17579 Tasting Notes
I went to DAVIDsTEA the other night with my Mom and little sister because they wanted to go shopping at the mall, and I wanted to go out in general.
In addition to stopping at DAVIDsTEA we also went to a couple other stores and I wound up buying one of those really neat/detailed colouring books geared for adults that are trendy right now. Uhh, these types of things:
I also bought a tea leaf reading set/kit. Not because I particularly believe in fortune telling/that sort of thing but I just find it kind of interesting in concept and I thought it’d be a neat tea related ‘party trick’ to learn how to do. Plus, the cup/saucer are kind of cute looking too. They look like this:
http://s2.thisnext.com/media/largest_dimension/8492E61D.jpg
And of course, there was the haul at DAVIDsTEA itself:
- One(1) Birthday Cake Chocolate Bar
- One(1) Red Velvet Cake Chocolate Bar
- Some of the apple flavoured wafers
- An orange “milk bottle” (really discounted too since it’s from Summer)
- A Buttered Rum Soy Milk Latte
And then my little sister got a hot Birthday Cake, and my Mom got this one as a hot latte. I’d never tried Toasted Walnut before so she let me have a few sips so I could get an idea of the flavour. I did think it was fairly mild as a latte and I don’t know if that’s the tea itself of the preparation or some other factor. However, I tasted the walnut quite clearly. It was very sweet, as well. Almost mapley? I also got slight coconut notes. To be fair, she also got sweetener in her latte which is something I NEVER do. However, I’m intrigued enough that the next time I’m in stores (which may very well be the release of the winter collection) I’ll pick up a little to play with at home.
My giant Camellia Sinensis order arrived today!
There were so many goodies in the box, that it was incredibly hard to decide what to start with but I ultimately ended up using my new tea tray for the first time as well as the glass Gaiwan I purchased. The choice of what tea to Christen it with was very hard to make: I felt like it should have been one of the Camellia Sinensis teas I ordered or one of the samples they included but I couldn’t make up my mind so I instead went a very different route.
A little while back a tea friend here on Steepster, who wishes to remain unnamed for the purposes of this tea, sent me a sample of a greener oolong which I sort of then forgot I had until today when I was searching through samples to try. My bad.
I decided to drink that today; and since I don’t work until 4:30 I had plenty of time to have a nice informal Gong Fu session whilst watching some Gotham on Netflix. I’m not really a huge DC fan but I’ve always loved the very well written villains in the Batman comic universe so that aspect of the TV show really intrigues me. Harley Quinn has always been my favourite, but I have to say I REALLY enjoy the portrayal of The Penguin and The Riddler.
This is a gorgeous tea though! The stems are monstrous; the largest I pulled out of the infused leaf is longer in length than my hand. Damn! However, the leaves are a wonderful bright shade of green and have this really eloquent floral aroma that makes me think of fresh linen and the end of Spring/beginning of summer. Mmm! The steeped liquor is a lively yellow green just slightly heavier on the green side of things.
This is definitely a super floral tea; but in a natural, fresh and sweet way. And as much as I tasted wonderful floral notes (some sort of amalgamation of peony, magnolia, and gardenia perhaps?) and a super light almost bamboo-like vegetal sweetness I also tasted a lot of fruit notes. Something like fresh, sweet grapes, and almost a peachyness too. It was very enjoyable; and the most infusions the more I seemed to notice the fruit flavours as well.
I’d love to see this particular tea paired up with a “darker” kind of berry flavour. Something like blueberry, Saskatoon berry, or maybe blackberry? And perhaps white peaches. I can only imagine that would be divinely tasty.
Also here’s a link to some pictures!
Pictures are of the things from the Camellia Sinensis order as well as the steeping of this oolong from earlier in the day. I’ve also got pictures thrown in there of the rabbit tattoo I had done a few months ago and some other assorted tea related things…
Photo quality is kind of crappy; I used my cell phone.
