15575 Tasting Notes
I love a straight forward vanilla black tea. It’s just so classic in the best sorta way. Simple, understated and delicious. Black tea base used here is full bodied and brisk but still lets the aromatic and everrrr so slightlyyyyy sweet notes of the vanilla come through. Almost has a mashmallow-like burnt sugar note in the finish. Yum!
Grandpa Style!
After nearly a month in customs, my last W2T order has FINALLY arrived and I am in pure, unadulterated smoked tea heaven!! Over the next week I will be slowly working my way through sampling each of these cakes and minis.
I’ve been the most excited for 2023 Firebat since Pyrolad, W2T’s other smoked sheng, has quickly become a favourite of mine. I’ve just started sipping through this mini and it’s already blowing my mind; deliciously smoky with a pleasant citrus bite!!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrjZlgwIUYk/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmxqAjh3WIY
On the nose? Yes. Also just a total bop though!
Just got in an order from Friday Afternoon Tea that I can’t wait to dig into!!
I’m most excited to start tasting through the many fandom inspired blends I picked up, however it’s been an unexpectedly stressful start to the week so I thought it might be better to start with something a little softer and more soothing. So, I’m starting with Daughter’s Rings – an aptly named green tea! It’s not my usual sort of tea, but the subtle sweetness and delicate grassy notes are actually hitting the spot quite well today. I feel a bit like I’m taking a respite from the chaos of the week in a calm, lush green meadow with Spring flowers and rolling hills as far as the eye can see, and I needed that today…
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Crv-5bWIDSp/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAlFHmSVpjA
Surely I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s definitely an earthy and “potting soil” like quality to this blend that I feel strongly would turn off most people. However, I’m the weirdo out there who has now started brewing this up because I’ve started craving that earthy taste alongside the more natural, semi-sweet blueberry juice notes. Could case less about the bergamot, to be honest, but truthfully it’s pretttyyyyy weak compared to the other flavours.
More earthy fruit teas for me, please!
Steeped this up on Friday while working from home but then only got around to drinking it when it was cold – delicious, though! Starts off with a sweet and tangy tropical note that reminds me of the ‘juice’ in canned pineapple tidbits. That’s followed up with a lightly savory, woody smoky note from the lapsang. Gives “grilled pineapple” in taste in just a really unique but satisfying way and it was surprisingly refreshing even when room temp!
Y’know, the dry leaf of this really didn’t smell like coconut at all so I was skeptical of this. That is, right up until the water hit the leaves and then it smelled STRONGLY of coconut. More a thick, creamy coconut milk – really similar, actually, to the “rice milk” type notes in Talum Horchata Chai. The spies were very nice and well balanced. Warming ginger, cinnamon, and clove. Actually, a surprisingly strong amount of clove but the thickness and sweetness of the coconut flavoured helped offset. I bet this is a very good latte – hot or iced.
Haven’t had this tea in a long time, but I thought it would be nice to revisit. I’m actually much closer to a sipdown than I realized as well – maybe a single cold brew worth of leaf left? It was good – less tart than I remembered. Definitely more of that “fruit punch” tasting dragonfruit flavour that’s commercially popular versus authentic dragonfruit but that makes sense because real dragonfruit is so, so light tasting. Also notes of kiwi, strawberry, and hibiscus.
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.
Iced oat milk latte!
Added just a touch of agave to this and it really tied it all together. It’s definitely a rich, smooth cocoa flavour with a cooling, sweet mint undertone. Very fresh but also decadent and nostalgic. I think I’d rate it higher, but the finish does have quite a raw green/vegetal peppermint leaf note that’s hard to ignore. It reminds you in a not totally good but not totally bad way that you’re drinking a ‘healthful’ latte made with real microground ingredients. Not gross, but noticeable.
It’s a pro, however, that as a latte there are zero noticeable texture issues with this powder!
Iced oat milk latte!
I’m pretty pleasantly surprised with this one. The ingredients list is strange and not at all what I’d expect in a Thai iced tea so the fact it works as well as it does is a huge win in my books. Very, very malty black tea base with a bit of earthiness to it as well – though that’s certainly also from the beets that are contributing so beautifully to the cup colour. It’s definitely rich and saturated and in the right ballpark of a Thai milk tea, but slightly more pink-y red than the orange/brown you’d expect. Totally fair and reasonable though – this is done naturally versus through dyes. I thought the sweetness level was really good, it was easy to whisk up and the texture unproblematic.
Overall very solid!
A Thai iced tea powder sounds really interesting. How close is the flavor to traditional Thai iced tea? The “natural” Thai tea mixes I’ve tried seldom match the real thing.
Definitely less sweet and syrupy, and more earthy from the beets but without tasting side by side I felt it was close enough that I certainly would be more than happy drinking it as a replacement.