15678 Tasting Notes
Gongfu Sipdown (1461)!
Yesterday I finished off the last of this sample with some juicy blackberries nibbled on in-between the steeps! This Taiwanese oolong has a beautifully buttery mouthfeel with medium bodied notes of gently toasted hazelnut, coconut milk, and undertones of pandan. It was exactly the kind of cozy oolong that I needed for a super rainy afternoon and evening!! Six steeps and it was tapped out though. Honestly, I didn’t have a ton of leaf for the size of gaiwan I was using so I was pushing the steep time longer to compensate & I’m honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did.
It’s definitely a shame that this isn’t a tea still on the AU site because it’s definitely one I would order. This and Ventura Highway, both straight oolongs from AU, were very good. I know they have a third called Eventide, and I plan on getting a sample whenever the new blends launch that AU recently teased in an email.
I know I got this sample from someone but I can’t remember who. So, thank you to whomever it was that passed it along – maybe VariaTEA or Sil!?
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTe9oNCgXGP/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PzATU-45U&abchannel=SaidTheWhale
Grandpa style!
Sweet and cozy with a lot of autumnal leave notes as a nice stonefruit/peach jam kind of top note that I fucking love about this tea. I really do think this is miles better than any other previous years’ production of Hot Brandy – and I think it might be my favourite go to “mini”/dragonball to brew up from anything that was produced in 2020. I actually wish I’d gotten to drink more of it on the day I made it in office, but I started it later in the afternoon than I probably should have. By the time 5PM came around, the tea wasn’t close to being brewed out – but I didn’t want to stay later just to steep out the tea and I wasn’t going to be back at the office for two days so I also didn’t want to try and keep the leaf. A little regrettable, in that regard…
Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTSvuUCLIp0/
Fun fact: I took this photo on my walk from the metro into the office in the morning. It’s from a flower pot outside of a card dealership I walk by, and I stopped and unwrapped the dragonball to snap pics because I was captivated by the colour of the flowers. As I was wrapping up, I looked up and an employee from the car dealership was just starring at me. Just instagram things, I guess…
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrLbeagDOM4&ab_channel=SammHenshawVEVO
Sipdown (1462)!
I felt like there was a lot going on with this last mug; it’s such an interesting and complex tasting blend. Surface level vanilla (authentic vanilla) but then there’s this burnt sugar/marshmallow note with elements of char and mineral to it alongside deep bitter cocoa and a little natural smokiness. It’s so rich, and a little intoxicating. I’ll miss this one, but I feel like I have similar now in the Vanilla Osmanthus from Marika’s family shop and the newly discovered vanilla blend from The Silk Tea Co – so this was a well timed sipdown.
Cold Brew Sipdown (1463)!
Y’know, I thought I would enjoy this a lot as a cold brew but there was something about it that was just sort of off. Not bad tasting but… not right!? The rose was beautifully soft and smooth with an aromatic sweet floral that encompassed the whole palate. The cardamom was also super aromatic with its pleasantly warming citrus undertones. However, the overall brew was a little watery and the aftertaste was strangely metallic and mineral. It was the metallic note I couldn’t get over – I didn’t know what the source was and it was really jarring with the florals.
Anyway, one less Vahdam Advent tea! Gotta put more work into finishing these off.
This was sort of like drinking a lullaby. I really love jasmine white teas, and this is not an exception. It’s delicate and smooth but with a great fresh sweetness – and really I think that’s a huge part of why I lean so, so incredibly in favour of jasmine white teas versus jasmine greens. The jasmine notes themselves are just so much sweeter and almost fruity compared to the way that they play with more grassy or vegetal tea bases.
I remember the original blend of this tea being a lot more cinnamon forward and less cream/caramel tasting so, when this cup was kind of a flip of the ratios I had been expecting the flavour to take, I was a little thrown here. It was a very pleasant tea and quite smooth but I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as the previous time back with Anne’s first blend. I don’t know if that’s because the recipe was altered in any way or if my steeping was just different. Possibly neither, and it’s just the natural changes in my palate/taste preferences.
