DAVIDsTEA

Edit Company

Recent Tasting Notes

57

I’m going to rip right into this one, just like how the allspice rips right into the mingling sweetness of the dry leaf. It’s allspice, all the way. The cinnamon is a little shy here. Not surprised since my pouch is filled with whole berries. This actually makes me think of my grandma’s pumpkin pie even more so than Pumpkin Chai. And as a runner-up, it reminds me of a chai latte that is heavy on the nutmeg.

The steeped tea smells like that too, but loses its sugary sweetness. Taste-wise, we’re looking at more allspice. Creamy sweet allspice. The spices in this are not at all fiery. I absolutely love how there is kukicha in this. In a toasted marshmallow tea? Genius! It really mellows out the overall flavour profile.

Although the flavour doesn’t directly resemble the taste of marshmallows, it has a similar fluffy, comforting quality. Also, this is sweet enough on its own, in my opinion. It even gets sweeter the closer you get to the bottom of the mug. Maybe I’m getting some brittle sediment.

This would be fantabulous as a latte.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Alphakitty

I really want to try this one! It sounds so amazing.

PatchworkSheep

So glad to see a review for this; can’t wait to get my hands on a bag!

Lucy

Your review inspired me to get 100g of it… x.x

Fjellrev

Oh no, well now the pressure is on! I’m going to feel terrible if any of you end up hating this tea.

Lucy

Haha.. well lets be honest here – it’s a lovely black tea with brittle, marshmallows and allspice. I love all of the above so I don’t know how it could really go wrong =)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

91
drank Indian Summer by DAVIDsTEA
1792 tasting notes

Wow, this makes a wonderful iced tea, you know? I cold steeped this for nearly a day and I’m left with a tasty cherry apple treat. Heavy on the cherry, but that’s how I like it. The tea base is really mild. Mind you, there aren’t that many white tea leaves in the first place, and I can’t detect any hibiscus.

It’s like a much healthier and tastier Kool-Aid. Up that rating, yo.

Preparation
Iced

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

91
drank Indian Summer by DAVIDsTEA
1792 tasting notes

I couldn’t resist. I picked up the new teas earlier today despite telling myself to pipe down on the tea spendage for a while. I tried to make a compromise by asking for only 10g of each (and a couple others, ugh), however, the SA gave me nearly twice as much on all of them, rushed me through the sale, and didn’t give me a receipt. Yeah, she was rather unpleasant and borderline rude. Oh well.

I’m going with this one first because out of the new ones, I liked the smell of the dry tea the best. This is loaded with all sorts of goodies: dried cherries, lemongrass, apples, blackberry leaves, and more, but not that many actual Bai Mu Dan leaves. It’s like Gold Rush in that same sense. And it smells like a juicy, berryish fruit leather.

The scent of the steeped tea is primarily cherries and apples. Oh noes! And I’m smelling… hibiscus.

First sip: watermelon. Like an actual slice of it, not that artificial watermelon that’s not even close to the real thing. A few more sips and the cherry is coming out. Maybe a little bit of apple but it’s subtle. And I’m glad to report that the hibiscus is virtually non-existant.

As this cools down, I can feel the hibiscus more than taste it. You know how it gives you that drying sensation in the mouth? Yeah. But otherwise it’s behaving. I was hoping to get some fig and pumpkin out of this, especially the former. Perhaps it’ll have to take a bit of tweaking.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
Lucy

Thats so odd about the SA giving you more than you asked for! I’ve never had that problem. Was this one in Vic? Downtown or in the mall?

Fjellrev

Yeah, it’s a first for me too. It was at the newer Uptown location. Perhaps she was just having a bad day? She mentioned that she is from another location, and was the only one there, so perhaps she got pressured into covering the store due to understaffing. She even spilled some dry leaf and kind of gave me attitude about it, almost like it was my fault since it wouldn’t have happened in the first place had I not asked to get some. The whole thing just made me feel bad.

