DAVIDsTEA x Tea Horse

Wanted an apple tea for Rosh Hashanah and went with this (shana tova!). It just tastes like spiced apple cider, very classic fall. Wouldn’t mind restocking this, actually, as I’m almost out…

This is a new one for me and considering how much I love Manoomin Maple, this one did not disappoint. While I definitely will always love Manoomin Maple more, this one was the soo warm and cozy while we’re watching TV.

A hot evening cuppa a few nights ago! I’d been craving this one for a couple days, and those first sips of smooth, warming cinnamon and baked apple were so perfectly what I’d been craving and trying to capture through other teas. The toastiness and slight nuttiness of the manoomin made for an excellent grounding, foundational flavour for those smooth apple and spice notes to be layered over. A kiss of nutmeg, some clove for depth. Mmm!

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.

In case you missed it, yesterday DT released these two brand new products as part of our Manoomin Collection made in collaboration with Tea Horse with stunning artwork by Emily Kewageshig!!

It feels like so long ago that I had the absolute privilege of working on this blend with Denise & Marc. It’s such a warm and inviting flavour with smooth notes of baked apples tossed in a delicious and perfectly sweet mix of cinnamon sugar, nutmeg, and other cozy spices. All grounded by the gentle toastiness of the manoomin (aka wild rice) serving as the foundation for this nostalgic blend that reminds me so much of the harvest season, especially growing up in the prairies. Thank you so much Denise & Marc for your time, knowledge, and passion – it’s always such a treat getting to chat and work with you both! Who would have known one apple pie baked over a Zoom call would have had such an impact!?

And of course, you can’t ignore the impact of Emily’s beautiful artwork, which tells the story of the interconnectedness of the land and water to people. I have to admit that it makes me feel particularly nostalgic for all of the amazing indigenous artwork I grew up surrounded by at home in Saskatchewan, on Treaty 4 territory. Especially all of the murals in the different schools I grew up attending and in different neighborhoods I walked through for most of my life. I’ve always found them beautiful, but I think I took for granted how immersed I was in them until I moved provinces, and it became so much less commonplace.

You can check out the whole manoomin collection now, with both Tea Horse blends and all of Emily’s artwork online and in stores, with 10% of all the proceeds for any of the blends and the mug going to the Native Woman’s Association of Canada & their work advocating for women/girls, 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals and indigenous families!!

So proud of everyone who came together to make this amazing collaboration and give back initiative happen!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIB6ntNpOPR/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjiyHqL1f5Y&ab_channel=MosaWild-Topic

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.

After I’d done my shopping, I spent the entire rest of Sunday at the festival working the DT booth. I was really there to be our on site tea expert and answer any questions the attendees has not just about what we were sampling but any of our teas in general. Though, I spent most of the day doing live cuppings of different teas and talking about them with anyone who wanted to try them. We switched it up at different points of the day, but the teas I was primarily sampling were our Jade Tieguanyin, Simply Maple Breakfast (the SimplyNailogical collab tea) and… this one!

It’s fair to say that the cat’s out of the bag now, and that sometime this March we’ll be formally releasing our second manoomin based tea with the lovely folks at Tea Horse! We debuted it at the festival as a sneak peak, though! I also drank quuuuiiittte a lot of it myself over the coarse of the afternoon. Have to stay hydrated, after all! I want to do my proper write up with the full story of how we came up with this flavour profile, what it tastes like, the giveback partner for sales of the tea (because it’s different from last year’s partner for Manoomin Maple), and just all the lovely details I normally share – but I’m going to wait until the tea formally launches online/in stores first.

For now, suffice to say that I think people were really receptive to this blend and that a lot of people who were familiar with Manoomin Maple from previous years we’ve highlighted it at the festival also seemed to really, really enjoy the flavour of this one and find that commonality with the roasted wild rice.

Also, this is my last tasting note from at the festival or really from the weekend in Toronto in general! As things wrapped up, we did our tear down and then rushed to the airport just in time to have a shitty airport meal of cheese and chips before flying home. I think I literally went all of Sunday only eating a donut, a mochi ball, three cheese strings, and half a bag of sour cream & onion chips – so truly I have to credit caffeine and adrenaline for getting me through it all.

I slept so soundly when I got back to my apartment.