I’ll give it another steep before I adjust my current rating – but right now I don’t know if I enjoyed it enough for the “92” I have it at right now to feel appropriate anymore.
From eaaarrrlllyyy last week.
I was really craving the orange/chocolate combination but I didn’t want a black tea or something with a bunch of caffeine so I dug out this sample as an alternative. I had totally forgotten how sharp and slightly acrid the orange note is versus being a sweeter orange. So, while the soft coffee and chocolate notes set against the sweeter rooibos base were very pleasant, the orange was not the style I was craving and I didn’t end up finishing the mug feeling satisfied.
Simple but very rich and flavourful – I steeped this one up last night and kind of forgot about it as I was drinking, meaning I got to the last three quarters of the mug when it was cold. However, that naturally chilled thick milk chocolate/fudge sauce note paired with sweet candy banana was so scrumptious! I need to try this as a latte – I’m sure it would be very decadent but surely delicious.
Sipping on a giant mug of this tea while I work on tasting notes tonight – it’s actually one of the new Halloween latte mugs, though I haven’t added any milk/alternatives to my tea tonight. I was craving something fruity but softer/milder in flavour and I wanted a caffeinated tea base and this popped while I was looking for samples. The gentle warming apple notes with the undertones of ginger and freshly cut grass are simple but pleasing, and it occurs to me that this is one of those teas that doesn’t make a huge splash upon first impression but that does really grow on you with time.
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.
The new Halloween collection is out and I have to admit that this is one of the most fun Halloween collections that I think we’ve had (in terms of teaware) in quite some time – I’m really in love with the collection!!
As far as teas go, the focus this year was more largely on bringing back fan favourite teas and the only “new” tea is this one – which is a revamp/update of the previous Magic Potion. Obviously they share a name so there’s a bunch of similarities to the previous blend but, similar to the “Oh Canada” update from a couple years back, this isn’t really intended to be a match for that blend – there are absolutely differences.
The first one in the steeped colour: rather than a “blue” when steeped this is a little more naturally purple already. Depending on how many of the butterfly pea flowers you get in the cup, it can range from a lighter purple to a deeper dark indigo colour. A little less bright, IMO, and more “mysterious” and witchy feeling. The tea will definitely still colour change with lemon though – so you can still produce a more magenta-y purple looking cup for sure.
The taste is still berry inspired but we wanted to get more direction and clarity to the berry flavour. Where the “OG” Magic Potion was sort of just a sweet but non descript berry, this is a little more tart with some cranberry notes that stand out alongside the wild berry leaning base berry flavour. A hint of coconut adds creaminess and body, without actually tasting distinctly like coconut.
Personally, I always went back and forth on if I liked the OG Magic Potion – certainly it was better iced/cold brewed to me but often I just found it a little much. I’m still not as big of a fan of this tea as I am with many of the other berry leaning DT herbal blends, but I do prefer it to the original Magic Potion. I’m curious to know what other people think about it because I know that any time there is any blend change that can be hard to get used it – but I hope this is one for the better.
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.
First off I want like 342424829403289 of everything in this Halloween collection, definitely my favourite in a long time as far as teaware/accessories.
Thank you so much for posting this Kelly! I always skip by Magic Potion when promoted because I’ve been buying DT for 5+ years now so I’m familiar with the old one, and never would have looked twice to know this was a reblend. I see the new one has stevia (one of my main tea aversions but not a complete deal breaker) but I’m absolutely going to pick up a bag or two in my next DT order.
Actually, both the new and old versions have stevia – this one actually has less overall though.
Yeah, that’s what I meant.. I was familiar with the old one and I’m not a big fan of stevia in general but without this tasting note I would have never known this was a reblend, and despite the reblend ALSO having stevia I will still be grabbing a bag or two of this to try it out (also I love cranberry anything :)).
