DAVIDsTEA

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!

I love this tea. It’s creamy, dark and warm but at the same time the mint is so refreshing and leaves a pleasant tingle. Just YUM! I’m very glad they keep bringing it back.

Has anyone tried this years version yet? Are there any differences compared to previous blendings? I was really disappointed in how they had changed the Pumpkin Chai… :(

I often have no clue what tea I’m going to be drinking on any given morning… Unless there’s something I’ve been craving I just start digging through my cupboard and smelling the teas (I don’t bother looking at the labels I do it all based on smell, “Hmm… maybe this one”; “Oh definitely not that!”)

This morning I opened this one up and immediately knew I had to have a cup (or two or three.) It’s been a pretty stressful weekend for me (between multiple Thanksgiving dinners, being ill and a few other odds and ends), and this was the perfect way to relax and get back into my work day.

I got this tea as a Christmas present from a family member who knew of my love of loose leaf teas. I’d seen it before on DT’s site but I have this thing against sprinkles (not really sure why, especially since one of my favorite teas (pumpkin chai) has them) and so hadn’t looked at it all that seriously. One sip of this though and I was in heaven.

When dry this tea smells absolutely wonderful. Minty, with a bit of a chocolate undertone from the black tea, and sweet (though the sweet can be a bit overpowering though if it’s not something you’re in the mood for.) Now I like mint teas but quite often you can get a very “harsh” mint that has a lot of bite to the aroma and the taste, this one smells smooth, almost creamy in a way.

Once steeped this tea gives a clear, deep red-brown liquor whose aroma showcases that lovely smooth mint scent found in the dry tea. The dark notes from the black tea still (to me) smell a bit like chocolate but it’s not as noticeable as it is in the dry tea. And be forewarned, the sprinkles don’t always melt completely in the first steeping, so you’ll most likely have some leftovers in your tea ball.

The flavor of this one though… just YUM! A rich mouth-feel that isn’t too heavy leads you into a sweet mint experience. The creaminess found in the dry tea translates well into the flavor profile which helps to round out and balance this lovely tea. And the Chinese black tea that this is based on provides the perfect backdrop, not too powerful but yet deep enough to lift the mint up to new refreshing heights (and no bitterness, even with multiple steepings.)

All-in-all this tea has become one of my go-to favorites; great for those times when you’re looking to de-stress but aren’t looking for something with much in the way of spice.

I so badly wanted to love this tea! It smells FANTASTIC in the bag – creamy strawberry with a hint of rhubarb. Unfortunately, I found when it was brewed that the tart rhubarb completely outweighed the other flavours. I added some agave, but unfortunately it made the strawberry way too sweet and still didn’t cut through the tartness. :( This was most disappointing since it smells so nice!

It is miserably hot (not as hot as last summer, just frustrating since I thought I escaped to Pennsylvania to miss the terrible heat, 101 is still too hot!!) blazing sunshine, and the air quality is like breathing in a cloud of funk. When I saw the description of DAVIDsTea Bamboozled as ‘a light and refreshing drink for summer’ you can guess that I was all over it. I need something to revitalize my spirit after making the mistake of going outside for more than five minutes. I got a sample of this tea (my first experience with the very popular in tea circles, DAVIDsTEA) from a friend on Steepster so I went into this a little blind. Here was my thought process: ‘ooh a tea called Bamboozled, I bet that is going to be exciting, and probably loaded with caffeine!’ Looks at the leaves ‘ok, so it is an herbal tea, but what is that…wait, I know those leaves, this is bamboo!! AWESOME!!!’ What can I say, Amanda Panda loves Bamboo.

With a blend of Bamboo leaves, Pineapple, Peach, Apple, Rose Buds, and Peony Petals, the best way to describe the dry leaves is beautiful. This is one of the prettiest herbal teas I have seen in a while. The aroma is heady and tropical, very sweet, and just a touch green from the bamboo. The green of the bamboo is not vegetal but more grass like with just a hint of (and I mean a tiny, tiny hint) of citrus. The aroma is very refreshing!

Once brewed the aroma is still very sweet and tropical, but loses some of the headiness and gains a bit of a tangy quality. At this point you can smell more of the fruits, especially the peach, and even a hint of the floral. The scent is now more of a refreshing garden than a tropical paradise, which is a delightful transition. The bamboo leaves, once brewed, gain a slightly spicy aroma which is wonderful, it is very evocative of spice bush.

