DAVIDsTEA

Ok this is so good. I’m just putting it out there now. I walked by my cup a minute ago and thought to myself “what is that wonderful smell??” It was this tea. Usually I have to wait for a tea to cool quite a bit before I really get a lot of flavor from it…but this one I can drink hot and still taste the mint and the pineapple…and coconut? I dunno…it’s almost creamy. It’s really good. No sugar needed. Will have to get more of this.

EDIT: I couldn’t even tell there was rooibos in this. I mean I saw it when I scooped it out of the bag…but didn’t even recognize that it was rooibos and I def don’t taste it at all..at least not hot anyway…when it cools I’ll add more notes.

Ok…had it iced. It’s lovely as an iced tea. Very nice. The citrus is still not the main flavor contributor…but that creamy coconut and mint remains…and it isn’t a harsh mint at all..the coconut isn’t in your face and the fruity citrus notes underneath gives it a pleasant balance…had myself about 2 large glasses of this iced today. yummers.

Cold Brew Sipdown (135)!

Wow, this is a sad sipdown. This has been a cupboard staple for me for nearly three years now! I don’t know if I ever really expected to be done with it?

The cold brew was good; it was basically composed of all the crushed up bits at the bottom of the tin that I couldn’t bare to just toss out. Ultimately, it had a mostly coconut flavour without a whole lot of mulberry but I still really, really enjoy it. I’m holding out hope that it was just discontinued because the mulberries were hard to source, ‘cause if that’s the case it could potentially be brought back if they become easier to get a hold of in the future.

Cold Brew!

This is very, very nearly a sipdown and that makes me incredibly sad. I still can’t believe DT discontinued this one; it was a very unique blend! I have to wonder what the reason was, because based on conversations with friends who work at DAVIDsTEA it was pretty popular. Maybe the mulberries became too expensive to source? Or complaints about the weight? Though DT still carries quite a few very heavy blends…

The cold brew was all smooth, sweet and rich coconut and mulberry though. In a way, the flavour does remind me of drinking liquid gold. It’s so unique; only one other tea has ever come close to touching on it, in my opinion. And that’s be RiverTea’s Mulberry White which you can no longer buy because RiverTea has shut down…

Tea friends help; I’m in desperate need of a replacement for this tea! What other companies carry mulberry teas!?

This is a queued tasting note.

I’ve almost entirely been drinking cold brews this week – the condo is sweltering hot and short of hanging out around the house naked I’ve been burning up so badly. I wonder if I’m getting sick? Sadly, I don’t think me and the new roommates are at a place where casual full frontal while doing every day things around the house is acceptable.

So, obviously, this was cold brewed. I truly adore this blend cold brewed – but it’s such a heavy blend that cold brewing it eats up the leaf like crazy. I don’t recommend this one as an all the time thing; you’ll go broke if you fall in love with it. The flavour is on point though: caramel/mulberry, that kind of silky white tea mouthfeel, and coconut. Yum yum!

Made a pot of this last night while rewatching Age of Ultron.

Pietro’s death still gets me every time; the Maximoffs are some of my favourite characters in the Marvel Universe. Though I still like the X-Men portrayal better. Also, I hate that I buy into BannerxRomanoff so easily because I know that Nat deserved a better romance (though I still think the inclusion of one of the first place simply to make her character seem more relevant is a slap in the face). Here’s a lovely article which expands on what I’m trying to say AND touches base on some Buffy The Vampire Slayer stuff that I also feel way too strongly about:

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/08/black-widow-romance-hulk-avengers-age-of-ultron

Seriously; out of all Buffy’s relationships the one she had with Riley was the worst. Sitting through that season was such a fucking pain.

Anyway; as for the tea! Normally this has a super mouth watering, robust caramel/mulberry flavour and while that was certainly still present the focus of the pot this time around was definitely the coconut! Yummy!

Man, writing that last tasting note for Midsummer Night’s Dream has me tearing up a little; I’ve come a long, long way since I moved here to Saskatoon – this city has been amazing for me, it truly has, but I still have really rough days, weeks, hell even months. It’s amazing the way we can associate so much with one tea just because of an experience we had drinking it.

