DAVIDsTEA

Cold brew sipdown! (237/400)

I only drank this hot once, when I first got it, and don’t remember much if anything about it. I was hesitant to try a cold brew because it would use up the rest of my sample and I wouldn’t be able to give a note of the tea hot, which is usually the first way I like to review a tea, but I am so glad I went for it because this makes a fantastic cold brew! I actually think because of the tart citrus and cool menthol it wouldn’t be that great hot, and I think I’ve made the right choice. It smells like sherbet (the fizzy sweet kind, not the American kind), and it’s a glorious pink shade befitting the name. This makes me think that hibiscus is present in a level which would have ruined this as a hot brew. Iced, it’s tart but it has some natural sweetness to it too, which makes it refreshing and gulpable at the same time. A medley of citrus notes are most prominent, leading into a slightly herbaceous, cooling eucalyptus note at the end of the sip which lingers at the back of the throat. I’d love to try making this into a cocktail. Maybe something with gin, or Cointreau. I wonder how it would add a twist to a Blue Lagoon, or perhaps a Singapore Sling… It’s a shame it’s a sipdown. While it wouldn’t make a list of my favourite teas of all time, there’s just something about it which excites me and is making me want to try it a million different ways, half of which involve alcohol. This tea is awakening the mixologist in me!

Sipped down the last of my sample from MissB this morning while I was doing some of my online courses. It’s a nice mint chocolate black, and I appreciate that it’s sweet already though that might put some people off. It’s good for drinking black when I want something a little sweeter, but I do have to remember that if I’m not in the mood for added sweetness. I have more from my advent calendar that I purchased through Marzipan, and I might use that sample to make a latte. One thing I’m not keen on with this tea is that the chocolate flavour seems quite artificial – overall I think I prefer Santa’s Secret, which has a similar vibe but without the artificial chocolate note. Both are nice, creamy mint black teas with some sweetness and no astringency meaning they’re great for drinking sans-additives. This note is probably super unhelpful and disjointed, but I’ve been really busy all day and I’m super tired so I’ll just have to do a better job next time. I was trying to cram in enough work that I could have the day off tomorrow, but I think I’ll probably still have to do some. Oh well, it’s not like I have big plans for a quarantine birthday anyway…

Odd combination of the mint and fruit that was somewhat off-putting at first but was something I could adjust to.

Incredible bright and fruity smell that didn’t translate as much to the taste – more like a lightly flavored green tea.

I steep this one for a really long time to make sure I get a strong flavor from it – like 20+ minutes. The resulting flavor is pretty tasty! You get both the banana and maybe some light nuttiness. It creates a thick sludge in the bottom of the cup, so watch out for that on your last mouthful. The second steep is pretty good too. It definitely tastes more like banana chips than fresh banana, but I’m just glad it tastes like some form of real banana. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to purchase this one since its weight means you don’t get much for your money. But I would always say yes if it were offered in some sort of magical free method.

Well, I made this as a hot brew without reading my previous note on it, which meant I didn’t see my reminder to myself that it was astringent and I should steep it at a lower temperature. As predicted, this was very bitter at my usual 80 degrees Celsius. It’s such a shame because it smells like it’s going to be a really sweet, delicate and delicious jasmine, but the bitterness of the poor quality base tea just overpowers it. Here’s hoping I actually remember to lower the steeping temperature for my third and final cup!

I love jasmine tea, and this one smells absolutely beautiful – sweet and delicate. Unfortunately, it’s quite an astringent green base, and the cold brew I had today needed to be sweetened to be drinkable even though it wasn’t in the fridge for very long compared to most of my cold brews. The jasmine scent was actually really nice though, it’s just a shame about the base. Maybe it’ll be better as a hot brew, but I’m used to hot brews being more astringent so I’ll have to remember to steep at a lower temperature to be on the safe side.