TheTeaFairy

What a bad tea shopping experience! As you mentioned, she must have had a bad day, but that was no excuses to make you feel that way… Luckily, I know DT staff to be always so nice and helpful ( at least from the stores I visited here in Quebec)

Fjellrev

I feel bad even complaining since they’re usually so incredibly pleasant. I’m glad you’ve had nothing but positive experiences!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Got a tiny bag of this (16g) just because I’d never tried a puerh and this one smelled the best to me (plus I like mates, which are coffeeish at times so this seemed like a good bet). It certainly has a distinct scent from other teas. “Earthy” and “roasty” come to mind and it kind of reminds me of the maltiness of like….rich soil. Not that it smells/tastes like soil. But it has the same rich, malty qualities. Oh lord, this is what happens when I try to explain things…
So I brewed it for 4 minutes with near boiling water and it was VERY dark. Coffee dark, which was nice. It did taste coffeeish, but reminded me very distinctly of the kitchen of my late grandmother who was a heavy smoker. Sort of like…stale coffee and old cigarette smoke. There was definitely a stale, ashy stagnance to it.
Needless to say that while I appreciated the trip down memory lane, I am not a fan of puerh, which is why I didn’t give this an awful rating. I think its hard to accurately rate a tea when I just don’t like the tea type.
It does have a lot of flavour and is quite robust, so I imagine that it would be quite good if you do like puerh.
Glad I got to try it in a small quantity, because now I know and I’m not out a chunk of money with a 25g bag kicking around.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Fjellrev

Ha, I’m not really a fan either! This was my first pu-erh many moons ago and it wasn’t my thing.

Indigobloom

oh dear no, this is a terrible example of pu’erh lol! perhaps the ginger pu-erh?

Indigobloom

(goes well with honey!)

PatchworkSheep

Thanks for the heads up! Next time I get to a store I’ll try a bit of that and see if it improves my opinion of pu-erh!

Indigobloom

if that doesn’t work I can send you some real unflavoured pu’erh! I find the DT versions have a little bit of a fishy smell anyhow

Kittenna

Indigobloom – completely agree that the DT ones are fishy, but the ginger one is one of the better ones :)

Indigobloom

I agree! esp since I mostly drink it when sick :P

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Just continuing the Blueberry Jam love.

Giant glass of it iced this afternoon. Yes. SO good.
I won’t wax philosophical about it, because I just did that yesterday.

EDIT: No, I am going to wax philosophical because what’s the point of making a tasting note at all if you don’t talk about what it tasted like?

The thing I like about this iced is that typically when you ice a beverage its because you’re thirsty/its hot out. In other words, you want to be able to gulp down large quantities of whatever it is. The beauty of this is that it isn’t sickly sweet, or overly tart, or overly anything. It’s delicious, refreshing, and naturally sweet.
There. NOW I’m done.

Preparation
Iced
Meowkattack

Blueberry Jam is AMAZING over ice. Yes. I like to make my own ice cubes with blueberries in the ice, serve the tea/cubes in a mason jar. Super cute at picnics. :)

PatchworkSheep

Oh my gosh, that sounds adorable. And delicious.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

This has gradually become a favourite of mine. The reason?

Jammy, jammy goodness.

It doesn’t taste like fresh blueberries (which is fine, because I’m not a fan anyways) but it tastes like a homemade blueberry jam. At least it does once you add a little sugar (sure it still tastes blueberryish without sweetener but when was the last time you had a not-sweet jam?)

Those who have said this is equally good iced and hot are spot on. I’ve had this tea many times now and while I’m enjoying it hot today, I keep having half a mind to make some iced too, just so I can gulp down the jamminess more quickly (stupid hot tea and its ungulpability…). This is the only tea that I’ve ever tried that is truly equally good iced or hot.

It’s perfect for today too, when it’s warm and sunny outside, too warm for a fall flavoured tea but too far into fall for a citrusy or tart tea. This is really hitting the spot today and the more often I drink it, the more I love this one.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Went on a short end-of-summer holiday (we realized we’d done nothing all summer and decided something needed to be done about that) and got to go to an actual DavidsTea store for the first time!!! I think I sniffed at least 40% of the teas from the shelf, but the sales associate was so enthusiastic and bubbly and didn’t make me feel like a pain in the butt. I loved it, there was no upselling or pressure, just enthusiasm for tea. Great experience, I REALLY hope we get a DavidsTea in my city. Even the SA commented that she was surprised that there wasn’t one.
Anyways, ended up with a bag of this (and got one iced for the drive home). Iced I found it a tad bitter, but I suspect it was just because of the way they make iced tea there- concentrated over ice. I usually like to cold brew my iced teas, but for obvious reasons they can’t do that in store.
Tonight I tried it hot with a tsp of agave and it was delicious! Very berryish without being artificial tasting. I’m not even a huge blueberry lover and this was delicious. Nice balance of tea and berry. I was afraid that since summer is drawing to an end that a berry tea would be too summery, but I think this will do nicely in fall as well; the berry isn’t the tart artificial overpowering kind but more the juicy, deep, real kind that doesn’t take over too much. I really enjoyed this and am glad I got a full bag of it. I’ll have to try cold brewing it, although who wants to with fall right around the corner and it being so yummy hot.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Swampwater by DAVIDsTEA
1792 tasting notes

Sad to say, but I’m happy with this sipdown this time around! Last fall’s batch just wasn’t what it used to be. I swear! I’m going to lower the rating (from a 91) without being too harsh so as to respect the previous batches.

