Santa's Secret

Once again! Spoiler alerts!

I am backlogging here. As previously mentioned, I may be going about this advent calendar thing all wrong. However, I have chosen my path and decided to stick with it.

Before we get to the tea I would like to relay this very positive experience about DavidsTea. I had placed a very large order earlier in November (part holiday gifts, part holiday teas to get me in the spirit!). I kept checking the status, as the 24 days of tea were ordered and I was getting anxious as December 1st inched closer.

Nearly 10 days after the order had been placed, it had yet to be shipped. I called DavidsTea to check on the status. The customer service agent couldn’t have been more helpful or nice. He informed me they had a processing error, which continued to accept orders of the 24 Teas of Christmas, long after the quantity in their stock had been spoken for. He then told me he would call down to the shipping department and make sure it was sent out that day (as they had received more of the calendars).

True to his promise, he called me back not ten minutes later. He told me they were sending it out immediately, and I had the shipping confirmation before I hung up the phone.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE when a company I’m fond on proves to be a pleasure to deal with. I understand there are always extenuating circumstances and the possibility for hold-ups, but such attentive and congenial representatives just further my love for DavidsTea!

This tea was the perfect kick-starter to the holiday season! Welcome December! It sums up the holidays in a cup: cool peppermint, and sweet deliciousness – it’s a real delight!

Of all the Christmas teas that I had tried during my first year of David’s this one definitely caught my heartstrings. The same feeling of happiness hasn’t left me yet. I love the balance of flavor nuances and the candy canes are so cute! I found myself hoarding the supply I had received for my present so I could drink it all year round.

This year I have the special tin for the tea and the love has renewed even more. It is definitely Christmas cheer in a mug. Ahh…heaven! Now back to 106.9 FM and their continuous Christmas music for the full experience while drinking this tea.

Grrr, I wrote a nice review of this, and my internet went wonky and didn’t post it :( Thanks to Bonnie for sending me this sample! I’ve had my eye on it, so thanks! I was so excited about this one that I had to smell it as soon as I got it. It smelt exactly like a bag of candy canes! I wanted to eat, its smell was just so delicious. After steeping, the sugary sweetness relaxes a bit, and the mint stands out just a bit more. And then I took a sip and…MMMM! This tea is so sweet and delicious! The mint flavor was a bit less than I was hoping. I could really only catch a hint of it in the aftertaste. My only real complaint is that this is no longer for sale! Anybody know of anything similar?

Yep, that review was nowhere near as awesome as the first one. Sorry guys! :(

I love the taste of candy canes but can never eat an entire one because they are too sweet. But this tea…….this is the perfect candy cane! The perfect christmas treat!
The mint flavour really comes to the forefront in this tea but not in an overwhelming and overpowering way.

I generally dislike minty teas, but I enjoy this one quite a bit. I think theres a good balance between the black tea base and the flavours.
I think it has a very nice sweetness to it, and I don’t think it needs any sweetener. I will probably pick up a bit more when we’ve finished our 25g bag.

This morning I try Santa’s Secret for the 1st time!
Good Suprise! I love the chocolate taste and the sugar taste!!
I can drink this tea anytime during the day!!

It’s a tea between the Love tea #7 and Read my lips.
I’m gonna buy more before it goes away!!

Decided to try this tea this morning, received it in my last order as a sample. This tea reminds me of read my lips a bit. But the peppermint is stronger and it is sweeter. At first it tastes like chocolate then sweet peppermint. It is smooth and creamy. I actually like how it is sweeter rather than a sharp cool peppermint. It actually caught me by surprise. I like read my lips a lot and I thought this one wouldn’t be as good. Its actually better!

This is an amazing tea!! It smells wonderfully of peppermint, but isn’t overwhelming, and the same goes for taste! My throat has been a little sore and it has been a perfect remedy. I think it would also be a good winter tea, not just for the holidays. I would recommend this to any tea drinker!

I picked up 30g of this one last week at DavidsTea. Just boiling the kettle now. It smells pretty great dry – minty yet almost creamy.

And steeping (4 minutes). Already on my second cup of tea and it’s not even 8am – joy.

Usually I reserve minty teas (especially peppermint alone) for upset stomachs but perhaps this one will put me in the Christmas spirit :)

Update: Pretty good, seemed to be more so than anything else, a peppermint tea. I added a drop of milk when I had about half a mug left which was still pretty good. DavidsTea says it’s energizing and I’ll give it that. Perhaps not in my permanent collection but for someone who likes peppermint definitely a must-try.

Ok, I’m incredibly charmed by the little candycanes and had to instagram them. Cute!! But the thing I have noticed/am getting used to is that in a lot of these dessertish teas, there’s a lot of cloudy weirdness that takes a minute after steeping to fully dissolve. Weird, but okay. The first time I was like, ewwwww.. but I know it’ll go away now.

I bought this in the 3 ornament set package, bought 2 of the sets so I could give away stuff, but this one was always intended to be mine! >:D It’s good! Mild and yum and a little bit sweet (but not as sweet as it smells)… Idk about rating yet, I think I’ll wait until cup number 2.

Normally I am not a fan of teas containing peppermint: the first time I was in David’s tea (late November), they were sampling a straight peppermint tea, which I tasted and subsequently gagged down as it was awful and not for me (but I didn’t want to admit it). I’m also not big on candy canes. However, there’s something about this tea that I quite like! Perhaps it’s the pairing of the smooth candy cane flavour with the black tea base that kind of counteracts the sweetness, but I’m impressed! Again, I first tried this tea in the advent calendar and was undecided about it, but today’s cup was quite good. Good thing, since I received a tea ornament containing a nice little bag of it as well. Probably will last me a while, as it’s not an everyday tea for me, but when the mood strikes it’s perfect!