And now on to the drinking! The liquid is beautiful, a pale amber, honestly I was expecting a bit of green from the leaves, but this late summer sunshine color is fine too. Also because it means summer is almost over!!! Anyway, the first thing I notice is the citrus taste, not what I was expecting because it is not the acidic taste of pineapple, but actual lemon (but without the acid burn.) Have you ever been really thirsty and drank water with lemon in it expecting it to be sour but instead found it to be pleasantly sweet? That is what this tea is like, unexpected sweetness. I feel I am not explaining this correctly, it is not sweet from the fruit or from sugar, but almost like my taste buds are confused. I know that sounds kinda odd, but it is delicious! After the initial citrus sweetness you can taste the tropical loveliness of the pineapples and the sunshine flavor of the peaches. There are slight notes of floral as well which add to the tangy quality of the tea.

This tea is delicious and really does refresh my slightly melted spirit. It is like drinking a little bit of summer with out the bad qualities of the season.

Backlog from last night and a sipdown! I didn’t even get to finish my final cup of this, I was asleep before I finished it haha. But a tasty nighttime tea, I will probably pick more up eventually, it’s a nice alternative from MLH and Mango Lassi from Davidstea for a chamomile before bed. And much much better than Sweet Dreams. It looks like I never really wrote a detailed note on this one, but it’s pretty good. I did give a bunch of it to my mom to try, so that’s why it was a quick sipdown. See previous notes!

This just called my name tonight :) i had lots of saltiness at dinner (out for beers and truffle fries and sausages with the bf and another friend) and this had just the right amount of sweet plus mint to make it relaxing and fresh for tonight. It won over sweet dreams (too much chamomile and fennel) and MLH (mostly mint). Excellent balance in this one! I imagine this would be good on the throat if im sick, but I’ve just had it because my friend charchar enjoys it quite a lot and was amazed I hadn’t tried it. Anyways, this is a decent herbal, nice to add to my before bed varieties as well! I’ll write a more detailed note when i’m not so sleepy lol.

I really like this tea – my favourite teas all seem to have chocolate! I wasn’t sure if I was going to like how minty it was but I really do! Tastes like the chocolate mint girl guide cookies. Had a cup in store and just ordered some online! Can’t wait for it’s arrival.

Dry: Mixed white tea and several different bits blended together. Looks like toffee pieces and cocoa perhaps? Smells like raw chocolate chip cookie dough and I was excited to try this one. Probably a good thing, since I lost my mind and bought 100g without sampling it first!

Steeped: Cloudy amber liquor with a slight slick across the top. Not the prettiest tea to look at, but it sure smells like cookie dough! Yum!

Taste: This one is pretty spot on for flavor and aroma, if you were baking cookies with coconut in them. At least that is what I am getting along with walnuts, cocoa, and those magical cookie dough bakery notes. Overall, I still really enjoy it as a dessert tea. I usually like my tea unsweetened, but this one ramps up a little bit over-leafed with a dash of milk and sweetener. I am not sure if it is going away for good or just seasonally, but it is perfect to enjoy for the upcoming holidays, too.

I was in the mood for something fun and citrusy, but also minty so I decided to mix these two DAVIDsTEA Herbal teas. For my mug I used a heaping teaspoon of the Pink Flamingo and a level 1/2 teaspoon of the Peppermint Amour. Since this is an experimentation I’m going to try to be be fairly thorough in my documentation of it.

Just smelling my little tea ball with the mixed dry leaf, I still get all the juicy citrus notes from Pink Flamingo (especially the smell of oranges and grapefruit) but it’s accompanied with a pretty strong smell of mint that makes it seem really “fresh”.

As it’s steeping I can smell Pink Flamingo, but the Peppermint Amour is getting buried under all the citrus and I can hardly smell it at all! The colour of the liquor is a much lighter pink than I’m used to seeing with the Pink Flamingo.

I ended up steeping the tea for almost exactly six minutes, and now that it’s done steeping I can smell the peppermint a little bit more, but the Pink Flamingo is still the dominating scent.

First few sips and immediately I’m tasting tangerines and oranges and a pretty strong note of hibiscus (that’s ok, I lie hibiscus). However, on the tail end of the sip and in the aftertaste I get my peppermint! It’s a lovely taste that leaves my mouth feeling cool and fresh. This was a good decision! The Peppermint compliments the citrus really nicely. It’s sort of like that sensation of peppermint in your mouth after you’ve been chewing a really strong peppermint flavoured gum.

This would be a great tea to drink in the summertime and so far it’s been really relaxing (and since it’s all herbal teas it’s caffeine free) so it’d probably be a nice cuppa before bed too. As soon as I finish of the pitcher of iced tea already in my fridge I’m excited to cold brew some of this.

I’d offer some to my roommate but he’d likely just dump a bunch of sugar in it and this combination is one that really doesn’t need a sweetener at all because the peppermint really helps to cancel out any unwanted tartness. So no tea for him.

