DAVIDsTEA

I’m not really a huge rooibos tea fan/drinker, but this one is definitely my favourite out of that family. Just enough of a mix of coconut and lavender for my taste!

This was free sample #3 from my most recent order, so I was hoping it would go over a LOT better than the other two samples that I couldn’t even finish.

And…already off on a bad foot (by no fault of the tea and all the fault of the tea maker). I over-steeped by 2 or 3 minutes. So this tea is already bitter right out of the gate. Ugh. I can’t believe I did something so dumb. YOU HAD ONE JOB, SELF.

So this rating is me removing the bitterness in my mind and working with the rest of the flavours. And you know what? I like it. I don’t know if I would buy it because I hardly ever drink un-flavoured teas anymore. But if I was going to? I’d buy a bunch of it (and pay attention when I was steeping it next time!). It definitely has buttery undertones to it, and tastes like a vegetable smoothie in a cup. I guess that sounds rather unappetizing, but to me it was actually really good.

I would definitely get another sample-sized bag of this to try again if I ever had the opportunity. Based on the other reviews I’m really missing out on the full flavour of the cup by not having steeped properly.

Dry: Rich aroma of vanilla and lemony bergamot! This was one of the original teas that encouraged me to make the switch from coffee in the mornings. Pretty loose leaf black tea blended with cornflower petals.

Steeped: Deep brown clear liquor, no oily sheen noted. Smells wonderful! The citrus bergamot flavour can be too much for me in some Earl Grey blends, but this one is rounded out in a lovely way with straight-up vanilla and black tea.

Taste: I’m sure it will change at some point, but this is my current go-to morning tea. On the tongue, it is just as described: creamy vanilla meets citrus bergamot in a lovely organic black tea. It does hold up to multiple steepings, though it tends to lose creamy vanilla notes with the 2nd and 3rd. I like it with a dash of milk or without, hot or cold- very versatile. I don’t tend to add any sweetener, though if you have a sweet tooth then it may be just the thing. Overall, this blend is one of my go-to favorites and is also a lovely selection to introduce a friend or loved one to loose leaf tea.

Why in the world would any company call a tea that tastes like pineapple and coconut Toasted Walnut? Name aside this is awful. Its sickeningly sweet, fake, chemically pina colada. The green tea base did not get bitter, but the decent base was totally obscured by the candy pineapple. I didn’t taste any nuts, much less walnut. Toasted to me, implies some sort of nutty, almost smokey flavors – I didn’t get any of that either.
Sorry David – I don’t like this one.

A bit sour near the end, but otherwise not bad

Yuck! I don’t know what is wrong with this tea but I’ve now tried it three times over the course of the last six months and I just hate it. The black base is weak and I don’t get salted caramel from this whatsoever. More like suntan lotion (I get a similar after taste with Redbull). Something to do with coconut not meshing well with something else. Tried it black and with milk. Ended up only drinking half before throwing it out. What a shame – really wanted to like this one.

Sipdown! (it took me a while to figure out what that meant here, but I’ve caught on and joined the craze!). All in all, I’m not sad to see this one go. actually relieved so I can go and get more tea!

Well, what can I say? This time, I steeped for four minutes, and added a dash of cream and a bit of sugar. I’m afraid I “under-creamed” though, because there was a wateriness to it that I just didn’t like. And I’m getting an astringency that I hadn’t previously gotten—you know, when I nearly emptied my container of cream into the mug.

So the conclusion, I think, is that I’ll likely finish up my sample of this, but won’t be repurchasing. I’m still in the market for a good cream of earl grey for sure, but my biggest issue with this one is its lack of forgiveness—steep it a second too long, a second too short, add just too much or too little cream and the cup is a goner (well, in my picky mouth at any rate).
I’m embracing my love of blacks, though, and so I am pleased to say that my Butiki order is winging its way towards me! I ordered:
Premium Taiwanese Assam
-Wild Taiwanese Mountain Black
-Caramel vanilla Assam
-maple pecan oolong
-cantaloupe cream
I’m hoping that although the cantaloupe cream is white, it won’t be too weak for my liking. The rave reviews on steepster suggest that I’ll fall head over feet for it though, so I’m really excited. I also got samples of their premium chai, the rose violet calendula oolong, and another assam that Stacy recommended (I actually got to place my order with her on the phone, as parts of paypal aren’t accessible for us blind folk-I felt as though i was talking to a celebrity and got all tongue-tied and said all sorts of awkward things haha).
Anyway, so there’s my update for today. I’m looking forward to this weekend; we have a friend coming from out of town to visit for another friend’s birthday party, and then I start my new job on Monday! (I’m terrified about that by the way, but at least I won’t be able to work myself up into a frenzy over it all weekend).
Totally unrelated, but there’s some…thing buzzing around my room, and I’ve yet to find a blind person to this date who doesn’t like, legitimately consider moving houses when they hear buzzing or flapping insects inside! I know they scare a lot of people, but I can’t even see where it is-I only hear it buzzing around, dangerously close to my head, and I’m pretty sure that in a few moments, I’ll feel justified in calling 911…aaaahhhhh!!
Let’s just hope it’s a fly. A fly. A fly! I’m hoping Arden (my guide dog) will make himself useful and catch it!
Ok, that’s enough from me today.

