15695 Tasting Notes
Haven’t thought about this tea in years, but recently I was gifted a very old bag of it. Honestly? Not so shabby for a tea this old. Still pretty potently flavoured with strong notes of mint, sarsaparilla, and very thick creamy vanilla. I got a lot of licorice root too, both isolated solely to the finish.
I think it’s nice, though not something I’d necessarily be reaching for very often just ‘cause it’s not really a flavour in my normal wheelhouse. It was really interesting going back and reading my tasting notes from when it first came out. My how things have changed since then!
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.
Last night’s late night cuppa.
I got a whole bunch of peach and cardamom in this cup, which is a combo of flavours that I both feel is highly underrated and also just personally love. I also got a loootttt of allspice, and I think I was just enjoying the former so much that the allspice felt intrusive to the rest of what I was drinking. That’s so, so heavily biased – but just how I felt in the moment.
This tea makes my head hurt a little.
Not physically or even, like, conceptually? I actually LOVE the idea behind this blend. I think it’s super fun! There’s just soooo much flavour happening in this cup and I definitely don’t think it’s entirely cohesive. Like, the bergamot is strong y’all – but so it the aromatic coconut and the hint of tropical fruit. It’s like I want to say to the tea “Hey, calm down! No need to shout”. I don’t even know if that makes sense.
I think I need to experiment here. The individual flavours are good but I need them to come together in a less competitive way. Does that mean making this iced? Sweetener? Milk? I think something has to happen …but what!??
Has this one earlier in the week.
My brain basically adamantly refuses to accept this as an eclair inspired tea. There’s just, like, zero qualities to the blend that make me think pastry in any way. However, mango and passionfruit? Definitely a big check mark there! As frustrated as the misname kind of makes me, at first taste this might be one of my favourite blends from Deb. Yes, it is a bit on the lighter side but both mango and passionfruit are pretty distinct in taste and the gummy-like sweet candy quality really works super well with that more tangy tropical vibe.
Plus, it just feels different from her others teas and I appreciate that a lot given some of the repetitiveness her fruity blends often end up falling into.
Had this a couple night back.
It’s definitely not a flavour that I would associate with butter beer at all, but it’s a solid dessert tea. I would describe it as a fairly straight forward chocolate flavour, but with a strong creaminess from all the marshmallows and a slight woody finish from the honeybush. It’s a decently mineral honeybush so people adverse to this base may want to avoid the blend – though it’s pretty rich and that sweetness does cover up a lot of the taste.
So I love the avocado leaves that I buy from Epices des Cru but, if I’m being honest, they’re fairly expensive – you go through them as tea much faster than you would if you were using them for culinary purposes, which is absolutely EDC’s intent when selling them. That the main reason I was compelled to add this to my most recent H&S order from Black Friday.
I wish they had been available in a smaller size, but unfortunately this MASSIVE bag of them was the only option. With how expensive it is to order from Harney (here in Canada) I figured that this window where the BF discount compensated for the exorbitant shipping price was the only time I’ll probably order in the next year or two – so I went for it and just kind of… hoped.
To be honest, my first cup was pretty good! The leaves themselves are much smaller and more broken up that what I’ve been drinking from EDC – but I absolutely was expecting there to be a big quality different. We’re talking one of the most premiere specialty spice shops in the world versus a tea company that has to be able to buy these products in bulk. So, yeah, quality shifts are gonna happen.
Like I said though, the infusion really wasn’t bad at all. It was preeetttyyyy different tasting though. It really, really reminded me a lot of a slightly underripe banana that still has some of that green edge – but lighter in taste. It was soothing and worked as a relaxing evening selection.
I still wish I had much, much less than what I had to buy – but I’m glad that I enjoyed it!
Cold Brew!
Currently sipping on this and it’s so refreshing! This is the Manoomin that’s used in the DT and Tea Horse collaborative blend – and it’s just excellent on its own. Very toasty with strong cereal-like grain notes. Really reminiscent of something like a soba cha or hojicha infusion but a little lighter and more “golden”. Today’s infusion in particular has a lovely naturally sweet cocoa note as well.
I love Marc & Denise so much; learning from them during the collab process was such a joy and priviledge. The manoomin they carry is just so good, and I think any lover of roasty drinks like Genmaicha should try this!
Gongfu!
This sweet and syrupy tea has such a lovely and slightly funky – in a good way – taste of peaches and almost over ripe red fruits; things like currant, pomegranate, cherry. Those are balanced by pleasantly musky notes of leather and malt with just a tease of something vaguely oak-y. Really saturated and packed in flavours; a very beautiful Dian Hong to close out the week with!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnFjW7TOgRU/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgdOn8DHjzk
I was inspired by Cameron’s recent tea order/haul to steep up my favourite of Chroma’s blends! This oolong is blended with fennel, anise, and juniper – among other ingredients – to create a very smooth and woodsy cup with pleasantly sweet licorice, fresh pine, subtle citrus, and creamy floral flavours. I know all things licorice can be prettttyyyy polarizing, but I’ve always found this tea to be as approachable as it is well balanced!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnDHM4OOnIj/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsQ0OAZjcmM
Gongfu!
Decided to revisit this sheng. I think I said it last time I shared this tea, but the more vegetal profile isn’t something I normally gravitate towards with raw pu’erh. However, the consistent notes of charred fennel really appeals to me. This tea session also had a pleasant apple note. Not something crisp and sweet, but more of a baked or even dehydrated apple flavour. It was really interesting alongside the more vegetal and slightly bitter overall profile. There was also pleasant light astringency and a noticeable huigan as well!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnAgNrBu-lJ/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2VC3-FTwTk