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.

2024 sipdown no. 87

I’ve brewed this at 3, 4, and 5 minutes and it always tastes the same. Like muddled maple water. Such a shame considering the ingredients.

Homemade Advent Calendar from AJRimmer: Day 2

Whew, this has been a DAY. Not a bad day, just a long one, with thing after thing after thing. It’s now 10:15 p.m. and I’m fiiinally writing this tasting note!

I was so happy to unwrap Manoomin Maple this morning, after wanting to try it for quite a while! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but — whoa. There’s a lot going on here. So much toasty vanilla maple goodness! I couldn’t suss out the berries or the coconut, but I’m sure they were contributing to the super interesting flavor profile.

There’s this one vegan marshmallow company that makes maple mini marshmallows, and honestly, that’s what this blend evoked for me most strongly! It’s soft and pillowy and sweet… but with a bit of depth from the wild rice.

It’s just sliiightly on the sweet side for me — I couldn’t see myself downing a giant mug — but it works really well as a dessert tea to savor.

Super happy to have tried this one!

I found this tea lacking in complexity. Based on other reviews, I’m going to try it again before adding a score.

I get generic fruity and sweet notes with very soft oaty flavours if I concentrate on it. I was hoping for more toasted rice and maple. The black tea is doing most of the work here, but is not as potent as I hoped. Will try again soon before I write a better review. Just documenting this so I can look back on it next time.

I received this tea from Kaylee — a big thanks!
Well, reading the notes made a big expectations; but sadly not fully delivered. Drank yesterday morning, so maybe I won’t recall everything correctly.

I got a wonderful base tea, with nice toasted/roasted rice flavour and not-so-sweet maple syrup. Sadly, I didn’t get any blueberry.
The roasted note was something I have been afraid of. Many teas were just dominating with this note and often it’s just too much. But here it was on pleasant level, and as I said again, the maple syrup was just right addition.

Sadly, I don’t got any left to try it in different ways, for instance as a latte. Maybe one day…

I’ve been really eager to try this one, and it lives up to expectations. The flavor is so interesting! I can’t even tell what I’m tasting, but it’s desserty without being too heavy or sweet. I really enjoyed this sweetened with milk. The resteep tasted shockingly good (for a resteep). It was almost chocolatey and so desserty and fun. I can’t wait to have more! The next time I had this, it tasted so marshmallowy and delicious. I really love this tea.

Yay, it’s BACK! DavidsTea has restocked Manoomin Maple, which means I can finally dip more into the tiny stash I’ve been hoarding for a year. I really didn’t expect to like this one, both because black teas are always risky for me and because I’m not big on blueberries. But it turned out to be really wonderful, and by the time I figured that out it was already out of stock. Happy it’s back, have already placed my order before it disappears again.
So I’m continuing my Canadian food theme today, pairing this tea with a different vegan lox. This particular lox turns out to be phenomenal, by the way – Living Tree Foods’ Slammin’ Lox. It’s not exactly in wide distribution outside of British Columbia and literally one online grocer, unfortunately, but for anyone who doesn’t eat fish and can get their hands on it, I highly recommend it. This blend, as an oat milk latte, actually paired really well with a bagel/cream cheese/lox. I think that’s because the maple isn’t super sweet, and the maltiness of the black base plus the roastiness of the wild rice gives it some heft that works well with a savory meal. Also this lox isn’t as strongly smoky as the one I had yesterday. So the smoke/sweet flavor contrast wasn’t as jarring between the lox and the tea.

Truly bummed I didn’t get more of this one before it sold out! This might be one of the best DavidsTeas I’ve ever had, right up there with Gold Rush, which I still long for. I was really craving a maple blend today for some reason, so I decided to use some of my precious remaining leaf for a nice midday Sunday cuppa. It’s a nice creamy maple with a touch of sweet blueberry (no tartness) and roasty undertones. That creamy maple flavor really lingers beautifully after the sip. The mouthfeel is great too, thick and silky, almost like what you get from marshmallow root, with just a touch of dryness at the end of the sip. If anyone happens to have some they’re not excited about, I’d love to swap for it!

Don’t particularly love the malt flavoring

I am so sad this is no longer available, I recently got this in a swap and I’m in love! It’s like a warm slice of cream pie but its a mix of roasty toasty coconut, cranberry, and blueberry.

