Cheeky Lychee

One of my other recent lychee tea acquisitions. This one I bought myself a few weekends ago when I stopped by the DavidsTea store in the city. I have been interested in trying this one for a while but keep just missing it during swaps and such, so I bought a half ounce to try.

The dry leaf on this tea is potent and smells of a fairly flowery lychee, somewhere between a fresh fruit and lychee candy. I love both, so that’s fine with me. Steeped up, the liquor smells really nice, but the flavor isn’t as strong. Also the base tea is somewhat boring and doesn’t contribute much in my opinion. I will definitely try this one again with more leaf to see if I can boost the flavor, but there are a lot of lychee teas out there and this one doesn’t really compare flavor-wise.

Cold brew of the day!

This was a sample from Kittenna that I was excited to try, since I’ve had lychee candy and fruit but never tea, and I heard that it was quite floral. I love floral teas. Looove them, even if they taste kind of like perfume. I guess I’m just weird like that! This steeped longer than usual because I put it in the fridge too early last night and woke up later than expected, so it got about 16 hours. Well, it still turned out well!

It’s so sweet and fruity, kind of like drinking fruit juice. Refreshing for sure! The floral element is nice and strong, similar to rose but more subtle. It’s balanced well with the fruit, so it’s not too fruity or too floral (and now I feel like Goldilocks). I’ve been cold brewing so many greens and whites that I kind of forgot what iced blacks taste like: it’s a more traditional iced tea for sure, reminiscent of the sun tea my mom used to make as a kit. And cold it’s fantastic, probably better than it would be hot. I have enough left for another big cup, so I might try hot-brewing it… but it’s so good this way I just want to make more iced!

Thank you DaisyChubb for sending me some of this tea.

This is really a remarkable lychee flavored black. I enjoy many lychee flavored black teas, but I do think this one is (deservedly so) the best one I’ve tried. The lychee isn’t overly aggressive or perfume-ish, instead, it is a sweet, delicious fruit note that doesn’t overpower the black tea. The black tea is the strongest note here, and that is how it should be.

Really good.

Thanks Daisy Chubb!

Not sure how many of you remember my story about the first time I tasted a Lychee so here it is again…I peeled it open and sucked out the juice and it smelled and tasted like PAINT THINNER…wtf? Anyhow…this was my first experience and let’s just say I didn’t try one again for a good-long-time!

Anyhow…

As for this tea…it doesn’t smell or taste like PAINT THINNER…thank the tea gods! It actually doesn’t have much of an aroma considering the flavoring…it’s pretty subtle.

As for the taste it’s OK…again not overly flavored but I think that seems to work with this ok.

I don’t hate it but I don’t love it. It is better than some lychee flavored teas but I can think of about 2 or 3 others I have liked better.

I am glad I got to try this one tho! Thanks again DC!

It turns out the new HR manager at work has a daughter who works for DAVIDs. When I first met her, in the staff room, I had no idea who she was, what she did or anything at all. She caught me looking at a box a bagged tea in the cupboard and she started a conversation with me based on that. Next thing I know we’re in there talking about tea for 30 minutes. She ends the conversation by saying “anyway, I have more tea than I can drink, I’ll have to bring it in”. True to her word, this morning there are several bags of DT in there, some of then unopened.

This here is one of the teas. Not overly flavourful or aromatic but one could tell that there is, indeed, lychee in the tea. I wonder what this would be cold steeped. Maybe it would surprise in the flavour department, just like the Blueberry Jam did?!?

1.5 tsp, near boiling water (no thermometer at work), 3 minutes. I put a hefty amount of sugar in there to bring out some flavour and now I have some really sweet lightly flavoured black tea. The base is not too strong, not astringent at all but not much of anything going on.

Maybe I’ll pinch a teaspoon worth and cold steep at home in a tiny jar.