But anyway; I made this a few days ago and it was pretty good. I realized I’d ignored it long enough that I wasn’t 100% sure if the coconut was still alright but it didn’t taste funky at all so I’m thinking I’m still in the clear. The taste was divinely and strongly coconut, caramel, and mulberry with just a hint of sweet hay from the silver needles. The mouthfeel, unfortunately, was very very oily though. I should have added a splash of milk just to hide that a bit better.

I drank this while watching Kingsman: The Secret Service. I’d heard a lot of good things about it but just hadn’t set time aside – and I’m really glad I did. Everything I anticipated it to be was everything it wasn’t and the comedy and action scenes were just… Gold. Just like this tea.

Seriously; the whole thing was wonderful!

Time to start getting ready for work soon…

Really want to call in sick, but can’t afford to again. At least I have tomorrow off, right!? Right! And dentist Monday morning. Ick.

I was inspired to cold brew this one based on a review aisling of tea did on it. Or, I think it was aisling. It’s possible it was her sweet wifey de – sometimes I get their reviews mixed up, and with “sick brain” right now I don’t trust my memory too much. In the review, aisling/de basically called out how expensive this would be as a cold brew, and I definitely don’t disagree with them – but I couldn’t get over how delicious it was tasting in my head, so I had to actually brew it up just the once to sate my curiosity.

And it was really, really good! Basically this super sweet, rich butterscotch and coconut drink! Man, I really, really love mulberries! I can’t believe back in my ‘tea newb’ days I hated the way this one smelled/tasted. It reminds me, a lot, of the Butterscotch Schnapps everyone here on Steepster knows I’m so fond of.

But yeah, just reiterating – damn this was expensive when you think in terms of how much 50g costs, how heavy the leaf is, and how much leaf is spent up by cold brewing. So this was just a one off “treat” and NOT something to make a habit of, for sure.

Liquid Werthers Caramels in a cup!

When I drank this last week I made a note that I needed to desperately restock it, and I have since done so – so it’s kinda cool looking back on that? I swear though, I restock this more than any other DT blend.

Also, writing this now I’m remembering that the whole reason I pulled it out of the closet was so I could package some for Starfevre. My matcha samples from her came in today (I’ve tried one so far), wondering if she’s yet received my samples…

Hopefully they get there soon!

Made in my timolino. Just an average, spectacular cup of hot liquid caramel/coconut/mulberry deliciousness!

In a few months when points are eligable to be redeemed again I’m definitely gonna be using some of mine on 50g more of this one; I burn through it so damn quickly! I would have used the points I had this month on more of this, but I wanted to get Caramel Corn guilt free while I still had the chance.

What can I say; I’m easily influenced…

OMGsrsly’s tasting note on this earlier in the evening proved to be a major catalyst for a massive craving of the sweet, caramel beauty! I made myself a nice big mug and sipped away very happily at the liquid gold while picking out the fat, plump berries from the infuser as this beauty steeped.

I just restocked a couple weeks ago but already I feel like my tin is nearing empty. Sounds like a few other Steepster members are gonna use their Frequent Steeper points on this one; I’ve already got enough point for two 50g bags – so I guess this could be one of them.

Took advantage of the fact the tin of this was out (I was packaging some for Cavo) to brew myself up a mug of it! I haven’t had it in a while, so I thought “why not?”. This is a more expensive one to refill so I don’t have it on a regular basis – but it’s so good that I totally could.

It’s basically a super yummy cuppa of hot, liquid caramel and coconut. Mmm! So sweet and indulgent and rich! Plus you can still slightly taste the silverneedle which is awesome because I really enjoy silverneedles…

Watching the BBCan2 live feeds now, and someone just made a cup of green tea. It had me thinking that, should I ever make it into the house (which I hope to, someday) then I’d have to go without all my tea. It’d be one of the hardest things to do, but for Big Brother I think I could do it…

I’d try to smuggle in a few tins, though ;)

Yummy!

Extra long steep time (I just left the steeper in as I drank it) which resulted in a delicious, creamy mulberry/caramel tea. It was a nice switch up from Mulberry White (from RiverTea) which is similar but definitely more fruity.

I should enjoy this one more; it’s a white that can really hold up to high heat and shitty steeping parameters.