This tastes very similar to almond black teas I’ve had in the past. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I might be growing tired of this sort of tea. The almond flavor is nice, if a little weak. There’s also not much tea included in the leaf, so this is a low caffeine version. The resteep tasted similar to the first. I don’t taste any hint of pistachio, only almond. Anyway, this tea is nutty and largely what you’d expect if you’re imagining an almond tea. Eventually, I decided to embrace its almondness, and now I drink it with almond milk. It’s much better this way. Now I won’t drink it without almond milk.

Cold brew resteep – yummy! This works really well as a cold brew!

ohhh myyy godddd.

I love this tea. Honey, nuts and cinnamon are all things I love, so it’s no surprise that I like the tea when those flavours dominate the cup. It really is reminiscent of a baklava! There’s a hint of apple and cardamom towards the end of the sip and even though I don’t like cardamom as a general rule, here it adds to the overall profile rather than detracting from it. It’s definitely a busy tea with a lot going on, but I’m okay with that. This is going to be a short tasting note because I find myself wanting to gulp the tea down and savour it without really thinking about separating out the flavours and breaking down the experience in my head. It’s really, really good though. This is probably one of my favourite DAVIDsTEAs, and one I would stock up on if I could. If my boyfriend and I ever make it to Canada (it’s a big trip for us and will be a few years from now in all probability), I might try to find a Davids to stock up on this and Pumpkin Chai.

Sad sipdown 231/400.

Iced Tea Sipdown (267)

I made this two days ago but drank it yesterday after I got home from work and baby stuff shopping. It was not my favourite. A bit watermelon-y but with an added green tea component I didn’t love.

Sipdown! 235/400

Fresh, this is one of my favourite EG Cremes, and probably the one I’d choose to keep in stock once I’ve whittled down my cupboard if I had the option to buy more. At this point though, the bergamot has faded almost completely even though the cream is just as strong as ever. This leads to a very creamy, almost vanilla custard note with very little citrus to cut through it, leaving a cup which is rich and heavy. I’m not a big fan of vanilla or cream flavours on their own, but I love them combined with citrus, so I’d probably be enjoying it more if I didn’t have that bias. If I’d had my head screwed on right this morning I could have combined it with a citrus-heavy EG to recreate the tea I remember loving so much when this was fresh. I didn’t though, and now it’s gone. I’m sad to see it go, but it’s not as difficult of a goodbye as it might have been if I’d finished this while it was still in its prime.

I loved this tea when I first got it. I’m still a huge fan of EGCs in general. I don’t know what’s happened between then and now, but this is just too strongly vanilla and artificial tasting for me now. The vanilla is creamy and almost custardy. The flavour itself is delicious. What I don’t understand though is how it can be so strong – I swear, it’s stronger than it was back when it was fresh! Maybe it’s just held up really well, and I’m used to drinking old, faded teas now?! The bergamot has definitely faded quite a lot, so that it’s mostly custardy sweetness with a slight hint of citrus whispered in the background. Perhaps the reason the vanilla is coming across as so strong is that the bergamot isn’t really there to balance it out any more. I still enjoyed my mug, and I think vanilla fans would really like this one, but since it’s not a flavour I enjoy unless blended with other, stronger flavours I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d expected to. My rating reflects how I felt about this when it was fresh, and I was head over heels with my first sip. Maybe it’s for the best this way, since I can’t get DAVIDsTEA over here – it’ll be easier to say goodbye.

I’m struggling with writing up a note for this tea because it’s just – in my opinion – so unusual. It’s not very much like other milk oolongs I’ve tried, but I also don’t get the notes from this tea that other reviewers seem to have gotten. It has such a specific and unique scent and flavour to it which I don’t know quite how to pin down. There are definitely notes I do pick up on and can relate to other things I’ve tried, and other teas, but over it all there’s this note which is just an enigma to me. The same note which pervades both scent and liquor, and just strikes me as totally unique to this tea. Of what I can pick out though, the body of this tea is strongly creamy. It comes across to me as more of a ‘buttery’ than a ‘milky’ sort of creaminess, though, and it’s accompanied by strong notes of sweetcorn and orchid. In very light sips, and at the back end of each sip, there are raisin notes and something citrusy which is conjuring images in my head of small cubes of candied lemon and orange rind in syrup, the sort you might use in baking. That mystery note covers everything with a blanket of I have no idea what. I couldn’t even tell you a general ‘family’ it belongs to, except that it’s maybe a little umami, sweet and savoury at the same time. I wish I knew what it was, or at least had something to compare it to. Anyone have any ideas?