Decided to dig this out of the back of the cupboard and have another cup since I realized people have been getting excited about it’s return. It’s a strange tea. I got whiffs of rootbeer in the bag, which makes no sense! Once steeped it seemed okay. The maple notes started to come out and I was noticing the coconut thinking about turning as there was a slight hint of soapiness. As it cooled it changed to more of a chocolate milk sort of taste, which I wasn’t expecting. If I sip too frequently the flavors start to register as flat, but if I sip sparingly I get the chocolate milk notes. It’s an intriguing tea, but I’m not as hyped about it as others and I feel like I’m missing out on something. Oh well. :/

Had a cup of this earlier, resteeped and am drinking the second cup now. I feel like the first cup was dominated by flavorings, like blueberry and maple. This second cup is more genmaicha like. The rice really shines through with a nice roasty flavor. It has a sweetness to it that lasts into the finish where a light maple and blueberry come out. I’m really enjoying this cup. I wonder what would happen if I did a first steep, a second right away and combined the two. Would I get more of the rice balancing with the maple and blueberry? I’ll need to explore this further!

I finished this off in record time, which implies I enjoy it. It’s definitely an easy-drinker, especially for a vanilla lover. Next time I’m running low on dessert teas it will be a strong contender for re-order.

The vanilla flavouring in this is… powerful. Aroma-wise, I’m reminded of cookie dough (when I accidentally spill the bottle of $$$$ vanilla extract) – particularly that bittersweet alcoholic sheen that vanilla extract uses to punch you in the face when you least expect it. The addition of maple sugar, coconut, blueberry, and nutty manoomin means this plunges right into cozy fall sweater (and scarf) dessert tea territory. Just to be extra mind-bending, the lingering aftertaste is tart-sweet cranberry sauce. So, it’s fall in a cup.

For this initial tasting, I was too much of a coward to drink it without first diluting it with milk (vanilla and violent both start with “vee”, and did I mention it’s punchy?); I don’t know if I’d want it any other way either.

Rating TBD at the end of pouch consumption. For now, I think this tea is a cool collab and a complimentary addition to David’s Tea’s shelves.

EDIT: I did a second steep and drank it plain. It was pretty good too; still very sweet, with malt and a more diluted citric berry component.

really, really love this tea!!! it’s so beautiful. i’d never tried a black tea with rice before (i’ve had a few green teas with rice) but this was just beautiful. it looks lovely when steeped. it’s very sweet and very aromatic (filled with berries!) and a pleasure to drink. i’m sad i only bought 50 grams. <3

Sipdown!

This tea was only ever just okay for me. I don’t think the wild rice came through for me at all; it was mostly blueberry-coconut-maple. Not bad but not as interesting as I had hoped.

(DavidsTea 2022: already recorded)

Had another cup of this, still not totally sure what I think of it. Definitely falls into the spectrum of enjoyment, but probably won’t be a favourite. I do like the mapley goodness, but I’m still trying to get a better sense of the contribution of the toasted rice here. Probably requires some more mindful drinking, which is something I’m very short on lately.

(DavidsTea 2022: 108)

Really interested to try this tea – roasted rice and maple? Yes! So I had to brew it up as soon as I could when I received it today.

Interestingly, the packet smells rather strongly alcoholic – almost like… kahlua?? That’s the best I can come up with, maybe it’s the vanilla? I’m not sure. It’s not offputting, just strong and noticeable, though doesn’t translate to the brewed tea.

Unfortunately, children got in the way and I didn’t get around to trying the tea until it was cool. I wasn’t wowed, but I’m also not really sure what I think of it, or whether I like it. It’s somewhat mapley, and pleasant enough, but I think the contribution of the rice was lost on me in that cup. Definitely need to try it again, maybe tomorrow?

Pot of tea!

I love the combination of rich black tea and cozy manoomin, aka wild rice. It’s toasty and comforting, but with enough body to not feel out of place as a breakfast tea. The maple seamlessly interlocks with the more aromatic notes of true-vanilla to create an overall profile that is decadent without being excessive or cloying. It’s really something special!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3iZp5luyi0/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnylB5ylyw4

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.