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So, at this point I’ve let go of the idea of this one tasting like butterbeer to me.

I tried it hot recently with some pumpkin agave, and that worked really well! I think the extra bit of sweetness was a good addition because it brightened up all of the allspice notes, which are plentiful, and kind of exaggerated the sweetness of the coconut. So, it was like a brighter, sweeter and more autumnal (because of the pumpkin) light dessert Chai! That… actually works for me!

So, definitely an improvement and something I’ll keep in mind for the rest of this tea leaf.

Cold Brew Sipdown (342)!

Well, can’t say I’m even the least bit choked up to be finishing this tea off. I know I liked it a fair bit at one point, but it’s just completely not my thing anymore. This last brew was at least drinkable though, but I think only because I deliberately underleafed my brew of it so that it’d be less potent/cloying.

Technically, there was still another cup worth of leaf left but it was like 80% blackberry leaf, so I just tossed it. I’m happy to be done with this one.

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Sipdown (343)!

Finished this one off in my tea press, and it’s one that I’m actually really sad to be saying goodbye to. I don’t know the next time I’m gonna be in BC or that I’m gonna have family in BC that can restock this one for me, but it’s something I definitely 100% want more of.

Unfortunately, this last tea press worth of tea wasn’t the best incarnation of it either. It didn’t taste bad, mind you, but there was A LOT of elderflower left in the last little bit of tea so that flavour far dominated the profile of the mug and the sweet, jammy currant wasn’t all that noticeable under all of that intense elderflower. I do really like elderflower, but I just wanted more rich currant. Also, the black base was just a hint astringent but I think that’s more a result from my slightly oversteeping this one (six minutes instead of the normal four). It was really malty, as well. I actually liked the pairing of malt and elderflower though; I don’t know why but it really worked for me.

Goodbye yummy currant tea!

Again, many thanks to teabento for providing these samples for me to try! This is my second of eight, and I enjoyed it today in my tea press at work. It was a particularly stressful day with a lot going on because we had the entire store professionally inventoried. However, drinking this tea felt like experiencing the calm after a storm. I had it on break so that definitely helped, though.

I did take proper jot notes too! It’s been a while since I’ve brought my tea journal with to work – but it was important to me that I do this tea justice in capturing my thoughts as I drank it!

- So I absolutely loved LS, smoked and unsmoked
- Normally I wouldn’t dare make LS in a tea press
- This one is unsmoked so I thought it viable
- And it worked well! This was delicious
- This one is an unsmoked option; good for people who don’t love that aspect of Lapsang
- I did think it was a LITTLE BIT smoky, but in the natural sort of way a Keemun is
- Not in the way smoked LS is at all
- Most dominant note was a strong woody element throughout the sip
- teabento describes this as ‘oaky’ and I think that’s pretty nail on the head
- I didn’t taste much in the way of fruit notes sadly; they were there but very mild
- Would have loved to get that orange peel element! Oh well…
- Though some stonefruit did peak out in the finish of the sip, especially as the tea cooled
- Vaguely plum like I suppose, also a little raisin-ish
- Also got notes of malt, and dark bitter chocolate
- That’s not to say the tea was bitter; it was smooth with a pleasant mouthfeel!
- But just bitter in the way that chocolate sometimes pleasantly is!

Hot tea from yesterday.

I was pretty sad when I found out this tea was being retired; it’s not my favourite herbal in the world but it pretty nice as an iced tea, and it’s the only melon tea that DT carries year round so it felt like a bit of a blow. Thankfully, I have a TON of it at home already so there was no need for me to stock up on this one.

This cup actually came from my mom’s stash of it though; she has way more of this one than I do because one year for Christmas she asked for some of this and like four different people bought her 100g of it. I think she’s down to like 200g now though. The tin I measured the leaf from has like no melon pieces in it though; I’ve pretty much ate all of them out of the tin. Oops! So, this cup didn’t really taste like melon all that much. I mean, it did a little bit but mostly it tasted like very sweet and slightly tart apple and kiwi. That’s not to say it was bad, but just not melony.

That’s 100% my fault for eating the melon, though…

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

I wrote about the other Chai that DT released yesterday, but this is the other new one and honestly the one that I was much more interested in/intrigued by and that I also wound up liking a whole lot more.

My first tasting was actually as a latte, since this seems perfectly made for lattes!

