DAVIDsTEA

I love pineapple and coconut together, and thought this blend might make a lovely cold cup. Unfortunately, it smells and tastes awful to me. It’s the worst tea I’ve had in recent memory. I can’t give it another go or try different things with it, I can’t even open the packet again. Just posting this so I don’t accidentally try it again, because I will almost certainly forget about the reaction I had.

Just a quickie review for this new matcha that launched as a store exclusive a few weeks ago! Basically, this is Blueberry Matcha but with a generous addition of butterfly pea flower to give it a lovely teal blue sort of colouration. Delicious iced or, in my opinion, even more so as an iced latte.

Truly, though, it’s the same flavour as blueberry matcha. Basically we took the interest/feedback from Blue Magic Matcha that the colour was great but the mixed berry and ginger flavour wasn’t exactly what people wanted and then created this tea. Same cool colour, simplified direction.

(…and, if you’re sad it’s store exclusive, I would just recommend keeping an eye out on the website in the next few months…)

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.

I’ve been working through my package of this for the last couple of months, and really enjoy it in the evenings. I have a lot of GI issues and rather than just avoid the foods I know cause me issues, I’ve been chasing those meals with this tea to help soothe the tummy instead, heh.

I’m a big fan of Greek Mountain Tea, though I’ve only had it straight and not in a blend. When I had it before, it was big, fluffy flowers rather than sifted like in this blend, and the flavor I got was really fruity, a sort of floral honey and apple with a bit of citrus, hay, and mint in the background. I’m not getting any of those notes in this blend, aside from citrus and mint, but considering the amount of peppermint and lemon myrtle in this blend, I suppose that makes sense. It’s really minty but lacks that strong menthol aftertaste of most mint teas… instead it leans closer to tulsi in flavor, in that the mint is a little peppery and citrusy and some pleasant basil notes.

I prefer the flavor of Greek Mountain Tea more on its own, but I also like the extra flavor notes in this minty tea that would be lacking from drinking plain peppermint. It’s nice, and it really is great against nighttime acid reflux.

First review on this site! I received this tea in a gift with a number of other David’s Tea samples. It’s not my favourite, but was enjoyable. Has some nice fruity tastes, but also a decent amount of almond comes through. I normally drink my tea black though, and did find I needed a little something to sweeten it up/

I’ve been really enjoying this! Nice, roasty hojicha with those cozy woody and nutty notes, with a nice caramel sweetness. The caramel is really popping for me, leaning almost into a maple flavor with the fruitiness of the apple. This will be missed when I finish off the bag. Shame flavored hojicha blends are so uncommon, I haven’t had many but seem to really like the ones I have stumbled upon.

I’ve been sipping through a pouch of this has my morning tea for a bit. I see some of the reviews say it’s “all Pumpkin Spice, no Earl Grey” but my batch (or maybe just my tastebuds) are having the complete opposite. The bergamot is coming off very strongly for me, and I don’t taste any of the desserty pumpkin pie/cream/vanilla flavoring that is apparently in this. The only other note I’m picking up on aside from the strong bergamot is the cardamom; I suspect the slight citrusy notes of cardamom are being amplified by the citrusy bergamot, but the other spices, like the pumpkin flavoring, are drowned out in my cup. So what I’m left with isn’t Pumpkin Earl Grey, or even Pumpkin Spice Earl Grey, but rather Cardamom Earl Grey.

I will say I do like the flavor combo of the cardamom and bergamot and think I would really like a Chai Earl Grey if the flavor balance was more even between the berg’ and the spices. But when something has “pumpkin” in the title and I get none of that, I still feel a bit disappointed.

TTB tea! I enjoyed this more than I expected! It tastes nutty, and the chocolate is less artificial than usual for DavidsTea. With soy milk and sweetener, this was a pretty nice desserty tea. I especially enjoy the nutty flavor! The resteep was nice too.

TTB tea! This ended up a bit murky and herbaceous for me. The herbs combined to taste too savory. Maybe a shorter steep would be better, but I didn’t love it. I wish there had been more chamomile and smaller amounts of other ingredients.