I pronounce it “lee-chee”, how do you pronounce it? :D

Yum! I’ve been waiting to try a Lychee flavoured black, and this one is just what I was hoping for. It’s one of my favorite crazy fruits, and I love it’s flavour in anything and everything.

This one doesn’t disappoint! The dry smell is a little misleading, it smells a bit faint and almost musty, but the liquid flavour is .. mm! Juicy! No musty taste that’s for sure.

It’s not terribly strong on flavour, but an increase in leaves can change that.

I think that if I had a choice, I would buy a cheaper Lychee black elsewhere if I could (I think harney’s might be cheaper? But then I have to factor in shipping price..) so I dunno! That’s just me. Enjoy!

FYI everyone, I’m taking a brief Steepster hiatus as of now, because I have a ton of work to get done and I’m spending too much time on here (because I love it!) I’ll be logging teas (but after this morning, hopefully not trying new ones), but not responding to comments/messages, etc. Just so nobody thinks I’m ignoring them! I hope to be responsive again on the weekend.

Anyhow! Thought I’d finish up the last black tea from DavidsTea that was sitting in my cupboard untried. I like lychee as a flavour, and have eaten the fruit, although sometimes I find it a bit perfumey. One of my friends really adores some lychee flavoured alcoholic beverage of some sort, which I tried and thought was ok (except I dislike alcohol!)

The dry tea is strongly perfumed with lychee, although thankfully once steeped it’s a bit more muted.

I can’t really taste too much lychee… ok, there it is in the end of the sip. Not bad. The tea tastes rather weak though, in spite of using a generous 1.5 tsp for my mug. The black tea base is noticeable, but would be much better if stronger. I did go with the low end of steeping time to be cautious, due to all my recent black tea woes, but I think that was a mis-step this time. I’ll have to try it again with a longer infusion time.

So, not bad, but too weak for me. Even if brewed stronger, this one will not make the favourites list though.

ETA: Did not make a second cup. It was too perfumey, and I was getting jasmine aromas as well, and my stomach just didn’t want that. I think this will be going into the giveaway pile.

So I went into this tea a little blind. I had no earthly clue what lychee tasted like.

This tea, to me, is mouth-wateringly juicy…however, the juice tastes like my grandmother’s rose handsoap smells. Yeah, it’s just not good to me. I don’t know if I don’t like lychee or if I just don’t like this tea, but this is not one I’ll be replacing.

Lychee-flavoured things are always attractive to me. I remember when I first discovered SoHo at the ripe age of 21, and couldn’t believe I had been missing out on such a delicious liquor during my underage drinking days. I also love those lychee jelly desserts found in the ethnic food aisle of the grocery store (I don’t even want to know whats in them, they’re so weird but tasty).

So when I heard that DT had a lychee black tea, I was intrigued at first. Then the tasting notes on this page made me put this tea on my “maybe when I’m really bored of all other teas” list. But recently, I somehow I decided to pick up 25g of this blend while stocking up on Midsummer Nights Dream, Pink Flamingo and Mango Diablo. I didn’t think I was going to like this dusty smelling tea, but once I brewed the first cup the choir started to sing.

This is a really light, floral lychee essence that grows on me with every cup. The black tea blends so nicely, and normally I like my flavoured blacks to not taste like black tea. I’m odd like that. But the black tea compliments the lychee exceptionally well, imo. I can also smell the lychee in the dry tea now. It makes me swoon! The little bag of tea I bought is all gone, and now all I can think about is when I can get another fix.

twitch

(Good for 2 steeps at 3 and 4 mins apiece. Very good iced)

Guess floral teas just aren’t for me because this one’s still too floral. Oh darn. A nice smooth tea overall.

No sir. I don’t like it. Well….I don’t hate it. It’s alright, but I think it is a bit floral for me. I’m having a little deja vu with The Earl’s Garden, though not as much with this tea. I could conceivable finish my 15g bag, but I won’t be re-steeping unless I am making an iced tea. I might swap it with something else. I am gonna see how the Cranberry Pear is and decide. I might mix the two. I think I will like that better. I tried this black, but then added milk and sugar, and that is a help.

