DAVIDsTEA

The smell of this tea alone is entirely enchanting to me. I love the scent of amaretto.

I find that this tea does not have much in the way of colour when it steeps and I often find that I steep it longer to accommodate this fact.
It works well with a touch of sweetener, though I often forget that I am allowed to sweeten my teas and tend to drink them straight. That being said, it’s also quite nice on its own.
Even with my extended steep time, I find that it still retains a nice light flavour.

A sample from DavidsTea I got with a recent purchase. The name alone had me curious. Dry, this tea smells very much like berries, with just a hint of the hibiscus. I believe another reviewer had said it smells like berry fruit leather, and I think that about hits it on the head!
As for the brewed tea, it smells very much like apple and hibiscus, which has me a bit worried. I’m not a huge apple fan (or hibiscus fan, either, for that matter), and I am prepared for a let down.

On the first sip I’m definately getting some apple, but it isn’t as strong as I thought it would be, judging from the smell. The apple seems almost sour, which may be attributed to the cherry that’s supposedly in the tea. I’m picking up a bit of the white tea base, I believe, with a subtle and rather faint taste of watermelon following it. The hibiscus seems present for me as well, though not overt.
The more I drink it, the less watermelon I taste, which is rather disappointing. I love me some watermelon and wish it stood out more in the tea. The berry that I had smelled in the dry tea seems to be mingling with the apple, but the apple is really winning out. A floral taste is also present, although sometimes apple flavored teas give me this impression, which may be why I don’t like them much.

I’m suprised to see that some people found the watermelon to be the main flavor they got. Maybe my sample just had less watermelon and more apple then theirs?

Overall, this isn’t horrid. I’m glad the apple taste wasn’t quite as strong as it smelled. I would’ve loved some of the other fruit flavors to be more pronounced, though, especially the watermelon. Not bad, but I don’t think I’d buy it for myself.

Main Flavors:
Apple, Hibiscus
Subtle Flavors:
Berry, Watermelon, White tea base
Flavors I’m not tasting:
Pumpkin, Cherries (other than possible sour flavor)

EDIT: I’m actually, strangely enough, picking up some more watermelon as I finish the significantly cooled off tea. It’s still not the strongest, but I’m tasting a bit more of it now. Interesting…

I bought this tea by accident yesterday, I only went in for a ‘tea for one’ set. Then I enquired what was in Pink Flamingo because the name was fun, but I don’t like grapefruit, the lady suggested I sniff the Strawberry Rhubarb and then of course I had to have it.

Dry, it smells INCREDIBLE. Same goes for steeped. However, the taste didn’t grab me, it was pleasant enough but I think drinking something so fruity in December is wrong.

Iced in the summer would probably be fabulous.

For an earl grey (which I generally can’t stand) this is drinkable. If I’d had some vanilla I would have turned it into a London Fog, but I didn’t, so I drank half a cup and poured the rest away. I think one day I’ll be grown up enough to like earl grey, but not yet, maybe it’ll be around the same time I’ll suddenly start drinking sherry.

I really, really wanted to like this tea—salted caramel sounds amazing, and some other reviewers seemed to actually pick up that flavor. Unfortunately, I just don’t taste much besides a decent black tea with a smooth finish.

Maybe my sample was stale (though it shouldn’t be—from the 24 Days of Tea advent calendar) or something, but there just isn’t much caramel flavor.

Added milk, with an open mind, hoping it might bring out some of the flavor. After all, caramel candy is made with milk or cream. Much better! I did start to pick up some of the flavor. It could be a nice dessert tea, with milk. But it won’t be a tea I buy more of, likely.

I like the idea of a caramel tea, so maybe I’ll keep my eyes out for another option.

Steeped: 1 tbsp in my 2-cup pot with freshly boiled water

First Cup: Steeped 4-4.5 minutes
Ok. Apparently this tea requires a very low steeping time. While the package says 3-5 minutes, this already feels a bit overdone. Rather than coming off creamy, it seems rather flowery and a little bitter for it. Going to try it with milk and see how that goes

Second cup: Same steep. Steeped 25-30 minutes, added milk
Yes, it tastes a whole lot better with milk. This isn’t surprising for various reasons. First, milk is generally wonderful at cutting through bitterness in oversteeped tea. Second, I find teas with vanilla pretty much always taste better with milk to add to their creaminess. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I don’t think I’ve met them yet.

Third cup: Same steep. Steeped 30-35 minutes, added milk and honey.
Oddly, I don’t think the honey makes much of a difference to the flavour. However, I’m sure that it is the perfect compliment if added sweetness is necessary, as its floweriness matches well with the cornflowers in the tea itself.

Fourth cup: Resteep. Steeped 5 minutes. Clear.
Flavours no longer bitter, but very muted. Drinkable but delicate. I can taste the vanilla and get its smoothness more now.

Fifth cup: Same resteep, 25 or so minutes.
Flavour a little stronger now. Finally a cup that tastes more or less like I like my earl greys. Could still do with being a little stronger, but not bad at all. We’ll see how the last of this steep is.

Sixth cup: Same resteep, 40-60 minutes (I lost track)
Not bad. Tried adding honey after a few sips to see if it would brighten the flavour, but somehow it ended up hindering it instead. Worked better with the milk.

