DAVIDsTEA

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.

I love coconut, so no shock that I really enjoy this tea. I am also a big fan of white teas. It is creamy and smooth, with lots of coconut flavour. It is really too bad that there is artificial flavouring in this tea.
Resteep at 4 minutes.

Chilled, this tea is equally as delicious but in a different, more tropical way.

This also makes an excellent smoothie with passionfruit, vanilla yogurt, frozen mango, and 2 cubes of frozen coconut milk.

It was the day after a nice relaxing day at the spa that I got the pleasure of trying this tea. The sweet tang of this rose elixir reminds me much of cranberry apples for some reason. Which definitely brought up pictures of the autumn harvest festivals and the Saanich Fair that we have on the island. All very pleasant images to say the least.

I can honestly say each sip was a piece of nostalgia which I’m guessing is the magic effect that David’s Tea was going for. Please let me know if you think that the magic is something different. But I think we can agree that it’s a great fit for their iced tea menu. Happy Tea Drinking Everyone. :)

Now for some positivity. It was yesterday morning when I tried this tea for the first time. Lord they were not kidding when they said it was tart! I totally get the visual of the “Queen of Tarts” that they were intending from the blood red hue of the elixir. But gosh it is a tea that has to be drunk slow to adjust to all the flavor notes.

I have not tried it hot yet but if I keep optimistic it probably is a little more nicer on the taste buds. I can say this though the energy provided by the tea made for a refreshing end to the day. So that’s probably one of its winning details. Cheers.

So it’s the middle of the night, and I can’t sleep. What could be a better time to take a second stab at this tea that I had spoiled with two needless sugar cubes earlier?
It’s odd, because it’s the first cup of tea I’ve had where I really just couldn’t make up my mind. The dialogue in my head went something like this:
“Oh, it’s better without the sugar; good call!”
“Really? You think so? It tastes kind of..flat…or something.”
“Flat? no. I was actually thinking that this would be a good tea to have when you’re ill, because it sort of slips effortlessly down your throat without too much flavour or fuss, but enough flavour to make you want another sip.”
“Really? You think a tea that you don’t have to be forced to drink is a good tea? That’s your standard?”
“It smells wonderful! but I admit it doesn’t really taste strongly of mango.”
“No, more like an assortment of random fruit.”
In all seriousness, I think my biggest issue with the tea was simply that the flavour danced for a brief second on your tongue before disappearing, never really to be found again. And it wasn’t even a flavour I would particularly even want to conjure up, come to think of it.
My bottom line: I’ll likely finish out the sample package, but certainly won’t be purchasing any more. It served a nice, calming purpose for an otherwise anxious night, but was otherwise remarkably unremarkable. It most certainly did not taste like a ripe piece of mango.

Oh my! So I’m fairly certain I screwed this one up myself, because I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the cup. I read several reviews on here saying that the tea was a bit too tart, and given that I tend to find things tart even when they aren’t, I figured I’d preemptively add in two cubes of sugar to make sure I liked it once I actually sipped. Bad mistake. It was like very sugary mango water—so sugary in fact that I couldn’t even focus on any other flavours in the tea (and I couldn’t taste much tea at all, but perhaps that’s because white teas are more subtle?).
Anyway, I will definitely write another tasting note for this one!

I had to force myself to finish the sample, and normally I’m pretty easy to please. It just tasted wrong (not helpful, I know, but I can’t really say why—mint and coconut are both OK with me). It reinforces my policy of not buying teas with artificial flavors.

I don’t know what I did to this today vs. the last time I made it. Aside from using a different sweetener (maple syrup this time, turbinado sugar last) can’t say I’ve done a whole lot differently but this is so good this time! I am getting a ton of nut flavour and aroma, it tastes like a gooey sweet cookie. I bumped up the ratings.

Maybe it’s a mood thing. The first time I made this, I only made it because I’s just bought it and wanted to try it. This time around I actually wanted it. Also, am drinking it out of a dark brown porcelain cup as opposed to a clear glass one so I can’t see the unappealing colour of it. I think that helps too.

My first herbal tea. When I was little my mother tried to make me drink chamomile once or twice. Yuck. Definitely never had any other herbals since. I’ve had teas with some mint in it before but never straight-up herbal.

So, the color. It’s sort of unpleasant, isn’t it? It’s kinda brownish green. As for the taste, I get the nuts and some spinach. Or spinach and nuts. I’m not sure I like it. I don’t dislike it, it’s not at all unpleasant but am at the moment regretting this choice as an afternoon tea. I don’t need to be quite this relaxed.

Dry nose: sweet macadamia nuts
Aroma: spinach or very faint chamomile (at least to me)
Flavour: nutty spinach.

I guess this is what mulberry tastes like? I’ll have to try others if given the chance just to make sure. But not too soon.

Tea #3 from the traveling tea box, I’m making good progress on it today.

I wish there would have been enough of this to cold steep, but it looks like there was only about 2 tablespoons in the package and I need at least 6 for my pitcher. I loved the combination of peach, apricot, and almond, those are some of my favorite flavors to find in a tea. I couldn’t really taste the almond or the orange peel in the final brew. This tea didn’t wow me, and tasted a bit artificial, but it was still nice to try it.

Yum! Smelled like honeyed sweet potatoes it was straining into my mug! Upon first sip, I got the honeyed grass, with a little bit of a sweet finish. I did add sugar and milk after my initial sips, but it is still really tasty! Thanks for ShayneBear sharing a generous sample.

I Love this steeper. it a fast way to make my tea before i go to school.

I ordered the 25 tea bag of this on sale for work. Today I was feeling extra blah so I took about 1/4 cup of skim milk, heated it up in the microwave and added hot water and then put the sachet in for about 5 minutes. I definitely get chocolate, raspberry and nut. It’s definitely yummy (with sweetener). I like the ease of the bags too. I think I’ll have another cup, actually!

This morning I was woken by the sound of my husband shouting “Oh my God!”. Immediately I woke up and was rushing out of bed when he came in and told me that he saw a Red Platty fish baby in our small upstairs tank. They used to have babies a lot (and I mean a lot) but for the better part of a year it stopped but it would seem the change into a smaller tank while our large one is on the mend is all they needed. It’s nice to get some good news for a change :) Though in reality I know it doesn’t mean the fry shall survive, but I’m really hoping.

In raw form this tea smells like fresh apple with a slight citrus kick. Very sweet and juicy. Not really getting the Kiwi come through but I only have enough tea for one pot so maybe this sample just doesn’t have much Kiwi in it…just a thought.

Once steeped this tea is dark yellow in colour with a slightly sweet apple and kiwi. By kiwi I mean it smells fruity and sour that resembles kiwi but I would not know if I hadn’t read it.

In flavour this is gentle in depth with a sweet grassy apple flavour and an after taste of lemongrass. There is also the same slightly sour fruity taste that’s in the smell which I’m calling kiwi like.

Very fresh and light, perfect for my first drink this morning.

A sample of this came with my last order. As soon as he smelled it, my husband was excited about this one. Unfortunately the blend is so heavy with fruit that the 5g sample was only about 1-1/2 tsp – only enough to make half one of my normal mugs!

It tasted like hot pineapple juice, with only a hint of other elements, but Jake liked it so much that I think we’d be ordering it if it wasn’t so expensive.

Umm, hmm.

This would be better without the cinnamon. Floral + medicinal + cinnamon is way too much.

Why did I get 24g?