Featured & New Tasting Notes

Gift earlier this year from one of our customers who invested in Katú, a yerba mate company. Sipping on a can of this cold-brewed roasted yerba mate on 15 Oct 2025 that was best before 28 Feb 2025. It tastes exactly the same as when we received it. And it is so strong and so smokey I can’t finish it. It is absolutely overwhelming, as it was before, a real bruiser in taste and caffeine.

Comments from several coworkers in the office include:
“swamp water”,
“ash tray”,
“OMG WTF”,
“fuck no”,
“hm not bad”.

Mr. “hm not bad” eventually went back to the mini-fridge for another can but the stock has remained untouched since earlier this year. I should probably drain the cans today and make room for tastier things. Ugh, 3 sips and I feel sick like last time, not due to the expiration date, but because my body just can’t handle strong yerba mate.

Second Greenfield tea I have received thanks to postcrossing tag (third being Kenyan Sunrise that I reviewed just before my short hiatus).

This tea is supposed to be raspberry forward; and well it is rather hibiscus forward with hints of raspberries. I have expected more punch of those red berries.

Fine for drinking, but nothing to keep in cupboard.

Another sample from my recent Tarotpuoti order. A lemon, apple, and ginger blend sounded just the thing for a dull chilly day like today. In practice it’s mostly apple, which is a pleasant surprise. It reminds me of the apple filling in a pie or crumble; soft, mushy, perhaps a bit overcooked. Definitely not crisp, fresh apple. There’s just a hint of ginger in the background, along with a twist of lemon. This one isn’t bad, got to say.

Hey, Steepster! It’s been a moment (something like 6 years, I think?) I never stopped drinking tea, of course, although for a long time I did slip back into the easiness (laziness?) of drinking regular old teabag twinings from the supermarket. A lot happened in the last 6 years; new job that doesn’t sap my mental health to quite the same extreme, new house, new husband. I am on the whole an awful lot happier now, but I do still need to remind myself to make time for the things I love.

So – jumping right back in with a cup of Buttermint this morning. An old favourite from twinings despite its multiple rebrandings and image changes over the years. It’s still as good as ever – smooth, minty, just the right amount creamy. None of the dankness I usually associate with bagged peppermint tea.

Glad to be back on board, anyway. Glad this part of the internet still exists, tbh. Long may it continue.

Tried again and my previous review still stands- just not enough spice.

The weather guy this morning said he felt like he was giving the forecast for “September 42nd” instead of mid-October. But we did have one viably autumnal day earlier in the week. Cool and deliciously damp, so I threw open the office window (old school building with windows I can control myself!) and used up some scraps of these nice leaves

It took me years to learn how I like lapsang: weak and wimpy. But this version is light enough on the smoke, I can steep it for a “grown-up” length of time without it tasting like campfire ash. The good-quality tea base is still detectible, too.

2025 herbal/caffeine-free TTB

Another one where the ginger is sitting in another room staring longingly at the mug and wondering why it wasn’t invited to the tea party. This tea is red, but not really hot or ginger. Basically just hibiscus juice. I don’t mind the taste of hibiscus – it’s just not what I wanted from this cup based on the name.

I received a tea gift in the mail yesterday evening! Many thanks to TeaEarleGreyHot for thinking of me and sharing this lovely tea, packaged with a scientist’s attention to detail including labeled tin, tea in sealed bag in tin, and all tea info included!

Today was a biscuit day. I try to make biscuits for AliasHali about once a week and have breakfast with her, and today our hot and sticky weather is supposed to break and fall temps return, so with the cloudy skies dampening the morning light and the candle on the table lending a comfortable air, it seemed a good day for it.

To accompany my breakfast, I just had to have a pot of Diamond Jubilee after its long absence from my cupboard.

I remain convinced that this is Harney’s Earl Grey Supreme with grapefruit flavor added. The blend is uplifted by the addition of Ceylon Silver Tips and the bergamot is accompanied by the close cousin grapefruit to further intensify the citrus flavor.

If you like strong Earl Grey flavor, you would probably love this. If you prefer a dark and dusky base with mild to medium strength bergamot and/or citrus notes, this is probably not for you.

This needs no additions for me, but I think you could add sugar if that is what you like. I have trouble imagining milk in a citrus tea like this even though I love orange and vanilla Push Up type flavors and Orange Julius, so maybe milk would work? Perhaps one day I will experiment for the sake of having better information to give, but as for me, I like it plain!

Thank you, again, TeaEarleGreyHot!

The first steeping of this was really nice! Mid and base notes, creamy coconut. I had a hard time waiting the recommended 10 minutes for it to cool, but I think it was the right choice. I drank it down pretty quickly. The second steeping I forgot about and I don’t know if it was because of that or that it’s a one steep type of tea, but the second cup was lacking. First cup FTW!

Just took out some of the teas I reserve for October, this being one of them. The bag is pretty old, but with time the squashy pumpkin, spices, and bergamot have all started to meld more harmoniously.

We have a few new teas on the DT website this week, including this one that has been introduced to our “Garden To Cup” collection which is basically just straight and traditional teas. It makes sense – we’ve carried straight sencha, gyokuro, genmaicha, and matcha for years and years. So why not a kukicha!?

For people who may not be familiar with this style of Japanese green tea, it’s made from the upcycled/repurposed tea stems that were historically a biproduct of sencha and matcha production that were discarded. Sometimes they’re roasted similarly to hojicha, though in this case we went with a very green/unroasted form of kukicha. So, the green in the name describes not only the tea type but the greener style and taste of the tea.