Today was one of those days that seemed to have “drink cream of earl grey” embossed on its cover. I woke up feeling crampy, fat, and generally ugly, so after gracefully bowing out of this evening’s work party (go introverts!), I brewed myself up a cup of this. Careful with the cream this time. It actually tasted pretty decent. Perhaps not restock-worthy quite yet, but I’m beginning to see that I may indeed find myself enjoying an EGC one day, even though it may not be this one.
I’ve also realized that there’s something wrong with my taste buds, because even my beloved vanilla orchid tasted kind of bland to me this morning. I tend to get canker sores in my mouth on the regular (gross? tmi? sorry LOL), and so perhaps some are lurking around under my tongue—but it does feel kind of sensitive in my mouth if that makes any sense. anyway, enough about my anatomy.
tldr: The CCG tasted better when I wasn’t like whoa with the cream, and my tongue is up to some funny business I’m not a fan of.

So i screwed up this tea again, this time it was because I was in a frantic hurry this morning, was running on like three hours’ sleep, and was generally a bit disgruntled (and of course I arrived at my doctor’s office without my health card, because I’m just irresponsible like that). Anyway, as I tilted the carton of cream over the mug (it was David’s perfect tea mug, actually!), a whole stream of it kind of came gushing out. I just swore and tossed in some sugar and let the tea steep as I paced about the kitchen, cursing at the fact that I would have to chug my tea in a hurry (I’ve always thought that tea evokes calmness and a sense of serenity an peace, whereas coffee is a bit more harried and frantic in its reputation), so it bothered me that I had to chug my tea at all—that’s not how tea is supposed to be enjoyed!
So yes, because my cream of earl grey was like three quarters cream this morning, it was far too creamy (even for me), but it did temper the sharpness of the bergamot down a fair bit, which was nice. A bit more tinkering and I may even want more at some point. It still seems like a cold or rainy weather tee, though.

Oh, and while i’m here writing, can I just say that it makes me a bit sad to read the discussions where people “diss” various tea companies because “they can find better tea elsewhere/this tea is just for newbies/true tea can only be acquired by personally going to the mountains and foraging around with your nose, etc”. Of course people have preferences; that’s a good thing. But we also like what we like, beginner, connoisseur or otherwise, and, I don’t know—I often think that if something exists, there’s probably a place for it somewhere in this world. It kind of reminds me of some hardcore perfumistas who downright refuse to even sniff the latest offerings at major department stores, because “only niche fragrance will do” and it’s just unfortunate, I think, to limit yourself arbitrarily like that, or to judge people who embark on a different journey of discovery from your own. Wow, that was deep. I’ll stop talking now haha.

Another odd review. I can’t really decide if I don’t like earl grey, or if it’s just that I don’t like this particular rendition of it, or if it’s just that I’m “drinking it wrong” or am having it at the wrong time in my life (I thought that perhaps this might be a tea that’s better suited for much cooler weather).
I actually went out on a limb (for me) and did two steeps of this.
First steep: I added some cream and two sugar cubes, steeped for about five minutes. To me, it just tasted like a straight forward earl grey, although I’m perhaps not qualified to say this, as I haven’t had too many of them in my lifetime. Something in it is quite strong, and I suspect this might be the bergamot, but if that’s what makes earl grey an earl grey, then perhaps this criticism isn’t really justified.
The second cup had a bit less of that “strong” (bergamonty?) taste, and I had it with only sugar and no cream. Although this is definitely a tea that can be steeped twice, I don’t know that I’d actually go out and purchase more. I haven’t closed the door on earl greys, however, and will continue to experiment with different ones. Perhaps a gentler incarnation of this will be exactly what I need.

Tea #11 from the traveling tea box.