I won this tea through a Tumblr contest given by http://liz-tea.tumblr.com. :)
This is my second tea from David’s. This smells very strong! I have a commitment to trying just about every lychee flavored thing out there. Steeped I’m getting rose soap. Maybe a good thing, maybe a bad thing?
At first these sips are highly aggressive. Total, full on rose soap. There are some hints of lychee hidden in there. But it is pretty hidden. I think that this could use a tune up.

I had thought that lychee would be a difficult flavor to infuse into a tea, but remarkably there is a distinctive lychee note at the end of each sip. Impressive! Unfortunately, I’m finding that the floral notes are a little too strong for my taste, bordering on perfume-y. The scent is all floral, and the first part of a sip is floral through and through. It fades into a lovely lychee with a basic black tea background, though, so it isn’t undrinkable.

I love a good floral herbal tea, but I’m wary of floral blacks. This one is a good example of why. If only the fruit and flowers were more balanced, I could be a fan of this. As it is, I think I’ll finish what I have and pass on it in the future.

{backlogged review}

Bought 10 grams of this one. And regretted about 8 grams of it at first sip. It is the one and only time I’ve actually spat out a tea, which is sad since I do enjoy lychee. This one though just seems to taste fake and . . . not soapy but a similar taste tingle on my tongue.

Never ever touching this one again, no matter how much someone tells me it isn’t that bad.

Hmmmm… I’m having a hard time making a decision about this tea. Do I like it? Do I not like it?

Part of me is completely put off by the overly-floral smell. With every sip I have to hold my breath it’s that overwhelming! Once I get past that though the tea isn’t bad: a nice light black tea, not heavy or thick, but can come off as soapy if I smell it while drinking. The smell… ugh…

While I have to say I liked my first steep of this one, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it yet. I was so excited that Davids was bringing out a Lychee flavored tea, so its dissappointing to not be in love with this one right away – maybe it will grow on me.
Anyways, if you don’t like rose at all, stay away from this one – lychees are prepared in a rose scented/flavoured syrup which comes out as one of the most prominent flavours of the tea. The black base is slightly more acidic than I would expect, but it does balance out the rose tolerably well. I definitely oversteeped and needed some agave and almond milk. I’m planning on playing around with the preparation to see if I can fine one that I like.

I love lychee and have been trying to find this tea for months! Everywhere I have gone, they have said that they don’t carry it anywhere due to the high cost of the fruit…‘Challenge Accepted!’

I finally found this one and picked up 25g (not knowing if I would ever find it again!) I liked the smell of the dry tea (really fruity)however, I find that once steeped, it definetely becomes a more floral tea. I also found the taste to be quite floral aswell. I dont think that I liked it as much as I had expected to however, I definetely will reccomend to pick up a small amount to try if ever you are lucky enough to find it!

I passed by a different David’s tea location and had to check it out. From the outside it looked small but when I stepped in it had way more teas than the other location. Well even though I had more than enough tea at home I had to pick up a few small packages to try different flavours:) this one was one of those ones I have never seen at other stores so I gave it a try and it smells a bit perfumey and like lychee and taste wise is not bad. I taste the black base with lychee after. Not bad for a purchase on the whim! Btw this is the only lychee tea I have ever tried so I have nothing to compare it to.

I like this because it is not bitter- for a black tea, and seems to give me a nice punch in the wakeup zone. I cannot touch it after 3pm unless I want to finish reading a book til 4am, which is what happened…but it has a pleasant nice tangy flavor without having a miserable bite.

Hmmm this tea is pretty disappointing to me. It’s not that it tastes bad, it’s just that it’s not impressing me at all and I’m still looking for that lychee taste. I like when fruity teas have a strong fruit taste. This one doesn’t. To give you an idea, I’m gonna finish the little bag I bought, but I’m not gonna buy it ever again.