This tea has willow bark in it, which according to WebMD (and many other sources) contains the chemical Salicin. Salicin is similar to aspirin. That being said, it really has no flavor except mint. It has nana mint in it, which apparently has medicinal properties too. I really just can’t get into this tea because of its lack of flavor and aroma! It also leaves an odd taste or sensation on my tongue; could it be the Salicin? I’m generally not sensitive to aspirin, but then, I also don’t take very much. AT LEAST IT DOESN’T HAVE STEVIA IN IT! Wouldn’t drink this again.

I bought this about 2 years ago and stopped using it. I just made a cup. There is something in the flavor and aroma that I strongly dislike; it could be the green rooibos or it could be the licorice root. I try to avoid licorice root as chronic use can cause glycyrrhizin to accumulate in the body, according to some sources, and can cause elevated blood pressure and elevated cortisol levels. I’m not a medical researcher so I have no idea if that is true or not, but just disliking it is enough to toss it. I am now careful to not buy ANY tea with licorice root, because, that’s really a cop out in making the tea sweeter instead of using other more expensive ingredients to increase the flavor.

I bought this tea a couple of years ago; I drank some, then stopped. I am going through my teas right now and ejecting those I really didn’t care for to make room for more. o give each tea a fair shot, I make 1-2 cups. I just made this one and it’s sitting next to me. There is an ingredient that I can smell that is making me nauseous, and I really wish I knew what it was so I didn’t ever buy it again. It says it is organic but has natural lemon flavoring. I will assume that what is bothering me is one of the herbs OR the green rooibos. At any rate, out it goes. Ugghh.

Another store exclusive holiday blend that released earlier in the month!

I’ve had the idea for this blend rolling around in my head since even before I worked at DAVIDsTEA, so when I got promoted to a more active role in R&D doing blend conception this was one of the very first concepts I started to work on. Basically, the idea was that this would be a cookies & cream flavoured tea inspired by the idea of leaving milk and cookies for Santa! Eventually I slightly expanded that to be a marriage of sorts between a “cookies and cream” tea and a “praline cookie” tea. So, sweet and nutty with lots of chocolate and cream.

As y’all know I personally adore hojicha so it’s always nice to get to marry my love of this base with a new development project – and the pun in the name was too good to resist. However, my bias aside, I do think this was a really complimentary base for this profile. The hojicha provides a body that I think was needed for this very rich and decadent dessert-y blend, and its natural nuttiness and toasty profile works with the praline sort of vibe of the blend.

Ultimately, though, I still think of this as a cookies and cream forward blend. White chocolate and milk chocolate come through the profile along with a sort of vanilla-ish frosting note. I love the mix of red and white sprinkles because they feel like the perfect marriage of the cookie profile with the iconic imagery of a plate of cookies next to a Christmas tea – decked out in festive sprinkles and probably a little shoddily decorated because a small child was the one to frost them.

Definitely a rich tea, but I think that works for the inspiration. It’s solid on its own, but obviously the whole milk and cookies vibe is practically begging for either just an additional splash of milk (or alternative) or to be made into an indulgent latte. I can just picture grabbing a cup of this in store to drink while doing my Christmas shopping. It’s a whole mood.

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.

Oh, hello there new tea!

This one launched earlier in the month and is currently a store exclusive blend.

Y’all know how I normally feel about green teas, but I really enjoy this particular one. We release so many decadent blends around winter that it was nice to work on something a little bit brighter and juicy. I had this idea for, essentially, a cranberry prosecco. Something sweet yet tart that felt celebratory and kind of rode the middle ground between being a more proper winter flavour and also sort of having a New Year’s vibe.

So, that’s exactly what this is.

The top of the sip is lively yet crisp with most of the cranberry flavour making itself known in that initial taste. From there, the profile slides into something sweeter and more boozy – prosecco/champagne with a complimentary fruity note of sweet, ripe strawberries to carry through the “red” profile from top of the sip all the way until the finish. Practically effervescent. It’s also playful while, in my mind, having a sort of sophistication to it. Makes me think of the Squish prosecco/sparkling wine gummy bears that I loved so much back when I was working in DT stores in Saskatchewan.

