6105 Tasting Notes

92
drank Goji Pop by DAVIDsTEA
6105 tasting notes

(DavidsTea 2022: already recorded)

2022 Sipdown 136/365!

My son requested an iced pitcher of this, so I obliged. He then didn’t end up drinking much of it. I think he’s losing his interest in unsweetened iced tea, probably because he’s tried too many sweet drinks. Oh well.

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78

After a string of teas I didn’t much care for, I expected this to go the same way – my track record with Deb’s black/rooibos blends (why are there so many?!) is not very good. I think I dislike many of them. However, I actually rather enjoyed this cup, although I’m a bit worried that it could be because the rooibos had settled to the bottom of the bag so I missed scooping it out. The tea had a nice, robust base (which I may have slightly oversteeped), and I think I got both peach and almond, although I was more focused on the fact that I enjoyed it than anything else. I’ve also enjoyed the resteep today!

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84
drank Crassicolumna Yabao by Verdant Tea
6105 tasting notes

Ha, I missed that this said “yabao” when I grabbed it yesterday – explains why it both looked and tasted like it! It was a delicious couple cups, with that distinct yabao flavour that I’m terrible at describing, and lightly sweet.

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70

Well, this did taste kind of like banana muffins with dark chocolate – the banana flavour is definitely more muted and not runty at all, more like a baked banana. I don’t remember it clearly anymore, but I believe I felt fairly ambivalent about it, as there wasn’t enough depth from the base tea, just the flavourings.

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74

I liked this, although it tasted more like a rose-floral strawberry tea to me than anything sakura.

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76

(DavidsTea 2022: 121)

I preferred this to Golden Spiral; decent vanilla flavour and robust base. Not my favourite vanilla profile but that’s ok.

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73
drank Golden Spiral by DAVIDsTEA
6105 tasting notes

(DavidsTea 2022: already recorded)

Super behind on tasting notes. I’m not sold on this tea; there’s a bit of a bitter flavour that appears to be part of the profile and not a user error issue. It’s drinkable, but there are many other black teas I prefer.

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62

It really kills me that I seem to hate Deb’s earl grey flavouring. This tea literally tasted like dirt. Blueberry/wildberry dirt. Hers are the only EGs where I have had this impression pretty much every single time; I’ve loved (or at least liked) nearly every other EG I’ve had, including every single 52teas blend. I feel like the rest of the tea is pretty good, and without that EG flavouring I’d love it, so it’s very frustrating to me. Like with Cream Soda Float, it seems to mostly/only be me with this problem :(

I finished the cup, and mourned my tastebuds for their inability to enjoy this flavouring.

tea-sipper

No, I too have a problem with Deb’s bergamot… from maybe the one bergamot tea I have tried by Dessert by Deb.

Cameron B.

I also find her Earl Greys to taste like dirt. At first I thought it was the lavender, but I think it’s the Earl Grey base.

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67

So, uh, yesterday (apparently June 29) I was convinced that I had a solid 5 days left of June. At least 3. Clearly, I was very wrong. Not sure how this month managed to pass so quickly. (Oh yeah, two kids…)

Tried this tea today; the name sounds good but I remembered reading something in a note by Ros(?) that it contained star anise… and apparently I got a whole one in my cup. Unfortunately, I do not care for this spice, and as a result, did not much care for this tea. However, I might like it more either a) without an entire star anise in one cup, or b) as a latte. It wasn’t entirely objectionable, just too much of that particular licoricey flavour for me. Otherwise, it was a warmly spiced, somewhat creamy chai sort of flavour. Not sure I’d call it caramel, but maybe that flavour would emerge with less dominance from another.

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1
drank Cream Soda Float by Dessert by Deb
6105 tasting notes

Has anyone else ever left fruit teas sitting in an infuser after steeping, for so long that they go moldy? (2 days is all it takes in the summer.) It gets this unmistakeable, rotty smell. Quite gross. Same smell happens if you have a matcha latte in your travel mug and forget to wash it for a day or so. All this to say… this tea very very unfortunately smells exactly like the aforementioned smell. Immediately when opening the packet, I was hit with it and it made me quite sad. I think it’s the sarsaparilla root? And I think I’ve had 1 or 2 DavidsTeas with a similar resulting aroma (and gave them very negative ratings).

Decided to be brave and brew it up. Now my house house smells gross :/ Also braved a sample, and while it does taste better than it smells – kind of creamy with the same flavour, though muted – I cannot get over the fact that it smells like decomposition to me. Blech.

Skysamurai

_ oh my word. Aroma is one of my favorite parts of tea. Good on you for still trying it!

Courtney

I haven’t actually had this happen, but I’ve been forgetting cold steeping teas in the fridge for a week at a time and have been worried — but so far, so good!

Leafhopper

Yuck! I’d be very disappointed if a tea smelled like that.

Kittenna

Skysamurai – Yep, aromas are big for me too. I was just really curious whether the taste would have any redeeming qualities – and it did, but definitely not enough to overcome that smell.

Courtney – I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea go bad in the fridge, surprisingly. However, sometimes cold-brewing for too long brings out unpleasant flavours/too much hibiscus or pithy citrus.

Leafhopper – Definitely disappointed. The two other reviews on here are much favourable, so I would guess that this is just a strong aversion to sarsaparilla as opposed to an issue with the tea. Now, how to rid myself of it…

Roswell Strange

Out of curiosity, do you like rootbeer or other drinks that contain sarsaparilla?

Kittenna

Roswell – I enjoy regular root beer (and cream soda) and 52teas’ root beer teas. I also enjoy wintergreen (gum, lifesavers). I don’t know that I’ve ever tried sarsaparilla specifically, or noted it as an ingredient in teas before, but I wouldn’t have expected to hate it so much!

Also, I looked back and apparently it was DT’s Cherry Cola that I hated; I actually liked Root Beer Float. Neither contained sarsaparilla though.

Also also, I put my (finum) infuser through the dishwasher after this tea, and it still smelled bad so it’s back in for round two. I’m starting to question if there’s not something wrong with my batch (although I think I’ve had some particularly pervasive mint flavours in my infusers previously too).

Roswell Strange

Hmm, interesting. Most modern rootbeer is still made using either sassafras or sarsaparilla, which is why I asked. Why knows though; taste is weird sometimes. shrug

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Bio

I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

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