Mmm, this was a really lovely smooth, grape-y cold brew that I got to enjoy late last night while I was at my Dad’s house. I probably should have brought something hot because of the weather but this is what I was really craving so it’s what I made…
He (my Dad) had my brother and I over for Smores which was really fun. It’s been a long time since I roasted marshmallows over a fire. It kind of broke my heart though that he didn’t have any sliced kiwi because, growing up, kiwi was such an integral part of making smores for me! It wasn’t until I was like twelve I realized that not everyone had kiwis on their smores! That was just something we always used to do, to the point where I thought it was one of the crucial smore ingredients. It was funny, because he totally didn’t realize how much of an impact that had on me. Maybe kiwi on smores was more of my Mom’s idea, and not his?
All I know is I came home smelling like smoke, and it was lovely.
Thank you TeaNTees for the sample!
I made this one into a tea soda yesterday to be shared with my family:
- Two(2) teabags steeped in approx. 4 oz. of boiling water
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. of sugar dissolved into the concentrated tea
- Added to a liter of soda water made using our SodaStream
I normally love melon teas, and a white base? I’m so on board for that. However, something about this particular tea tasted really ‘off’ to me. It had a funny sour note, and was so incredibly artificial and fake tasting. And also maybe weirdly floral? I’m in the minority though because both my brother and mother absolutely ADORED this tea soda. Frankly, I just don’t get it. I was more than content with just drinking my little half cup of soda and letting them finish off the rest.
The question now becomes do I take the remaining teabags and make another liter of soda for them to enjoy or do I experiment and try to make it better tasting for myself? Just how selfish am I…
So last week I stopped at DAVIDTEA after work around when I was starting to get sick/just realizing I was sick and I picked up some tea to drink later and grabbed a hot, “To Go” cup of this as well. I picked it out because it’s the new Tea of The Month but I realized much later it was actually probably a good choice because of the ginger as well since that’s a good thing to drink when you are sick.
I had a really neat experience at the store, though! I know two people who work at the DT in Regina – Zoey and Kandyce who are both former highschool classmates of mine. So, running into one of them wouldn’t have been startling. What was startling was running into someone else whom I also recognized but never would have imagined to see there. Who’s that? The manager of the SASKATOON DAVIDsTEA at which I frequently shopped (and even knew some of the employees outside of work as well because my ex Tyrell was friends with them). We both kind of just took a look at each other and were all “Uhh, what are you doing here?”. Turns out she’s in town the next few weeks training the new manager of the Regina store, and of course I just moved back here. I swear, I see her around all the time though: not just at DT but when I was working at Sobeys I saw her all the time there too. We chatted for a while and it was nice. Maybe I’ll stop in again next week and see if I can run into her again…
As for the tea I ordered, I was a little taken aback! I’m honestly not the biggest fan of Ginger Beer. Every time I’ve tried it it’s just been a little too concentrated and spicy for my liking. And actually, I’m also just not a huge fan of ginger in general. However, that said, I actually found this pretty enjoyable. It’s not like it didn’t taste like Ginger Beer either; the ‘zippyness’ and almost ‘bubbly’ ginger flavour was accurate to my memory of Ginger Beer and very well captured the spirit of the drink. This was just much lighter overall and didn’t have that ginger burn that comes with too concentrated ginger. I dislike that sensation so much.
Of course, ginger isn’t the only flavour going on in this blend. I also tasted notes of honey and apple, both of which were quite nice and provided a sweet juxtaposition from the ginger. However, the most interesting flavour I tasted was lime!? I’m not sure where that’s coming from at all because there are no ingredients that should be contributing that flavour however it’s definitely something I tasted, and I quite liked it. Maybe it’s because I was slightly sick and my sense of taste may have been a little off. I’m not sure.
Overall? I wouldn’t buy this again but I liked it and for me that’s more of a ‘win’ than I ever expected with this blend. If I did drink it again, it would probably only be to see if I could taste the lime again when I’m not sick.
