Featured & New Tasting Notes

GCTTB5
I used up the last of this sample.

I love yunnan blacks and this one is delicious. This is the first Yunnan Sourcing tea I have tried, so I am happy to try this sample. I will have to order from them sometime after I sipdown all my Butiki.

The golden needles are beautiful. This tea is smooth and complex. I taste notes of honey, malt, cocoa, and slight sweet potatoe. The mouthfeel is thick and delicious.

I resteeped at 4 minutes and it was just as delicious.

I didn’t have much luck with this one yesterday – just didn’t do anything for me but i’m not sure if that was just my mood and the kinda of day i was having or what. Tasty, but not as incredible as that first time i had it.

Final Count: 116

I love these types of light black teas. I knew I had to try the new one from Zen! The leaves are like tiny dark tree branches. The flavor is a great example of this types of tea: honey, hints of malt, and a lot like those chocolates with the roman nougat filling. That is exactly why I love this type of tea. It’s probably only noticeable if you’re a fan of those types of candies. Maybe to others it’s a hint of cherry (or maybe just something fruity) and nuttiness. I could wish for a little more of the roman nougat flavor, but some of these types of teas don’t have that at all, so I’m glad it’s there. The flavor is very smooth and I think perfectly steeped this way. The cup looks like it’s full of maple syrup and just as smooth!
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 12 minutes after boiling // rinse// 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 21/2- 3 minute steep

Sipdowns: 1/25 The Tea Spot – Chocolate O

GCTTB5

I would say that this tea is more of a citrus/berry tea than tropical (as Jillian mentions). It isn’t overly floral, but I am not a big fan of rose in teas. I picked out most of the rose petals/buds but to me I just can’t get the Rose out of my head. The flavours don’t really meld that well together either. Oh well, I can’t love every tea…that would be very very bad on my credit card!

I’m glad I got to try it.

This tea is SO GOOD when you’re not feeling well. The fennel and anise and (eugh) peppermint work together so well. Especially with a bit of honey.

Om nom nom.

Large mug last night, and a travel mug of it today.

Thanks so much for sharing, MissB!

Beware – this is not an apple tea! Named for a George Harrison song, “apple scruffs” refers to a group of serious Beatles fans in the late 1960s. As for this puer cake, it is made with leaf from XiGui in the eastern Lincang Region. In my experience, XiGui tea is rather gentle and sometimes a bit finicky – this one is no exception. Note: over-brew or over-leaf this tea and you produce a less appealing bitter and astringent cup. Floral scent comes from the dry leaf of the cake which has lots of whole leaves. Bright clear yellow tea soup results from the leaf infusion – floral and sweet are the best taste descriptors for this tea liquor. Lingering mouth- and throat-feel. More fruity with sugarcane sweetness after the 4th infusions. I must say this really was a refreshing break from the older shengs I’ve been enjoying lately. Not terribly complex but a very nice tea if you do not care for the earthier puer so many of us drink regularly.

This review is for the 2014 harvest.
While this is a dancong, it resembles a pouchong because of the floral notes and brightness. Yet at the same time it as the characteristics of a roasted oolong because of the color. The darker color doesn’t add any notes you would expect though which was quite a surprise as I was expecting a stronger tea. To be honest: This is one of the most gentle cups of tea I’ve had in a long time. Between the mouth feel and taste, this is a beautiful leaf. The liquid has little aroma and the taste is very delicate. This is one of those teas you have to drink slowly and think about the taste right after to realize exactly what you just tasted; unlike stronger teas that kind o punch your taste buds.

Tea Habitat being included for the 2nd or 3rd group buy in 2016… maybe :)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BA7d331RYD1/

Holy Scheiße, this is sweet. Everyone knows how I love my coconut but the sweetness is simply over the top here. Coconut is already naturally sweet, so the addition of cane sugar—especially considering that there are also white chocolate chips in this—is so unnecessary. It stops tasting like coconut after a while and just tastes like sugared milk. Actually, I added a touch of cream to this and that is all this tastes like.

I was hoping this could be a reasonable substitution for their lemongrass-less Coconut Oolong that they offered a couple springs ago, but no dice. I’m still baffled why DAVIDsTEA would bring that back, add a truckload of lemongrass to it, but keep the same name. Can you please just bring back the original?

