Dischord

When I learned that the tea of the month for April was going to be a chai, I freaked out in excitement. I love a good chai blend, but I don’t often find them.

This is a fantastic one. The candied fennel really comes through, and I taste all of the spices common to chai. The fennel adds a mentholated flavour that I didn’t think I would care for, but it’s a nice touch to the tea. This, combined with the ginger and peppercorns, gives the tea a really fresh finish.

If I had a complaint, it would be that the brew is a tad weak – but I feel this could be remedied by using more tea or having a longer steeping time. I also prefer black teas with a splash of milk, so this may have influenced my review.

I’ve been on the hunt for good teas that make good iced teas to replace my orange juice addiction. I thought I found it with this tea. What I like is that it is a strong tropical tea – like others have mentioned it tastes like sunny d or simply orange or another cocktail blend. The green mate is present, but is not that noticeable when iced. I do prefer this tea iced over hot (I tried some in my teapot before it went in the fridge and it wasn’t bad either, it just wasn’t great).

Exotica is still winning for my favourite iced tea so far…

Another cause of the blahs – “It’s not good… but it’s not bad either…”
It’s a fruity tea with a heavy cocoa/coconut base which is probably why I prefer it hot over cold. Often with fruity tisanes, I much prefer them cold. There are better teas out there, I wouldn’t purchase this one. I don’t see myself craving it in the future either. Will happily use my sample since it reminds me that spring is around the corner. Then I’m done. :)

This is one of those teas I’m really glad I waited through a few cups to finally review. Initially, I wasn’t all that impressed with this oolong-pu’erh blend. I felt that it was too strong and the citrus edge was, simply put, icky.

I’m glad that I tried it again and and again. My room mate loves this tea – raves about it. And I agree with her (now). It’s a fantastic tummy tea if your stomach is upset. I’m almost through my sample and I’m starting to think it’s permanent collection worthy…

I have wanted to try this tea for a while given that the ingredients sound like something I would like. I’m a straight tea fan, so I figured this would be straight tea with a bit of “oomph”. With that, I wasn’t disappointed. However, I was hoping that this tea would be more. When I drink a flavoured black, it needs to “sing” a bit – it needs to justify it’s existence beyond a straight black tea (which I was drinking exclusively prior to February). This one just doesn’t make the cut. It’s a nice, solid tea. I’ll finish my sample. But it’s just “meh”. Very pretty to look at though!

I really wanted to like this one. I really did! This is my first mulberry leaf tea and I loved the sweet smell of it. Brewed, I found it to be quite unpleasantly vegetal. I’ve tried with an assortment of brewing temps and times, but nothing makes me like this tea. Nothing. It’s so sad.

I thought I’d love this tea given how much I love cinnamon hearts… but… it’s just okay. As far as spicy teas are concerned, I’d rather brew a cup of super ginger. Not the best, far from the worst. Not something I’d ever get more than 25g of.

Pom Tango (one of Davids new spring teas) really did little to impress me, but I wanted a new spring black with fruit notes and landed upon Fantasy Island (recommended to me by the staff). At first I was hesitant given that it was raspberry and black tea. My first reaction to the scent was “oh no! grape cough syrup.” My nose is notorious for being wrong (ie. Secret Weapon) so I decided to give it a go regardless. I figured that it may brew up similarly to Chocolate Rocket, that I would be unimpressed and continue to use Chocolate Rocket in the mornings as my pick-me-up-I-need-to-go-to-work-now.

I was so impressed! The raspberry and the coconut work perfectly together to create a harmonious blend. I put a splash of milk in mine (no sugar) and it is absolutely wonderful. My curiosity is piqued to see if this would make a decent latte…

Overall, I’m very impressed. If you’re looking for a DavidsTea spring black because Pom Tango didn’t excite you, this is the tea!

This is up there for one of my favourite teas ever. Mostly because tea companies have this hesitancy to tone down the ginger because the general public will find it too overbearing. Well… not this gal! I drink ginger tea at night. Not only do I love the smell and taste, but it also settles my stomach after a heavy or spicy meal. This blend includes tonnes of pepper, which adds a distinct bite. This comes through more on the second infusion (as others have mentioned).

I love that it is caffeine free too! Good ol’ rooibos. So I CAN drink this before bed without it giving me a sleepless night. This bad boy is part of my permanent collection. :)

It tastes like grass and pepper. If you like grass and pepper, you’ll like this tea.

In all seriousness, I’m actually happy that this one is discontinued. Blegh!

WOW. I love this tea. When you smell it, it smells like rotting cardboard and almonds, if you can imagine that. Brewed, however, is an entirely different story. I’m not sure how to describe it – The cocoa really comes through with a bit of citrus. It’s just so good! Give it a chance and don’t let the scent fool you.

I’m glad I wait until three or four cups later to review teas, because initially I would have rated this tea very low. However, it is probably one of the best teas as far as the hot/iced factor is concerned. It’s good both ways (although my preference is iced).

There is a trick with this tea, however – I use less tea than what they say to use. That way, the tea doesn’t get too tart. The first time I made this tea, all I tasted was tart and it was really terrible. However, I made a pot of it with about the same amount as a cup and it turned out beautifully and impressed ALL of my friends (yes, all).

