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Morning cuppa, with honey.

It’s not that this tea particularly needs the honey, but I actually woke up craving creamed honey so I probably would have added it to whatever tea I made first thing this morning regardless of what it was. It works well in this one though; the tea has a very ‘hot apple cider’ flavour – the kind we used to get around Thanksgiving when we had big family get together; someone, usually one of my aunts, would make a giant crock pot of it and it would sit in the kitchen all day with a ladle so that you could just ladle some into a cup when you wanted a refill. Usually it was just apple juice with apple slices in it and a bunch of cinnamon sticks…

So basically this was like a hot, sweet cider – perfect for the cold, wet weather we’re experiencing right now.

Made this one up hot yesterday morning for my commute to work. I woke up craving bananas, probably because I was drinking a black tea the night before that I thought tasted like banana. This was the first banana tea that i found in my stash when I was picking out a tea, and I haven’t had it in a while so I thought it was a solid choice.

There’s no denying the abundance of cinnamon in this blend, but what I really enjoyed drinking it yesterday morning was the sweet banana and coconut notes that combined to make such a soothing, sweet tropical flavour. The cinnamon does compliment them, and with the pop of mango in the background the whole thing gives me tropical cocktail vibes – but the banana is DEFINITELY the best part.

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Made up as a larger Western style pot, since I missed the little bit of info in the tea’s description that recommends it Gong Fu and I usually don’t drink my W2T blacks that way so Gong Fu wasn’t my default. I do still have enough of my sample left to still drink it Gong Fu though, and also do a direct comparison between this and the white version…

I thought this was a really, really intense tasting black tea and looking at W2T’s description I think medicinal and herbaceous are really on the nose descriptors for the flavour. I’d also call it quite smokey though; in fact the smoke notes were the very first thing in the blend that popped out to me. Other than that, strong notes of oak wood and mahogany, some cumin, a tiny bit of malt and a tinier bit of molasses, and a borderline meaty/broth like element. I mean, it really is a very thick, rich/dense and more savory leaning type of profile. However, there’s a hint of sweetness in the undertones and very intriguingly that sweetness didn’t read as a note that I typically associate with sweeter black teas (honey, caramel, red fruits, jammyness, or stone fruit…) but as something more, well, tropical!? It took a while, about half the pot, to put a finger on it but I finally did after pulling out a tasting wheel to help pinpoint it. So what was I tasting in between all the savory, umami notes!?

Banana. The answer is banana.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this varietal and found it to be a great but very intense learning opportunity. I am honestly SO excited to compare it with the white version and see if I get anything even remotely similar to what I experienced with this tea.

This was a cold brew, shared with my mom.

I really enjoyed this cold brewed; I thought it was a beautiful balance of sweet pineapple and carrot notes contrasted by the earthiness of the carrot and turmeric and that very mild hint of warming spices. Conversely, my mom HATED the combo of savory/earthy carrot and bring, tangy pineapple. It was a fun reminder of just how subjective taste can be and how a tea might be magical to one person but terrible to another without there being any change in how it’s prepared.

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Sipdown (626)!

Finished this one off last night during another group interview; I’ve got six people now that I’m certain I’d like to hire for the Christmas season and one more interview to go. We need at least eight; but potentially up to ten. It’s been an ok process; most of the time I’ve had a strong feeling one way or the other as to whether or not someone would be right for the position/store. I’ve got a few ‘maybes’ though; and we’ll see what happens pending this last interview…

The tea was nice though – mostly tasted the cream and cookie components accented by this strong and just slightly sour hot hay/straw notes. A little pistachio in the front of the sip; but quite mild. There were not pistachios in this last bit of leaf though – probably at least partially why the taste was so absent. It was good though; I felt satisfied with this being my final cup of the tea before its departure.

An ok blend overall; wouldn’t seek it out again though.

Our, sort of, ‘joint’ Thanksgiving & Comfort (ie. Cold&Flu) collection launched today; there are several cute mug designs in this collection – including soup mugs, a ton of core teas being featured for the season, and some new samplers/kits and things. However, the most interesting thing for me is always the new tea – and this is the new one for this collection!

Based on the name, I expected this to me pretty sweet but also mints/potentially eucalyptus tinged – sort of like a cough drop? Something that would be soothing on the throat or good for congestion, like Throat Rescue and Cold 911 but maybe a little more pleasant tasting!?