For starters, this Chai is on a pu’erh base which I think it a brilliant move! The earthiness of the pu’erh is a great compliment to all of the elements of a S’more and I think it adds a something that goes beyond flavour – it makes you feel a bit more like you could be out camping roasting marshmallows over a fire, or even just over a BBQ pit in your backyard. It’s that ‘natural’ element! Plus, I think it just has more body overall as opposed to a black base which would just be kind of standard. It just works; and I think it’s something people who don’t like Pu’erh would probably enjoy just as much as people who do like the flavoured pu’erhs DT carries because it’s not overpowering so much as it is supportive.

Something else that works really well for me with this tea is the fact that it doesn’t have the full range of spices that you’d normally see – since I’m not big on traditional Chai teas anyway, the fact that this one really focuses on the cinnamon doesn’t bother me at all. It’s very smooth and toasty, and it compliments all the S’more elements really well. The other ingredient in this one that isn’t traditionally associated with S’mores is the brittle pieces – which are very sweet, and a little bit nutty since they use hazelnut. I’m not 100% sure of this, but they seem like they COULD be the same brittle used in Cotton Candy just without the colouring. Both teas use the same allergen warnings and the ingredients seem to match up in regard to the brittle, plus visually they’re similar so I don’t think that’s a huge leap to make. Obviously, of course, that means this is pretty sweet. I’d think that would likely be a given with the other ingredients, though!

Now for the S’mores! Firstly, both the chocolate and creamy marshmallow come through very clearly for me and while the graham is certainly part of what makes a S’more I’d argue that capturing those other two flavours is definitely just slightly more important. I do get a bit of graham but not as much as I’d ideally like to be able to taste. Now, I’m unsure if that’s just because it is a bit more of a delicate flavour and the fact I’m drinking this as a latte is masking it a bit more or if it’s just that it’s not strong. That’s basically my only real criticism though: I just want more graham cracker!

But yeah – really liked this one, and I hope it’s popular because I think it would be a very nice addition to the Pu’erh section of the tea wall as a core tea. I could definitely see this as a July/August TOTM next year if it’s popular enough!

Totally bought some for myself to have at home, too.

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

With a tiny hit of cashew milk.

This was pretty nice; mostly a creamy chocolate flavour with a softer, cooling mint finish. The cashew milk was nice because it added a mild nutty undertone and kind of played up the very soft roast of the oolong. As far as bagged teas goes, this is a decent one – and you can’t be the convenience. I was in a MAJOR rush trying to make tea and still catch the bus on time, and this was a life saver in that regard.

I wonder how many mint/chocolate teas I have though? This is a combo I’ve been drinking a lot more of lately so I know it’s a decent amount. Like, at minimum, I can think of at least three I have? I wonder if it’s more though. This is the problem with cupboard explosions: you lose track of exactly what you have on hand…

So, it’s worth note that I got this in my most recent Matcha Outlet order but since Matcha Outlet is just RLT under a new name, I’m not making a new entry for this tea. Mostly because I’m feeling very lazy right now…

I don’t really know why I ordered this one? I mean, I’ve tried it before and I like it well enough but I also like the straight caramel a lot too – arguably more so. Mostly, I just wanted something sweet and dessert like to add into my order and this one jumped out to me.

I made up a chawan of it whisked in straight milk, and it’s actually a little better than I remember it being! It’s very, very buttery and smooth with lots of sweet, creamy caramel flavour. I don’t know that I actually get “popcorn” apart from just the general intense butteryness of the flavour though; for it to actually be popcorn like to me I think there’d have to be some sort of starchy component and it’s just missing that. However, this sort of extremely indulgent, sweet caramel is perfect! It reminds me so much of dulce de leche! Really satisfying!

If the rest of the package is the satisfying then I have to say I’m happy I went with this one over the straight up caramel!

Cold Brew!

This cold brew was fascinating! I don’t know if it’s because I let it steep for like three whole days or if it was the result of just a different ratio of ingredients being scooped out of the tine for the brew but this came out VERY rich and sweet with really intense, delightful jammy black currant notes and a smooth bergamot undertone.

It reminded me of very fancy, very British jams/preserves and… kind of really strongly had me craving scones? Really lovely!

Drinking this one iced with vanilla agave yet again.

However, I’ve begun experimenting with the steep time for this one to see if I can find a time to brings out more of the yogurt/buttery element and less overall tartness. In the past, I’ve steeped this one for four minutes and that’s been alright. This time I tried five minutes; I figured it might result in more tartness/apple and hibby flavour but there was also a possibility of it giving the yogurt pieces/brittle more time to melt down so even though it seemed unlikely to me that it would work I thought it was worth trying.

Yeah, no – while this didn’t taste bad it was definitely more tart with stronger hibiscus and raisin notes. More of that “Blueberry Cider” kind of flavour over “Blueberry Muffin”. That’s fine, next time I’ll just try a shorter steep time.

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.