Because this is made from stems, there’s a lot less caffeine overall so it’s a nice option for late afternoon and early evenings. And supposedly the stems also have a higher concentration of l-theanine, so you get more of that calm clarity. However, in full transparency, that’s not an element that I’ve personally done much digging into since it’s I find it less personally important to how/why I drink tea.

It’s still very nutty though with a mix of more oceanic and brightly grassy notes with some buttery elements to the finish. I personally prefer my kukicha a bit more toasty and golden, but I think this will be very approachable for fans of our Japanese Sencha and Gyokuro Yamashiro who are looking to expand their knowledge of Japanese style green teas without venturing too far away from the familiar flavours they already enjoy.

I think it’s always nice to see another traditional tea in the assortment, so I’m excited to see how other people react to this one!

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.

2025 sipdown no. 39

This is definitely lavender with a softness of vanilla, without much actual vanilla flavour. The chai spices are mostly drowned out by the lavender, but I don’t mind.

Thanks for sharing Cameron!

I don’t notice cookies specifically, but I enjoy the spices in this blend! It’s well-balanced and tasty with sugar and milk. I liked it best cold!

I’ve been sipping down about 200g of this over time, thought I’d just put a note in before I’m done with it. The aged oolong is pretty nice, but its complexity is a bit shattered by the strong pine note that pervades it, presumably from the re-smoking process it went through ever handful of years. behind the pine note, you get an oolong note (ironicall) less roasted than typical wuyi stuff like DHP. Some floral notes and spice that melts into the pine.

liquor ranges from gold to pumpkin orange, clear liquor

Before this, I had a different aged oolong varietal from verdant, I forget which, but I much preferred it as it wasnt dominated by the pine note. Nonetheless, this tea is still enjoyable

2025 sipdown no. 37

I didn’t take any notes/don’t remember anything special because it didn’t wow me, but a nice enough cuppa. Thanks Cameron!

From Daylon R Thomas — thanks so much! The leaves here are dreamy, with mostly gold color and definitely more “needley” in appearance than other black teas. The scent of the dry leaf is very sweet and promising! The flavor is very different. Most distinctly, it tastes floral, what comes to mind is magnolia for some reason? And then some acorn squash, which also goes with the sweetness of the dry leaf. The second steep is a little darker in flavor, but also loses some of the nuance of the first steep. Maybe malty honey overall. Reading Daylon’s notes, he noticed grapes and hops and I don’t notice those at all. :)
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

additional notes: I was hesitant to finish this one, but didn’t want it to get any older! One of my faves from 52Teas. It gets quite high ratings, so I’m not sure how this never ends up in a reblend vote? Too many great blends, I suppose. This was a gem in the tea collection and I’ll miss it. It’s a brisk black base, too!
2025 sipdowns: 64
2025 unique sipdowns: 50

Sipdown

The sage in this tea reminds me just a little of the rosemary in Sakurambo in that it adds a familiar savory note in a fruity tea. The biggest difference is that the sage here is more subtle than the rosemary of Sakurambo. This is a very good tea, usually enjoyed at breakfast time and one of the growing number of black tea blends that Ashman likes without additions.

The sage gives this tea a fall and winter vibe to me, but we do drink it throughout the year.

Hi friends! Sorry I haven’t been writing any notes the past couple of weeks, I’ve been dealing with a minor wrist injury and obviously typing is not an ideal activity for recovery ha ha. I’m still here and reading! Just not writing much.

Anyway, I placed an order from S&V, mostly because there were some teas I wanted for my DIY swap advent. So I picked up some holiday teas and green rooibos blends I liked from last year’s advent, and a few other bits and bobs, including this. This is actually the same tea as their Charles Dickens literary blend, but available in smaller sizes (for some reason literary and National Parks teas are only available in 4 ounces). I remembered really enjoying it in the advent, so got a 1 ounce bag to try.

It’s delightful. Perfect balance of flavorful yet smooth black tea with an interesting mineral note from the rolled oolong, and just the right amount of blackcurrant. Just such a nice combination for an everyday tea. I’ll definitely be putting the full-size tin of Charles Dickens on my list for next time!

Wanted an apple tea for Rosh Hashanah and went with this (shana tova!). It just tastes like spiced apple cider, very classic fall. Wouldn’t mind restocking this, actually, as I’m almost out…

A friend got a packet of different Steep Mountain Teas at her local farmers market and this was the first I tried. Its not in your face smoky, but lightly smoky with a bread aftertaste. I might have to purchase as a Christmas present for my dad.

September Sipdown Prompt – World Rose Day: a tea with rose petals or flavors

This blend contains rose congou black tea as well as rose petals, but it is overwhelmingly violet flavored. This smells and tastes like the violet candies I love and always try to resist opening a pack but I want to eat the whole thing at once.

I do not serve this to Ashman as he doesn’t like tons of floral flavors in tea, especially rose. He likes jasmine pearls and doesn’t mind an oolong with some light scenting. This one would be way too floral for him (I think) but I love it when I just need to feel foofy.

The black tea base is good and hefty and I am sure you could add milk and sugar if you like your tea that way. I drink it sans additions and had it for breakfast. It is strong enough for that for me!

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I think this was my favorite tea from the gift bag I was given by Ashman’s co-worker and his wife. It is lightly fruity and has no artificial taste as do teas which have had candy flavoring added. The berry notes are natural seeming to me and taste like I expect a tisane made of dried berries to taste.

It was relaxing to drink as a hot beverage and refreshing as a cold sweet tea.

From the TTB. Safe, unremarkable black tea.