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1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped 5 minutes.
Ooops. Four minutes is my favourite for steeping black teas. I got distracted — what else is new? What I have here is stronger but not bitter. There’s more of an Indian-tea taste: not malt, but some other note you get in some Assams, and very rarely in a Darjeeling, almost a breadiness, with a hint of rose. The honey notes are stronger in the aftertaste. This one is crying out for milk, but I always regret it when I add milk to black tea. Stronger Yunnan-wood notes, too; I think these tea bushes were Yunnan clippings planted in Nepalese soil on the Jun Chiyabari estate. When I say wood notes, I mean ancient trees and clean air, not that woody-sour note some roobios has. A happy accident, steeping this too long.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @98C, steeped four minutes 30 seconds, drunk bare.
Steeped a little longer than usual today … getting a heavier body. No bitterness. Smooth. Many Yunnan characteristics and a bite of Himalayan. Deep honey notes. A good choice for the hot-tea-on-a-hot-day approach to summer heat.
1.5 tsp for 300mL wter @100C, steeped 4 minutes 30 seconds, sweetened with a DavidsTea Lemon Honey stick.
This delicious black tea, the result of planting Yunnan cuttings in Nepal soil — brilliant idea — already gives off honey notes, so I thought the lemon honey might be okay in here. I don’t like sweet tea; I always want to taste the tea, so I hesitated, only adding one-third of the stick. Eventually I added the whole thing; it’s not very much honey; it IS an excellent amount for bringing out any honey and fruit notes in a black tea.
The honey sticks are quite expensive, when you figure out just how much, or rather, how little, honey you’re getting, but they are very convenient. The lemon oil is excellent.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped 5 minutes, drunk bare.
Mmmmmm.
Tasting the new version of David’s Organic Breakfast Blend really pissed me off, so I was picking up this cup with apprehension — but ahhhhh. In with the good air, out with the bad.
Honey notes, some Darjeeling-y crispness and even distant muscatel, and a Yunnan-like sweetness and smooth finish. Some spiciness in the scent and foretaste that morphs into floral and bready notes. No malt. Medium body with a slightly buttery mouthfeel that brings out the crispness and sweetness. Delicious.
Preparation
1.5 tsp for 350mL water @ 100C. Steeped 5 minutes. Drunk bare.
Sipdown.
Layers. Each layer tastes slightly different, until you’ve gone from oak to honey. Some Yunnan notes. Some faint bergamot sharpness. Some Darjeeling-y taste, too, but Nepal Black is a distinct tea. These leaves come from Yunnan cuttings planted in Nepalese soil, if I understand correctly, and the result is quite pleasant. Light in colour and body. No malt. Very easy to drink.
Preparation
1TB for 450mL water. 6 minute steep, 98C water. Rating: 95.
Yum. I wasn’t expecting this to live up to the hype, but yeah, it’s really nice. A bit Darjeeling-y, which is not a surprise, given that the tea comes from Nepal. But’s it’s not a Darjeeling. This tea has a slight woody tang but no serious astringency. The mouthfeel and body remind me of Yunnan rather than any of the India teas. Sweet notes, too.
One pot so far and I am definitely loving it, too. The girl at the store told me it was more like Black Needles … she sold me on that one, lol
I call it smart. I gotta get some more … but I also gotta get my kids ready for school. Tea must wait.
High 90s, for sure. I love this tea. I now officially have my kids ready for school — AAAND a retail DavidsTea, about a 5-minute walk away, opens soon.
I read your rating — I thought I tasted Yunnan notes, too. I looked up the estate; they have planted Yunnan bushes in their soil.
