DAVIDsTEA

Another wonderfully delicious iced tea from Davids this summer. The first time I made it, I didn’t let it steep as long as I should have (was in a rush to get to work) but still found it lovely (albeit mild). I made it again today with the proper steeping instructions and it is phenomenal – The first sip is strong berry (cranberry mostly on my palate) and the finish is goji/sea buckthorn. Very lovely and interesting tea. Like previous reviewers, I think too much ice is a bad thing with this one. I prefer it just chilled in the fridge and that is the way I prepare it when I have time.

I love this tea and drink it often.it is a very full bodied tea, a great option for a breakfast tea as it will stand up well to the addition of milk and sugar (although I drink it without either). I leave my leafs in the entire time I am drinking instead of the recommended 4-6min. I don’t find the tea to get bitter or astringent (however I am not very sensitive to either); it stays smooth and earthy even with leaving the leaves in for so long. This is a CTC tea and definitely has a different appearance than most straight black teas. It is one of my favorite straight black teas, if not my favorite.

You can definitely taste the mint in this one, and the creaminess of the coconut blends well together with it. It’s refreshing, and very summery, and definitely better iced than it is hot.

…I can’t think of any other way to write this note.

Conversation between this tea and me:
Tea: mmm key change, you’re so sexy.
me: …thanks?
tea: mmm yeah!
me: …
Tea: what’s wrong?
me: Nothing!
Tea: No seriously. You’re different. What is it?
me: no, you’re different. I think we need a break. Maybe start seeing other people.
tea: what are you talking about? didn’t you just drink me last week and have your love all reaffirmed?
me: but that’s just it. You’re not reliable. not consistent. And I need me a tea that’s dependable, you know? I just never know which version of you I’m going to get.
Tea: Well is it my fault that that you are steep challenged?
Me: It probably is, actually
Tea: That’s always been the problem with you, hasn’t it. It’s always someone else’s fault.
me: are you seriously giving me attitude? You have, like, a mood disorder or something.
Tea: there you go being judgmental again.

…and so that’s it. Finishing up the tin, but no repurchasing, even though it’s very possible that I’ll have it next time and be completely enthralled all over again. I honestly don’t know what really accounts for the drastic changes this tea goes through in my life, but I do know that I don’t appreciate a tea that’s this temperamental. If I have a love/hate relationship with a tea, we simply can’t last together, you know? Especially because my tea needs to be my guaranteed bit of enjoyment, and if the guarantee is all up in the air, it ‘aint gonna happen. So, we’re breaking up. No second chances. No friends with benefits. We’re through.

Wow, this tea definitely shines its brightest when it’s a bit cooler—not only did I nearly burn my mouth on it at first sip (thanks, timolino), but it tasted one-dimensional and rather bland. I really remember having such fond memories of this one though, so I’m glad I didn’t pour it down the drain in disgust.
It’s still a smooth, quiet tea. Best enjoyed when it’s cool out, I think. Still a velvety, grown-up vanilla, and perhaps it’s the orchid, or maybe it’s the oolong base—but there’s something in it that keeps the tea from tipping into “sweet” territory, despite my adding in some cream and sugar to thicken things up a bit. Still one of my favourite teas from David’s, although I don’t think I’ll be restocking once my 100 g tin runs out.

And my headache has raged on. Like to the point where I felt nauseated at work, and am literally counting down the minutes until I can go home and pass out. It’s one of those headaches where the only adequate remedy is to lie down and sleep—nothing else will do. i had an appointment after work that I canceled, and so now I just need to wait a few more hours and I’m done.

My taste buds are broken today, so even a tea that I’m fond of tasted really unsatisfying and flat to me. Sad face. Oh well, at least I know the problem is me, not the tea. :)

I didn’t write any tasting notes about resteeping this tea, and I just wanted to say that contrary to my initial suspicions, this tea is actually quite re-steepable and I’m enjoying my second cup. I wouldn’t give it a third infusion, however, but that might also be because I think I’d probably get bored and switch to another tea by then, but that’s not necessarily the “fault” of this tea. Still creamy (well, thanks to the added sugar/cream, perhaps? LOL), and still strong and delicious.