This one just didn’t want to come up for me!

Anyway, VariaTEA’s tasting note for Mulberry White made me want that – but I was already making tea at a hotter temperature than that one would be able to take, plus I didn’t want to go digging in my closet, so I checked what I had in my kitchen cupboard for immediate consumption and this one was in there! Pretty close, if I do say so myself – I mean, both are mulberry strong teas. And this one handles heat better!

I have to say, I don’t remember this being as oily – not that it really tastes oily, it just has lots of that kind of sheen on top. As far as taste goes, this is nice with strong coconut notes featuring as the initial taste, and then sweet liquid caramel/mulberry notes. It’s not exactly like Mulberry White because it’s not fruity (apple notes, and all) – but it’s a close enough match that my cravings are being satisfied.

I love both – likely for the caramelness, and continue to want both around despite any similarities they might have. Also, I cut up an apple to eat with this, and it’s really good! Satisfies the Mulberry White craving even more ;)

On the fifth day of Christmas Steepster gave to me five golden rings…

So out of order! Anyway, this was a perfect pick for day five from Momo! I actually have a small tin worth at home anyway, but the convenience of a small package I could just toss in to my teas for Regina was too good to pass up, so this came to Regina with me even though I wasn’t totally expecting to take it.

I split a cup with my Stepmom who pronounced it “very flavourful”, which is totally true. This was super smooth caramel tasting, just like usual. A fair bit of the coconut stood out on its own too. Thank you Momo – my step mom and I both enjoyed it.

This was my second indulgent tea that I brought with for work today. Because this is so heavy and pretty costly, it becomes and expensive blend to restock so I don’t often have it – which is a shame because it’s one of my favourite white teas.

Although, being honest I’ve still never warmed up to the smell of the dry leaf which smells like strongly fermented fruit/alcohol to me. Ick (thankfully the tea itself tastes so so much better).

For preparation, I steeped 1 1/2 tsp. (heaping spoon) in boiling water in my timolino for about seven minutes (the high end of the steep time recommendations). It can take a longer steep time though – and tastes more rich when you steep for, say, 10 minutes. However I was rushing to get to work so I just went with seven. The liquor is a nice pale gold gold colour, hence the name of this blend.

I don’t know what it is about this combo of dry ingredients but drinking this it’s like drinking liquid Werther’s candy. Sweet, creamy, and coconutty. SO GOOD. I constantly catch Tre picking out the mulberries from the dry leaf – he just doesn’t seem to get that we cannot afford for this blend to turn into trail mix: it’s too expensive to replace!

I was craving this last night, so I made it as my work tea today.

I still hate the smell of the dry leaf – it smells super strong and intense and almost alcoholic to me. Yuck.

But, I had about half the thermos hot and half of it cold and it continued to be great either way. Nothing like the smell of the dry leaf, in my opinion. Nice and smooth, and creamy caramel tasting. I can taste the white tea base too, and it’s just perfect. I love that this tea can take hot temperatures and long steep times without getting bitter.

Today at work, I got to mess around with a magic eight ball (I felt like such a little kid – it was great) and had to climb into the chute or a cardboard compactor. That was less fun. I’m just glad I had the door of the room locked behind me so no one could come in and accidentally turn it on. That would have been bad. Really bad. Stupid people not breaking down their cardboard boxes and clogging up the compactor…

Also, I was gonna make myself tea when I got home but it appears all of my mugs and in the dishwasher, which is currently running. Boo. No tea tonight, I guess. At least Tre made me supper to compensate.

It’s a white tea day today! Resteeped the leaves from earlier today. Still caramel goodness! Reminds me of those little clear wrapped caramel squares you can buy for like five cents at a Seven Eleven. Yum!

My first DAVIDsTEA white tea purchase! White teas seem to be hit and miss with me, but I’m making more of an effort to try them so I can see what exactly I’m liking and disliking.