Flavors: Apple, Ginger, Honey, Lime
Ohh. Ginger beer with dark rum and a squeeze of lime juice. I wonder if this tea would take booze well. I kinda want to pick some up now and find out.
Thank you for this review, it’s on my list to order. OMGsrsly I think I saw that the company has a blog and posted a recipe for that cocktail, it caught my attention because it’s one of my go-tos on the rare occasion out.
Thanks for the link, Kayla!
This was implemented a few times as a “sick tea” last week at work when I was all drippy, cough-y, and gross. Hot lemon/citrus with nice berry notes that are strong and sharp enough when brewed hot to actually have some taste during a time when basically nothing had taste.
Such a versatile tea.
Sipdown (117)!
Thanks again to Liquid Proust for sending this along to me when I ordered from him!
I think I liked this more the second time around, but maybe that’s because I was focusing a lot less on deciphering the flavours of the tea and just enjoying drinking it. I really got potent notes of the dragonfruit and strawberry, though – it was a little like drinking the Dragonfruit flavoured mineral water? Except with a strong grassy flavour that cut through in the finish.
I’ve certainly had my fair share of Dragonfruit mineral water from back when I worked at a movie theatre: we sold three flavours (Dragonfruit, Lemonade, and Orange) and the others were much too tart/sour for me so I probably drank my weight in it. And I am not a petite woman. It was tasty stuff and conveyed the flavour well.
The last little bit of tea leaf went to my mom, who brewed it up hot. Since both two times I drank this were cold brewed I would have loved to steal a few sips of her hot mug but alas she made it while I was at work so no such luck. She liked it a fair bit though; she did find the green tea bitter but probably because she either used too hot of water or oversteeped it. While she’s a tea drinker she isn’t a “tea drinker” the same way most people on Steepster are, so unless I make the tea for her there’s usually at least some user error. However, she really liked the fruity flavour. I don’t think she got dragonfruit the same way I did, but she certainly tasted berries.
Impulse purchase while grocery shopping…
Even thought this barely counts as tea I definitely enjoyed it. I think more than I did last time, because my ‘60’ rating seems a little critical? I mean, you have to acknowledge this for what it is: sure it’s nothing fancy but it’s easily accessible and convenient, smooth, and tasty enough to pack along for lunch at work.
Plus: lots of protein = great for vegetarians.
This tea always seems to make a reappearance in my cupboard whenever I’m really sick. The last time I had bought it I also picked up my beautiful textured yellow Perfect Mug if I’m correct? This time I nabbed some more tea, but managed to forgo any teaware.
My ‘haul’:
- 50g of Peanut Butter Cup (I liked it enough to restock; it was my freebie 50g)
- 12g of Cold 911
- 12g of Korean Sejak
- A hot “To Go” of Ginger Beer
I cold brewed this one and took it to work the day after I picked it up and I have to say that this doesn’t taste as nice cold brewed as it does hot. After a week of not much else other than Buckleys I want to say this could easily (when cold brewed) be branded as “Buckleys Lite™” with the addition of orange. That’s because of the combination of the eucalyptus and pine-y juniper berries though.
That said, even if it didn’t taste wonderful it cleared up my sinuses really well, and was incredibly hydrating. I should have tried to stretch it out through the day, but instead I’d guzzled it all down two hours into an eight hour shift.
Happy (Belated) Turkey Day to my fellow Canadians!
I cold brewed this one for work today just to switch things up from the last time I had it, but it’s still not doing it for me. I’m sad to report that after a couple swigs after hauling in some dressers someone wanted to donated I decided to go without tea/hydration for the rest of my shift rather than drink the rest of this…
Sorry Liquid Proust…
I’ll continue to experiment, though.
A walnut tea sounds interesting.
I wish we had David’s in the UK! Saying that, I don’t think I’d ever leave if we did (or have any money left). Still. I can dream.
I had a sample of this once, and it was pretty good. It definitely tasted like walnuts.