Oh sweet heavens, I just had the most amazing, delicious cup of this tea. I suspected that I’d like the tea (to which I’d added a bit of sugar) even better with a dash of cream, but I wasn’t prepared for how head over heels I became after my first sip! I don’t know if I’m crazy for adding cream and sugar to an oolong, but does it even matter? I find that they bring out the vanilla (which is still a very “adult” vanilla if you ask me) perfectly, while still letting me taste what I’m certain is the oolong (although I don’t quite yet have the vocabulary to accurately describe it). I am definitely seeing a tin of this in my future though!

So this was actually my first time trying an oolong tea at all, and aside from reading complicated descriptions of how the various teas differ from one another, I figure there’s no better way to really tell the differences than to simply try them out.

So, along came vanilla-orchid from david’s tea. I mainly picked it because I’m typically drawn to stronger, black teas, and I was told that oolongs are at least closer to black than other types of tea. That, and the light vanilla-orchid scent wafting up from the canister was calling my name. I have to say, however, that even when inhaling the scent of this tea, I don’t get much orchid—mainly a creamy vanilla scent, with “something else” that seems unidentifiable (perhaps that’s the oolong though, who knows).
Upon the recommendations of pretty much everyone, my first sip of this tea was plain—i.e. with nothing added to sweeten or thicken it. I found the initial taste to be a bit strong, bland, and a bit thin (if that’s an appropriate descriptor), so I added in two cubes of sugar, and that seemed to make a huge difference. I still got a distinct tea flavour, but there was also a delicious vanilla flavour that seemed to be a more “adult” vanilla and less of a birthday cake and sprinkles vanilla. I threw out the leaves, because I couldn’t fathom using them again (I’m terrified that the second cup will only be weaker), although I intend on trying it again, this time perhaps adding a touch of cream. all in all, I like it so far, and am interested in tinkkering around with it a bit to see if I can’t manufacture the perfect taste I suspect is lurking in these leaves! (as a side note, it might be worth mentionning that I heat and dispense my water with the keurig, and this morning discovered the nastiest, grittiest film coating the water storage tank on the side of the machine. Horrified, I uselessly chipped away at it a bit with my fingernails, only to discover it was caked on and actually covered the entire inner area of the tank. I think that has to do with the utterly disgusting water quality here in this city, and until I saw that cakey build-up, I never really believed I needed filtered water for tea—but now I’m heading out to get a filter pretty much immediately.)

I’m on a mission to drink and finish all my teas that are getting a little old. I found this one in the back of my tea cupboard today and I’m glad I did. I have to tell you though I am biased because I love anything with coconut and caffeine.

Dry Aroma: Toasted nuts with a hint of sweetness

Tea Aroma: It still primarily smells of toasted nuts. The black tea scent is in the background

Color: Deep amber brown

Tea Taste: Full bodied with a toasted nut flavor with a touch of sweetness from the coconut.

It’s properly named. There really is a honey-like taste to the tea. Unfortunately a bitter/astringent taste followed it. The sweet/bitter mix was a bit too much for me. It wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t particularly want to finish drinking it, either.

Oversteeping and not sweetening could have been part of the problem. The only other mates I’ve had a lot of are Chocolate Rocket and Chai Amazonia, and I’ve let both steep for a looong time and don’t sweeten either. Neither suffers for it. Maybe Honey Bee does.

I have enough in my sample to make a couple more cups. I’ll try it again, steeping for the recommended time and maybe adding a sweetener.

I picked this up the other day when hearing about the sales sucked me into the DavidsTea store.

Reading *Incendiare*’s note made me think this might be the perfect thing to accompany my sesame chicken http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/08/easy-sesame-chicken/.

This dragonwell isn’t nearly as buttery as the one I’ve had from Butiki. The flavour is quite floral, and it’s a little astringent. Umm. And now I’m thinking that maybe I didn’t clean my steeper well enough after I last used it. I wasn’t expecting this tea to taste like this!

I like this tea (even if I did accidentally contaminate it), especially with the Asian flavours in the food I’m eating. I wouldn’t necessarily keep it stocked, but I think dragonwells are up there in the ranks of green teas that I like.

I got a sample of this from my first swap with JustJames – thank you for sending this my!

This is pretty darn tasty cold brewed. I don’t have very much experience with passion fruit – I have no idea what it actually tastes like, but this tisane is delicious. I am going to have get some more.

The dry leaf scent is very sweet, but when cold brewed there is a slight sweetness – enough that I don’t feel the need to add sugar. There is also a light tartness to this blend, but not over powering. Just a hint of tartness.