The dry leaf (although, this one really is more of the other stuff than leaf – but maybe I just got a batch with extra mulberries? There’s a TON of them, way more than anything else) doesn’t smell good. Well, that’s my opinion anyway. And, after reading different reviews it looks like most people have an opinion different than mine. I can smell the coconut, and that part of the aroma smells good to me, but the rest smells… I guess the best way I can put it is ‘alcoholic’. Like a BAD sort of fermented wine type of smell? I’m sure I’m getting that from the mulberries and, since I’ve never tried anything else with mulberries, I really have nothing to compare it to and no idea if mulberries are supposed to smell like this. Still, this tea was VERY highly recommended to me by a close friend because of the “caramel” taste it has (she knows that I am a die hard fan for almost all things caramel) so regardless of the fact I think the dry leaf smells icky I ended up buying some anyway.

I’m not sure how long is a good time to steep this one for my first time drinking it, but I’ve read a lot of the reviews on this tea and it seems like this one doesn’t really get bitter if you steep it for a long time, so I’m probably gonna lean towards the higher end of the recommended steeping time.

Steeping, the liquor on this one is a very pale yellow. I must say, as it steeps it’s smelling a whole lot better than it did as dry leaf. Very coconutty, and I’m totally understanding the caramel comparison too! Sneaking a few small sips while it steeps I taste pure caramel goodness.

Now fully steeped, Gold Rush taste delicious! I wish I’d made a pot of this instead of just a mug – I could spend all day drinking it. The flavour is very full, and even though I’m mostly just tasting ooey gooey caramel I can see how the coconut is contributing. A very creamy cup with no need for anything added to it! Everything about it is pleasant, including the aftertaste which lingers for a LONG time. Definitely a rebuy.

I’ve kept reading reviews and it looks like it can hold up to an even longer steep time, so I think I’ll try that next time. Anyone know how well this one resteeps?

I’m so glad my first impression was so wrong! Thankfully I have friends who know my taste, dare I say it, better than I do.

I thought I would try this tea before I got sick, just to see if I liked it. I found it very soothing, and while not tasteless, fairly bland. Just what a sick me would like, I think!

Yay, finally a fall tea I like! :) This was fruity and delicious, a lovely green tea. Love it – will have to go back for more!

Didn’t enjoy this one as much as I usually do… not sure why. It was nice, rich and warm with that lovely peppermint freshness but there was a metallic undertone that really just threw things just a little bit off for me today. Oh well. I suppose if we had perfect cups of tea each time then there’d be nothing to distinguish tea with! :)

I’ve heard that some have this as a latte, I have a hard time imagining how that might taste… Anyone willing to try and describe how it changes things? (I realize that everyone has different tastes but I really can’t quite see how hot peppermint milk makes sense; granted I love peppermint ice cream so…)

Ever have one of those moments where your brain wants something (and knows exactly what) but the rest of you doesn’t? That was me this morning, I walked into my office after an early morning meeting and reached right for my Sugar & Spice bag, opened it up for a sniff… and then the rest of me went “Nah ah, what in the world are you thinking?!?” sigh

Oh well, instead I’m drinking my trusty Santa’s Secret. This is definitely a “feel good” tea for me, the peppermint/black tea combo just works in ways that I can’t describe. I love the creaminess of it and the hint of chocolate from the tea base, just ya… Yum! :)

I’ve been mentally “craving” this one for a while now but every time I reached for it a different one ended up in my cup, almost as if by magic. Anyone else ever experience this? Anyways, a great comfort tea for me, not too pepperminty and the black tea base really just enhances the whole thing… I even got a few chocolate notes today!

Just have to remember one non-tea specific detail for the future… when brewing in a Timolino let it cool for a while first. I’m still getting used to this new tumbler and I wasn’t paying enough attention, next thing I knew not only did I scald my tongue but my upper lip too! Ouch!

Well we just finished a Christmas potluck at work, so it’s appropriate to now have some Santa’s Secret to finish off my meal.

The water temperature was a bit cooler than usual today so I got less in the way of the darker notes from the black tea but it really served to highlight the vanilla which was a refreshing change for me. It was still minty though, but more of a spearmint rather than the definite peppermint notes that I’ve encountered prevoiusly. I find it so interesting that just a slight shift in water temperature can make such a dynamic change to a tea. Here’s hoping that after Christmas I can play with that a bit on my own rather than having it be a “happy accident” :)

sigh Now I really wish I could sit back and just enjoy my tea, but back to work I must go… On the plus side I’ve only got 2 more days of work to go before the holidays!