Tina S.

I love lemon teas, so I was looking forward to this one, despite the jasmine flowers. I’m glad I tried it, because I couldn’t find any jasmine notes. Black, I found that there was an intensity lacking, both as a tea and as a lemon flavour. Since I have a horrid sweet tooth I added some sugar, and voila! There was the lemon I’d been looking for. I’ve been told this one is excellent iced, so I’ll have to try it that way next time. Although since my cat broke my tea glass (my favourite, and the one I used to brew iced teas!) right after I finished this, I’m not quite sure when that will be!

So that’s what it tastes like straight!

I really liked this one, which makes sense to me since I tend to really like green rooibos tea blends. What I liked more than the flavour though was the scent. Dry, brewed, as a cup, it just smelled ever so slightly green and made me feel like I was in a spa or something. It smelled healthy. I’ve been waiting to find a tea I wanted to use as a tub soak and I think I may finally have the one. This with a bit of mint is going to be amazing!

Drinking wise, yeah, definitely drinking this one again too. Just . . . not from the bathwater!

I was lucky enough to be in the store when they opened the bag of this one, and the staff hadn’t tried it yet. So they did a traditional tea tasting brew and we all got to try it!

Dry, I got a combination of true rose scent with extremely strong peppercorns. I’m still not sure if I like or dislike the smell, since I love both separately but together they are . . . unique.

The taste was much nicer than I expected. I expected peppered rosewater, but it is by far more complex. There were definite hints of the coconut, and I didn’t get any perfume-ness from it at all.

I definitely recommend trying it, although I’m not sure if I’ll be buying it, and can’t figure out exactly what kind of numbered rating I’d like to give it, either.

Despite how I just laughed out loud reading AliPants’s review here, I have to agree with her. That’s the flavour I got as well!

I got this one in store yesterday. No idea how they brewed it, but since I tend to be lazy about taking the bags out when I buy in store, I ended up leaving the bag in the entire time I was sipping. It certainly isn’t a bad tea. There was a mild spice on first sip, but as the cup cooled, it disappeared and left . . . warm milked down chocolate popsicle.

I did add milk to the tea, and a bit of agave. Perhaps that’s why I had a different experience than most?

Got this one as a cup in store on my lunch hour today at work. Decided I’d try the more expensive ones that way since it is actually cheaper in the long run for me. Am glad I tried this, too, since it was a lovely mellow oolong.

Since I like my tea strong, I was a bad tea drinker and left the bag in until I’d finished the cup, which was long enough for me to eat lunch and cross the parking lot to get back to work. Even with this extended brew the tea wasn’t overwhelming or bitter. I seriously enjoyed every sip I had from the cup.

Now I have to decide if I can justify the cost for such a lovely tea!

Disclaimer here, I’m not a coffee drinker. At all. The closest I come are iced capps from Tim Hortons, which, they’re more sugar than coffee. A coworker though had told me she got more a caramel flavour than anything else so I decided to give it a go.

Nope, to me it is totally coffee. I got worried when I saw how dark it steeped, it was darker than coffee itself, unless you have a good dark roasted kind. My first sip I tried black, and okay, I didn’t spit it out, but also knew I’d never finish the cup this way. So I added sugar. This brought out the caramel my coworker had told me about, but nope, still not one for me. So I added a small bit of milk. Still too coffee. I added more milk. Finally, when the almost black drink was now more resembling the colour of milk chocolate, I could drink it. And here I was getting vanilla more than caramel, but definitely still coffee.

I think this one is going to a friend or my mom, who is starting to discover that teas really are just as good or better than her daily caffeine provider.

I swear this is a mystery tea. Its sweet and tart all at the same time. And don’t eat something like a cookie while drinking it or it’ll become extremely tart as you sip. I just made that mistake halfway through!

I get only a slight hint of cherry here, and the bamboo is lovely, but it seems almost to be too strong, as if it wants to beat my tastebuds into submission to convince them of the tea’s awesomeness. Which, I never did like when people tried to make me believe something . . .

Had this one in store, so I don’t know if it was overbrewed, had been sitting, or really is this gross, but I couldn’t stand it and for once didn’t even finish the sample. I didn’t get any fruit in this, just really strong green tea with a sour twist. I’m not rating it since it wasn’t a fair shot, but yeah, not a fan thus far.

A light drinkable jasmine, this is the last of the jasmines for me in my collection, and on David’s Tea’s wall. Not very remarkable to me, especially after having had so many jasmines this weekend. I did notice a strong aftertaste well after I’d finished drinking with this one though. The jasmine definitely lingered.

Genmaicha is a tea I love to try and describe, and yet always fail at, especially when one is really good. Sadly this one from David’s is simply average, with little to make it stand out. If anything I found it slightly weak. I tried it at 1.5 minutes and it was nearly tasteless so I doubled the steep time and was still disappointed. I think I was spoiled by another and now can’t fall in love with any that are sub-par. :(

{Backlogged Review}

The Countess took me by surprise. I bought it on a whim as I was trying to break out of my tea-drinking preferences, and I’m glad I did. It is so mild and delicate, and yet a lovely cup to sit and sip when I’m doing my morning emails or flipping through a book at night. The orange notes are definitely there, blending seamlessly with the green tea to make a lovely cup that I reached for more often than I expected. I’m already out and will definitely be stocking up again.