Good hot, but IMO better cold – either iced or cold brewed. It’s also a fun one to make tea based cocktails with – a mimosa with this would be so good.

Obviously I’d love if every tea I got to develop was available on all channels, and I empathize with the people who are frustrated about store exclusive blends. However, just because something starts in stores doesn’t mean it’ll only be in stores. Peaches & Cream Oolong was store exclusive at first, but it did so well and there was so much interest in it that it’s now online too…

So, fingers crossed!

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.

Huh, I haven’t written a note for this one yet?? It’s a damn decent fruity herbal! Bolder with a many minute steep, syrupy. Many fruits here but the flavor that does mostly take center stage is “guava”. I like it! A deep fuchsia brew but NOT tart. Not hibiscus tart. I wouldn’t have even guessed there was hibiscus here. But… maybe the hibiscus has faded with age?!?! I would normally say all the other flavors fade with age and somehow hibiscus gets stronger, but not here. It’s good stuff! I only have a little remaining now…

TTB tea! I was excited to see this one! You know…it’s pretty accurately named! It’s a mild chai, and I really could imagine this as being fortune cookie flavored. I’m impressed!

This has been a pleasant dessert tea… it doesn’t really taste like pumpkin or creme brulee to me, but I do like it. I mostly smell and taste the cocoa, on a sweet appley base. There are some nutty and toffee undertones, but the chocolate flavor dominates too much to read those as a caramel or burnt sugar note for me. It’s very sweet, but is nice for an evening sweet tooth craving. I also really enjoyed it as a latte with vanilla almond milk.

I really enjoy this. I’m a Nutella fan, and the flavor is pretty spot on here. The chocolate note is rich and fudgey and hits first, with a sweet nuttiness filling out the end of the sip and lingering on my tongue. I’m not a big fan of pu’erh, but find that most of the aspects of it that I don’t like are lost in this blend — I don’t get any unpleasant dirty flavors but it definitely creates a richer, mouth-coating base which is really working for me. It would probably make a nice latte, but I’ve been enjoying it plenty straight-up.

We’re getting snow here in North Dakota so I thought I would brew up something summery. This one is certainly not bad. I’ve had it for a few years though and I think maybe some flavor has faded. I was hoping for that juicy, sweet explosion of flavor I get when I bite into a peach. I was disappointed because I didn’t get that.

However, the flavor though mild was pleasant. Just a tad artificially sweet, but not bad.

Just a quick tasting note to document the fact this tea launched about a week back! It’s the next up in the ongoing conversion of DT’s flavoured matchas to organic. Tastes exactly like the previous non-organic one, but I guess technically a whole new tea.

I’ve personally pretty much hit my fill of pumpkin teas for the month of October, but I did sneak in a couple Pumpkin Pie Matcha lattes at the office over the past few months while waiting for this one to launch officially.

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.

I had a pretty surreal experience earlier this week…

So, here in Montreal there’s this INFAMOUS Jewish brunch spot called Arthur’s. They don’t take reservations, and to get in for brunch you usually have to wait in line for over an hour. Always busy. So delicious though, with the best cottage cheese pancakes and amazing latkes.

Well, a few coworkers and I went for breakfast there earlier this week specifically because they’re carrying this tea is part of their menu for the winter. It was absolutely wild going to this beloved restaurant (that I’ve been a fan of since moving to MTL) and ordering a tea off the menu that I developed and getting to just sit there and, well, drink it.

I mean, DAVIDsTEA is carried in several different cafes and we’ve had lots of different pop ups and events since I’ve started working there where I was able to got and order one of our teas. However, the teas featured are usually our best sellers. Stuff we’ve carried since before I was an employee or that was developed when I was working in stores or just a data assistant in the lab. This was different. It felt different. It was really, really cool.

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.