I am a BIG coffee drinker… I was curious about this one but I’m not a fan after a couple tastes. I preferred it cold, I think it cut the fruity taste down, and I honestly did not taste coffee.

The berries really overpower the tea, I don’t like the artificial smell/taste of the fruit in this one.

Blargh! Why, oh why, did I buy 50g of this?!

I thought it would be creamy and mango-ey and everything I’d hoped for in a mango tea! I’ve had it hot. I’ve had it cold. I’ve had it iced. Yet, all I taste is chamomile! I should know better! I KNOW that chamomile isn’t my favourite.

I sure hope DAVIDsTEA takes returns!

I just picked up the fall collection and this is the second one I tried. I love the flavour, there seems to be a slight burnt sugar taste, reminds me of when I was a kid roasting marshmellows.

This would be a nice one next to the fireplace with a good book.

I was excited to try this after the success I had with (the now sadly gone) Earl Grey Oolong, but Countess of Seville just never quite made it to the same levels of delicious. It’s not a bad tea – the bergamot and orange peel are balanced enough that they don’t overwhelm each other or the green base, and as long as you watch your temperatures, it doesn’t get bitter. But I think I might actually like Adagio’s Early Grey Green better. I can’t quite put my finger on why.

A smooth oolong base with floral and fruity notes on top that actually taste and smell like pineapple. The fruit flavor is a lot more spot-on than other pineapple teas I have tried. Served warm, the fruit notes are bold with that similarity to fresh cut chunks of pineapple, but I really prefer this iced, because the citrus sweet tang of the pineapple was tempered into a refreshing drink.

The smell of this tea is sweet, due to the fennel candy, but has a hint of spiciness. The fennel candy and array of colour in the tea make it a nice a nice tea to look at when it is dry.

When you steep the tea, the fennel candy does melt and leaves a refreshing taste in the beverage, which compliments the cinnamon and peppercorns well. Personally, I could not taste the ginger and the vanilla.

This tea tastes better hot than cold. Do not steep this tea too long because it will taste rather bitter — and I normally like long steeped teas.

I love this tea. It’s great for work since I steep the same leaves throughout the day. Love that I continue to get great flavor from it and has a hearty taste that makes me sit up straight and hydrate. Buttery, milky, and smoothing flavors.

Fearing the worst but hoping for the best, I picked up 10 grams of this blend. I tend not to like the cinnamon used at Davids, but I could hardly resist a black tea with apple and vanilla. I always want a good apple tea, so I will try them even when one or two of the ingredients has me leery. Dry, this smells of mulled apples, cooked in their juices with some spice. I made homemade applesauce yesterday with cinnamon and a bit of sugar, and this smells like it but with a bit more kick of apple.

Steeped, I am mostly getting the dry musty smell that I find typical of DT’s cinnamon. I don’t know what it is as I enjoy cinnamon at home in things and find it appealing, but Davids’ cinnamon always smells like old scented wood rather than what I think of as cinnamon. No tea or apple aroma, nor any sweetness or vanilla. Sipped at 3 minutes it was quite weak, so I am steeping longer to try to tease some taste out of this one.

At closer to five minutes, this smells about the same but finally yields a bit of taste beyond the musty cinnamon. I can’t taste the tea but there is a vague flavour overall. Not necessarily apple, vanilla or sugar. Those notes are all drowned out or mixed together into a mess I can’t untangle. As it cools I get more of the apple, but this is a tea I would prefer to drink hot so that doesn’t exactly help.

I have enough for another cup but at the moment this doesn’t impress me at all. I feel as though it could be greatly improved with a better cinnamon or a stronger tea base. Or maybe even more of the theoretical apple and vanilla. Heck, even putting some sugar in here would probably help (given the name). I won’t be re-buying though as at this point in my tea drinking life, a tea that needs help isn’t a tea for me.

yummmi

Again, drank, backlogging, forget how it tasted, except I do recall the mint, and the fact that I don’t think I much cared for it. I see that there’s pu’erh in it; that may have something to do with it! Anyhow, thanks for letting me sample it Janelle!

Sipdown! Not particularly impressed with this one, but it is possible that it picked up some odd flavours while I was storing it. Kind of sweet, a bit grapey, mild and smooth base… but also a weird herbally (?) note that I picked up from the dry tea/wet leaves/steeped aroma/in the flavour. Might be another case of flavour contamination although it’s not as prominent here. Unfortunately, some of the teas from Janelle were ayurvedic teas and ones with other weird ingredients, and I think that I would have been wise to try them all quickly and keep them separated… but I foolishly didn’t. Ah well, live and learn. Minus the weird note and plus a bit more flavour, I think this probably would be a fairly decent tea, but not one I’m sad to have missed out on. Given that I’m not a fan of wine anyhow, that’s probably not terribly surprising.