New Tasting Notes

Last of the Blind Samples from several years ago. This is “E”, a basic sheng. Young astringency, bitter hay and stonefruit. But I feel relaxed, so there’s that.

Free sample with my last order, thank you.

February 2023 harvest

Si Ji Chun cultivar tastes like the quintessential green oolong to me. This one’s fresh, smooth and intensely floral with a light soymilk taste/texture and an undercurrent of pureed green vegetables. Too expansively perfumey for my preference but it is a tea I would recommend for its strong and long taste. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed it most prepared gongfu style in a glass gaiwan but I still tired of it quickly.

Sipdown! (37 | 352)

I think this tea wins for having the most ingredients, ha ha…

It has a pleasant herbal flavor to it – sweet and mellow, with hints of evergreen from the cedar, spruce, and fir tips, and a subtle touch of fruit from the elderberry, hawthorn, and sumac berries. Not sure if that’s the nettle leaf that’s making up the majority of the flavor? It’s enjoyable and soothing to drink, yet also feels very nourishing at the same time.

I’m not sure if I love it enough to order a larger pouch, I would like perhaps just a tad more from those pine and berry notes. I do have another, somewhat similar blend to try still, so we’ll see how that one compares.

Picked up a sample of this when I ordered a mug and the Cookie Box. They have a few in-house teas that they offer as samples, and this is one. I don’t get why they don’t offer more teas in this format, considering it’s the same one they use for boxes. But I digress…

This is a nice, extra-citrusy Earl Grey with a dash of creamy vanilla. I don’t get yuzu specifically, rather I would guess lemon. Yuzu has a very distinct pine-like flavor to it to me, and I don’t taste any of that here. It’s still a well-balanced cuppa though, with the bergamot and lemon taking center stage, and the cream sort of rounding the edges and giving a touch of sweetness. There’s a tartness to it that makes it taste almost like there was real lemon juice added.

I don’t think I would order a big bag of it, but I’ve enjoyed the sample. Good thing too, as I have another one on the way as part of the Brunch Box. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve been very interested in Sips by’s teas lately…

Day 21 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar. An herbal, yay! I’m getting plenty of sweet, juicy, tart hibiscus and berry, but not any of the titular mint. Which is fine, it’s still tasty. And it’s good hot and cold. I added seltzer to the last bit of it and it made for a nice tea soda, so bonus points there.

Day 20 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar and it’s more bergamot! If you like bergamot, oh boy, is the Dammann Freres catalogue for you. I, alas, generally do not. I was happy to see another green tea, but the hopefulness that struck in me was significantly dampened by the strong aroma of bergamot as soon as I opened the packet. The bergamot definitely translates to the flavor, but thankfully there are also some other, pleasant notes: peach or apricot, and maybe a hint of cream or vanilla. But really that bergamot is overwhelming.

Steepster! I have missed you so. I am still getting settled in my new home, but I’m starting to finally feel the pull to sit quietly for tea and contemplation. I’ve been so busy getting packed and then unpacked… I have taken a lot of distracted fly-by tea in the last month.

My very first session in the new place was Floating Leaves’ Lala Shan Hong Shui, which I don’t regret doing even though my unfiltered tap turned it evil. A good lesson in the power of water. I poured some out on the land and sat in gratitude anyway.

I want to do a big update on my cupboard here and really get tuned into my leaves as autumn settles on the mountain. I am looking forward to catching up on all of your musings over the last month. Here’s to new chapters, my friends.

Sipdown! (36 | 351)

Another in a long line of caramel teas from Deb. This tastes very similar to Salted Caramel Pancakes, and I remember there being several others that I thought were close as well, though I can’t recall the names at the moment. Sweet, somewhat buttery caramel sweetened with brown sugar, paired with toasted rice for a savory grainy note. Rooibos is here again, but luckily here it doesn’t overwhelm the black tea and just adds a subtle woodiness.

It’s fine, but nothing special IMO. I’m a bit confused as to why she didn’t include hojicha here since it’s meant to be a roasted milk tea. I guess she added the toasted rice instead, but to me that’s a bit different of a flavor. Also, a bit strange to throw Hokkaido in there when this doesn’t really taste creamy at all. Anyway, not one that I would reorder.