Indigobloom

I fear that phenomenon every time I re-order a tea!!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Swampwater by DAVIDsTEA
1792 tasting notes

My tealogged headache is mostly due to chugging an entire jug of this, and then some. I don’t know if it’s an age thing or a batch thing, because I swear even when I got this batch last fall, even fresh, it wasn’t as good as it was a few years ago? This time around, I’m picking up one a fruity note that resembles the pseudo-fruity note in a (liquid) antibiotic that was prescribed to me a couple times when I was a child. That definitely isn’t a good thing seeing that it was discovered that I could never keep food down whenever I’d have to take it, and after a couple bottles (that’s right, bottles), the doctor finally switched things up and prescribed something much better. No more bad reactions, and even tasted better, like strawberry banana.

SO, yes, this is bringing me back to that. I’m trying to use this up, have about 1-2 jugs left and then it’ll finally be done. I need to get more fruit tisanes! Feels like I have nothing to cold brew.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Swampwater by DAVIDsTEA
1792 tasting notes

No wonder I’m cooking in the apartment. I finally looked up the temperature and it’s 26°C today. I didn’t think it would be that warm already.

I cold brewed a bunch of this when I got up (at noon…) and it’s sadly starting to reach that stale stage. I ordered it back in October-ish so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. Let’s hope the second 50g bag I still have unopened has remained fresher.

Replacing the water in my protein smoothie with this ended up being a good way of drinking some of this up, at least. The fruity flavours in this complemented the frozen banana, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and currants.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Swampwater by DAVIDsTEA
1792 tasting notes

It’s so good to be able to enjoy this again. I ripped through a whole jug of cold brew earlier this week, and couldn’t believe how concentrated the flavour was, so I kept refilling the jug every time I poured a glass. It kept going and going, still flavourful how many refills later. For reference, if I recall, I added around 12g of loose leaf to a 1.3 litre jug.

But embarrassingly, I’ve now had the filled jug sitting in my fridge for ahem nearly an entire week because I’ve been so busy with my new job, running errands, going apartment hunting, etc. It also sucks because at my new place of work, the setup with the offices, locker rooms, and staff room are so disconnected and in opposite sides and floors of the department store that it makes it difficult to so much drop off your lunch in the staff room before swiping in and putting everything else in the locker room. Such a bad setup so I haven’t even been bringing in bagged lunches yet, let alone figure out what to do for tea. So for now, I can only enjoy tea at home. Boo.

Nevertheless, I need to stop hoarding this since I got it back in October (man, that feels like yesterday) so it’s already technically not even that fresh although in my head it feels like I just got this.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Swampwater by DAVIDsTEA
1792 tasting notes

Don’t you hate it when you mishear someone and give them an answer that clearly states you’re an idiot? Yesterday at work, I was running on fewer than three hours of sleep (plus barely got sleep the night before that too) so I was nearly dead by the end of my last break that I took ultra late. A coworker, who was waving his bag of Quaker rice snacks around (and to be fair, just started making conversation with me after I was sitting in the room reading a magazine in silence for a while), apparently asked me if I was closing, and I somehow thought he asked me if I wanted one, so I said no thank you but went on in a humorous yet oddly rambly way about how I shouldn’t have one, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I think I especially feel bad because it made him then feel like he should offer me a rice snack. To make matters worse, I thought I’d try to explain how I’m sleep-deprived and caffeine does nothing for me (was drinking my second cup of coffee) and made a joke about how I’d probably need to graduate to cocaine in order to save me. It was so freaking awkward! I hate when a semi-functioning sleep-deprived brain puts you in embarrassing situations.

