New Tasting Notes

Derk tucked a couple of packets of this in her last care package, and while my addled brain can forget why I walked into a room, I actually remembered having a taste of the same tea in the past. I waited to enjoy the encore cup before reading my previous review so as not to skew the results this time around. And with both cups, oolong + salted caramel = banana. Good banana, but not an equation one would expect!

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – September 2023 Tea #2- A tea from a favorite vendor

Had to do it.  No other tea shop could probably possibly ever unseat Butiki from THE favorite.  I like to revisit this one in summer.  I think I have a few summers left of it.  The flavor is still so spot on amazing.  The third steep was probably the best, making me regret tossing the leaves before a fourth. It’s coffee, it’s melon, it’s that incomparable base. sigh. I was going to actually finish another Butiki tea but I guess I recently misplaced it! oh no. But I’m sure it’s around somewhere.

I really didn’t buy this for flavor — more that I wanted the stress and anxiety reducing properties of GABA and I didn’t have any GABA teas around.  One teaspoon of these tiny bundles is enough to unravel in an entire steeping basket.   The flavor is quite different from any other oolong I have tried.  It’s butternut squash and only butternut squash.  Second steep?  It’s summer squash and only summer squash.  Third steep looks as dark as a black tea and tastes like a variety of squash.  I was dreading it being a one note of roasted flavor, but I’m not tasting a roasted note at all.  As regards the GABA, I think…. I was feeling the normal levels of stress and anxiety.  I also slept about the same, so it didn’t change my sleep.  Maybe my stress is too much for ANY GABA to handle.  I wouldn’t use more than one teaspoon to find out.  hmm… at least when I’m craving a tea with the flavors of squash, there is a definite tea for that.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a mug // 24 minutes after boiling // 1-2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep 
Steep #3 // 2 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Harvest: 2023

Sipdown! (10 | 325)

This was a bit of a sleeper hit for me, and probably my favorite of the whole bunch.

I’m not even sure why, but it just strikes a lovely balance of mellow, sweet, and herby flavors. Love the tulsi, but then there’s a gentle sweetness (the fennel maybe?) and a hint of cinnamon, and an almost creamy quality. It’s smooth and calming and just tasty. Almost the teensiest bit carrot cakey somehow?

Will definitely consider ordering some more of this one.

Cold Brew!

Yesterday on IG I asked for help picking different teas to drink today as part of a challenge of sorts that I decided to call “Choose My Tea Adventure”. Thank you to kimberleyskyusu for the inspiration for this!! I’ve seen her do something very similar several times and I’ve always loved the idea, and doing it today really was quite fun!

Since I do a daily cold brew I included that as one of the things to vote for. At the time the poll closed, it was actually “something weird” that had won, but since I typically start my daily cold brew first thing in the morning I had prepped Rainbow Lemonade since, at that time, “something citrusy” was the front runner by more than a handful of votes – sorry to disappoint anyone who was excited for me to pull something truly bizarre out of my tea stash. Next time!

I was thinking of the lemonade aspect of the tea when I picked it, but it was actually the orange notes in the blend that ended up coming through the strongest. Still citrusy, though! Combined with the fresh raspberry notes and overall tartness it had somewhere between a “Sweet Tart” (the actual candies, not the DT tea blend) and Tutti Frutti sort of flavour.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw—356uBMY/?img_index=3

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX7t6I1RxQc

Finding a song pairing for this one was actually harder in the moment than I expected. I have a playlist of about 150 teas that I usually have on in the background and I rotate songs out with new ones as I pair them off with teas. There just weren’t a lot of upbeat cheerful song on the playlist this weekend though…

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.

Latte Sipdown (2348)!

Yesterday on IG I asked for help picking different teas to drink today as part of a challenge of sorts that I decided to call “Choose My Tea Adventure”. Thank you to kimberleyskyusu for the inspiration for this!! I’ve seen her do something very similar several times and I’ve always loved the idea, and doing it today really was quite fun!

The first thing I asked for help with picking was my first tea of the morning. Of the options I gave, matcha latté was really the lead for most of yesterday though black tea made a STRONG comeback overnight. In the end, matcha latté just barely edged out the black tea, so I ended up going with a nice Autumnal and cozy almond milk latté that I sweetened with just a hint of maple syrup. I also paired it with some complimentary apple slices sprinkled with a pinch of the matcha itself and some cinnamon sugar. The flavour of this matcha is very, very light and more cinnamon forward than apple but it was still very enjoyable!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw—356uBMY/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5q2P4kz4k

Cold Brew!

