Alpine Punch

I’ve been having a miserable week. Attended a burial on Saturday, had a long talk with my mother in which she pointed out how she wants to mend familial relationships while simultaneously brushing off my feelings and concerns, and have just been generally unmotivated.

I placed an order with DAVIDsTEA for their winter collection last Friday, thinking it would get here sometime by the end of this week. Imagine my surprise when I came home to find it last night! What a fantastic pick-me-up!

I chose Alpine Punch for my work tea this morning. And I am in love with the smell of the dry tea! It’s like someone mixed pistachios and ripe fruit together; I wanted to eat it straight out of the bag! Steeped, it starts off fruity and nutty and devolves into creaminess and finally coconut!

The taste of the brewed tea, however, fell short of expectations. Nuts. Some smoothness from the coconut, but bitter nuttiness all the way. Not bad … I’m just not loving liquid almond tea.

I stopped by DT yesterday to get some refills and of course try some of their winter collection teas! At first, I tried their White Chocolate Frost and I was really disappointed… So I tried another tea to cheer me up. I chose Alpine punch as I was curious and never tried it before. I was scared I might not like it because there was almonds in it and nutty teas are not what I prefer, but I decided to give it a try anyways.

As I always do, I smelled the dry tea at first and liked it. I was scared though that it could be too sweet for me but I still ordered a cup. Then, when I recieved it I smelled the infusion and again, I liked it. So I took a sip and actually tasted this tea. I was amazed how good it was :) The almonds were powerful enough to taste like a dessert but not too much to feel like you just chewed a bunch of nuts. It’s sweet enough and doesn’t need any additives. There are some teas that after one cup you have enough, but not this one, I could definetly drink more than one cup a day! Of course, I would keep it only for the cold seasons as I feel like it’s a comforting tea.

Overall I was extremely satisfied with this tea and for sure I will want it in my pantry! I don’t know why I was scared of tasting it (mostly beacause of the almonds) but I’m glad I did because I like it a lot ;)

my review of this tea is two pronged, personal and professional.

1) personally, i tend to be very picky when it comes to rooiboos. the smell from this herbal was great, but it didn’t follow through on taste for me. this struck me as odd because coconut tends to be such a robust flavour like in david’s teas coco lemon thai…. however, not in this case.

i will add another piece of relevant information at this point. my bag of alpine punch was a sample sent from montreal. this is where the professional aspect of my review kicks in.

2) the description of this tea on steepster is at odds with the packaging from head office. the list of ingredients on my bag of tea reads as such: rooiboos, COCONUT CHIPS (COCONUT, COCONUT FAT, SUGAR)apple, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, rose blossoms, almonds, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOURING.

i like david’s teas. they’re canadian and they come up with very creative blends, regardless of whether they’re to my taste. however, due diligence in terms of ingredients listing is VERY IMPORTANT. i have come to understand that david’s teas is one of canada’s fastest growing companies which means that diligence across the board (ingredients especially!!!) becomes even more important.

david’s teas has formulated some of my favourite teas, but in my opinion this was a very big ball to drop.

I actually prefer this one on the second steep. If I knew more about tea, I might be able to explain why, but sadly, I do not.

On my second visit to the Prince George location of David’s Tea, I had requested suggestions of new teas for the season, which I have not yet tried.

Again, normally, I wouldn’t be interested in a rooibos blend, especially if it is mainly rooibos; but, it’s scent had enticed me. The leaves give off a ridiculously coconutty aroma, with hints of sweet spices.

Unfortunately, it is still predominately rooibos, as it is a rooibos blend, so upon steeping, the leaves are very red, and the cloudy liquor’s aroma is very rooibos. To be safe, I added half a teaspoon of rock sugar.

The flavor is surprising, as I had expected to taste rooibos. The spices and ginger are very present and very delicious, as is the coconut. There is a certain pale grounding to the flavor, which the rock sugar has sweetened to be less distracting.

I was extremely surprised, as I had not expected this to be as good as it is. The spices give it an appropriate kick, but the blend overall really works to take you to a very alpine place.

Mmmm this tea is delicious! Smells like sweet almonds with a touch of cinnamon. Initially, you taste the rose blossoms, and almonds with coconut. When you swallow you taste ginger,apple, and pepper. Then the after taste goes back to almonds. The rooibos goes lovely with the almonds. Mmmm a great blend of flavours!

I re-steeped this one. The second cup had less almond flavour but more cinnamon and ginger. Was still really good!

I like the fact that even though I steeped it for quite a while, the rooibos didn’t turn woody-tasting. I tried a few sips unadulterated, and while ok, it didn’t knock my socks off. I added 1 tsp of cane sugar, and it helped bring out a few of the flavours and some sweetness. Verdict – very drinkable, but not something I would go out of my way to drink.

I had some left over that I drank cold a few hours later. What a difference. I much prefer this one cold (ironic, as they market it as a tea to help you stay warm) as it had a nice, clean taste to it. Very refreshing and not marzipan tasting.

Really good! I had it to-go one weekend and went back to buy 100 grams of it!

Very Yummm

wow what can i say about this damn delicious tea. the ingredients are intense and the flavour is just unreal such a earthy fruit wooden taste i cant explain. when you drink it you feel calmed and relaxed right away which is great for me cause im always up tight. davids tea really has some of the best teas i have ever had and this is just another amazing tea all around a definite drink for fruit lovers who want to mellow out