So first I have to admit — I work at DAVIDsTEA so I am a little bit biased, but this is my ALL-TIME FAVORITE tea. I honestly can’t live without it. Last year I bought 500g because I was so scared it wasn’t going to come back this year. I haven’t had to replenish my stock, but I might have to before it goes away this year. I ALMOST have enough to make it through til’ next Christmas, too. They better warn me soon if they don’t plan to bring it back!!

Now, for those of you who have never tasted this tea:

First, imagine a full-bodied Chinese black tea, traditional in character.
Next, add the smoothness of vanilla.
After that, you need to stir it with a peppermint candy cane in your mind’s eye.
Now, add just a hint of spices like warm cinnamon and cloves.

My dream tea. <3

Mmmm…Santa’s Secret! I love this tea. You can’t go wrong with little candy canes in your tea :-)

After the fiasco yesterday with Caramel Spice, I wanted something more familiar, more comforting today. You would think that with the peppermint and spices this would be an uplifting kind of tea, but I find it really soothing. With just a touch of sugar (I definitely have a sweet tooth) and a splash of milk, this tea is yummy deliciousness!

Lives up to the expectations, absolutely delicious! It does taste of candy cane, but the black tea adds a nice richness. I also love the sweet taste it leaves in the mouth. But don’t steep it twice… I usually steep all my blacks twice, but this one failed the test, the second steep was just… very blah! But hey, fair enough, the first steep is lovely enough!

On the 24th day of tea-mas, DAVIDsTEA gave to me….

Actually not drinking from my sampler, but a tin I got last year that was supposed to be a Christmas gift but never got delivered due to not seeing that person for a long time… (eep!). Two heaping [tableware] teaspoons in my two-cupper pot for this sample. Drank straight the first time, with milk the second after it had sat for a while longer.

This is a VERY enjoyable tea. The mint is refreshing but not at all overpowering, and the candy bits make it just sweet enough. Lovely!

Usually I drink blacks with milk, but this seems to mute the mintiness a bit too much for me.

It’s as low as it is merely because the minty flavour is not my favourite — I prefer fruity and spiced teas. But for what it is? Excellent.

Colour me astounded – I like a minty tea! This recurring seasonal tea has never been in my roster because I generally don’t like mint in tea. Or anything with mint, really. I like me my one candy cane at Christmas time, and my toothpaste. That’s about it.

I finally got around to trying this tea today because of all the wonderful Steepsterites that say ‘I hate mint but I heart this tea!’ So, thank you, each and every one!

Smell of dry leaf – candy canes
Smell of liquor – candy canes
Taste – candy canes

YET – not too sweet (no candy cane sugar residue on the teeth!), not overpoweringly mingty, and this wonderful richness / creaminess that’s hard to describe but oh so enjoyable. A wonderful compliment to Christmas music and never ending term papers on this rainy, rainy day.

And PS – I left the loose leaf in my teapot, so it has been steeping as I’ve been sipping away, and absolutely no bitterness a good 15 minutes later!!

I can’t believe that DAVIDsTEA is getting me to try new things…and I am loving it! First it was chocolate, but now it’s peppermint!

Smelling this tea in the bag was heavenly. I really enjoyed the sweet smell against the fruity note of the black tea. It definitely did smell like candy canes. Upon first steep, I picked up on a lot of the strong black tea. I was just a tad disappointed because I was hoping for more of a pepperminty taste than robust. Regardless, I still got a faint taste of candy canes alongside the strong flavour of the tea. I found that the tea started to taste better as it cooled down significantly.

I tried it again for a second steep but with unlimited steeping time and I found that it tastes a lot better than the first one. It’s much lighter, the peppermint flavour is faint at this point, but it seems great for a light tea if you want something lighter.

I’ve had this tea a few times. I do like it in a latte, or tossed in a bag into a cup of hot chocolate because this minty black tea seems to want to be blended up with some chocolate. On it’s own, it’s a very nice flavoured black tea. The mint, as expected, is a bit overpowering as is the Chinese Black, but the other spices seem to balance out the the two tastes and blend them together nicely.

Still. I feel like this tea is missing something.

And that something is chocolate.

Or, perhaps I just associate the indulgence of chocolate with Christmas and thus want to add it to everything.

Similar to other DavidsTea blends like Opposites Attract and Read My Lips.

It’s almost April (which means spring SHOULD be arriving sometime in the next few weeks up north) The sun is shining, and it’s a nice 30-some degrees. Tomorrow is Easter, and here I sit, curled up on the couch with a mug of Santa’s Secret. (quite happily so, I admit) I kept trying to reason and convince myself to try a tea that fit better with the season (Lime Gelato, Pom Tango, something more summery…) but I just couldn’t do it. But ya know, sometimes you just need Christmas in July. Or March. Same difference, right?

This stuff is so ridiculously intoxicating! I am totally swooning over here. It’s definitely more of a wintery flavor, with blasts of sweet, icy peppermint infused with a luscious black tea base. Mmmmm…..

I have officially found another staple for my tea stash. Can winter last forever so I have an excuse to drink this all the time?

My main for buying a sample- it smells like peppermint bark. The flavour is sweet, and minty without being overpowering. It kinda tastes like my favourite mint candy canes.