God, I want to place another Paru order to restock on this tea and try some of Paru’s new blends so badly but I see the shipping total and remember how much I got burned by duties last time I ordered and it stops me right in my tracks.

It’s not going to stop me from enjoying the last of this bag, though. The lychee has lost a little bit of its punch but the blend is still smooth and silk with a beautiful balance of floral lychee and more of the syrupy, sweet lychee juices. With some lemon in there for support, of course. Plus the golden sweet potato and dark honey notes of the base, too. Let’s all be honest though. As much as all of those flavours add to the chorus of flavours, it’s the lychee that’s singing the big solo here.

Not gonna lie, I’ve been a little “off” Dessery by Deb lately. Not because the blends are overall particularly unpleasant, but I just found myself getting a little frustrated with the “sameness” of them all. However, I saw this one while looking through my green tea sample drawer and I remember how much I’d enjoyed this the last time I had it…

I have to say, it is quite different than other Deb blends – though she does lean on the cinnamon a little bit as a crutch, especially with all her Chai blends. However, I don’t think I’ll ever totally get over how perfectly she captures that balance of cinnamon sugar and oily fried dough – it’s perfectly like the piping hot mini donuts you get at a summer carnival.

Really enjoyed this cup!

Cold Brew!

In my head I didn’t remember this tea being all that great but I actually found myself quite pleasantly surprised by this brew. The rooibos base was very smooth with a gentle woody minerality and ever so slight hazelnut-like finish. It provided a nice canvas for what was otherwise a pure play strawberry flavour. Bright and just slightly tart with a crispness to the ripe notes. Very, very natural. By which, I should clarify, it lacked the “polish” that flavouring would typically provide but in a charming, endearing sorta way. Was it like a sangria? No, not at all. However, I just found myself marvelling at the simplicity and specificity of this particular type of strawberry flavour.

Just finishing off a mug of this one. The strawberry and cream notes with that slight buttery undertone are really working for me tonight, especially with the brisk black tea base. It’s weird though, as I get to the bottom of this cup I swear I can taste just a hint of unexplainable citrus.

This tea is really meant to be made cold brewed, but I ended up drinking a hot cuppa a few nights ago because I was really craving this particular combination of sweet peach and juicy passionfruit notes and i couldn’t find another peach passionfruit blend in my stash to make instead. It’s definitely better cold, but it scratched the itch from that flavour craving well enough! Definitely peach forward, but still just enough passionfruit to nail the combo.

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.

Confession time…

Halloween teas might just be my favourite to work on creating.

Now, maybe that’s because Halloween has been my favourite holiday for as long as I can remember. However, I think that’s only a fraction of the reason. I think it’s because they’re ultimately flavour forward blends where a huge part of the goal at the end is just to create an experience that’s just as much fun as it is delicious.

So, with that in mind, I’ve wanted to work on a Candy Corn blend for as long as I’ve been in research and development. Look, I don’t even personally like candy corn. I’m firmly in that camp of people who think they’re too sweet and just taste like fondant. However, that hasn’t stopped me from buying every single candy corn blend I’ve ever come across as a tea drinker. Why? Because they’re flippin’ fun. Candy corn is like the ULTIMATE expression of Halloween candy. It’s as iconic as you can get. And, maybe perhaps selfishly, I wanted to put my own stamp on that.

Now, as I just said, candy corn is very sweet. Too sweet. Ultimately, that’s why I decided to make this blend a chai. If it was only candy corn it would have captured that goal of making a fun Halloween tea but I needed it to actually have some other flavours going on too. Both to balance out that sweetness and because, as I said, I wanted my own stamp on candy corn teas.

So yes, this blend is sweet but it’s also spicy! Cinnamon, ginger, and clove to be exact. In that order. The cinnamon works well with the creamy sweetness of the candy corn in the blend (because, yes, we did put real candy corn in this tea). It’s sort of like a cinnamon bun type of vibe because of that frosting/fondant note except there’s no flavours of the pastry itself. The ginger and clove add a little more depth, and the ginger in particular with its subtle earthiness and heat does do a lot to help balance out the sweetness. It makes a mean latte too. But again, just to reiterate, it is still a sweet tea. I mean, it’s candy corn. You can’t buy a candy corn tea and not expect sweetness.