September Sipdown Prompt – your most exciting tea

This had a lot of hype and I believed it was likely as good as I have read. I was not disappointed.

We had this as our breakfast tea today. Ashman, who likes only a few black teas without milk and sugar, said that it reminded him of having a cup of hot chocolate…and there was no milk or sugar in it. That is pretty high praise for him.

As for my impressions of it, it is so rich and the more it cools the more chocolate you taste. It says there is vanilla added and I expected to taste a lot of vanilla but I really tasted none, so I think the vanilla must just be there to really bring out and accentuate the rich cocoa notes of this tea.

This is a hearty tea with dignity and refinement. Excellent with food, and excellent without. This is one of those teas that stop you in your tracks if you have been chatting and absentmindedly pick up your cup to sip. You will pay attention to it!

We were making it western style and so far have made three steeps. I still have the leaves in the basket and I think this may be good for one more.

While this is a very exciting tea and I was very excited to try it, I will be totally honest and say that it is my second most exciting tea, but the most exciting one has to wait until exactly the right time to be steeped. It is a very limited edition Da Hong Pao, purchased in London at Postcard Teas by Superanna. They no longer sell tea at their brick and mortar location but had one tin of the three they were able to acquire on site there for photographing and when she asked pretty please they agreed to sell it to her. I am waiting to have that one at an as yet to be determined family gathering.

New tea!

This tea released a week or two ago now – but it’s something I’ve been working on for over a year now. Cold 911 and Throat Rescue are two of DT’s best selling blends – especially during cold and flu seasons. However, both of them are more the type of tea you would drink after you’re already sick or starting to feel under the weather. Not before. And, with cold and flu season in particular, you’re not really fully covered unless you have something more preventative.

Enter Immunity SOS.

I feel like this is the long missing third sibling to this trio of teas. Developing it was actually a lot harder than it might seem. We spent a lot of time looking at traditional folk remedies for immunity as well as more “modern” things like Immunity Shots, and that was a huge part of the inspiration for both taste and flavour.

Though there are several ingredients in the blend that contribute to the overall taste and function the key ones are: Orange, ginger, sage, echinacea, and – to a lesser extent – turmeric. Orange and ginger as a combination are very soothing and we thought the brightness of the orange balanced out the warming, earthy heat of the ginger. Sage compliments both of these flavours with its soft herbaceous taste, but it’s also naturally anti-viral. Plus, we loved that it added this sort of aromatherapy component. It’s just so relaxing smelling as it steeps or as you cradle the mug post-infusion. Echinacea, of course, is very well loved for immunity so this was definitely a must have ingredient when balancing everything out in the blend, and the turmeric/ginger combination supports that natural spice note but is also this added layer/duo for inflammation.

In terms of taste I find this most comparable to The Skinny – but caffeine free, obviously. Compared to Sunny C, which is the other citrus-y herbal blend that DT carries year ‘round, this is a lot less sweet and punchy/tart. Though it has bright top notes, it’s overall just more herbaceous and cozy. That was important because a lot of people consume immunity targeted products as part of a routine so we wanted to create an overall experience that was comforting/relaxing instead of in your face – those type of really intense fruity profile teas tend to not as frequently be something that people want to consume every day or over and over during short stretches of time.

Overall, I’m really proud of this one! I think, even if you’re a flavour first kind of tea drnker, the blend is still really delicious and interesting. However, I love the ingredient list as this final accompaniment to what we’ve been playfully calling our “pharma-tea” trio. I hope others love it too!

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.

DAVIDsTEA recently had its 15th birthday as a company and to celebrate we had a giant office block party with some food trucks, music, tea infused cocktail classes, games, and of course different “tea stations” highlighting some of our teas…

One of the stations was an affogato station where we were serving fresh brewed Pumpkin Chai affogatos, so I of course had to scoop up one of those for myself to enjoy during the evening. I’m definitely one of those people who’s more of a “yearly one and done” Pumpkin Chai drinker but I did really enjoy the combination of sweet, warming pumpkin spices with the melted vanilla ice cream. It was delicious and perfectly autumnal for the cooler early evening festivities.