My point is that, caffeine or not, I end up being a dumbass so no amount of tea or coffee can save me from such situations. My mom accidentally knocked over and broke the glass Contigo I was using for bringing cold brews to work so for now I’ve been going without them at work. At least I happily chugged a whole jug of this at home over the past day and miss its tropical fruity vibe and green rooibos base. But holy moly, does this brew a lot more strongly than I remembered. I added 12g to an approximately 1.3 litre jug and the liquor was such a dark mossy green. Flavour-wise, the base was a little strong for a green rooibos too, so looks like I could get away with more like 7-8g next time. I kept refilling the jug after pouring a glass to try to dilute it so I got a lot of cold brew out of this in the end. Very glad they brought this one back since it’s been a long time since experiencing it.

Maddy Barone

Oh dear. I feel you. I’ve done that exact thing. I’m so drained this week that if I still worked in the office I’d probably have at least one of those types of conversations.

Indigobloom

Omg yes I have SO been there. Yesterday at work I couldn’t concentrate at all. I made so very many mistakes. A few awkward encounters. Today as well. Here’s hoping you can catch some sleep tonight!
Ha. A few months ago, in my sleepdeprived state, I made what I thought was an inside joke with someone and then realized the second it popped out of my mouth that it was the wrong person. Something about wishing I had a stalker… (my csi nut friend named her cat that, totally harmless even though it sounds creepy)

Fjellrev

While I’m happy to hear that it also happens to both of you, I’m simultaneously frustrated for you too! It’s even worse when you don’t know the person well yet because they may think you’re always like that.

Indigobloom

Right back at you :)
I get kinda cranky as well. My family who puts up with me in the morning before my wakeup shower are all saints!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Swampwater by DAVIDsTEA
1792 tasting notes

When I used to work at the mall, the DT staff used to bring tea to our store a lot, or if we’d visit them, they’d let us pick something to drink. During the summer, this iced was my favourite. STILL haven’t found a decent iced tea jug (seriously?!) so for now, I have to settle having this hot.

First and foremost, how come there aren’t more green rooibos blends out there? I normally don’t care for the red variety, or honeybush, so why this isn’t the more popular one is beyond me. Yeah, it’s personal taste, but still. Please more green rooibos!

This is yummy hot too. When I drank it iced, it seemed more tropical in flavour. The guava and the passionfruit seemed to dominate the tea, but hot, I’m noticing now that the strawberry is much more prevalent. Both are actually very nice.

I’m itching for some iced Swampwater though!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
drank Pumpkin Chai by DAVIDsTEA
75 tasting notes

If you want a picture of what the autumn season is all about this is no doubt one of the places to start. The sweet deep flavor of pumpkin pie in a mug that is the best way of describing it. The spices and little pumpkin candies make this a very endearingly warm tea that begs to be savored slowly to get every nuance out of it. The scent itself is very alluring even to passerby’s who ask what the tea is. No matter the season this tea just fits perfectly for a “pick me up”.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

Both of my teapots were in the dishwasher, and I wanted to fill and run it so I decided to do something unprecedented and make this tea in my glass Pyrex measuring cup. This tea has never tasted better, I wonder if it’s because I could smell it even more? Today I got the perfect combination of grassy and fruity with no bitterness at all. The package calls for 1 tsp per cup, but I used 4 heaping teaspoons for 3½ cups. My first 2 teaspoons consisted of mostly fruit, with only a fleck or two of tea leaves, while my second two teaspoons were more balanced.

The re-steep was alright, but was noticeably weaker than the first steep.

I see the Steepster ratings are all over the board for this tea, but I’ve had pretty good luck with it so far. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste? Or perhaps it’s just the luck of the scoop?

Courtney

I’ve tried this one on different occasions, sometimes months apart, and I can never get it to work for me :(

Nxtdoor

I’ve done the Pyrex on a pinch too. In fact Lupicia’s Paradise green went in there a couple of days ago. I worked well for me too!

canadianadia

@Courtney – looking at the ratings it looks like your disappointing results are more common than my good luck with this tea.
@Nxtdoor – I really enjoy how much more I can smell the tea this way. I think I’ll be using this technique again, I’m just concerned about things falling in my tea – ick!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

This is still a lovely tea, but I’m reducing my rating as I’ve since tried many teas that I enjoy more than this one. It’s light and fruity, but now I feel it needs a bit more tea leaves versus the other ingredients.

It’s such a light tea that I mistook it for a white tea this morning when I was sipping on it. I think my taste has evolved towards a more robust tea. It’s still nice for when I’m in the mood for something light, but that has been becoming increasingly rare lately.

