17415 Tasting Notes
Grandpa Style!
Out of all the productions in Bitterleaf’s YOT series I feel like I gravitate the most towards Year of The Rooster, and sipping on this production throughout the afternoon there was something about it that really resonated and reminded me of that one. I’ve never really done a vertical tasting of all the years to directly compare at the same time, but I would say this year shares a similar soft, smooth and particularly honey-like taste with fruitier undertones. All some of my favourite qualities when it comes to sheng produced in this region. Would definitely be really interesting to try the two side by side..
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAt8Ga1OnJv/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9MSkO4DWjA
Cold Brew!
Drank this one last night and it just had such a pleasantly bright and fresh pucker to it. Lemongrass forward but with elements of hibiscus, berries, and oranges to it as well. Like a less thick/sweet and more citrus forward fruit punch, in some ways. I always wish for a little more lemon with this tea to just nail the lemonade namesake but it’s such a good tasting tea even without!
Sipdown (2652)!
Finally finished off this very old advent tin, so I guess now to select another one to drink down at a snail’s pace. This was an okay cup though. Really, really mineral but also strong bread notes? Like if you mixed notes of rye or carraway bread with licking rocks and also perhaps a little bit of a light, floral tasting linden honey?
I don’t mind it and I think it’s one of the better straight teas I’ve had from Vahdam but also I’ve had much, much better oolongs from other companies and I’m not a super big fan of Vahdam as a company (for several reasons) so I’m happy to have one less tea from them in my stash and just move on.
Sweet, sour, tangy… All of the flavour that make this feel like liquid sunshine. I’d probably best describe it as lemon forward in either a sherbet or lemonade type of way but heavily mixed with a tangy pineapple hard candy kind of taste. Like if pineapple was a Jolly Rancher flavour, I suppose? Definitely enjoying this blend a lot of drinking through it quicker than I’d expected to.
Oh but pineapple WAS a Jolly Rancher flavor back in the day. You are probably too young to remember when they got rid of like their best flavors (orange, strawberry, peach and pineapple).
Oh LEMON I forgot lemon. But now my research is telling me technically they have a pineapple jolly rancher now, so maybe my memory switched lemon and pineapple.
A soft sweetness with a slightly green edge. Very nutty in a wonderfully baked, gentle way with clear notes of maple-tinged walnuts and brown butter. Definitely sold me on the walnut sugar cookie vibes! Not a tea I crave often, but when you want walnut this blend certainly delivers.
Just a touch over brewed on my part which brought forward a little of the more spinach-y and oceanic notes of the sencha, but ultiamtely was still very enjoyable with that sweet and creamy Japanese/white apple flavour. Like a fuji apple, I guess? Subtle floral undertone too. Even with the overbrewing I found myself wishing I had made a larger mug of it.
Sipdown (2653)!
Finished this one off earlier in the week. It’s nothing to write home about as far as rooibos based vanilla blends go, but it’s also pretty solid too. Definitely a rich, cream-forward vanilla flavour with hints of caramel in the undertones. Technically not super “authentic” vanilla but more that custard or creme anglais note that a lot of people associate with vanilla thanks to things like ice cream.
I kind of despise the name of this, but I get that it comes from the fact it’s a blend of red and green rooibos as the base. I think incorporating the green rooibos was nice as it adds a bit of a lighter, fresher element for the richness to pop against. You still get the body and depth of the red rooibos though so it’s not thin feeling.
Cold Brew!
Hate to say it, but I think every time I drink this tea I fall just a little bit out of love with it. The green tea was pretty strong in this brew and it just had that sort of lawn clipping-esque grassy note that is very hard for me personally. I also just felt like the lemonade and blue raspberry notes were a little lacking. Thin and just surface level sweet in that kind of fake-y way that stevia often comes across as. I just wanted more intensity in sweetness and acidity/tang.
A few days ago someone in the office offered to make a Tim Horton’s run for everyone and though I’m not a coffee person I do have a little bit of a soft spot for Timmie’s white hot chocolate so I requested one of those…
When she got back with everyone’s orders I decided to whisk up a bit of matcha concentrate and add it into the white chocolate. Holy fuck did that make for a very, very rich and sweet drink. It was delicious though. Pistachio and white chocolate is a very lovely, indulgent combination. Very European feeling too, if that makes any sense at all? Like I could see myself sipping a more upscale version of that combination in Italy. So good!
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 had a bit of a stressful day today so it was nice to be able to come home to this pre-strained cold brew and just kind of wind down with a refreshing tea and the routine of writing tasting notes. Nice and predictable.
This blend starts off very bright and tart with a lot of upfront hibiscus. The liquor is super thick and syrup which is just brilliant for the jammy and floral notes of elderberries and elderflowers. It really tastes like homemade elderberry syrup or jam. The kind that was 100% done stovetop by a grandparent or kooky aunt or something. I always enjoy this tea – it just fits virtually any mood.
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.
