DAVIDsTEA

I got a sample packet of this one by David’s Tea as a GWP and I was looking forward to try it. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan… and I’m kinda sad about this fact when you read all those wonderful review. My cup was bitter even if I didn’t left it longer thant you should.

A gentle green tea great for the evening. The lime flavour is not juice-like or gaudy; it’s instead a subdued citrus overtone that mingles well with the apple chunks. I didn’t pick up on any of the creaminess it claims to have, but I would argue it benefits from that absence. Overall a very low key but delicious tea perfect for keeping things simple.
Part of the DAVID’sTEA permanent collection.

I burned my sample of this by following DT’s steeping instructions :( It says to use a water at 90’c which is (now that I think of it) odd since it’s a blend of green tea (usually requires water at 85’c) and white tea (usually requires water around 75’c). So, yeah, my first cup was undrinkable. The dry leaves smelled nice though (although maybe too fruity for me) and the leaves were beautiful too. I resteeped it with proper settings and, well, I have less to say about it. Nothing special, not my kind!

Received this in my secret pumpking package. Thank you so much! I haven’t had anything from David’s tea in awhile. I think this would be really good if you mixed it with chai. It’s pretty good on it’s own but there is a slight lemon flavor that’s a bit odd.

SIPDOWN! I just had one cup left after yesterday’s cup of this one. No new changes in taste. A bit sad to see this one go given that it was a seasonal but there’s always other teas to be drunk!

I’ve been on a rooibos kick as of late. I really like the subtle woody sarsparilla flavor and although it’s a summer flavor, I definitely think it’s better when the weather starts to turn.

I wanted so much to love this tea – pumpkin pie! caffeine-free! – but, unfortunately, it just isn’t to be. I’m not sure if it’s the honeybush or the whipped cream flavouring that is giving me such a weird, sour note, but there it is.

2022 Sipdown 168/365!

Same as the earl grey matcha, somehow this isn’t quite creamy enough even in a latte – the spices aren’t tempered enough? I’m not sure. Not my favourite.

(DavidsTea 2022: already recorded)

2022 Sipdown 126/365!

Drank this pretty quickly today as a latte. I’d gone off having matcha in the mornings for no particular reason, but think I will get back to it.

(DavidsTea 2022: 15)

Not a favourite matcha. Possibly the least favourite in my stash, whether or not my ratings reflect that. I just don’t like the spice blend used here. Maybe it’s true to pumpkin pie spice and I just don’t like it with matcha, it’s hard to say.

(DavidsTea 197)

Had forgotten that I’d tried this before. Still doesn’t quite match my idea of pumpkin pie spicing but it’s alright as a latte. Prefer the Vanilla Chai, EG cream, and some of the fruitier ones (which oddly, I don’t actually own…)

Sipdown!

This was weird. The aroma did not jive with my idea of pumpkin spice/pie, and had a distinctly grassy matcha-ness to it, which was kind of offputting next to the varying spice aromas I sometimes caught. I didn’t have high hopes, but blended it with some original almond milk and took it to work. I ended up being pleasantly surprised – wouldn’t have it again, but the spicing was better than I initially smelled (more like pumpkin pie than plain cloves or whatever it was I smelled), and the grassiness was masked by either the sweetness in the matcha itself, or the almond milk. So it was quite palatable, but I kind of wish I had tried the Blueberry instead (eventually I’ll get to it…)

This tea suffers from multiple things. First is the fact that I am not a fan of nut teas, so automatic bias. Second is that this tea can not handle sugar being added; the slightest bit of added sugar makes it sickly gross. Third is a weird undertone of something mysterious and slightly nauseating (could it be the monk fruit?). Bearable enough to finish my 25 grams of it, but would never repurchase.
Part of (and worst of) the DAVID’s TEA Fall 2015 collection.

Iced Sipdown (583)!

This was definitely overleafed as an iced tea; and the result of that was a liquor that looked fluorescent yellow and a profile that was VERY sweet and intense. Definitely too much ginger for my own liking, but also too much apple! Very sweet and spicy; and just not a good representation of this blend.

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Pleasantly spicy, with a bit of sweetness from the golden raisins in the blend. This is one that I’ve got a few more cups left of, but that I’ve left out of the boxes I’ve packed up with the hope that I can finish it off before I leave for Montreal – so expect more of this in the next few weeks or so.

Maybe as a teapop!?

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Hot cuppa.

This was great; sweet ginger notes with a nice mellow apple finish. Not nearly as spicy as I remember it tasting the last time that I tried it, which I appreciated. More of a “ginger ale” rather than a “ginger beer”. Subtle difference, I know – but it still counts/makes a difference.

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Hot with some honey.