This is a store exclusive blend because, well, Candy Corn is a polarizing flavour. I know it sucks because most people aren’t near a store – but it’s just impossible to make everyone happy and stores are just the best way right now for us to test out teas. However, if it does well in stores or enough people express interest in having it online, I hope that we’ll get to release it on web too next Halloween!

EDIT: Totally forgot that this is in the “Six Steeps Under” sampler too, so there is technically a way to try it even if you’re not near a store!

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.

Gongfu Sipdown (2349)!

Continuing sampling through this gifted sampler with a session of the oolong for which I’ve heard the most overall positive feedback: Fenghuang Dancong!! I have to say that I get it. From just the first sip this oolong is so nuanced and flavourful. The first notes that come to mind are grilled plums, fresh lychee, charcoal, roasted peanuts, orchids, pomegranate molasses, and milk chocolate. That’s a lot, I know. However, those first sips really were like a rapid fire wave of non stop flavours one after the other. It’s the grilled plum that I’m most enjoying fixating on, those subsequent infusions start to feel a little cohesive as many of those notes group together into overarching families; roast and mineral, deep jammy fruits, florals, and otherwise “brown and decadent” flavours.

If you’re among the crowd of people who were also gifted with either iteaworld’s Classic or Oolong sampler, or you’ve seen the wave of posts and were inspired to pick one up for yourself, you should probably prioritize trying this one for a spin…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw8azlcuMON/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYYJwd2mfnE

Gongfu!

This was a morning session paired with some bright, tangy maracuya – aka Passionfruit!! Love the balance of sweet, whispy smoke notes with heicha itself, which has notes of sweetgrass, dandelion greens, brown rice, and hot summer hay. I was back home in the prairies recently and spent an afternoon driving through rural Saskatchewan. We passed many different fields in the process of being combined. Though not at all smoky, the smell of the air as we drove by was quite similar to the notes of this tea. Very nostalgic.

I didn’t actually like the maracuya all that much. It paired fine overall, but the fruit itself had a bit of that “body odor stink” that tropicals fruits sometimes have. I ate about half of it, and then decided to just abandon it and enjoy the tea on its own.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw51GmWuDbe/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1j7oyoXjpA

Nabbed this as a little treat for myself to enjoy on the walk home from the grocery store.

One of the words I feel I very, very rarely ever use to describe kombucha is “smooth” but, weird as it may sound, I felt like this was a very smooth kombucha. The mango flavour was a little lighter than I recalled it being from the last time I had this, and it wasn’t all that vinegar-y as far as kombucha goes. But the mouthfeel was thick in a pleasant way, and the lighter tropical notes were really easy drinking…

This was tasty with milk and sugar, and I thought being room temperature helped bring out its desserty flavors the most. I don’t know that I’d call this rum specifically, but it had a hint of something that was interesting. I think I would have preferred a little more going on, but it was a lovely way to finally finish my advent calendar!

Sipdown

My cupboard just hit 115, not including samples and small swap amounts. That is the lowest it has been in a long time. It did hit 115 a few months ago but that was because I had not entered all of my puerh plus one box of tea in pouches. Once I had entered those I was back over 130. So this is a happy milestone for me even though it is a sad sipdown. We love this one and will repurchase as soon as I get a few more teas out of the cupboard, because this is a shelf staple.

This has plenty of tea flavor and the vanilla here tastes like there is a smidgeon of caramel. There are often vanilla bean specks in the cup that some mistake for dregs. We drink it plain but milk and sugar take it to a desserty cuppa, and sometimes I add spices and sugar and make a syrup to add to Perrier for a cream soda style cold beverage. It mixes well with other teas, too.

I went to two stores today that sold loose leaf Harney tea and both had higher prices than Harney online, and Harney offers free shipping. Neither shop was a local mom-and-pop type store, and also it was a very small selection, so I will be ordering my replacement online.

I’m not much of a black tea lover, so most chais are all about the spices for me. And a good chai is such a treat, but this one isn’t quite there. I’ve tried it several ways (different number of tea bags, different amount of water, various temperatures, milk and no milk) but I just can’t seem to draw out more than clove and cinnamon from this one. There’s also not a lot of heat in the spice blend — maybe a little from the ginger, but I agree with the review that mentioned peppercorns: some black pepper would go a long way in this tea.

