15695 Tasting Notes
#SVTTB Round Two – Tea 4/???
There’s a couple teas from Java Momma in the box and since it’s a new (to me) company I figured I’d try at least a few. This one was respectable. Pretty standard black tea blending base; not a lot of distinct notes but good body to it. The orange note was really well defined with an almost Grand Mariner type quality to it. I don’t know the last time I had a black tea with just orange flavouring in it that didn’t also feature cream/vanilla flavouring or some type of acidified ingredient like apple or hibiscus and it was kind of strange to be tasting orange without anything to “balance it out” but not in a bad way…
I don’t think this is something I’d buy for myself though as it’s just a little too plain.
#SVTTB Round Two – Tea 3/???
Gongfup Sipdown (2227)!
Pulled this interesting sounding tea from the travelling tea box for an afternoon session. After seeing this company heavily reviewed by Cameron B. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try some of their teas. This roasted kukicha is made by repurposing the discarded stems from matcha processing and has a wonderfully smooth, golden taste with warm notes of caramelized grains, nuts, a hint of cacao shell, a sort of brassy metallic note and a sweetness that makes me think of the yellow bush honeysuckles that used to grow around my grandmother’s house that I would pluck as a child. If you pinched them at the base, you could release a small drop or two of sweet floral nectar onto your tongue and it was delicious!! Though I’m always down for a session of grounding roasted tea, I wasn’t expected the full-on nostalgia that today’s session would bring me…
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CsepgLJOuPA/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaFnOnxPMBk
Gongfu!
Happy (belated) International Tea Day! I celebrated with a session out in the clover fields surrounding my apartment. True to its name this oolong is very distinctly peachy, though it’s much more of a dark, dense and roasted or grilled peach taste than I had expected with lots of backend spice notes of cinnamon and and nutmeg to compliment the more mineral and woody notes so typical of yancha. There’s also an ever so slightly green edge that reminded me of dandelion leaves, though perhaps that impression was subconsciously influenced by where I was drinking my tea this afternoon. Regardless, it was a very beautiful session to celebrate the day with!!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CshUsXlOYb4/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG1UrFKJs7g
Gongfu!
This sheng has a pleasantly light astringency throughout the session with an overarching soft sweetness to the taste. Though it’s hard to pinpoint specific tasting notes with this almost ethereal seeming tea, I do taste elements of sugar cane, corn silk, and honeysuckles with a very mild but generic “green note” to ever so slightly anchor the session. Because the flavour is so approachable in its delicate deliciousness, it was easy to drink a lot of this sheng very quickly, and now I’m sort of basking in the warm glow of cha qi and caffeine that snuck up on me just as quickly!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CsjJOVLO08t/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRtVFIsYPLI
Gongfu!
Taking full advantage of the sunny skies with an outdoor shou session! This tea has settled pretty nicely into a thick and full bodied tea with rich, starchy notes of oat milk, cooking cream, potting soil, and forest undergrowth with a finish that’s both lightly camphorous and densely sweet – like a hint of brown sugar!!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CsmaA43O2Bg/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLIHQ7_LX_A
I found myself really pleasantly surprised by this one! The mango note was very fresh and ripe with a beautifully soft, creamy finish and almost a hint of coconut? Definitely super refreshing, and given that Almost seems to have this weird penchant for over flavouring their fruit blends (to the point where they taste a bit alcoholic) I thought it was a refreshing change of pace that I wasn’t experiencing this quality. Almost a mango lassi vibe, in fact! Though maybe not quite that thick or creamy.
In my personal opinion this is the coolest flavour that Almost has released yet!
For those who don’t know I’ve wanted to make a black sesame tea blend for years now, but just because I want something to exist doesn’t mean I get to make it – so thank you Almost for making one of my dream flavours a reality. It’s also the only “black sesame” flavoured tea I’ve ever seen that actually has black sesame in it, so that’s very cool as well.
Obviously there was a lot of pressure on this tea to live up to years of my own self imposed hype. So, does it? I feel like it’s close, but ultimately I thought this was a very weak and watery tasting infusion. The rich and nutty notes of black sesame and creamy peanut butter (from the added “drops”) were there, but just not impactful enough. It needs to be at least twice as strong in my opinion.
Something I didn’t anticipate, though, was the colour it would steep! I was drinking this in a very pale grey mug, but it really appeared like it had genuinely steeped black which was so cool to look at! When I make the last bag of this I’m going to try and remember to steep it in glass so I can see the unadulterated liquor colour.
Our most recent cold brew flavour!
This year we brought back the same three cold brews we offered last year with one new addition, this white tea based dragonfruit blend! Like all the other cold brews, it was specifically formulated to be made in room temperature or cold water and it steeps quite quickly. You can always leave it in your fridge overnight for a more potent flavour, but it produces a pretty solid cup even after just five or ten minutes of steeping.
This is our first ever white tea based cold brew, and I quite like it! White tea is so delicate already that making one into a cold brew format was trickier than most people would probably think – and then of course we took another delicate flavour, dragonfruit, and added that on top. Though I do feel like this is maybe the lightest tasting of the four cold brews I wouldn’t personally call it weak – I think the dragonfruit flavour is that very commercial ‘bordering on fruit punch’ type instead of the super weak taste of natural dragonfruit. Think, like, the Starbucks Dragonfruit Refresher. It’s dragonfruit, but like, “juiced up”. There’s also a hint of strawberry to this to just give it some added dimension and juiciness but it’s not as distinctly strawberry as, say, the Strawberry Kiwi cold brew.
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 and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
I feel like it’s been ages since I last saw Fous de Lile release a new flavour, so when I saw this one while grocery shopping I knew that I needed to try it! It was actually very good, though it was more like a sparkling soda or juice than I kombucha. I found it tasted very equally of lychee and passionfruit, but not at the same time. It was a bit of a mind flip because my brain could only perceive one of the fruit flavours at a time but they would pivot back and forth on a dime. Really interesting, and I actually quite like the concept of juicy floral lychee with tangy tropical passionfruit – they riff off each other nicely.
Just logging that I have now officially finished off a full case of this kombucha! Will I buy it again? Y’know, probably! It makes me hopeful for more Remedy Kombucha flavours since the last few I tried before stumbling upon this one were not so good…
I’m looking at you, Cola.