My mom loves ginger, and had expressed an interest in pu’erh, so when we were trying to come up with $20 worth of teas to purchase to get the free 50g of tea, I saw this on the tea wall and hoped maybe it would be a winner. Turns out, I think I’m right! I didn’t actually taste the first infusion of this one, but my mom definitely liked it better than the black teas I’ve had her try, and I think she enjoyed the ginger as well. There was a bit of a fishy smell to the dry tea, so I gave it a literal rinse (poured hot water through the tea in the infuser basket into the sink) before infusing it, although it still had a little bit of a fishy odour when brewed up. I didn’t find it terribly bothersome though, and as she drank the whole cup, I don’t think she did either.
The second infusion (next day) which I’ve made for myself smells more of ginger, and less of fishiness (if at all). The pu’erh gives it a nice, smooth base, and the amount of ginger is just right for me – a bit of a kick, but not too much. For me, this one’s just ok; I’d drink it again, but wouldn’t seek it out unless I was craving ginger for whatever reason.
Preparation
That fishy smell always freaks me out a little even if it isn’t in the taste at all! If you want a super ginger-y pu-erh Rishi has a very strong one.
I went to the DAVIDs on Bleeker today in the hopes of using that coupon… only to find that the prices in store are 2-3$ higher than online. I find them a bit on the higher end given the quality anyway, so I ended up not getting anything. I was just going to buy online and get the 50g of Paradise Found but 2 of the teas I want are sold out, yet they were in stock hours earlier. Guuuuuh.
Anyway, I DID get an iced tea in store. I mean, I’m not going to leave with nothing and they seem reasonably priced compared to other tea stores. I find it kind of funny that there’s no way I’ll spend $9 on 2oz of loose-leaf but $2.50 for an iced tea is fine… the brain is a funny thing. I’ve heard so many rave reviews about Tropicalia that I had to get it, even though it’s a wet and rainy day. Now I kind of wish I hadn’t because it is SO GOOD. I could drink this every day. But it’s a heavy blend which means it’s pricey to keep in my cupboard all the time. However, I don’t know if I can live without it, it’s perfectly fruity and has a surprising amount of depth.
That seems very strange that the prices are higher in the store. I know the online prices of course are in $CDN, but that would make me think the in-store price in the States would actually be lower. Odd. I’m positive it isn’t like that in Canada, because otherwise the pricing out of things using the online listing wouldn’t have worked as well as it did for Amanda and I when we arranged our large swap thingy.
I had a friend pick me up stuff from an NYC store a couple months ago, and everything was in ounces, and 2 ounces weighs more than 50g so that might play into it too. I was pretty surprised by the total even after that, because I had pretty much been going by online.
Yeah, in the 3 Canadian stores I’ve visited the prices are the same as online, so there must be something in the conversion, or some sort of agreement when they made stores in the States because our dollars are pretty much equal at the moment. That would be an interesting question for customer service – I bet they would have a real answer for you rather than me guessing! lol
I think it’s a combo of ounce vs grams + transportation fees. You’re paying for them to ship the teas in the store to the states and also any customs fees and such. I just had a bit of sticker shock, especially after H&S where the prices are significantly lower than online. 2 ounces of Paris is $2, 2 ounces of Honeybee is $9! Considering DT’s cheap shipping, I’ll probably just go to the stores for drinks and get loose leaf online.
They go by bulk numbers in store, so it’s the per-pound prices that they use. I just checked my teas from them: the cheapest is Lemony Gunpowder ($2.22 for 2oz), Paris was $2.60 for 2oz so I was pretty close! It’s nice, since I consider a lot of their teas “must have at all time” and it’s totally affordable to keep my cupboard full!
Those cheap prices for H&S might have something to do with them based in NY. I bought some at a tea shop in the midwest and the prices were more like $3-4 an ounce or so. Still not a bad price considering the quality.
I think stores that aren’t in NY have the same pricing as online (which is still pretty decent), it’s probably only the 2 NY ones that are so cheap. It’s still very nice, I don’t think many other stores use bulk pricing even if it’s their flagship.
Yeah, it seemed the tea shops price were fairly inline with Harney’s online. Very fortunate to have access to such great prices.