Edit: For now I’m going to use ‘paint’ as a descriptor of the note I couldn’t quite pinpoint, but a delicious paint, if that makes sense?! Thanks to ashmanra and CrowKettle for helping me out with that, and the late K S for coming up with the comparison.

This is actually the third time I’ve tried to write a review for this tea over the past few months. My feelings change with each cup of it, so I’ve had a difficult time figuring out what to say. Which ingredients end up in your cup play a big part in the flavor. Some steeps are super orangey. Others are super nutty. Sometimes I find it bitter and strange. Other times I find it quite nice. I love the fun ingredients in this blend, and I guess now that I’m at the end of my 2 oz of this tea, I’m ready to announce a verdict. I don’t think I would buy this again since it’s too inconsistent, but it ended up being all right! Also I don’t know why DavidsTea uses vegetarian marshmallows in some of its blends and not others. Seems like they might as well use them in all of them to be more inclusive?

Sipdown! (226/400)

I didn’t have quite enough left for a whole cup of this on its own, so I mixed what was left with the Cream of Earl Grey resteep of this morning’s leaf. It was actually pretty good! The vanilla was less overpowering mixed in with this tea, and this tea was less underwhelming with something else added to it.

Considering how small the leaf is, I was expecting this to have more astringency. Actually, it’s pretty smooth and malty. I’m pleasantly surprised. I added just a splash of milk so that it went better with my very sophisticated adult breakfast of Lucky Charms, even though it was completely drinkable without. It doesn’t scream ‘English Breakfast’ at me immediately. It’s not as brisk as I’d expect, and there’s a floral note which I wouldn’t associate with an EB either. It is however very tasty as a breakfast tea. Smooth, malty, a touch of citrus and some lingering floral notes. It’s not overly complex, which actually suits my needs well for a breakfast tea, but it’s not too simple either. It takes milk well, but is good without, and I imagine it would work equally well with lemon or sweetener added if that’s your preference. Though it’s not a stand-out, it’s a very decent blend and a good first cup of the day.

Cold Brew!

I’m getting so close now to finishing off my tin of this, and that makes me sad because this is just such a delicious fruit punch style take on a sweet passionfruit flavour. I do have a fair amount of the Peach Passionfruit cold brew from this year which is sort of similar – maybe it would be worthwhile to do a side by side of the two. In my head this is sweeter and a bit “deeper” and the Peach Passionfruit is brighter and a little tangier, but maybe that isn’t the case…

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 don’t know when the last time I had this tea was, let alone the last time that I steeped it up hot – but for some reason late last night before bed I found myself with a strong craving for it. I thought it was delicious; tangy sweet passionfruit and tropical punch sort of vibes with just enough bright acidity and sweetness. It made a little bit sad that this tea fell off my radar, truthfully…

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.

Cold Brew!

A little while back, VariaTEA was cold brewing this one pretty regularly and it had me really craving this tea as well so I decided to follow her lead and do the same thing. As always, this was a delightful infusion of tangy and sweet passion fruit and hibiscus.

Palates may change over time, but this passion fruit flavouring has been a loose constant for DT for nearly seven years now and I’ve never gotten over it.

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.

Watched my insta friend Tea with Jann’s unboxing video on Youtube earlier today, and she was unboxing her order of the DT Pride Collection and so I just couldn’t resist making myself a hot cup of this tea! I remember when I tried Pink Passionfruit for the first time I was drinking it practically daily and I just burned through my tin of it! I didn’t go through my stock of Passion Punch as quickly (still have some left) because I’d learned to ration a bit better but now that I have Passion Punch and this tea, it might be a different story…

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

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBIsOvbAS2D/

The photo is actually from earlier in the week, but I didn’t share it in my last note so I figured I’d share it here – it showcases the sprinkles in the blend really well.

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.