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.

Iced!

The other day at the office someone made a giant carafe of this iced to share among people. Definitely not the first tea I would have thought of to make iced, and certainly not something I would have ever made for myself either. However, who turns down free tea!?

It was pretty lavender forward, and I found myself slightly turned off by how heavy handed the florals were in the first couple of sips. However, I acclimated pretty quickly and eventually I found myself enjoying the mix of floral and citrusy bergamot, and even appreciating the natural sweetness to the finish. I ended up drinking and decently enjoying a full 24oz iced cup of this!

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.

Cold Brew!

I hate writing tasting notes when the dashboard is stuck but I think this is the longest it’s been messed up in quite some time and my backlog/queue is getting really nasty and long sooooo gonna try and power through some today…

This tea is ancient at this point. Like, somewhere between four and five years old I’m pretty sure. However, I still love it despite its weird citrusy funk. Not the nicest anymore when you make it hot, but as a cold tea more of the tropical banana notes come out and I can still taste the memory of what it once was!

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!

Finishing off seven days of shou pu’erh with a tea session enjoyed in the park!! Jingmai productions of ripe pu’erh were some of the very first I ever found to be enjoyable, back when I was really first starting to build an appreciation for this style of tea – so they hold a bit of an extra special place in my heart. I found this one to be slick and syrupy in terms of mouthfeel, with a flavour profile that was about as rich and starchy as it was brothy and earthy. Kind of like a savory porridge type of flavour, but with elements of beets and brown sugar in the mix too.

This past week of enjoying only gongfu sessions of shou has been really interesting. Of course, outside of gongfu, I drank other tea types and blends throughout the week as well. However, really sticking to one tea type in such short of a time span is something I haven’t done in years. I felt it really made me focus on the qualities I love about shou while at the same time really showcasing just how widespread the different tasting notes can be within just the one style of pu’erh. I am excited to switch things up again next week, but I wouldn’t surprise myself if I decide to repeat this exercise with a different tea type sooner rather than later…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxTJ7ObO_n3/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XQTrLq6M8Y

Gongfu!

If I hadn’t already been transfixed because of the subtle green melon aroma I was getting from the dry leaf, the explosion of fresh and aromatic florals that flooded my senses the moment the water hit the water would have gotten me. Perhaps it’s partly because I’m coming off a long stretch of pu’erh, but the bouquet of this Taiwanese Grand Cru oolong is just insane.

Steeped up, the liquor is smooth and buttery with just a hint of the green melon I was picking up as dry leaf. Though grassy, the flavour is also quite floral – like a bouquet of white Spring flowers lightly dipped in fresh sugar cane. The finish introduces hints of coconut milk, which lean further into the buttery quality of the tea. Divine!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxV9tY6OQcx/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKbH0eZDSO0

Gongfu Sipdown (2366)!

This sheng definitely had some bite to it, and I found myself initially somewhat taken aback by the sharp astringency and bitter and medicinal green vegetal flavours. However, with some course correction, I was able to draw out a bit more fruitiness and this introduction of peach skin and raisin-like flavours helped balance out the vegetal sharpness and lingering bitterness in the finish. Overall, though this wasn’t a tea particularly in tune with my own preferences for raw pu’erh, I appreciated how this tea challenged my palate and I can still see why it’s something others would enjoy!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxYrp3lO15B/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS9F8yvBc8I

Grandpa Style Sipdown (2367)!

As y’all know, I love a good smoked tea, and this one definitely delivers. It’s smooth and oak heavy with a mix of medium bodied smoke, vanilla, and stonefruit notes that almost make me think of a really good Bourbon or Scotch. In particular, I really enjoyed the natural vanilla notes with this sweet smoke; it feels like it could be a really approachable Lapsang Souchong for people who aren’t as into something more aggressive or in your face..

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxbYx6ggZ0P/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUv0xw3Srro