This kind of reminds me of Chocolate Macaroon but on sugar ‘roids. I wanted to write sugaroids but apparently those are Polaroids nuked in the microwave with sugar and water to alter the surface, so sugar ’roids will have to suffice. So yeah, this is Chocolate Macaroon’s chocolate-less, pecan-less cousin jacked up on some serious soluble carbs.

Lastly, I can hardly tell that the base is even oolong. It’s simply buried too deep underneath the sweetness. I’ll stick to Chocolate Macaroon whenever I’m in the mood for a DAVIDsTEA coconut dessert tea.

I celebrated the full moon last night with this gorgeous tea! This is truly a unique and special tea. There is no question why it was used to catch fairies. The wrapper is yet another beautiful design from this company, and it complements well with the cake itself. The tea beeng is an array of spectacular colors of silver, ebony, and brilliant orange. Honestly, the tea’s beauty is what had me hooked on trying it. I gave the cake a sniff and took in some dry grass with a slight tang in the background. I warmed up my gaiwan and placed a hefty chunk inside. I sat for awhile and enjoyed the full moon. There was some clouds covering the sky, but it was still simply incredible. While I gazed at the moon, I could smell the magic from this tea already begin to fill the air. I lifted the lid and let all the aroma spread through out my tea room. I was picking up strong notes of grapefruit, flowers,and nectar. These platinum leaves were crisp and sweet with citrus scents and smoothed and woody with a herbaceous undertone. This was going to be a treat. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The liquor was a deep and vibrant orange. The steeped leaves moved into a sweet tang with an alcoholic white wine finish. The grapefruit scent had been replaced by a fresh tangerine. I took an inhale of the sweet liquor and took my first sip. The initial sip was super sweet with potent citrus scents filling the air. This such a good feeling tea. The flavors are crisp and sweet and remind me of a summer fruity drink. The drink begins stevia sweet and moves into a crisp sparkling tang. The tea clears the head and lifts the spirits. This brew has an almost detoxifying feeling. The drink moves progressively into a strong heavy body of syrupy sugarcane sweetness. I didn’t detect the grapefruit taste until later steeping. These silver leaves lasted for a long time, and they continued to yield a heavy orange liquor with fresh sweetness. The leaves unfolded and my gaiwan was full of a flowery arrangement. The qi was long lasting and quite powerful. The feeling was an uplifted sensation with lots of energy and giggling. This is a perfect tea for any gathering, and is likely to bring a lot of laughter. I noticed that if you add more leaf the brew becomes heavily sweet; if you use less leaf the brew moves into the more grapefruit and tangy tones. This is a wonderful tea, and it’s beauty alone is enough to show off. I’m so happy to have been able to try this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA6L3lbzGTc/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA6MafszGUk/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Sipdown (123)!

I’m glad I picked up a sample of this to try Gong Fu because tonight’s session was really lovely overall! Actually, for a pure tea from DAVIDsTEA I definitely thought this exceeded my expectations, which probably weren’t as low as they should’ve been. I wonder why the tea is being discontinued? Supply issues? Lack of popularity?

Anyway; the first thing I noticed about this tea right from the start was that it had a really powerful floral aroma and taste. My little sister was convinced that the tea incorporated lavender in some regard because that’s what it smelled like to her. Personally, I didn’t taste lavender per say in any of the ten infusions I had but it WAS very floral and sweet. Quite lovely, actually.

In addition to that, the middle infusions were absolutely the sweet spot with this tea: I was presented with not only the floral notes I’d tasted in the first infusions (and latter ones) but a bouquet of clean, crisp vegetal notes, and a really smooth butteryness which also reminded me quite strongly of coconut or coconut water in the first half of the session. Less so in the second half.

The last infusions were quite fruity; definitely stonefruit, I’d say. DAVIDsTEA calls it ‘plum’ but I disagree with that – if anything I’d say it’s more of a peach or apricot kind of fruitiness. It really isn’t super distinct though. Along with this fruityness I also taste cane sugar.

This tea was also a lovely one to share with my sister because I kind of got to show her how a tea’s profile changes over multiple steepings. I shared the second infusion with her and she disliked it a lot; she called it too grassy/vegetal (a word she’s learned from me) and not sweet enough. However, a few sips from the seventh and eight infusion changed her mind and she couldn’t believe I wasn’t sharing a totally different tea with her! The profile had changed that much.