I’ll have to try this one as a cocktail sometime.

It’s been a while since I have wanted anything flavoured and this should be a nice sample to drink in order to get me back into them.

In raw form this smells like dark chocolate with super sweet fruit with a hint of rich licorice. Stronger than I was expecting but pleasant, so far I can’t imagine what it would taste like…dark and sweet I suppose. Also has a very dry sort of scent, almost dusty.

Once steeped this tea is golden brown with a sweet strawberry and cocoa aroma. It did smell more chocolatey in raw form and since steeping it’s brought the strawberry forward and lost the licorice. Very different than I imagined.

The first few sips reveal a light and sweet tea with notes of dark chocolate, berry fruit with a velvety finish. It’s very sweet and somewhat artificial tasting, more like strawberry sweets than fresh strawberry. It does also have a hint of sour which is possibly the raspberry but it only lasts a second or two. Also the chocolate is dry and nutty cocoa like.

After one cup I can now taste the licorice in the background of the cocoa making it dark and somewhat smoky.

Overall it’s a nice tea but a Love Elixir? Not for me anyway. It got me thinking though, what would my Love Elixir taste like? I think it would have watermelon, strawberry, banana, chocolate and a hint of cinnamon. :)

Sip down full of relief. Sort of. That 10g couldn’t just go away, so I cold steeped the last of it twice in my Timolino. It’s better this way. Easier to drink, but still a little on the bitter side even though I only let one batch steep for three hours. David’s Dragonwell has been a struggle through and through.

This is my very first Dragonwell, and I’m not sure whether I should expect most other Dragonwells to taste like this or to try others. It’s quite vegetal, for which I don’t particularly care. I prefer toasty greens like genmaicha and hojicha, personally.

It also leaves a dry sensation on the tongue, kind of like what hibiscus does for me. The second steep is basically a slightly lighter version of the first. Not the flavour profile I’m looking for in a green.

(Swap sample from Linnaete)

This tea has a very mild tropical flavor from the pineapple. I couldn’t figure out what the other flavors were at the time, but the peach didn’t stand out. I don’t generally like tropical flavors (or peach teas).

I wouldn’t get this for myself, but I could drink it again. The flavors are all very well balanced and it has no icky aftertaste. It’s pretty neat with the bamboo in it too. I wish I could find some different bamboo teas that are more to my preference, but this was fun to drink.

Got this as a latte-to-go the other day when I was asking one of the girls at my local DT for something they’d recommend as a latte. After listing off a few teas I’d tried and loved, she suggested Salted Caramel. Instantly it sounded off in my head like a fall tea, and I winced inwardly, remembering the Pumpkin Chai experiments (still ongoing I’m afraid, but I’m determined to like it somehow!). But caramel is delicious and since it’s quite a bit healthier than a caramel frappuchino I took the leap of faith.

This is going right in my cupboard when the leaves turn. Literally made for hot foamy caramelly lattes. Ugh. Its one of those comforting desserty teas you want when its a little chilly outside, but not quite winter yet. Not too sweet, not too rich, not too artificially flavoured. Yes. I think I’ve found my fall tea.

Got this when I went to pick up mums usual refill of Fantasy Island. I’ve been a terrible influence on her formerly bagged-Tetley-with-milk routine. Shame on me. -;

The little silver bag is still sitting in the cupboard. I havent had time or mood to steep. But it smells amazing. Like cherry popsicles and ripe berries. Giving a neutral rating until it passes the Owlie Taste Test.

H’ooooooh mah gawd.

Let me start off by saying I am still on my massively multisteeping organic and iced tea kick (MMSOITK), and this hit all the right spots. In the correct order.

Didn’t even bother trying it hot like I usually do. Nope. This beauty went straight on ice. And here’s the truth: its tart. Not too sour but tart. Its not overly sweet on its own, so if you want that extra bit of balance to it or its too tart solo, grab the agave (incidentally I’m also hooked on coconut agave). Myself, I put a buttload of agave in there, and it came out lovely. Fair warning, I say it goes well iced for a reason – dilution. This tea’s got a preeeetty strong flavour. Combine it with tartness and its a lot better in a pitcher than a steaming mug (though now that I think of it, it’d probably be soothing hot with honey..).

Owlie’s verdict: If you’re skeptical, try it as a tea to go – iced. If you’re adventurous, definitely go for it.