17870 Tasting Notes
I saw these instant milk tea pouches at T&T last weekend and I almost skipped over them because they just looked like standard milk tea, but then I noticed this one waaayyyy at the back of the shelf that was a gardenia scented green tea instant milk tea. Okay. Colour me curious…
I had a friend who speaks Chinese help me translate the instructions, which essentially boiled down to “add water and whisk”. Very vague. So I did that, with hot water in this case. Honestly? Not bad at all. The powder itself smells really good – sweet and creamy, with distinct notes of gardenia but in a really fresh and non-perfumey way. It dissolved very easily in the water, though the colour looked a bit like a milky dish water. Not the most appealing visually.
In terms of taste it was pretty good, though! I think a little watery, but that would be easily fixed on my end by just not using as much water. I was basically guessing on the amount, so I’m not surprised it was a little off. The taste was smooth and creamy with a bit of sweetness, but nothing as cloying as what an actual milk tea would be. The gardenia comes through clearly and was fresh and bright. I worried the florals might be weird in something so creamy, but it worked quite well!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPkCGTwEs5T/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-2IicaWmQY
Another Mugtober pairing tea!
The mug on this day was a beautiful hand painted bird with a really bright, cheerful yellow glazed interior. I picked a bird tea to go with the bird mug, even though it was more of a songbird pictured versus a chicken. This was a pleasant tea though! Lighter bodied with bright, citrusy top notes and a gentle nuttiness like sunflower seeds from the kukicha. Simple, but well executed and easy to sip on while getting ready for the morning.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p7B8EKRRNc
Sipdown (2995)!
This is the tea to go with today’s Mugtober selection. I picked a very playful mug with hand painted pumpkins on it, so a pumpkin tea (and bonus sipdown) felt correct. I added a bit of milk to this steeped mug and it was smooth, albeit with a bit of a thinner body and flavour even with the milk. Ironically, it reminded me a little more of eggnog than pumpkin pie. But I still enjoyed it nonetheless.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VIpq18d79I
Iced Latte!
Vanilla protein milk. Water bottle method. Overall experience? Honestly, pretty good. I went a touch lighter on the matcha powder than I normally do with these water bottle iced lattes, and I felt like because of that I was maybe able to taste the butterscotch candy flavour a little more distinctly even if the matcha note was mellow. Interesting!
Iced Latte!
I keep seeing banana bread matcha and hojicha lattes everywhere on my social feeds, so I decided to pull out this hojicha powder and whisk it up into an iced latte with a touch of maple sugar and some whipped cream on top for a super decadant and dreamy hojicha latte. To be fair, this was giving a bit more of a “banana pancakes” energy than banana bread, but GOD DAMN was it delicious. No fancy syrups or jams required.
Sipdown (2994)!
Perhaps I should have just had this plain since I had one teabag as a sample, but I really wanted something this afternoon using the pumpkin flavoured agave that I have in my office and this black tea was calling to me. I’ve enjoyed many a straight black tea paired with that agave in the past…
Even though the sweetness and caramelized pumpkin notes from the agave, I could taste a pleasant malty and coppery/mineral taste from this Indian black tea. Super, super full bodied and quite brisk – though my agave addition did take some edge off that quality. I really enjoyed it a lot, and I could tell that this probably would have also been true even without the agave.
But the Halloween and autumn tea energy was more my speed today in particular!
Sipdown (2995)!
Definitely a mango tea – and one that does a shockingly good job at capturing that almost piney and resinous sort of taste of a just underripe mango. Usually I like that flavour a lot, but it’s soooo strong in this blend because of the woody, mineral notes of the rooibos that I think if I weren’t in just the right mood that it might actually be too much for me. And, in saying that, I wonder if it’s too much for the average person a lot more of the time!? Otherwise, though, this is nice with a sweeter and almost candied mango top note. Definitely tropical in a way that I haven’t experienced personally with a lot of Lupicia’s blends…
One of the new chai from this fall!
As is maybe extrapolated from the name of this tea, the inspiration is really centered around cocktails. In particular, I wanted to create our own spin on an Old Fashioned. Something aromatic and classic feeling, with that whisky base and a hint of orange bitters. To that point, this blend is smooth and aromatic with just a hint of pithy, citrus bitterness to go alongside a surprisingly complex mix of spices – namely ginger and cardamom. That’s our “twist” on this classic cocktail. I wanted to focus on chai spice that added aroma and depth, but not necessarily heat.
One of the cool ingredients in this blend is rum raisins. Even though what we’re trying to channel is whisky I think they add a beautiful complexity and authenticity in terms of capturing that alcoholic feeling. There is technically a TRACE amount of alcohol present in the creation of that ingredient, but it’s significantly less than anything that would be found in something like a kombucha, vanilla extract, or even what’s used as a carrier in most flavourings – and once you steep it with hot water it burns off. So, you’re getting less than 0.005% alcohol content in your steeped cup of tea. For that reason, we really liked this blend as a non-alcoholic spin on a cocktail. Something you could either drink in place of alcohol during, say, a holiday or new year’s party or that you could use as a base to add some alcohol to in order to make a tea cocktail.
I think most people will probably make this hot, which is of course fine. It’s very tasty that way, with an almost toddy-like quality because of the whisky flavours. However, obviously an old fashioned is served cold and because of that I’ve tried this tea a lot iced or cold brewed and it’s very good that way too – a bit more “authentic” to the inspiration. You could technically add milk to this without it curdling, as well, but personally I prefer it without.
Back when I was living in Saskatchewan I spent a lot of time in bars with some of my roommates, one of which was an Irish pub known for its extensive whisky collection. Even though I was not personally a big drinker of this cocktail, there’s a nostalgia to this cocktail for me as I was surrounded by friends and roommates who would go on and one about how to craft the perfect Old Fashioned. Most of those relationships ended poorly (largely because of the drinking), but I’d like to think that if they were to try this tea they would at the very least be amused by how I’ve worked to weave those two worlds of tea and craft cocktails together…
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.
Jammy raspberry? Check! Sweet, aromatic anise? Check! Warm, buttery notes of flaky French pastry? Extra check! Made this as a hot cuppa a few nights ago when I was craving raspberry but without tartness, and I just totally let myself melt into the mug.
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.