Even though I just picked up 22g a couple days ago, this is already a sipdown. The jug of cold brew is nearly done, meanwhile, I passed off the remaining leaf to my mom since she’s going to our house in the middle of nowhere for a while. Wish she had more since she loves it.

I forgot how good this is. Lovely balance of rhubarb and strawberry, with smooth creaminess reminiscent of strawberry rhubarb yogurt. Fingers crossed they won’t discontinue this like Redberry Tonic. For shame!

DAVIDsTEA is apparently offering 20% off 100g of any tea until the end of the weekend. Wonder if I should go back and get more of this. That location also received another batch of Cardamom French Toast, so that is tempting too, however, I got two 50g skinny tins of it when they went on sale so not sure if I should bother with more despite the new stuff being so wonderfully fresh. And then there’s Cranberry Pear discontinuing so I’m tempted to get more. Damn you, DAVIDs. Damn you.

Super busy these days – rest assured that i am drinking tea like a mad woman, trying to get my stash down so i have room to buy tea at the tea festival next weekend. this one is divine. looking forward to seeing what else AU will come up with.

This is a queued tasting note!

I LOVE fennel so I was pretty excited when this came out as a ToTM; I’m always down for trying a new fennel blend and I love when they’re caffeine free because then I can enjoy them as a late night sweet treat.

I grabbed this one hot as a “To Go” in store when I went to restock Juicy Orange and Buchu Superfruit – it was certainly quite tasty but not really surprising in any regard. Very strong, sweet licorice/anise/fennel flavour and then a more herbaceous undertone which is nice because it stops this from tasting totally one dimensional.

I wont grab more, at least right now, because the Dutch Licorice rooibos I have in my cupboard currently fills the slot in my stash for a licorice tea just fine but when I finish that tea off I don’t know whether I’ll opt to restock this one or Dutch Licorice. Both are quite lovely.

Did a side by side this afternoon with this and Teavivre’s Golden Monkey. Harney on the left, Teavivre on the right.

http://tinyurl.com/hyqoboe

I warmed the gaiwans, put in the leaf and covered while the water was heating. Visually, there are more golden tips in the Harney tea. The scent of the warmed, dry leaves: Teavivre has a smell of hay and dark molasses. Harney’s aroma is malty brown sugar.

About 200F was water temp. 1:30 steep time.

Scent of steeped leaves: Teavivre was sweet dusty hay, Harney was a smell of cooked, wet leaf and rock.

Taste of cup: Teavivre was hay with some malt, mild with a minor, not unwelcome, sour note at the end of the sip. Harney was maltier than TV and sweeter in that brown sugar way, liquor is lighter in color by a touch.

Conclusion: I like the Harney better. Granted, however, that the Harney is fresher (2015) and the Teavivre is older (2014). So this wasn’t an optimal taste comparison, probably. I’ll still enjoy both. :)

OMGsrsly was generous enough to send me one of these orbs. Thank you so much.

I’ve been finding that I like sheng better with less leaf than is normally recommended. So yes, I broke this in half.
About a week ago I used one half and did a gongfu session with it. It was nice and light. I didn’t take detailed notes – but it was good. Maybe just a hint bitter with a little grassy – but not excessive.

Today I’ve taken the other half and dumped it into a steeping basket and a Davids perfect mug. I know, I know – but western steep works for me sometimes. This is one of those time. This is really good with short – 15/20 sec. A little creamy, really smooth, just a hint of the sheng mustiness. With this preparation, this is right up there with my favorite shengs.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAavf_6OE5O/?taken-by=dex3657
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAaxc3XOE8l/?taken-by=dex3657

Oh no, cupboard is all bloated from a bunch of DAVIDs teas I picked up yesterday evening. My mom and I went to smell the new teas, and even though I didn’t want all of them, the sales associate measured 20g each of Hangover Helper and Ginger Peach Moringa. I was wondering why there were so many baggies and why the total was more than expected but didn’t think she would do that. Sigh.

