New Tasting Notes

I’m behind on my tea reviews, and unfortunately, most of them are new teas that aren’t on the site….again. So I’ll start easy with the ones I’ve got on hand or are already in the database, and then add the others slowly. Some of them are incredible, and there’s something new, and more, from Magic Hour, Liquid Proust, Steven Smith, Crafted Tea Leaf, and swaps. I’m half tempted to add them to random at once, but some deserve more attention.

As to these, I’ve sipped down Epiphany while camping, and made some Joyous today. Epiphany will be missed, dearly for its fruity vanilla combo and its headache relieving power.

Joyous hit me a little differently today. I’ve been reading the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas with my girl friend for one of my summer reads. I’ve only finished six books so far, 2 nonfiction, and the rest fantasy. I’ve got some THOUGHTS on those books, and I’d be happy to see if there are any other readers. I’m enjoying it, but have a lot of reservations about certain aspects of character development and ethics. Anyway, the cirtus and salt description of one of the cities in the book series, Valeris, made me go for citrus and passion, so Joyous is my “teaparing” for it. Aries would have been great for the first book since it’s Beauty and the Beast, kindof, but the second and third, I’m not sure. Joyous has a very strong citrus, vanilla, and slight minerality to it that made me think it was a good choice. It’s also the passion chakra for groovy nerds, and the sensuality connection is also decent.

As for the tea, I’m enjoying it more than I initially did. I rebrewed it three times with roughly four grahams mug style, and it was a great balance of orange, bergamot, vanilla, and malt with no astringency or bitterness whatsoever. I can’t remember if there’s any spice to it, yet there was barely a hint in exchange for smoother flavors. The Epiphany and the Throat Chakras are still my favorite of this bunch of 7 teas, but Joyous is growing on me.

Unintentionally went on a little mini strawberry tea binge this weekend. All very different interpretations of strawberry, though. So that was interesting. I enjoy this blend. It’s a nice middle ground of fresh strawberries and a more indulgent strawberry profile but while still being primarily a brisk, black tea base. Wish it had a distinct maple note because I just so strongly associate pancakes with rich maple syrup, but it still works!

I have admittedly been putting off trying this tea because the dry leaf aroma smells very medicinal to me, which is concerning as a person who seems to have a very high tolerance for the more medicinal side of rooibos. However, I finally made it over the weekend and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. I still think there’s a slightly mineral and woody edge that might be a problem for the more rooibos hesitant folk out there, but the strawberry was plump and ripe tasting and there was a very nice silky creamy/yogurt undertone that combined with the berry made me think of Campino hard yogurt candies. Which was nostalgic.

Really had a craving for this one on the weekend so I dug out my nearly empty tin of it. Still elements of this tea I’m a little softer on, for sure, but I really liked the richness of the chocolate notes in this cup. Not dark chocolate but still reaalllllyyyy saturated, dense flavour pay off. Made me think a little bit of the Milka chocolate that’s more popular in Europe that I occasionally order from a store here in Montreal that imports global snack foods…

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.

Another office cuppa!

So, I actually made this one immediately after finishing my mug of 52Tea’s Gooey Butter Cake, and I feel like I was subconsciously trying to find another tea in the office with that type of flavour profile. Light, buttery/baked tasting, and lemony. It was interesting having those two back to back. My takeaway was that I felt this tea better nailed the ‘cake’ element, but I liked the lemon notes in the 52Teas blend better.

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.

Made this one at the office on Monday.

I feel like I maybe mentioned this the last time I reviewed this tea, but it doesn’t really fit the image I have in my head for its namesake. It’s missing those really indulgent “sweet brown” notes and, well, the “buttery” taste. However, it’s still a really pleasant tea. I like the gentle, natural sweetness and the hint of lemon. It’s like a more delicate baked good, perhaps. Madeleines were kind of what came to mind as I sipped on it this time around.

Lemon Madeleines.

I’ve had an off and on again headache this week. Nothing so bad that I’d call it a migraine, but it’s been a nuisance. Enough so that I pulled this tea out in the morning to bring to work with me, which ended up being a good call. The gentle boost of the caffeine combined with soft, soothing and more aromatic mint and lavender was really relaxing. I almost felt like I could feel the tension in my temples and shoulders just melting away.

Cold Brew!

I expected this tea to taste a lot more intense since the dry leaf aroma is pretty potently red apple and cinnamon, but steeped I was pleasantly surprised to find a more gentle touch. Not muted/weak, but just restrained in the right kind of ways. Light to medium bodied and still pretty white tea forward, which does always make for a crisp, cool and refreshing chilled drink. The cinnamon and apple are present, but it doesn’t make this feel Autumnal which was kind of a fear of mine. The cranberry might be adding to the more “red” notes of the apple – it’s not especially tart, which is what I’d expected. I like this, overall! Still gonna have to try it hot to really get a proper read though – my instinct is that this might be one of those teas that morphs a lot depending on the steep method.

Cold Brew!