Very soothing on the throat, and great to sip on after demolishing a giant pizza all on your own because ginger is really good at settling a growly stomach monster. However still a little too intensely ginger heavy for my tastes – it get less of a ginger tickle and more of a ginger burn in the back of my throat. It’s also definitely significantly better as an iced tea.

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Another from M Mack’s stash sale!

I’ve tried this one before, but only once and we get a lot of people in the store looking for it/sad its been retired so I’ve been interested in revisiting it for a while to see what the fuss is about and revaluate. This stash sale let me do that, so I happily snatched up what she was selling.

Today I iced it because that’s how I’ve heard so many customers say it was most enjoyable. I guess actual ginger beer is something you would generally drink cold anyway, so makes sense. It genuinely does remind me of a less sweetened sort of ginger ale kind of flavour, and I guess that’s essentially what ginger beer is? I don’t love ginger that much personally, and when I am into it it’s generally when it’s paired with something sweet or fruity. I get some fruit from the apple and raisin so I’m like half satisfied overall but I definitely want more of a sweeter ginger ale kind of flavour overall. I could probably achieve that with agave, I’d just rather not sweeten this if I didn’t have to.

Yeah, it’s not bad overall – for a ginger tea and as someone who isn’t normally into that flavour it’s completely drinkable and overall pleasant; it’s just not blowing my mind the same way it has for the people who come back to the store frantically searching for more of it. I’m glad I revisited it though; from a work perspective it’s always good to have familiarity with the blends we don’t carry anymore so I can offer the best possible replacement when people come looking for a top up we’re not able to give.

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

So last week I stopped at DAVIDTEA after work around when I was starting to get sick/just realizing I was sick and I picked up some tea to drink later and grabbed a hot, “To Go” cup of this as well. I picked it out because it’s the new Tea of The Month but I realized much later it was actually probably a good choice because of the ginger as well since that’s a good thing to drink when you are sick.

I had a really neat experience at the store, though! I know two people who work at the DT in Regina – Zoey and Kandyce who are both former highschool classmates of mine. So, running into one of them wouldn’t have been startling. What was startling was running into someone else whom I also recognized but never would have imagined to see there. Who’s that? The manager of the SASKATOON DAVIDsTEA at which I frequently shopped (and even knew some of the employees outside of work as well because my ex Tyrell was friends with them). We both kind of just took a look at each other and were all “Uhh, what are you doing here?”. Turns out she’s in town the next few weeks training the new manager of the Regina store, and of course I just moved back here. I swear, I see her around all the time though: not just at DT but when I was working at Sobeys I saw her all the time there too. We chatted for a while and it was nice. Maybe I’ll stop in again next week and see if I can run into her again…

As for the tea I ordered, I was a little taken aback! I’m honestly not the biggest fan of Ginger Beer. Every time I’ve tried it it’s just been a little too concentrated and spicy for my liking. And actually, I’m also just not a huge fan of ginger in general. However, that said, I actually found this pretty enjoyable. It’s not like it didn’t taste like Ginger Beer either; the ‘zippyness’ and almost ‘bubbly’ ginger flavour was accurate to my memory of Ginger Beer and very well captured the spirit of the drink. This was just much lighter overall and didn’t have that ginger burn that comes with too concentrated ginger. I dislike that sensation so much.

Of course, ginger isn’t the only flavour going on in this blend. I also tasted notes of honey and apple, both of which were quite nice and provided a sweet juxtaposition from the ginger. However, the most interesting flavour I tasted was lime!? I’m not sure where that’s coming from at all because there are no ingredients that should be contributing that flavour however it’s definitely something I tasted, and I quite liked it. Maybe it’s because I was slightly sick and my sense of taste may have been a little off. I’m not sure.

Overall? I wouldn’t buy this again but I liked it and for me that’s more of a ‘win’ than I ever expected with this blend. If I did drink it again, it would probably only be to see if I could taste the lime again when I’m not sick.

On the 7th day of sipdowns…

I had enough for two cups of this today but it was mostly just the little non-berry bits so it was a bit weak on the fruity flavor but eh. This time it still tastes like berries, blackberries, lingonberries or cranberries possibly, and a faint flavor of…currants? I like it but it’s been sitting in my collection for a bit too long and it was time for it to finally go!

This is the best anxiety busting tea! I was waiting to hear back from an old colleague and started getting anxious so I quick made a cup of this guy. I love the tart berry flavor, it tastes like it has a bit of citrus to it as well.

I remember not liking this one bit when I first got it, but today I made a mug of it after having a few cups of Berry Kiwi Colada from Teavana and it was WAY better than I remember. Definitely fruity and crisp. I’ll have to put this one back in the usual rotation!