I love star anise, not only is it one cool looking spice, it always makes my house smell great. Chocolate, coconut, and star anise sounded like a wonderful combination of flavors and it should have been a great tea. My problem with this tea is the same problem I have with most chocolate teas, I really dislike the artificial flavoring. It just leaves a horrible aftertaste in my mouth and masks the natural flavors that should really stand out.

I had a huge chunk of star anise in the dry leaf that I scooped out and it smelled great while steeping, but hardly came across in the final brew because it was masked by the chocolate. Not only was this surprising, since star anise is very strongly flavored, but it was disappointing. I’m also not sure that I can taste the coconut.

This isn’t something that I would order myself, but it was great to try, if only to eliminate another tea on my hunt for the perfect chocolate tea.

I wasn’t overly impressed with this tea at first when I tried it warm, but throw some ice and carbonated water it’s way and I can’t stop drinking it! It’s light and fruity so it makes for a smooth and sweet iced treat, I highly recommend it.

THIS TEA IS SO WEIRD. I love it.

It starts as a light vegetal oolong, with a very slight roasty flavour to it (think genmaicha), and then BAM you get hit with a weird cooling ginseng sweetness that just coats your entire mouth & throat area. This ginseng aftertaste stays strong in the tea until about the third or fourth steeping. Will definitely be buying more of this in the near future.

Was initially not impressed with this tea, but I’m pretty sure I was just “drinking it wrong”. I know some of y’all will see this as blasphemous, but I always take my earl grey with at least two packets of sweetener and a splash of milk (I’m usually a purist, I swear!). So for the first 5 cups or so of this tea, I did just that. Something just didn’t seem right. So then I tried drinking it straight and the creaminess came through, and I cursed myself for not realizing this sooner! It’s almost strange how sweet & creamy this straight tea is. And it’s all balanced very well with the bergamot.

Second steep the creaminess was even more noticeable, because the bergamot seemed slightly less prevalent.

Wow wow wow. I’m more impressed with this tea than I have been by any other tea from David’s in recent history. It’s certainly tart, which is to be expected considering it’s a good 80-85% hibiscus, but balance it out with generous amounts of agave nectar and it makes for a lovely iced tea, and an excellent pick-me-up. I definitely get a guayusa buzz, and I can hardly taste the ’yusa itself! So, as far as guayusa bleds from DT go, this tea kicks the sh*t out of Jungle Juju & Chai Amazonia /easily/, and I can easily see it becoming a staple item in my tea cupboard.

Have yet to try it hot, but I imagine it will be somewhat similar to Bear Trap. I’ll definitely update once I’ve tried it!

I am sipping the last of this one, and I am sorry that it’s almost gone. When I first purchased this in David’s the sales person said that the longer you brew this one the sweeter it gets. I actually didn’t find that to be the case.

What I did find was that with proper brewing temperature and time this tea was oh so buttery. When I read other people’s reviews on green tea’s being buttery, I never really understood; because I never really got a strong butter flavour. Vegetables, yes, but not butter. Until this tea. This is the first green tea that had a pronounced butter flavour, and I am going to miss that.

Now I have to search for a replacement buttery green tea.

This is freaking delicious but when on sale, a half gallon of Simply Orange with mango or pineapple is cheaper. As in, HALF the price. And that’s exactly what this tastes like, just with less body and a weird alcoholic drink aftertaste.

50g, $6.75, got me about 5 tbsp of tea. Nowhere near enough to do a double strength steep for a 2 qt pitcher of iced tea, and the big orange slices made me apprehensive about cold steeping because I didn’t want the peels to make this bitter. So I just dumped it all in a pyrex cup and let it sit for a long time and sort of cool before I diluted it with water.

I would probably prefer it stronger, but already at almost 85 cents a cup I wouldn’t ever get this again. What a rip off, I regret ever buying it. (Ugh and just think if I double strength steeped it for a liter pitcher it would be $1.70 a cup!!!! I could have a cup of tea 3x larger at that price at work!)

I wasn’t expecting much from this tea, to be honest, because it didn’t sound like anything special, but I was hoping it would make a refreshing cold brew.

The dry leaf smells predominately of orange peel, and the lemongrass is on the light side, at least to me.

Hot, it’s grassy and the citrus is by far lighter than what I was expecting. A hint of bitter orange but that’s it. Where’s the lemongrass? I love that stuff.

Cold brew, did it ever get bitter. Huh. The lemongrass is louder here but the vegetal note from the base is still taking over the whole show.

Glad I didn’t get much.