Cranberry Pear

I’ve been meaning to review this tea for quite a while, along with the 30 other teas I have and haven’t reviewed yet. An argument could be made that I’m a bit of a procrastinator, but I’ll do that some other time (see I’ll even resort to really bad puns to put this review off). But I’m down to my last two teaspoons of this tea, and I prefer to review a tea while sipping it, so I’m kinda down to the wire.

My main problem with reviewing this tea is I didn’t really know what I thought of it. When I first smelled in the store I don’t know what type of mood I was in to decide to take it home with me, because it’s definitely not the type of sent/flavourful I generally go for. There’s an apple-y (from the pears), citrus-y (from the cranberries), vanilla scent to it. I can just assume the vanilla comes from the “natural flavourings” listed in the ingredients.
As an aside I just want to protest the constant use of “natural flavourings” by a lot of tea companies. While I understand they don’t legally have to list all the ingredients if they are under a certain percentage of the mix, for tea even a small amount of a spice makes a very big difference, tea companies should be aware of this, so their laziness is just inconsiderate.
When I first brewed this I didn’t like it very much, it has a distinct ‘Christmas-y’ taste to it that I usually associate with spices (that I really don’t like) like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves – those spices aren’t in here, but they’re equally associated with Christmas as whatever “natural flavours” are in this. The most prominent flavours are the pears (which do come across as apples), followed by vanilla, with bit of tang from the cranberries.
As much as I didn’t like this tea to begin with, it has grown on me. It’s a pretty light black tea, and actually pretty (wow do I ever need my thesaurus) smooth. It also has one of my favorite features in a tea, it allows me to be lazy (yep I am a hypocrite, I want to be lazy, but hate it when the tea stores are). I can just put a teaspoon of the leaves into my 16oz travel tea thermos and let them sit as long as it takes for me to drink it.
I probably won’t re-buy this one again instantly – my tea chest is getting a bit full, and I’m enjoying discovering new flavours. But I can totally see myself buying it again in the future. If I do buy it again I’ll be sure to ask the store associate to scoop around some of the fruit bits, I got a ton of cranberries this time which weight quite a bit, 60 grams of this looked more like 35 grams of Earl Grey.

I bought 50 g of this and the first time I had it, I wasn’t sure if I was going to buy more of it. Turns out, I actually really like this one. Perfect brewing time is 4 minutes if you don’t want it to taste too strong. Will be buying more of this one.

I thought I wouldn’t like this tea because it has apple in it. But I am delightfully surprised and happy I tried this tea! Cranberry Pear is delicious, has just the right amount of sweetness and brings me to a happier mood. I’m a sweet tooth person so this tea will come in handy for all the seasons, I drink it without adding cream/sugar, it doesn’t need it. I’m going back to Davids Tea to buy more today :)

My cups of this have been a bit hit or miss… it’s hard for me to get consistent cups with a good amount of both black tea and chunky fruit, so some cups have been very underwhelming while others have been quite nice.

The steeped aroma is very pleasant. It’s sort of a sweet cream with some fruity undertones on the nose. I steep this on the longer side for me with blacks, due to wanting to let the fruit have a chance, so the black tea has been coming out a bit more metallic/tannic than I personally prefer, but it isn’t bad. A little malty, a little coppery, and a little more autumn leaf. The fruitiness is there, but mostly comes out as a generic and very sweet “fruit flavor” than distinct fruits — I’ve had a few cups where a pear note popped a little more for me, and I could almost make out cranberry in the aftertaste (cranberry being a notoriously hard flavor for me to ever taste in tea). Most of the time I just get a sweet “pear mascarading as bubblegum” vibe.

Enjoyable, but not something I think I’ll miss once I’ve finished off the last few cups remaining in the bag.

Another TTB tea! This has a nice, light fruity flavor. It’s always fun to find pear teas. I don’t taste much black tea, but I think I would have preferred it without any so the pear could shine more. It’s not tart, just mild and fruity. I enjoyed it more cold, but I don’t really need it again. The second time I had this, I found the flavor to be a bit too light for my preference.

Sipdown! (10 | 284)

I was honestly expecting to like this one a bit more than I actually did. And I think it’s just because I expected it to be more crisp and fruity, when really it’s a bit on the desserty side and the fruit notes are somewhat subtle.

It tastes creamy, and I guess it must be from the pear flavoring? Because the only flavorings here are cranberry and pear, according to my package. Anyway, the base is smooth and quite light, and both of the fruit flavors come off as cooked fruit rather than fresh. It’s a bit like a pear pie with cranberries, I would say?

It’s tasty, just not what I expected. Also, the amount of dried fruit chunks seems excessive, and mostly serves to dilute the tea and require me to use more leaf… I guess I don’t drink much DT, so I’m not used to that.

Very cozy, I don’t normally love fruity blends but the sweet and malty vanilla notes make it taste more like a pie than straight fruit.

Another new-to-me tea! Sipped this as I ate a piece of chocolate covered marzipan, and it was a great way to start the day.
The tart cranberry and baked pear work so well together, and make for an interesting combination that I wouldn’t have expected to work.

Poked about in my stash this weekend and came across this. Just after Ms. Strange had mentioned it, I thought to myself, “ooooh, I have some of that—somewhere.” And then, suddenly, there it was, tucked away securely in a tin.

Still sick with the flu here. Thankfully, yesterday’s migraine has dispersed and the burning in my chest is a bit lighter today. My throat is still scratchy and unhappy. My tastebuds may or may not be functioning all that well.

Age doesn’t appear to have affected this tea much. Such deep cranberry and vanilla deliciousness in this cup. There may be pear, but it is not apparent to me. There are also a few hints of imitation flavour.

This is a blend that I think DTs should bring back and keep as a staple. It’s one of their better ones.

I’m sitting here watching Scream Queens on Netflix and decided to take a break and make myself a cup of loose leaf tea so I could try out the new tea infuser I got for Christmas. Being one of my sister’s favourite’s from David’s Tea, she told me that I had to get this one. It’s good. I like that it’s sweet all on it’s own, without adding any sweetener. I can taste the tartness from the cranberries and the pear flavour, along with something vanilla-esque happening in the background. Reminds me of an apple turnover you’d get in a bakery with that cake-y quality it has. Tastes a tad artificial but not so much that it’s off-putting. This tea seems like a safe bet to serve to guests. I can see it being a non-offensive, crowd pleaser.