In practice, I definitely do think this tastes way more pleasant that either of the two aforementioned blends, and I was sort of correct in what the ingredients/profile would be. I mean, it definitely has mint in it but it’s also pretty floral and has a surprisingly strong amount of orange in it as well. The orange is the strongest flavour, in my opinion, though – and it’s actually a really pleasantly sweet and natural orange. I mean, we’re talking really juicy here. As a partially related tangent, there’s this whole weird “thing” on Reddit about eating oranges in the shower – it’s fascinating and I recommend both looking it up and actually trying it. My point here, though, is that the sweet burst/pop or orange flavour reminded me of the intense sensation of eating an orange in the shower…

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShowerOrange/

Apart from a truly magnificent flavour of orange, the finish is a little honey like in its sweetness and there’s a VERY mild tint of mint to everything, that I think accents the sweetness of the orange and adds this extra layer of refreshment to the flavour. I definitely, based on this first cup, wouldn’t describe it as a “minty tea” though. More fruity, for sure.

I’m not currently sick, but I will try to remember next time I have a cold to pull this one out in place of my standard triple strength Cold 911 to see if it does anything for me in terms of in the moment “feel better”-ness. I am glad, though, that there’s a “cold and flu” sort of tea in our line up that I actually like enough to drink when I’m not sick, though!

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

A midmorning Gong Fu session, enjoyed in a new(ish) tea set up in my basement that aims to have a bit more of a minimalist aesthetic. I like the idea of minimalism, as it can showcase both tea and teaware, but it’s hard for me to execute in practice ‘cause I’m the kind of person who likes all my teaware to have some sort of print or colour on it. I own very, very little plain white or celadon teaware…

This was a nice session though; I didn’t find that this year’s Natty Redhead had a lot of staying power (possibly could have used more leaf to balance this) so I only got about six decent infusions from it. However, I felt the same thing about the 2017 Natty Redhead and after some aging it grew to become much more flavourful and delicious so I have primarily purchased this cake with the intention of aging Still, I couldn’t resist just a little taste!

Apart from a very basic malt note throughout the whole session, the best element of this tea is definitely the jammy red fruit notes that it had throughout. They started pretty prominently and in the top of the sip, and then over time dulled down into a flatter notes that were more like undertones contrasted against the malt/bread like elements. A mix of red fruits, but rec currant springs the most prominantly to mind, Also strawberry and pomegranate. Really, really comparable to the 2017 Natural Redhead in this way. Other than then, a few fleeting creamed honey notes. Not a lot going on here – but at least it’s very smooth and clean.

Excited to see how it ages.

Just a late night mug of it while binging some Game Grumps on Youtube. There’s something very hilarious, to me, in the contrast between such a warm, comforting and nuanced cup of tea like a Rou Gui when paired with two very loud, sort of sexually deviant Youtubers shouting into their microphones as they trash talk each other rather violently during an especially aggressive game of Monopoly. I think the delicate, calming elements of the tea cancel it out, though…

Tasting notes were roasted pecans and almonds, oak wood, tree bark, raisin, cinnamon, REALLY light hints of dark cherries, and a somewhat floral finish. A lot of flavours to unpack in this one; but if you take the time to focus on it in between shouting matches about unfair Community Chest rewards and immediately hitting luxury tax after passing go then it’s a really unique, interesting varietal with a lot of interesting qualities.

Had this one yesterday at the store. I came in for a few hours to do a couple group interviews for our seasonal hiring; I was probably at the mall for about four hours in total? I had taken a tea with me that I made at home, but that didn’t take me long to finish. I drank this one during group interview number two – and because I was busy sorting through resumes and getting everything all laid out/prepared I just let a coworker pick out my tea for me.

Generally this is one that I do not choose for myself, but because she knows I don’t enjoy how sweet it is the coworker in question very thoughtfull understeeped it for me by a few minutes and added a little bit of skim milk to make sure it was a reasonable level of sweet. She did a greatjob because I was able to really enjoy the buttery, creamy elements of the coconut and a clear flavour of pecan without the chocolate or the rock sugar becoming cloying and demanding all the attention. I mean, the chocolate was still present – it’s hard to avoid it completely. But everything was really well maintained!

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Sipdown (626)!

Thank you VariaTEA for the share! I found this particular cup a little forgettable; it started off sweet with creamy coconut notes and a hint of something floral, but overtime and as it cooled down I also thought it just grew to feel increasingly more bland, and I kept noticing an oily quality to the mouthfeel. So, sort of a wishy washy infusion. I’m still thankful for the share, though! It’s a blend that definitely would have tempted me into ordering it…