Overall impression: There are some earl grey blends that I love, and some that I don’t. This, unfortunately, is closer to the latter end of the spectrum. It wasn’t bad by any means, and I may change my mind after steeping it for a lower time, but right now… it’s off my list of Best Earl Greys Ever.

My rating: 71%. B- It was going to be a C+ based on the original steep, but the further resteeps gave it a bit of a reprieve. Judging by other reviews, I do think I may change my rating after trying it with a lower initial steep time. However, I’ve had this and a few similar teas before, and haven’t quite found them to be my thing, so it could also be that. I generally prefer a more basic earl grey or a fruity play on the classic overall.

Initial impressions- This tea is sweet and a bit savoury all at once. Very relaxing, I think that’s the lavender I’m smelling. With the lavender and rose, and the red backdrop of rooibos, it is also an exceptionally attractive tea.
How I prepared it- 94 degree water with no sweetener for nine minutes. Prepared 1.25 tsp in a cup of water.
First sips- Mellow, sweet flavour. Lavender very prominent. I love this tea! Definitely a buy again!

New to me tea #3 from my order.

This is such a pretty leaf tea. Sprinkled with white chocolate chips & red & white sprinkles. Super cute.
It smells sweet & cake like. Om nom nom. I had my very first red velvet cupcake a few months ago. I have to say after the first couple of bites I didn’t like it, by the 4th or so I was in love! <3 And I have been craving it ever since.

I love sweets but would choose a piece of dessert (ie. cheesecake, a cupcake etc), over a chocolate bar. And usually dessert teas don’t really cut it. But let me tell you, this little gem ERMAHGERD!

It’s sweet, delicious, bakey & cakey goodness. I can’t really say it tastes like red velvet, but it’s definetly creamy icing like & cake. Straight up cake! It’s thick in my mouth. drool I wants more!!!!!!! I feel like I ate a piece of cake with icing. I must buy more of this. I will probably get one of the pretty tins if I can find them

Like many, I enjoyed this tea as part of DAVIDsTEA’s 24 Days of Tea advent calendar. It’s one of my favorites of the set so far! It has a delightful butter rum flavor.

For a little extra fun, I made what I dubbed a “Pirate’s Hot Toddy” with it — buttered rum tea, dark rum, a little buttershots schnapps, and a splash of creamer. It was delicious! :)

I’m not a huge fan of oolong personally, but this one was alright. Light, earthy ginger flavor. Personally, I like my ginger stronger and sweeter :)

Tea #2 from my order (I bought a few new to me teas & some tried & true favs like 200g of Forever Nuts).

The dry notes smell sweet & fruity, a find it’s more of a mixed berry fruit smell than strictly cranberry. I’m not really getting any of the spices from it. I do smell a green/earthy like smell which I attribute more to the mistletoe than the actual green tea.

It steeps up a golden green colour, but really I think it should be red. The taste is delicious, sweet, fruity & green tasting. I really think it could use more of the cinnamon & anise flavours. That would definetly up the rating.

Maybe this is just silly or the placebo affect because I know there is mistletoe in it, but this tea really is almost magical & Christmas tasting.

Tea #5 of 24. I’m not enjoying this as much as I though I would. The smell while brewing was great but for me the taste just doesn’t stand up to the smell. Maybe I’m just not an Earl Grey fan. It’s drinkable but I wouldn’t go back for more.

I tried this for my Day 4 of my advent calendar. I generally love black teas, but this one is just not for me. I opened the container and it smelled okay, but didn’t smell caramel-y to me. I steeped it and I tried it and didn’t like it. I tried adding milk but still tasted odd to me. The tea didnt taste like what I imagined salted caramel to taste like. The tea and the flavors are rich, but artificial tasting in a odd way. I think if it wasn’t so rich and strong tasting I might like it more.

I love this tea! It is so chocolate-y, so rich. It such an complex and amazing blend, it reminds me a bit of Fantasy Island but richer! After your sip you taste a bit of raspberry after taste. The dry leaves smell so yummy, I keep opening the jar to smell it. A plus is that its a Mate which is a good alternative to caffeine!

I tried this for the day 3 of my advent calendar. I have never tried this before and didnt realize there was coconuts in it. I made a Chai Latte by boiling milk and water with the tea with a bit of brown sugar. It tasted amazing, it was very chai! I dont know if I can taste the coconuts with all that chai spice going on but it was delicious regardless! I might just have to buy more since its rooibos tea and I can have it at night!

I tried this for Day 1 of my advent calendar. The smell of the dry leaves is amazing, when steeped it taste so rich and yummy! It tasted buttery-rummy but I dont know if I taste the coconut. I think I am going to try it with almond milk next time! A great tea to start off the advent calendar, David’s Tea!

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.

Had this in my advent calendar. I really enjoyed this chai. I love rooibos in general so this was perfect. The spices were perfect. I didn’t put a lot of tea in my steeper, almost half of the little tin it comes in and I made two cups from it. You can taste the coconut, it’s very subtle, but brings down the tone of the tea and how spicy it is. Considering to put in my permanent collection.