Kat

I definitely agree with your note! I find it’s best brewed strong, and as an iced tea, otherwise it’s just too light for my liking.

canadianadia

That’s probably how I should drink what’s left of my packet. To brew this one strong, do you add more leaf,steep it longer, or do a combo? I’m always concerned about bitterness when I try to make a strong green tea (although there is so much other stuff in this mix, that, my concern is probably unwarranted)

CHAroma

I haven’t tried this one before, but I usually just add more leaf to make a green tea stronger. Adding time usually makes it bitter, in my experience.

canadianadia

sounds good

Kat

Yes, definitely go with more leaves for this one!

canadianadia

Thanks Kat – will do :D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

The green tea taste comes through more strongly with the first sip then yields perfectly to the kiwi flavor! Oh so very yummy! It tastes like a very ripe kiwi, but mixed with a melon flavor, maybe watermelon, or perhaps some honeydew. It doesn’t require any sugar in my opinion, as it is nicely sweet tasting on it’s own (although I rarely add sugar to my tea). It’s yummy both hot and cold. Kiwi’s big adventure is yet another favorite of mine from David’s tea!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95

As a lover of cinnamon teas I’d rank this as a mellower version of Glitter and Gold, my first favorite tea. The sweetness of the miniature marshmallows provides that special boost for the allspice and cinnamon in this black/green tea blend. I could see myself taking this along with me in my travel mug throughout the season as I strolled through the nearby golf course trail while enjoying the vivid changing leaves. To say nothing of the feeling that would envelop inside when the smell of chimney smoke began lingering on the brisk autumn air. The tea would be even more wonderful. A well recommended addition that I do hope will become a permanent part of the menu at DAVIDs.

Daisy Chubb

Great review! I can’t wait to try it :)

Cassie Eng

Thanks for the compliment. I look forward to hearing what you think of the blend. o

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

86

Had this one as am iced latte when it was the tea of the day. It was delicious!!!!! Rich chocolate flavor with a hint of cinnamon.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
drank Banana Nut Bread by DAVIDsTEA
14 tasting notes

I bought 25g and used most of it to make a small pitcher of iced tea. I added a bit of agave to it and it’s delicious! I think it will be good hot later on in the season. The almost clear look is a bit deceiving for “tea”.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

67
drank Perfect Pear by DAVIDsTEA
47 tasting notes

This definitely was tart! Made it this morning (or last night, I get confused with the overnight shift :))When made hot it’s just so so. As other reviewers stated, it stand more out as an apple when it’s hot then as a pear. Probably would taste really good iced…

Preparation
4 min, 15 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79
drank Jumpy Monkey by DAVIDsTEA
124 tasting notes

This is bizarre! I’ve never had tea with coffee beans in it. The loose leaves have a strange scent that I’m not sure if it’s from the coffee or another ingredient or if it’s one of the artificial ingredients (there is some artificial flavoring in this blend). I love the carob/cocoa nibs in it, I usually really like those and they look so pretty in the loose mix.
The scent of the brewed tea mellowed as I let it cool a bit. It’s less in-your-face bitter and more nutty.
Taste: Yay! Yet another tea I was expecting not to like from the scent that I ended up finding nice. It has a minty grassy tone to it, probably from the mate and nice roasty flavors in it. There are certain barky notes that remind me of damp trees. There’s a really smooth sweet aftertaste to it.

Desert matzos (dark chocolate, coconut, agave and pecans) that my sister just made, go GREAT with this.

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

26
drank Mamma Mia by DAVIDsTEA
357 tasting notes

Eww….make the yucky stop!!!! There are just too many flavors in this one. The sourness of hibiscus mixed with, cinnamon, fruits, nuts, rooibos, BLECH!!! It’s wrong…so very wrong.

I was hoping that I might like this tea at least a little more this second time around – No such luck, in fact, I think I like it less. Oh well, at least this sample is done now. On to better teas….waaaay better teas!

Terri HarpLady

That’s the spirit!

Autistic Goblin

Time for some good tea to wash that icky stuff out of your mouth! :D

canadianadia

Absolutely! I made some Infusion Bouteaque cranberry punch tisane, and I forgot all about the ickiness that is Mamma Mia. Ahhh yes, a good tea is like a hug in a mug

Nik

“…like a hug in a mug”

I <3 this. :D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

26
drank Mamma Mia by DAVIDsTEA
357 tasting notes

There is something in this tea that I do not care for. It might just be the cinnamon, or it might be the cinnamon and something else? I like the tartness combined with the sweetness, but the cinnamon/floral scent and flavor are killing those notes. sigh… Really not a fan of this one. Definately won’t be buying this one again.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.