15695 Tasting Notes
Gongfu!
The dry leaf of this Dancong black tea processed from Milan Xiang cultivar is almost surreal in how sweet and plummy it smells, and steeped up this tea is even better! It’s practically dripping in syrupy florals and notes of over ripe plums, with a coating liquor and honey finish. Very aromatic and arguably almost too rich to start the day with. Almost being the key word! BLT has been blowing it out of the water with their black teas lately, but this one is just sublime!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj-q6nmuBa2/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1kH6iCsyWw
Sipdown (1917)!
I found this little packet of instant Chai in our office on Friday way, way down at the bottom of a desk drawer. I didn’t actually check before making it, but something tells me that if this Chai had a “best before” date then it’s probably long past it. There was definitely a sort of funk to the aroma of the dry powder that got stronger as I poured water over it…
But I drank it anyway, because that’s what I do. It’s a little weird tasting in a sort of sour way, but not as unpleasant as expected given the smell that was coming off the mug. Mostly it’s incredibly sweet, with a standard spice mix save for the really strong peppery finish. It’s supposed to be a white tea based Chai but there’s really no way you would actually know that unless you’d read the packaging – it has no classic qualities of white tea.
Overall… I give it a meh out of ten.
Tea Pop!
This is one of those teas that grew on me over time, especially as I began having it cold more frequently. I decided it was about time I tried it as a tea pop, and I’m very glad I did because it was delicious and also kind of unique. The unique part comes from the fact this is just such an insanely floral and aromatic peach flavour – really sweet and succulent but pretty devoid of the more North American style “tang” that we associate with a lot of peach flavoured things such as Fuzzy Peach candies. It’s also got those persimmon notes that sort of propel the florals even further, while also adding unique honey notes. I thought that, as a sparkling tea pop, this had a very Asian flare to it – specifically reminding me of the type of peach flavoured soda you might get in Japan.
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.
Late night cuppa!
I just wanted something caffeine free and fruity, and I have quite a bit of this tea still so I figured I’d put in some work to finishing off the tin. I specifically made sure to get a yellow gummy bear in my leaf because they’re banana flavoured and I love the combination of this particularly thick and very intense strawberry candy note with the banana gummy bears. Eventually I’m gonna run out of yellow gummy bears in my tin, and that will be a sad day.
It’s an okay drink hot, but the tartness always reads better as it cools. If I wasn’t worried about getting half melted gummy bears at the bottom of the glass tumbler I use for cold brewing, I would probably always make this cold brewed by default. Instead I just let my mug cool and drank most of it that way.
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.
Grabbed this because I wanted mint but also caffeine, and then was pleasantly reminded that it’s also super creamy. Not sure if it’s just a cream/vanilla note or if it’s actually a white chocolate flavouring, but whatever the case it was DEFINITELY giving me white chocolate based Peppermint Bark vibes. Like, the kind you eat around Christmas. I’m not ready for snow yet, but creamy white chocolate and mint yet? Yeah, that sounds great.
My work friend who’s on mat leave right now had a small get together last night to celebrate her son’s 100th day. I’ve never really seen 100 day celebrations/parties, but apparently it’s pretty common and traditional in China (where she’s from). It was very cute – she had ordered a fancy cake and he was in an adorable matching outfit. Mostly it was just nice to catch up though.
Obviously we drank tea – I told her partner to surprise me and because he is a good friend who knows my tastes well and I am a predictable tea drinker he made me a nice giant mug of this tea. I know it’s not pine smoked, but as a Western mug it definitely still has a naturally smokey character. Also very brisk and woody though, and just a little malty. Really pleasant and soothing – and a surprisingly great compliment to matcha flavoured cake.
Started my morning with this blend.
I always struggle to think of it as a Chai since it’s just cinnamon that’s adding spice, and such a mild amount of it too. Mostly it’s a pleasantly smooth and thick earthy pu’erh base with crisp peppermint and a really rich vanilla note. Very creamy in mouthfeel, which of course the licorice root is helping contribute to. Not overly sweet or spicy or minty. Just a great harmony of relaxing flavours.
Cold Brew!
I’m drinking this currently and it’s definitely a very, very distinct taste that I probably wouldn’t recommend for everyone. Certainly I can already tell I would definitely not be enjoying this as much if I was in a different mood. The main thing is just that the eucalyptus is very aggresive in terms of medicinal herbaceous flavour and also that super strong camphor heavy pine-y cooling quality. It’s like drinking vicks vapor rub but with pithy lemon zest added to the mix. Not quite as cooling as DT’s Cold 911 and also less sweet as well – both of these things due to the absence of peppermint in this blend. Right now that bitter medicinal herb-y vibe is very much appealing to me but I know most days I would find this an off beat cold brew choice.
Cold Brew!
Picked this one out because I was just craving rhubarb so badly the day prior. It hit the spot perfectly, though I did notice it was more rhubarb forward with less of the silky custard. I wonder how much of that just comes down to my in the moment perception being so heavily influenced by the desire to drink a rhubarb tea. Like, was I subconsciously over fixating on that note versus the others present?
Kind of just a so-so cuppa. The pu’erh base here is a little bit dull in flavour but the muted earthy notes are pleasant and feel really appropriate for the character this is inspired by. The best part was the strawberry note which is very simple. However, I like that it’s not very intense overall and it also contrasts the base nicely.
