6964 Tasting Notes
It’s back!
Man, I sure to do love these straight tea launches; and this one is especially awesome because it’s bringing Ruby Oolong back! This was a really nice tea the first time around, and personally I’m excited we’ve got it back!
(Though I still have some of last year’s at home still…)
This was a TOTD , so I just poured myself a glass out of brewer. It’s a little less smooth and nuanced when you’re drinking it from the giant brewer like that – but it’s still quite tasty. It’s got a nice, light roast to and pleasant of toasted nut and grain notes. The body is a little sweeter with stone and orchard fruit notes; but cooked orchard fruits like Bartlett pears, and apple. Stonefruit notes are more like stewed plums. Personally, I don’t think it’s quite floral enough to remind me of quince though, like described by DT. Maybe that’s just ’cause any straight tea out of the brewed loses like 10% of its nuance. The finish is a bit more mineral/woody.
I’m quite excited to have this one back! I can’t wait to brew it on my own.
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.
First tea of the morning!
Wasn’t totally sure what to expect from this one; it sounds so simple just based on the ingredients and yet the smell of the dry leaf is so… unlike any oolong I’ve ever smelled?
- Very sweet and floral
- Lily/peony/elderflower notes
- Sweetgrass body notes; reminds me of late Spring!!
- Crisp finish; mix of rain/mineral notes
- Balanced overall; medium bodied profile
I enjoyed this one!
Midday cuppa from yesterday, with a spot of milk.
Very rich, comforting caramel and earthy notes with a thick, velvety mouthfeel. All of this was pretty normal for this tea; and what I was craving/expecting when I picked it out in the first place. The element that was a little more different/out of the ordinary was the roasty top notes! I’m not entirely sure where they came from, but that sort of soft roast/char was really interesting alongside the rest of the profile!
Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/Ecx66NV93RA
I think the overall smooth, rich velvet sweetness of the tea works perfectly with the tone of his voice…
Tried something a little more different with this tea.
From what I could recall, this is a really toasty/nutty tasting oolong so I thought those element might be a really nice compliment to the pumpkin agave that DT released for the fall. I didn’t want a hot tea though because I was working in our back stockroom unpacking boxes so I iced this tea and then added the agave.
I think it actually worked really splendidly! I didn’t add much agave, so the flavour of the oolong was definitely still the strongest element of the brew. It was very roasty and nutty tasting like I remembered: definitely that sort of “grilled nut” flavour that CS uses in their official description of the tea. Apart from that, I thought there was also a nice mix of wood/oak notes, mineral, shea butter, and cinnamon notes as well. Deep in the undertones was a hint of something vegetal but not overly descript. All in all, the amalgamation of all those different flavour notes really came together to create something very nice and natural to compliment the sweet pumpkin/squash notes from the agave. The cinnamon, nuts, wood, and roasty elements kind of played in to make this feel more autumnal and ‘Harvest’-y and that deep vegetal undertone almost seemed to exaggerate the squashiness/vegetal aspects of the pumpkin.
Really, it was a great match up and a perfect example of added flavours in tea that don’t mask the taste of the tea itself, and which play off one another to elevate the profile to another, more nuanced and elegant level.
Smooth, calming evening cuppa from yesterday – this time just straight up: no milk, honey or booze! I know that’s borderline strange given my history with this particular tea, but what can I say? I just wanted the unaltered flavour.
- Astringent, woody top notes with cinnamon tones
- Nutty marzipan, cacao, and cinnamon body notes
- Piercingly sweet finish and aftertaste!
- Really long lasting/lingering and hits like right in the back of the throat!
It was gone so soon after it was done steeping though; I almost feel like I practically chugged this one even though it was more just a continuous sipping/slurping.
So, I picked this one up because I was intrigued by the fact is has butterfly pea flower in it which means that it should brew up blue! The flavour didn’t sound super appealing to me though, so I only got the smallest size option – which was five premeasured sachets as opposed to a tin of it.
I tried the first the other day and… it wasn’t blue.
I can see the butterfly pea flower IN the leaf but I guess it’s just not enough of the pretty flower to have that big of an impact colour wise – even with letting it steep indefinitely while I was drinking it. It kind of eventually settled on a really translucent sort of pastel green kind of colour. I mean, to be fair, it was a colour that wasn’t exactly a “natural”/normal tea colour but it’s not blue.
Flavour wise I was right about this one not being the tea for me though – all I could taste was lemongrass. Just straight up, pure lemongrass. Maybe that does it for some, but certainly not for me. I think I’ll probably just use the rest of the sachets for when I’m feeling sick and want something hot and lemony…
Hot cup a few nights ago.
Night quite as sweet as I remember it being, but just as creamy with the perfect amount of cooling mint. It still reminds me of white chocolate peppermint bark! As much as I really want to finish this one off, because it’s delicious I think maybe I’ll say the last cup or two for winter? Like, it’s a WONDERFUL tea but it just feels like it would be so much more appropriate to be drinking this snuggled up in blankets on a nice winter morning…
As an iced tea, this time.
I definitely didn’t use enough leaf for this iced tea so I know the flavour was a little off. I had premeasured it at home before hand, and then brought it to work in a sample bag but as soon as I had poured it in the Steeper I realized it wasn’t enough tea. Couldn’t do anything at that point though…
Taste wise, it was very apple heavy with mild, delicate strawberry and hibiscus undertones and a bit of a sweet, candied pistachio finish. It did still taste good, but no where near as rich and full bodied as it would have been brewed properly. Plus, while apple notes can be nice, they’re definitely not supposed to be the main flavour in this tisane and not what I was looking forward to when I selected it.
Live and learn.
Now that we’re transitioning into fall, this tea makes for a fucking insane latte! It’s warm and spicy in a similar enough way to what you’d get from a Chai tea that it kind of seamlessly takes the place of a Chai latte, in my opinion. However, it’s got the sweetness of the pineapple in it keeping it a bit brighter and more lively. I’m very happy I really stocked up on this one because I think it’s going to be something I’ll want to drink a lot this fall in place of Chai Lattes, which I’m not the world’s biggest fan of.
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.
Somwone needs a good soap latte to wash her potty mouth.
That’s just Ros. We all have gotten used to her. It is an expression in her own words. We luvs the Ros.
Don’t worry, I haven’t taken the kitchen spoon to her yet. By the way, I didn’t follow too much on instagram this summer, just because a lot of it was pueher. I did stop in on occasion. What a shame they deleted all my hard work. I still have the photos though. :)
Still forever thinking that this tea’s name doesn’t do it justice.
Like, the amount of times it gets skipped over by people looking for soothing night time blends is crazy because this is actually a REALLY good evening option; people just have no clue what to expect from it based on the name. I mean, even I don’t know exactly what the name is referring to? I’m guessing probably the cooling element from the mint?
Anyway; this was really delicious last night – very thick mouthfeel and rich flavour. Plus, as someone who hates chamomile it’s really nice for me to have a bed time option that doesn’t include it but still has Valerian root! Top notes are vanilla and really cream lemon, body is apricot/apple, and the finish is crisp, cooling apple accented by the mint. Really relaxing overall.
Forever recommending this one as a night time herbal option; it’s an unsung hero.
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.
This was awesome last year!