6105 Tasting Notes

62

The first miss out of the 4 new D by D teas that I’ve tried so far. And a surprise, because I usually love hojicha blends, even just because of the base! However, I found the berry notes here to be… too sharp? Bad description, but they just didn’t mesh with the base. I feel like perhaps there was a bit too much hibiscus? Or maybe the blend needed more of a creamy element? It just wasn’t great in my opinion.

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82

Another one of the new teas that I enjoyed more than I expected. I sometimes like real concord grape things (like the jelly I made last year), but I tend to find artificial grape (freezies, popsicles, juice boxes) to be too sweet and cloying. This tea is surprisingly balanced, and tastes much more like real concord grape juice, with complexity and depth, and clearly isn’t just loaded up with artificial grape flavour. It also smelled really delicious – I think I could be content to just sit and sniff it for a while. Haha. (Sidenote, my son likes to steal my empty tea pouches (fruity/herbal teas) and sniff them. He calls them his “sniff bags”. I feel like this is a habit I may want to break before he tells too many people about it, ahaha.)

If you’re on the fence about this one – give it a shot. I’m hoping my second cup is as good as the first!

Kelmishka

Sniff bags! :D

Kittenna

Toddlers are hilarious!

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81

This tea was more successful than I had expected – heavy lavender, as Deb does, but the lemon and especially the lime really pop in a very refreshing way. It’s a different lime flavour than the fluffy marshmallow type I love – brighter, but thankfully not bitter. I bet it would make a fantastic tea pop, if I was into that. As is, I think it’s screaming to be iced, maybe with a squeeze of lemon or sprinkle of sugar.

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81

Really enjoyed this tea! It’s heavily candy-watermelon flavoured, with jasmine as more of an undertone, and the oolong base gives it some great depth (the green likely had an impact but I wasn’t tasting carefully enough to notice). A handful of delicious resteeps as well, and the watermelon stuck around. I’m excited to try it iced at some point.

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77
drank Tropic Tango by DAVIDsTEA
6105 tasting notes

(DavidsTea 2022: 120)

2022 Sipdown 135/365!
Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge May 2022: Herbal tea

Searched my iced tea stash today for some interesting options, and found this one. Not sure if I’d ever tried it previously; the packet was unopened. Brewed it up fairly strong, and it was actually rather pleasant – not really what I was expecting. It didn’t really taste like mango, but was very tropical-fruity and pleasantly sweet with a tart undertone, but also an undercurrent of artificial flavouring. However, no stevia – a pleasant surprise.

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drank Plum Clafoutis Black Tea by 52teas
6105 tasting notes

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 291)

Noticed some plumminess as it cooled, but neglected to note anything else.

Sidenote, I am irritatingly missing a handful of 52teas that I know I have somewhere. Gotta find them so I can finish my challenge. I think I have around 25 unique blends left, plus a few reblend odds and ends that I’ll also hit if the packet is already opened.

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79

2022 Sipdown 135/365!

Oooh dear. I wasn’t expecting this; this tea tastes metallic and sharp, and stale. Not sure why, as it’s in a thicker plastic pouch. It is old (could be ten years), but straight teas don’t usually deteriorate so badly…. oh well.

Don’t let that deter you from purchasing, though! This tea was much better previously. Sadly, this might be a down-the-drain cup.

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73
drank Mother of Dragons by 52teas
6105 tasting notes

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 290)

I rather enjoyed my latest cup of this blend. Rich base and tasty flavouring. I don’t think I got much heat, which is fine by me. It’s probably all in the bottom of the bag, heh.

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88
drank Black & Grey Black Tea by 52teas
6105 tasting notes

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 289)

One of my faves. Vanilla earl grey with blackberries. Down to the last cup now… eventually it’s gotta get reblended!

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72
drank Banoffee Breakfast Blend by 52teas
6105 tasting notes

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 288)

Brisk… possibly so much that it masks any banana/toffee flavours. I prefer other banana blends. Perhaps I should try it with milk, though?

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Bio

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.

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