I’m a little bummed, because it’s not like I expect Stash to be top-shelf tea, but I do feel that I usually get a solid cup from them. I’m not sure I’ll finish this box. Ah well. Some nights were just meant for hot chocolate instead, right?

I pushed back opening this big bag, but as fall’s coming around, my cravings for something more level and spicy rolled in. It’s more than doing the job before I impulsively get chai teas. There’s a few others from Magic Hour I’ve eye balled yet again. The shipping and my need to budget have restrained me, and unfortunately, there are teas I have bulk of that I’m not enjoying nearly as much as certain samples I’ve ran out of or that I’m about to finish off. I’m half tempted to add bread to the notes for this one, making me think of an orange cranberry biscotti with just enough spice. Upping the rating for sure. 90 is a more accurate score for cost ratio and quality (nevermind the whole pieces of vanilla pods that land my pot), but I keep coming back to it, then I hold off so I don’t guzzle it in less than a month.

Now, it’s time for me to grade and watch some Wheel of TIme. I’ve weirdly enjoyed the series even though it’s not book accurate, though I had a hard time with Robert Jordan’s writing style. His alternation between a modern writing voice, contemporary religion, and fantasy tropes and cliches threw off my suspension of disbelief several times as I was reading. I know I’m a total hypocrite because I like Tolkien, Herbert, Weeks, and Gaiman, but the blended world building doesn’t sit right with my brain every time I read it. The TV show has issues too, but the blended cultural aspects are more cohesive to me. I’m thankful they just refer to the Dark One generally instead of lambusting you with the different names for Satan in Arabic, Chinese, and so on.

I wonder if anyone else on here has read Wheel of Time, and I’d be open to comments and debate about it. I know it’s considered to be on of the greatest fantasy series of all time, and a huge personal favorite for many people, so I know I may have upset a few people, but preferences be preferences.

4 grams backwards Western, starting out with 4 minutes, than 2, than 3, and than that was it. My first cup was heavy with corn and florals, tinged with apricot, melon, and honey. Second brew was more vegetable, tasting like buttery green beens, lettuce, spinach, jasmine, and some typical gaoshan clean green qualities with a little bit of darker aspects not making it too green. Last steep was vegetal, floral and sweet, but layered. The fourth cup was after a bit of time, and I mostly got cabbage.

I’ll say it’s pretty good, but I’m clamoring towards my blended or typical tea favorites despite the generousity and customer service of this company. This one is a little bit acidic for me, which I know is a weird way to describe an oolong. It almost makes the water harsher for me with it’s greener tannins, so I’ve stayed back from it and the Dayuling. I don’t know if I’m just imagining it. I’d be happy for input from other people on here.

Sipdown!

Finished by adding to a banana smoothie. This was part of the order that was my introduction to powdered hojicha, and I guess to hojicha in general. I think from here on I will probably always try to keep at least one hojicha around for evening sipping or when I want tea but not lots of caffeine.

I received a sample of this tea from a coworker who is from China and has a stocked tea cabinet at work. She described it as a panda poop fertilized green tea. It came in a really cute little gold toned tin with a peel-off metal top. I steeped at 175 for 1 minute for the first steep, and it is really surprisingly nice. The steeped leaves smell a little bit too umami oceany kind of scent for me, but the tea itself is just very light umami with a subtle richness in mouth feel, and without too much of the Marine flavors that I don’t care for in green teas.

Would drink again. (I’m actually going to do a few steeps to really give it a go.)

Sipdown

What an awesome tea. This is one I will probably repurchase in the future when I get my cupboard to a reasonable size.

There was an awkward amount of leaf left but I decided to over-leaf for breakfast because I could always add water if it was too strong, and this is a few months past its “best by” date so it might be fading. It was neglected because I have too much tea, plus I had a number of excellent black teas in large quantities, and this was not one that I was sure Ashman would drink since he used to be very picky about his black tea so I never made it in large quantities. The neglect was definitely not due to it being an inferior tea.

I don’t regret it. It was definitely stronger than it was last time I drank it, but so good. It is deliciously malty with some fruity notes.

Cold brewed 12 – 24 hours in the fridge – 1 bag/liter…repeat daily during hot weather.

Gentle grain/nut/roast flavors with very little sweetness. Medium-light bodied – bready and refreshing – one of the best non-alcoholic beer alternatives to my tastes.