15841 Tasting Notes
Something I just cracked open and drank one of the evenings during advent season. By the time the evening hit during advents I was often so tired that I didn’t want to make LLT, but canned drinks were quick and refreshing so I had a decent amount of kombucha. As y’all know, this fizzy cardamom one is my favourite.
Cold Brew!
Very, very rooibos forward blend with a lot of that woody mineral taste, but alongside it almost equal parts of just a distinct, clear orange note. To call it blood orange feels like perhaps somewhat of a stretch, but it’s dark and dense enough in nature without a lot of tartness/acidity so I do feel like I see what they were going for.
Found this one really easy going and sippable, especially as someone who likes the taste of rooibos.
Steeped this one up yesterday.
I haven’t been drinking quite as much tea since advents ended; mostly because I’m still sick and my energy level has been rock bottom. I did make this though because I thought the mint would be soothing but I didn’t want to just make a boring cup of peppermint. It was very nice, and very relaxing. Sweet nutty notes were the forward flavour, like some kind of pistachio macaron or other pastry, but then with the typical herbaceous and cooling finish of peppermint tea.
(Thankfully caffeinated though, because of the black tea base!)
Backlogged tasting notes.
This was the other tea I brought with me to drink during Hanukkah, earlier this December. The “pie” element of the blend really confuses me – I don’t get what’s supposed to make it pie like, and as far as I know “Blueberry Mint Pie” is definitely not a thing. But the ingredients list seemed intriguing so I went for it anyway.
We made this as a large Western pot, and I actually liked it quite a bit. It doesn’t really resemble a pie to me, or really any kind of baked item. It’s not the right blueberry for that; too tart and juicy. I think a more apt description would be, like, a Blueberry Mojito!? Refreshing with top note tartness and tang from the hibiscus and a more syrupy sweet blueberry mid note complimented by almost menthol cooling peppermint. I actually like it a lot but I feel the name is all over the place…
Backlogged tasting note.
Back during advents, Marika was kind enough to invite me to celebrate Hanukkah with her and her family – I brought a couple teas for us to make pots of over the coarse of the evening, including this very on the nose blend.
Definitely pleasantly sweet and full bodied but not cloying. The flavour is supposed to be a caramel marshmallow and I think the blend really nails the taste of a toasted marshmallow but the caramel reads more as generic dark sweetness to me. It was definitely a very nice sipping tea though, and I like how full bodied and heavy the base was – it made the fluffy creaminess of the marshmallow pop all the more.
It does kill me a little inside that this is so clearly intended to be a Hanukkah blend but it’s not kosher though – for a couple reasons, but the main one being the gelatin in the marshmallows Thankfully the group I was with doesn’t keep strictly kosher, but I could see some unfortunate oopsies coming if someone bought this for someone who is more strict about that kind of thing…
New Tea Alert!
This tea just launched a couple days ago, as part of an end of the year mocktail collection inspired by the idea of holiday and New Year’s parties as well as Dry January – a trend of completely or partially cutting alcohol from your diet throughout the month of January.
Usually our “mocktail collection” is a summer feature because of all the iceable, fruity profiles – so this timing was a really great way for us to explore some other alcohol inspired blends that might not have normally made sense during the peak of summer, like this G&T blend! Other teas in the collection include Brown Sugar Bourbon, Raspberry Mojito, Coffee Pu’erh (inspired by an Espresso Martini), Ginger Honey (inspired by a Hot Toddy), and La Vida Coco – which is inspired by fruitier “tiki drinks” and was previously introduced as an exclusive tea in the Around The World advent!
Honestly, I’m still impressed by this tea every time I drink it. It took a long time to finish the development for it – nearly four years. In fact, I remember tasting some of the earlier variations of it back during my first week working at the head office. There are some qualities that remained consistent throughout ever version, but definitely a lot of changes – the most important probably being the steps that went into nailing that tonic flavour! What I love is that there’s so many different botanicals in the blend that create this very seamless flavour of gin, but if you reaaaalllyyyy stop and think as you taste you can break down the components and see what they’re all contributing to the whole.
Overall, I’d call this a juniper forward gin profile with that distinct crisp tonic finish, but with hints of spice and lemon. Not really sweet at all, but still weirdly approachable and accesible. It’s great iced/chilled but I actually love it hot. There’s a quality to all the botanicals that give it this soothing “digestif” quality that I think will appeal to fans of other DT blends like Headache Halo, North African Mint, Cold 911, and Le Digestif.
I’m not sure that I’ve ever tasted a tea quite like this one, though a few that come close in their liberal use of juniper – but there’s more depth here than just being a juniper blend.
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.
Gongfu!
With advents over I’ve been eager to begin exploring some of the tea orders that were placed shortly before and during Black Friday, which began trickling in just as advent season was ramping up. I’m still getting over an unfortunate case of strep throat, so much of the exploration has been on pause – but I was feeling just well enough today to begin dabbling. I think much of the flavour nuance of this shou is still lost on me, but the thick oily liquor is like a soothing salve to my raw throat and the brothy taste that hangs at the back of my mouth after each steep is something to be treasured and enjoyed for all long as it manages to linger. Hopefully better sessions will come as we close out the year!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmr1_6DuqP5/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAg3lsrI7ZA
Gongfu!
I’m sticking with very bold tasting teas as I wait for my my palate to snap back. Though I’m always down for a smoked tea, this one is particularly interesting because it has a lot of greener and more chlorophyllic notes. Things like dandelions greens and crunchy autumn leaves, but mixed with peat and tobacco. Oddly, I got a bit of a sultana fruity sweetness today, as well. It’s bringing me some comfort today as I continue to rest, hoping to get back to a more normal routine!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmuWMaLuRjr/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A-JoluUwfI
Adventaggedon Day Twenty Five – 3/3
To be honest, I found this flavour a bit anticlimactic for the last in the advent – I would have expected something a bit more… classically festive!? But that’s a small criticism, and the bottom line is that the tea was delicious. My favourite of the day. It’s got the perfect balance of brisk, bold black tea with malty and baked good notes combined with the marzipan-like sweetness of almond and that sweet cranberry jam kind of flavour. Made me think a little bit of the thumbprint cookies that sometimes my mom or grandma would make for the holidays but with cranberry instead of raspberry.
Thank you Anne for a fantastic advent, yet again! Looking forward to next year’s already.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmm1_S6uW2y/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n9qtBhwR_Q
Adventaggedon Day Twenty Five – 2/3
I see Marika saved something fancy for the last day – after all, vanilla and saffron are the most expensive spices on earth.
I started my day with this one – thankfully I think most of the congestion has passed and my throat also feels fine, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything in the cup. Once again I could see flecks of vanilla on the rim of my mug signalling just how much vanilla is included in this blend. So, so good. I love the aromatic rich flavour and decadence without sweetness. I have to make a confession, though. I don’t actually like the taste of saffron.
So, with that in mind, I did think it was well balanced with the vanilla and distinct enough in the mug that someone looking for that taste would be appreciative of its presence and quality. I even saw that signature yellow tint not just in the steeped tea but in the small pool of dripping that my coaster had caught when I removed the infuser. I just didn’t love it though, and at the end of the day I would probably choose EDC’s Osmanthus Vanilla over this one every time. That’s my perfect vanilla tea, though this is also a really solid options.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmm1_S6uW2y/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cglLJJ0Czo8