Really, really loved this cold brew. It was so bright and lively tasting with a spectacularly sharply tart yet juicy and sweet pink grapefruit and lemon note. Just enough of a hint of pith to keep it balanced and really natural/realistic tasting. Ultra refreshing, and bottom line just kind of chuggable.

Gongfu!

Each steeps starts on a creamier, more buttery note but as these beautiful leaves really opened up the array of aromatic, fresh and delicate floral notes really (pardon the pun) began to fully blossom. Peony, orchid, and lilac. The tail end of the sip was a touch more green and vegetal, with a mild fruitiness that made me think of apple skins. I did have to keep mentally on top of my steep times as this Dong Ding does lean more astringent than desirable when brewing parameters are too relaxed, but the flavour payoff was well worth the attentiveness. Such a wonderfully creamy oolong!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv24dryuoM0/?img_index=1

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

Gongfu!

Sipped this one on Sunday paired with some Merlot BellaVitano cheese! I picked this black tea for my pairing because I knew that it’s almost saturated notes of caramel, baked yams, malt and red fruits would perfectly compliment the more tangy, bright berry and plum notes in this ripe cheese. Plus, the tea definitely has the body to hold its own ground. It works wonderfully, with the starchier elements of the tea and the salty notes of the cheese taking the back seat as the darker red fruit and berry flavours of the two come together and deepen into one unified richly boozy and sweet flavour bomb! I can’t think of a much nicer way to cap off the weekend.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv5hrw9OjdZ/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M02-ikttU0

Sipdown (2308)!

Finished this one off for Matcha Monday. It’s the perfect warming and cozy yet fresh, ripe and almost creamy peach flavour for this weird time of year where it’s not quite Summer and not quite Autumn. Probably one of my favourite peach matchas that I’ve had the pleasure of tasting; that little bit of an extra twist goes a long way!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv8MuoqODLi/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouWrdn1kkd8

Started my morning with this tea because I was feeling something light and summery. As someone who has historically really struggled with sencha forward tea blends, this was probably one of my favourite discoveries from Toronto Tea Festival at the start of this year! It’s become one of a veerrrryyy small club of green tea blends I drink on a regular basis. The green melon flavour is just so dang good, and the green tea so smooth!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv-rPisuJ3g/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUjuTzTeDk8

Ok so I haven’t posted in a week, partly because I’m really burned out work-wise and partly because the way I’ve started coping with that is I’ve started restoring my old Polly Pockets from childhood. Turns out I missed a pandemic trend of collecting and restoring classic Polly Pockets, so now I’m catching up and glad that there are folks who have made videos to help me figure this out! There’s something oddly satisfying about taking something small and old and loved and fixing it up, plus it really rewards the detail-oriented way my brain works anyway.

This tea brought me back to Steepster though, because I picked it up in my big recent order and cracked it open today. It’s so delightful! Which, admittedly I’m an easy mark. Rose, cinnamon, and vanilla are three of my favorite flavors. In this case, the rose and cinnamon definitely dominate. Both are strong, in a way that I really enjoy. There’s also a great sweet note and even a cookie-ness to it as a hot latte. I had forgotten about the vanilla again until I sat down to write this, but my guess is that the vanilla flavor folds into the cookie flavor/effect. While I was able to get a second steep, it wasn’t as good as the first. I think I’d probably rather just do a strong single steep. Overall super glad I got this. Would not recommend for anyone who hates rose or cinnamon!

ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge – “Lazy Day – make an easy peasy tea!”

Behind again on these prompts, oopsies lol. I figured I would make a teabag for this one, and I thought I hadn’t written about this one yet. Apparently I have, though it was 9 (?!) years ago, which hardly counts.

I quite like this tea actually. It starts out tasting quite fruity, mostly stonefruits like plum and apricot. Then the cinnamon comes out more at the end of the sip, adding sweetness and a festive feel. The hazelnut sort of mingles in the background and gives some richness and a slight creamy note. Even drinking it stone cold (busy day at work), I’m still quite enjoying it.

I’ll be happy to have this one in my cupboard when the holiday season rolls around. :) I do wish they sold it in loose leaf (in a size other than sample or a pound).

Definitely one of the more green oolong teas I’ve had but still oxidized enough to cut back on the vegetal/grassy taste. Really nice clean taste, especially after a few steeps.

Tasted exactly the way I expected. Nice and chocolatey without being overpowering.

I’ve had this tea about four times now, but I never wrote down my thoughts because I find this one a bit difficult to describe. I didn’t love it warm or with milk. Actually, I enjoy it most cold and sweetened. It’s mostly plain rooibos with something slightly desserty. I enjoy a nice cold plainish rooibos, so I don’t mind this one, but it’s not special at all, and it really doesn’t remind me of a chocolate egg.

Another from StarFevre I haven’t written a note for yet, thanks very much! I’m sure this was much better in its prime. (This is a Frank era pouch.) Hints of blueberry left on a pleasant green base. I’m still in love with the black tea version I have of this (also Frank’s era.)