I am so, so sad. You all know me. You know I’m a DavidsTea fangirl, through and through. I will try everything they put out, but this…this is horrible. It starts with cherry cola taste, but then switches into horrible musty, dusty flavor. The aftertaste is cherry cola, which is especially cruel because I keep thinking “maybe it’s not that bad” and I take another sip. Yup, it’s that bad. I’m glad we only got 10g and I used all 10 to cold steep a pot.
This one seems to have just been one of the huge busts lately. I don’t think I’ve seen a single good review (although now that I say that, I’m curious and am going to see if there is one!)
I didn’t apreciate the scent of the dry leaves enought to want to try it. There was a bitter back in the throat sensation similar to the bday cake tea… bleck!
I actually quite like Perfect Pear. It is really really tart so you have to add a sweetener. It’s one of my favourite iced teas, I’m not sure I’d have it hot, it’s a bit too crisp. Definitely a summer tea (seasonal) since I prefer teas that I don’t have to sweeten.
SIPDOWN!(288, soon to be higher again) also 1700th tasting note AND a thank you to gracebtlb for sending this one along in our swap. Now i’ve had this before grace sent it along but part of why i figured it would go well as my 1700th tasting note is that this is one of the first few teas that i ever tried when i started out on this journey less than a year ago. It’s nice to revisit where i started from and how far i’ve come in the teas that i’ve experienced and the flavours that i’ve come to love, hate or otherwise. This was one of my favourite teas in the beginning, but over time i’ve come to realise that other companies do similar blends that are a bit more expertly crafted than David’s Tea. It is a really nice blend though and it will always have a special place in my heart as one of the first teas i REALLY fell in love with that kicked off my crazy flavour journey :)
So thank you grace! for a walk down memory lane and a chance to revisit an old friend :) Especially since i haven’t had free time to really enjoy your other samples that i’m SUPER excited about!
lol it’s actually more than that if you count them as normal people sized cups…but my cups are uh twice the size..so most of my “cups” are the equivalent of 2 heh
my random arbitrary goal (who doesn’t love those) is to get to 2000 by my birthday and get my cupboard down to 150 by then. uh…not sure either is likely lol
haha this is funny because now you are at 3477 tasting notes – OVER twice as many!!!
and it’s been less than 9 months. averaging approx 180 tasting notes a month, 45 tasting notes a week, 6-7 tasting notes a day, or 1 tasting note every 2.5 hrs of general day time hours. unless you log in your sleep…. perhaps you log in your sleep????
Rainy day. Check. Errands to run. Check. Zombie walk in downtown Toronto. Check.
Soo what better tea to keep warm and enjoy the sights? This one! Haha yay for chocolate, minty zombie watching fun in the rain! And a sip down too! Yay for making a bit of room in my cupboard. Kinda. Since my errands involve at least one tea shop. This may be hard nt to pick up more.
So while i have to admit it IS colder here…it is NOT gloves, hat and scarf weather people! Sheesh. It is a bit of a colder, cloudier day today so I’m opting for a bit of chocolately mint for my lunch tea. Hoping it will chase away a bit of the thursday blahs
I wasn’t quite getting a watermelon scent from the dry notes. Definetly fruity though.
Upon steeping the smell nauseated me, I definetly would not be able to drink this one hot. Once I poured it over ice it had a very slight pink colour, but was more yellowish. I couldn’t wait to take a slurp of this. I got no watermelon flavour from it. It tasted like bubble gum (similar to Teaopia’s Aztec Gold, except more flavourful).
All in all I enjoyed the tea, just wished it tasted more like watermelon
Another sample that came with my David’s Tea shipment. I appreciate the opportunity to try it, but I don’t think I’ll buy it — it was fairly ordinary sweetish, kinda fruity, but it did not proclaim either strawberries or shortcake to me.
Sounds nice, If you like teas from Yunnan cultivars grown in Darjeeling like conditions you should check out teas from Lopchu estate. The one I have always reminds me of ancient forests and clean air and spring for some reason as well.