a day when I’m not feeling 100% and see if I like it better then. It wasn’t anything special for me, and I couldn’t really pinpoint any of the flavors in it. It was just “tea” (if that makes aaannyy sense).

This is my day #6 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

I have to admit, I read the back of my 24 Days of Tea box to see what was in this one before I made a mug. It didn’t clue in at first that all the flavors were the same as Earl Grey (it’s been a long week). Anyways, so I made it, and my first sip tasted like green tea, second sip tasted like earl grey (!), third sip green, fourth sip earl grey, and so on. And I have to say I LOVE it!

I’m a big fan of my earl grey, and I especially love my London Fogs/Earl Grey Lattes, but I can’t drink much black tea… the caffeine wrecks me. This is an amazing alternative, and I love the flavor! This totally rivals my Twinning’s Lady Grey addiction!

This is my day #5 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

Well, I guess I had high expectations for this tea, after reading some of the reviews on this tea last night. It is… interesting. Haha. I couldn’t smell the chocolate as much as I thought I would, when I first opened the tin.

This tea, tastes like banana bread. With chocolate chips. I swear. It’s spot on! I didn’t mind it. The flavor isn’t over-powering, and I got most of the chocolate as an after taste. I feel like there are maybe too many competing flavors in this tea. I could do without the nuts, I think. Altogether, not bad. I’d have another mug, but probably won’t buy any. Personally, I think I ended up liking the Read My Lips tea more than this, in terms of chocolate flavor.

This is my day #4 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.

I definitely catch the licorice and cinnamon in this… which I thought was unusual for a mint tea. But I didn’t get the vanilla much at all.

I’m a huge mint fan. Spearmint, peppermint, wintermint, whatever. I love it. Not so convinced I love this tea. It steeped to a dark color almost like coffee. It smelled almost… heady, but with an after-taste of mint. I can attest that when I first opened the tin, it totally hit me as “smelling like Christmas”. Once brewed, I didn’t mind it, and I finished my mug, but it didn’t leave me with the refreshing sensation of my usual favorite mint teas. And while I typically love cinnamon too, I’m not so sure I like the combination of cinnamon with mint. I can’t say I’ll buy this tea. I have too many other favorite mint teas!

This is my day #3 of the David’s Tea “24 Days of Tea” advent calendar.