15695 Tasting Notes
Sipped on this one near the end of my work day today.
This is the kind of tea that I feel like I want to enjoy more than I actually do. Firstly, both the cinnamon and the pear are present and the combination of the tea is very pleasant with a good sweet/spicy balance that reminds me a little of baked or poached pear. The pear leans every so slightly dewy and floral, but it’s just bright and juicy so it works! The big thing is the hibiscus. It’s not aggressively tart or offensive but it does just feel really out of place, and the combo of cinnamon and hibiscus really makes my brain automatically go to mulled wine or DT’s infamous holiday blend Sleigh Ride. Very wintery/cold weather and seasonally bucketed. Instead I wish there was just much more pear overall. No hibiscus. I’d even take apple over the hibiscus.
So could be better and could also be worse. Maybe I would enjoy more in the latter half of the year…
Another gift from a coworker!
I was really curious about this tea – it’s obviously named after Kevin Gascoyne who is one of the owners of Camellia Sinensis. Though each owner specializes in sourcing different types/regions of tea, I would say that out of all of them Kevin is definitely the most public facing and the one who is most prominently involved with different community and industry events. So if CS is going to put out a tea named for one of the owners then I suppose it makes sense it would be him – though I do hope that in time each of the other owners will get a tea that nods to each of their own specialties…
I really enjoyed the taste of this blend of black teas, though! Since he’s most well known for his love of Darjeeling teas and really just teas from India in general, I was kind of expecting something a little more tannic and brisk. Instead, despite a robust full bodied character, this tea is really approachable smooth/round on the palate and the taste was quite sweet! Honey is the note that springs to mind over all others but also flavours of warm freshly baked sweet breads, candied fennel, and graham cracker as well.
The mix of regions is pretty unique too with the mix being Indian, Rwandan, Columbian, and Sri Lankan – all fairly common terroirs for breakfast teas except for Columbia. I do really like the Columbian tea that Camellia SInensis carries, and their Rwanda Rukeri too for that matter! Both terroirs bring a nice character and complexity to this cup!
This was a gift from a coworker who knows I love hojicha!
I made myself a rich and roasty iced hojicha latte with some extra taro boba and agave which is, I guess, more of a bubble tea than a latte if I’m being super accurate! Though this hojicha powder is super delicious on its own and has one of the most distinct toasted peanut flavours I’ve tried in a hojicha powder to date, it’s also so perfectly suited for this kind of not too sweet boba with a bit more of that starchy taste from the taro and the creaminess of the milk!
(Side note – I think this is now like the seventh hojicha powder I own, haha)
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc3AcvBsnCB/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y80HaLoYWaQ&ab_channel=HarrisonBrome
Gongfu!
Steeped this one earlier in the afternoon! Earlier this week I got some tea mail with several oolong and black teas that Teavivre was kind enough to gift me. I couldn’t resist diving into the Jasmine Black Dragonballs immediately to steep grandpa style, but this is the first of the samples I’ve sat down with to brew gongfu and it’s really lovely! Though a bit more nutty and mineral with heavier roast in the early infusions, I love how this oolong settles into something more floral but still with that darkness to it. The thing that came to mind was, like, if you grilled a rose? Delicious and super accessible!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc8gHILO8oR/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv1k4HQk7k4&ab_channel=LimeCordiale-Topic
Drinking this one currently and really enjoying it!
I steeped this today iced to sip on over the coarse of the afternoon, and I have to say that the rich sweet lemon and creamy marshmallow notes are coming through so clearly and deliciously. Something about this combination of an incredible creamy vanilla lemon tea with the marshmallow is really making me think of the almost unnaturally yellow Marshmallow Peeps that you get around Easter – but not as sugary/cloying and fake tasting.
I don’t really taste the berry, despite seeing some in my measured out tea leaf, but I think I’m too enamored with the creamy lemon marshmallow profile to care.
Gongfu!
Began my morning today with a session of this Sakura Cherry Wood Smoked black tea in my lovely smoked tea dedicated yixing pot! I’ve had a handful of these different smoked teas that utilize these more unique wood types, but this is definitely my favorite so far! It’s got the intensity of the smoke that I so badly crave, but it’s a very clean and sweet smoke with a really wide breadth of diverse tasting notes. On one end of the spectrum, whether it’s placebo or not, I do get a more aromatic floral and fruity sweetness that reminds me a lot of cherry blossoms and cherry blossom flavoured sweets. Conversely, there’s also a darkness and depth to the steeps that channels more of the burnt sugar and molasses rich taste of something like black licorice. I found it an invigorating and deeply captivating tea session to begin my day with, and I’m so pleased with the unique nuances within this delightful smoky tea!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc5qxzxuU5H/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9MTvwaIV78
Grabbed this sample from my sachet/teabag drawer this morning just so I could have something really quick and easy first thing when I got into the office today. In my rush I naively assumed that this was just like a simple black tea, but it’s definitely not. Tasted veerrrrryyyy heavily of mint and sage with a little bit of a fruity sweet finish. Looking at the Steepster page for it now, it looks like a green tea/yerba mate blend which makes a ton of sense in hindsight.
Last Summer tea tasting note! This is not really a case of saving either the best or the worst for last, at least as far as my own preferences ago. I just wanted to drink it again before writing the tasting note so that it was more in my recent memory…
I would probably rank this blend somewhere in the middle out of all the new teas, as far as my own preferences ago. I think it’s pretty classic and pretty straight forward tasting without a lot of other frills – just a solid combination of lively flavour that treads the line of tart and sweet really well. Lots of hibiscus and lots of lemon, and I wouldn’t really expect otherwise. It’s on a green tea base which doesn’t really matter a whole lot aside from the caffeine and body that it adds, but occasionally you get a little hint of grassy green flavour in the finish as the hibiscus and lemon subside and the use of green tea over other types, like black, does help keep the flavour direction more bright and refreshing.
I think the most interesting thing about this tea is the inclusion of beet and, like, a not inconsequential amount of it. It does a couple things but probably the most immediately noticeable is that is adds a beautiful colour to the dry leaf of the tea and also deeps the dark red hue of the tea once steeped. Aside from that, there’s a hint of earthiness which I personally feel adds to the much more natural leaning taste of this blend. However, beet is also naturally sweet as well so it’s kind of a nice way to add a different dimension of clean sweetness to the cup.
Overall, it’s a nice blend hot but I think iced (and maybe in a pitcher) is sort of the best way to enjoy this tea. It’s really refreshing and despite having a strong taste it doesn’t feel as heavy and syrupy as a lot of the other hibiscus dominant teas that we carry.
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.
Sipdown (1645)!
Y’know, my expectations may have been low but this was actually surprisingly quite nice! I thought there weren’t any off/funky kind of tastes like what I’ve experienced in some other CBD teas and the green tea actually tasted half okay for a decaffeinated one (which are usually incredibly flat and bland). However, most impressively I thought the peach had a pleasant sweetness that made me think of RTD style peach flavours, but with a hint of mildly spicy ginger.
It was just actually very well balanced, and the fact I slept like a rock the night after drinking this was just one hell of a cherry on top.