This is the other new winter/holiday tea that released this past week! As an online exclusive…

Many of us long time users here on Steepster probably don’t even bat an eye at a Latke inspired tea thanks to Butiki’s infamous and fabulous Latkes & Applesauce green tea blend. However, when I first tested the waters within our office about developing a latke tea with actual potato in it I definitely got a lot of strange looks.

This is very much an interpretation of a latkes and applesauce profile in DAVIDsTEA’s style but I have to fully confess that, when tasting initial versions of this tea, I definitely had my very fond memories of Butiki’s blend in mind. I knew how good a latke blend could be and that pushed me really hard to get the exact right balance of warming, cozy cinnamon and nutmeg and sweet, baked apple notes. The potato adds a subtle starchy quality, and the rooibos we used as the base leans into that element of the profile and ties everything together. Plus, I loved the idea of having a caffeine free blend so that this tea could be enjoyed later in the evenings for any families lighting candles together.

It’s gonna be so interesting seeing what most people think of this tea because, truthfully, it is a very weird thing to have potato in a blend and so many people do associate latkes with being more savory or oily. I think this is such a soft, cozy tea though. Like the more mature, toned down version of Cinnamon Rooibos Chai, almost. Not red hot cinnamon flavouring in the slightest.

Only time will tell.

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.

Welp. Personally I think it feels too early in the year, but that hasn’t stopped the first wave of winter/holiday teas from launching. There are many returning teas like Candy Cane Crush, Sleigh Ride, and Alpine Punch – but also a few new ones, like this tea! Truthfully, I think this is pretty easily my favourite of the new teas this year – though Latke Love has a special place in my heart too.

So, some back story. For essentially as long as I’ve been in R&D I’ve wanted to include Jack Frost in the name of a tea blend/as a tea inspiration. I actually pitched the name “Jack Frosted Orange” for the white chocolate, orange, and peppermint blend that eventually ended up being named North Star. So finally getting that win through this blend feels a bit like a personal achievement – and I really do think this was the perfect tea to use that naming inspiration with!

Essentially, this tea is meant to be a peppermint mocha. Basically a well balanced trio of peppermint, milk chocolate, and coffee. A little more emphasis on the mint chocolate though, if I’m being honest. This tea has the absolute cutest (and most delicious) mini mint chocolate chips in it – I kind of lost my mind the first time I saw them. They have such an incredible visual impact. In my personal opinion, they’re the most interest chocolate addition we’ve ever used in tea. The base is a mix of pu’erh and black tea. I love the body the pu’erh gives and that slight earthiness leans in nicely to the chocolate/coffee, and the black tea is just so smooth.

When I’ve described this tea to people in our office, I usually say that it’s somewhere in between the intensity of Santa’s Secret and Candy Cane Crush – just with different flavours. Basically, a nice happy medium between a delicate tasting blend and a super rich one. It sort of has that “old school” DT vibe to me that I associate with blends like Red Velvet Cake or Coffee Cake. It’s amazing as a latte – both hot and iced.

I’m always really excited to see what people think of new blends, but this one I’m especially curious to hear about. It’s the first “big holiday tea” that I fully did the development for, so I definitely feel like I have more personal stakes in the reception of this blend…

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.

So this is a new addition to our “Garden To Cup” collection. Essentially, all of our straight teas/tisanes. We haven’t carried a straight green mate in about five years, so it’s really refreshing to have one back in the assortment. I think it’s always kind of sad to not have at least one straight version in each tea type category. For a while, we had a straight Guayusa that I really liked, but that one’s been discontinued for a while too…

Not a ton to say about this one as it’s a very classic tasting greener yerba mate. Fans of straight mate will, I’m sure, love this one and also it’s super approachable for people looking to get into straight mate for the first time.

Full transparency, I wrote the tasting notes that are used on the website to describe the tea (as I now do with all new tea releases) so I obviously agree with them. Basically, I think this tea has lush notes of fresh dew and sweet grass with a subtle earthy undertone. IMO very fresh and really reminiscent of that “rain forest taste” I associate with mate…

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.

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.