My mom is a huge fan of Bosc pears so this was a must. I would say that this is around 50/50 in apple and pear flavours. It’s also sweeter than their other pear-flavoured teas. Two thumbs up for using green rooibos instead of red. I would have liked more cinnamon. There’s just something lacking here. Or maybe I’m mentally comparing it to Cranberry Pear and Ginger Pear too much. Both have more pear flavour, and the latter is spicier, at least. I wouldn’t get more but it won’t be too hard for two people to finish the 22g we picked up either.

Shake, shake, shake. I reach into the bag with my teaspoon to spoon the leaf into my steeper and somehow I managed to drop and fling the very last cranberry somewhere. I looked everywhere and that cranberry just would not be found. How very sad.

I love this tea. Everything about it works for me. Nice degree of tartness. Just the barest hint of cinnamon. A dash of cream.

Yes, this favourite is rapidly disappearing.

Just the right one for my 100th note.

Earlier this week, I wrote a rather quick note about this one and said I’d come back to it when I had more time. In particular I had a really hard time figuring out what I was smelling in the aroma of the steeped tea.

I now know what I’m smelling. You won’t believe it.

Spaghetti! With marinara sauce!

I checked in with no. 1 who was sitting next to me at breakfast and he agreed. I was worried I might be going crazy, but he smelled it, too.

There’s a sharp fruity note like cooked tomato, and a bready pasta note underneath that.

Wouldn’t you know, spaghetti, pasta, tomato, marinara-none are available as flavor options. I can’t say it’s surprising, just a little frustrating.

To add to my previous note, the tea is a sort of light maple color after steeping. Now that I have spaghetti with marina in my head, I’m tasting that more than the hot praline of the other day, but it’s remarkably tasty.

This may be one of those teas that changes in flavor from cup to cup, which is always fun.

I am glad to have this back in my cupboard. It is so unique and different!

I am still unsure how to describe the taste though. I have never had sea buckthorn. It is bitter and sweet at the same time if that makes sense. It reminds me a little bit of chokecherry or Saskatoon berries maybe. It has a nice creamy aftertaste.

OMGsrsly mentioned she had quite a bit of her Caramel Vanilla Assam tea which reminded me that I have about 4 oz of this sitting in my stash. With that in mind, I decided to brew up a cup.

Admittedly, I was not paying all that much attention as I have been emailing places about volunteer opportunities in my area/Toronto but this tea disappeared before I even noticed what I was doing. That means it must have been good and though I can’t point out any unique notes I picked up in this mug, I can say that it is still amazing, despite being left in the paper Butiki bags since October 2014. I am especially impressed that the coconut has held up this long without going rancid (DAVIDs should take a lesson from Butiki as their coconut spoils fast), though I am not surprised.

Artificial-tasting lingering aftertaste.

This is an excellent tea. There was very little bitterness to this, just a little. While I won’t say it wasn’t sweet, the sweetness was subtle. It didn’t rush at you like some apricoty sheng. This is a tea I was supposed to get for free with my black Friday order. It was left out of that order along with a gaiwan. Paul sent the missing items and gave me three of this tea instead of one. It seems to have some qi, but not tea drunk kind of qi. This is a tea I wish I had picked up more of with my last order with White2Tea which is still inbound from China. This is the second rolled puer I have tried. And I have to say I like it as much or more than the Misty Peaks version. It is hard to say which is better from one session, but this is good. This has a strong, slightly bitter aftertaste.

I brewed this ten times in a 100ml gaiwan with one puer ball or 8g leaf and 200 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. Didn’t give this one a rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min.

Should I be admitting that I have loads of this tea left? At least 2 oz, maybe closer to 3…

And it’s still delicious. Yumyumyum.

Will definitely do a second steep when I get home.

Cola tea! I wish I got more of this because of the 25g I got with the group order, I’m already almost done from cold brewing. It smells exactly like cola bottle candies. I freaking love that. Chewy candy exploding with cola flavour.

It’s nice that this is decaffeinated too. It allows for the flavour to shine through more. The first time I had this, I enjoyed it hot, and the cola flavour was even spicier. It reminded me of why some spicy blends end up tasting like cola to me, and prompted me to do a little research on what exactly makes cola a flavour in itself anyway. Of course, cinnamon, vanilla, and citrus are the main flavours and I can totally taste these notes hot.

It doesn’t appear to be on their site anymore. Whaaaat? I hope this only means that it’s seasonal. I just may have to email them with my terrible, basically non-existent French and ask.