I don’t get any of the crust flavour that people keep going on about. For me, it’s strictly strawberry, rhubarb, hibiscus. A bit of apple. That’s it. It’s going to make a fantastic fall iced tea!

I love my white teas, and this tea is no different… as long as we’re explicitly talking about iced tea. This tea makes the best peachy-mango-y iced tea ever!

Hot, I don’t like it, but I have a problem with most fruity teas hot. The white tea notes get destroyed when you drink this tea warm. Cold, however, I find the white tea quite prominent. I’ll miss it when it’s gone, but if I find a suitable iced tea replacement, I don’t think I’ll miss it.

Initially, I wasn’t overly impressed with this tea. But you know what? I keep going back to it. I’ve almost finished my 25g sample and I’m crying on the inside because I can’t justify buying more tea until some other have been drunk down.

It has a strange, murky liquor that I find unpleasant, but I just add a splash of milk and it seems to soften it.

Chocolate-y, vanilla-y, coconut-y goodness + black tea. What’s not to love?

I was recommended this tea by some friends. I’m really starting to question my friendships (just kidding).

Again, I have this love-hate thing with rooibos. It can be used to blend teas really well (ie. super ginger, coco chai rooibos are some of my favourite teas on the planet) or it can just come across as woody and unpleasant. Alpine Punch does have this woody note, but luckily it is masked by other flavours in the tea. If I were to describe the flavour, it is nutty fruit punch. It sounds terrible, but it’s not bad. I can see why people enjoy it. For me though, it’s just not permanent collection worthy. I’ll gladly finish my sample and be done with it.

I tried so hard to like this tea. So. Damn. Hard.

It’s not that it’s unpleasant… It’s just so… rooibos-y. To me it tastes woody, and I really can’t seem to get over that. It’s not that I hate it… I just don’t really like it all that much.

I do, however, like the maple-y sweetness component of it. This component comes through better with a splash of milk. I’m glad it’s a crowd pleaser too – it was recently my birthday so I have a heck of a lot of it!

No notes yet.

To me, this is a very typical cold tea with strong mint, eucalyptus, and juniper all playing a strong role in the tea. What I like (and I think what makes this cold tea different than others) are the citrus notes that come through afterwards, almost in the after taste. Being sick is no fun, but this is a good tea in your arsenal if you are congested.

Bravissimo is an interesting tea – more for what it does than how it tastes. Taste wise – strong licorice and camomile, very similar to Sweet Dreams in that regard. Citrus notes also very prominent (from the orange and the goji no doubt).

It numbs your throat well. Really well. If the only symptom you’re experiencing is this, I highly recommend this tea.

This is an interesting tea for me. I love mint and chocolate together and the black tea puts them together well. The peppercorns add a little bite, which was much appreciated. After my first cup I said “OMG MORE NOW.”

Buuuuttt… it sort of ended there. Every cup I’ve had since has been all right. It’s a tea I crave on occasion, although I’m still debating whether or not it belongs in my permanent collection. Lately when I crave a chocolate black tea, I’ll go towards Stormy Night. Could be the changing of the seasons. Overall, a solid tea and certainly a crowd pleaser.

I love red velvet cake. It is by far my favourite of all cakes (especially with cream cheese icing, yum!). Needless to say, I’ve been wanting to try this tea for a while given that it is fashioned on my favourite dessert.

It was… okay. I purchased 25g to see if I would like it, and I do. The black tea base is fairly weak, which is probably needed for the sugars to come through. At first, I really didn’t care for it, however, a splash of milk transforms it into a whole new tea. This would make a fantastic tea latte! I’m not sure how to describe it aside from black tea and sugar, but that’s what it is. You won’t need any added sweeteners with this bad boy.

EDIT: Actually, yeah, this makes the best latte ever. Rating upped significantly. Will own simply for this reason.

Huh. This was an odd one for me. Not in a bad way. I was recommended this tea for an iced tea, but I actually prefer it warm.

Iced, this tea starts with a strong hit of hibiscus (sorry for all you hibi haters), then fruit, then the pu’erh. I found it the opposite when I didn’t chill it. Warm, you initially get a strong hit of pu’erh (very earthy) and then it finishes with a the fruit, with a slight hint of hibiscus (I found once you ice it, the hibiscus kind of explodes). This will be a fantastic tea to start getting into spring with since it’s fruity but not bad as a hot tea.

I was really sceptical about this tea. I don’t like cookie dough. I’m not a huge fan of candy and chocolate in tea. I received this tea as a sample and decided to give it a go as a dessert tea.

What a pleasant surprise! It’s like a nutty cookie – the walnut really comes through. But the tea itself is very light. Unlike chocolate chili chai (from DT), I don’t crave sick amounts of sugar after drinking this. I saw that it was a seasonal tea, so I ran out and bought the remnants of this at my local DT store. I’m excited that it is part of my permanent collection.

Pu’erh is what it is. It’s going to taste earthy. Or like dirt.

This tea smelt like cardboard. However, it tasted all right. I wouldn’t purchase it (I received it as a sample). I was surprised that I didn’t want any additives in it given it’s earthy nature. Plus I always think that coffee will go bitter in tea and I have yet to have that proven… heh.