Kittenna

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Kittenna drank Hot Toboggan (organic) by DAVIDsTEA

I picked this one up in the good old days, and by that I mean the time when people thought coming home with ten different samples from DavidsTea was ridiculous! If only they knew then… Anyways, I remember being told that this one was supposed to taste like a caramel apple, and although I found it ok, I don’t remember it being a favourite by far. I had it earmarked to do a quick comparison to DT’s Mom’s Apple Pie, so figured tonight was as good a night as any! Sadly, neither of these is a sipdown; there’s still one cup left of this one, and lots of the other.

It’s funny, I took a sniff of this one, and could have sworn it was Mom’s Apple Pie! That’s how it smells, like warmed cinnamon apples with a bit of crust. And really, flavourwise, it tastes rather like the aroma. A bit heavy on the crust (which is probably the… almonds??), but definitely like apple pie. I’m not getting any caramel, so wouldn’t call it caramel apple, but the light cinnamon and fruitiness combined with a really distinct buttery crust flavour is 100% apple pie. The only problem is that it’s kind of weak. I suppose the tea is over 6 months old, but it has been stored properly, so maybe my leaf/water ratio is just a bit off, or maybe it needed that extra three minutes that I so cautiously didn’t give it. On second thought, I see the package directions indicate using 1.25 tsp, and I used a generous 1.5, so maybe it’s just meant to be on the weak side. This is nice though, and the aroma is very soothing.

ETA: Third infusion a day and a half later is heavy on cinnamon aroma (but not flavour), and mostly tastes nutty. Not bad. This one’s growing on me, but I probably won’t ever see it again since it’s online exclusive, and I don’t want 50g of it!

2012-06-30 04:49:23 -0400

180 °F / 82 °C

4 min 0 sec

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Babble 2012-07-02 01:08:52 -0400

Mm.. this sounds delicious, although the green tea they use looks … interesting. Does DavidsTea give a lot of in store samples?

Kittenna 2012-07-02 02:28:04 -0400

Oh, I just purchased a sample size :) They will sell you as little as 8g of tea. They do sample two teas daily (brewed up) though, which are free. I don’t think there’s much green tea in this one, but there is lemongrass.

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I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.