An interesting chai. I love cinnamon and was looking forward to one that had that as the dominant note. My chais fall into a like, love, or loathe pile, and this one is firmly in the like, at least until I try it with milk. For my first sips I tried it black, and it was nice. Nothing memorable, but definitely not a chai that was dominated by the notes I tend to dislike, instead riding the cinnamon to a nice high. I added the sugar, and the notes intensified, but not unpleasantly. I’m curious now how the milk will affect it next brew.

It isn’t my favourite chai, but it also isn’t one that I’ll turn down. Fairly standard, which isn’t a bad thing.

A pleasant surprise in this one. I’m not a fan of nuts, on their own or in baked goods, so I’ve avoided nut teas until now. What a mistake that’s been!

This one has a nice woodsy outdoors like scent that made me want to go for a walk when I smelt it dry. Brewed the tea is more mellow. There is a definite nut smell to it, although I’m not sure I’d label it specifically walnut.

Tastewise there is a strong general nut flavour, but it is tempered nicely with the green and the hint of fruit to make it a lovely brew. I can see myself reaching for this on an afternoon I’m curling up with a magazine or if I’m having a relaxing day at work.

This is probably my favourite of the Jasmines from Davids that I’ve tried so far. It is more mild and doesn’t make me feel like I’m drinking flower extract. It was lovely to watch bloom and I admire how beautiful the dry leaves are. Sadly, it was also the tea that secured that jasmine teas are not for me. I’ll keep this one for guests who do like it, but I probably won’t be brewing it for myself again.

My staple tea for orange pekoe in bagged form. I tend to only use it now when travelling because I’m addicted to my looseleaf, but it is by far superior to me than Tetley or Lipton or PG Tips.

**Note on my steeping time . . . I’m a bag-in girl with this one, with added milk and sugar.

This tea makes me want to quote one of my favourite movies. “I know you can be overwhelmed, and I think you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be . . . whelmed? — I think you can in Europe.”

Well this one left me whelmed. Nothing stood out for me, and nothing made me dislike it. It was the quality I expect from a looseleaf brewed cup of black, but it wasn’t memorable at all. I guess since it is a staple tea of choice for most people, that’s a good thing? Myself, though, I like my blacks a wee bit more distinctive.

Damn I wish I’d watched this one brew. Most of my blacks barely unfurl and so I don’t think anything of just stepping away until the timer goes. But this one opened like a green or a white. Definitely going to watch next time.

Scent wise it is fairly standard to me, and when I sipped it black I felt it was a little weak. (I prefer my blacks to be pretty strong). I added a wee bit of sugar, though, and suddenly it had more flavour, and the honey notes were very present. I am really enjoying this, and am wondering how it’ll taste if I blend it with some Kenyan Tinderet next time.

You blend chocolate and mint together and you own me forever. At least when it is done well, like it is here. Sipping this one is like biting into one of Laura Secord’s mint squares, only with fewer calories.

I still prefer Read My Lips, but this one definitely hit the spot for me tonight with my cravings. The chocolate here seems a tad more milk chocolate flavoured than in Read My Lips, so dark chocolate lovers may want to sample it before buying.

{back logging}

Strawberries and white tea, perfection, right?

Well, it wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t horrid either. If you like your teas tasting more of tea than fruit then this is a perfect one for you. There was some lovely undertones of strawberry which blended nicely with the needle flavour. I’ve finished up the small amount of this one I’ve bought, but I definitely don’t hesitate to recommend it to people who like their teas more . . . teaful.

Second and last cup from the mailed sample. Still feel the same as before, it is a lot more delightful than I expected. But yeah, if you aren’t a lemongrass fan you should steer well clear of this one.

This was definitely not the tea for me. The first time I tried it I was sick with a horrid cold, and I didn’t mind it. I love black licorice and there was enough of the flavour in the tea for me to be content.

Now that I’m healthy I revisited the tea and was overpowered by the combination of the flavours. If you’re a fan of licorice or anise teas, you’re going to love this one. But if you’re like me and only like the candy, I’d give this one a pass.

I am in love with this tea. It reminds me so much of my first looseleaf tea that I ever had, which led me to my tea addiction of today. It’s mellow and fruity and just such a lovely tea to sit and sip while I’m doing just about anything. I enjoy it at anytime of the day, and at any temperature.

This is one that I will never be without in my tea collection, and which if I share with you, you know you’re one of my favourites!

{Backlogged Review}

Got this one as a sample in a mail order. It isn’t one I would have tried on my own, but I figured what the hey, it was free and in my hands.

Dry, I wasn’t a fan of the smell. I’m not sure which note it was that mixed it to where I wasn’t liking it, but I definitely sealed that package up again quickly. Afterwards I noticed that the wet leaves had a very similar smell, to the point where I had to take the trash out to rid it from the kitchen.

The tea itself? It was a blend of almond and licorice to my tastebuds. Which as much as I love licorice as a candy (yes, even black!), I’m finding I loathe in a tea. I didn’t finish my sample package of this one, instead giving to a neighbour down the hall.

If you’re a fan of white jasmines, please take my review with a grain of salt since I, apparently, am not. I like white tea, and I like jasmine tea, but these two flavours together are something that I’m not fond of. I couldn’t even make it through half the cup. The jasmine is by far the dominant flavour, and it became much too floral for my tastes. If you like the floral flavours, you’ll definitely love this one.