15575 Tasting Notes

72

Sipdown (612)!

Another ‘notch in the belt’ from this last week! I did a killer job getting through teas; but I mean I also have some really good motivation right now.

I finished this one off at last night’s staff meeting, and to be honest for much of the time that I spent drinking it I found it to be pretty underwhelming – just a whole lot of milk chocolate sort of flavour and the malt notes of the black tea, but not much of the other titular ingredients. I had that same idea last time when I was trying it too. However, a few hours after the meeting I revisited the last few sips of tea left in the Locktop Travel Mug that I had been drinking from and they were now lukewarm and had much more of a distinct cashew flavour in addition to the excess of chocolate. I don’t know why I couldn’t taste the nut notes when it was still piping hot but I am glad that I FINALLY found them!

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80

Sipdown (613)!

I’ve already packed practically all of my matcha – but I did leave myself four bags of matcha that were a lot more empty with the hope that if I wanted matcha before moving day that I’d be able to finish those matchas off so they wouldn’t need to be packed. This is the first “victim” of that train of logic – enjoyed and sipped down as an AMAZING Creamsicle tasting matcha latte!!

I feel like this is one of the many flavours recently “culled” from Matcha Outlet’s website, so I think this might truly be my good bye cup of this particular flavour – but it is phenomenal and I love the idea of creamsicle matcha so I really hope that some other company begins to produce something similar/comparable.

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Sipdown (614)!

Well, I definitely find myself a little weirded out by this sipdown because (and I swear I’ve observed this before) it’s absolutely and completely potently flavoured like lemons, pear, and bananas! The sort of rich, intense and sweet banana notes that “banana medicine” (penicillin) tastes like. Tea, why do you taste like this!?

I mean it’s delicious – but it also just feels really WRONG.

VariaTEA

I really need to try this one

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So, I’m moving into a place in Montreal that is already furnished so I don’t have to haul any large pieces of furniture out there – that means I’m just taking clothing, a shelf worth or so of books, a small box of random stuff (POP figurines, board games, photos, etc.), and then ALL my tea and teaware – which is a lot of boxes worth of stuff.

We figured out that it’s cheaper for me to send everything through the mail than to have it picked up a delivered through a moving company so that’s what we’re doing. I spent my last day off with my first packed box of tea (my “test” box) driving to shipping companies to figure out the cheapest/best way to send it – and what we settled on what sending it through Canada Post with a ton of insurance, so that’s how all my stuff is getting sent out to Montreal. It’s a very stressful process for me and I’m of course terrified of damages – but I’m also pretty broke, so this is just the compromise that I had to make…

This is the tea that I brought with me while we were driving around and visiting all those shipping companies – I knew I would need some sort of “liquid courage” to get through the fear of sending teaware through the mail, and I’m not much of a drinker as of late. So, tea lattes!! This was very good; and considering we have snowfall again having a hot and sweet cup of what is basically a candy cane latte felt REALLY seasonally appropriate. Plus, I’m nearly out of my latte mix of this one so if I can make one or two more before I fly out to Montreal than I can save myself from having to pack the tin!

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.

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Sipdown (615)!

Late night cup of tea before bed; mostly coconut in terms of taste with the familiar notes of honey and wood shavings coming from the rooibos. Just a little bit of a metallic sort of “twang” to the finish. Mostly relaxing; but also probably made me need to have to pee in the middle of the night more than I would have had to had I just skipped the cup of tea.

One less tea to pack though, so still counting this as a win!

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79

So, I don’t really remember exactly where I got this idea from but I know it’s one that I saw somewhere else and was inspired to try and not something that I came up with on my own…

Basically, I took a couple “fill your own” style teabags and stuffed them full of this tea and then a few days ago during a shower I tossed them into the shower with me to get soaked in the hot water – one strung up on the shower head itself and the other just on the bottom of the bathtub. The idea was that it was supposed to make my shower smell like mint and eucalyptus which would be good aromatherapy or whatever. However, in practice I couldn’t smell the Cold 911 at all and so I think it was just a waste of tea.

So, I don’t know…

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.

VariaTEA

Good way to use up loads of tea to not have to ship it though :P

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78

Sipdown (616)!

A share from VariaTEA!

I don’t know if this is a company or an actual inn/hotel – but regardless I’m almost certain I’ve never tried any tea from them. I wasn’t sure what to except from this one; I’m not a big green tea drinker (but slowly becoming more open to them) but I do LOVE rose blends. Turns out this is a really good happy medium for me because even though I thought it had a medium bodied and present grassy/green bean quality the flavour was dominated by top notes of fresh, floral seeming rose notes and a soft, delicate lingering rose flavour in the end of the sip as well. Not much in the way of cherry; but hints of it in the body alongside the green tea.

It made for a very peaceful and relaxing mid-afternoon cup of tea, which it turns out is exactly what I needed to stay focused enough to complete the baking/cooking that I had to do for our staff meeting last night. So thanks a lot for the share VariaTEA! This was really lovely!

VariaTEA

Glad you enjoyed it :)

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Mildly disappointed that this tea was brought back; I didn’t really think it was that popular last year!? At least, not at our store…

I’m especially sad because it looks like the issue with the sour cherries (where they curdle this if milk is added into it) hasn’t been changed either. So, even though I did revisit this one just to make sure my product knowledge was still on point and I could confidently talk about, I don’t think my general opinion has changed at all from last year.

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.

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drank Zest Wishes by DAVIDsTEA
15575 tasting notes

Sipdown (617)!

One of the two new blends from this year’s first in store Winter/Holiday collection. I was intrigued by the name of this one when it was announced to staff; zest definitely implies a citrus blend and I couldn’t think of how that would be spun to be a winter appropriate flavour. Mostly because I was imagining it as a lemon blend ’cause DT seems to have an obsession with creating new lemon blends.

When I found out it was a spiced orange blend that made a lot more sense to me though; we carry another blend like that (Spice Is Right) and I’ve always said that I associate that flavour with Winter/Christmas for whatever reason. I got my first taste of this as a free sample with an online order, which actually arrived before the collection had officially come out. I was really excited to try it!

Steeped up… I think it’s a little boring!?

I mean, the tea smells totally fine as dry leaf and while steeping/steeped and the taste is certainly not bad at all – but it’s kind of unexciting and doesn’t really bring anything to the table (flavour wise) that I think isn’t already present in the teas that we carry year round. We already have an oolong with that sweet/bright orange flavour (The Skinny) and as I mentioned already there is ALSO another spiced orange blend. This one isn’t even as strongly spice flavoured as Spice Is Right; it’s like a milder/stripped down version of it. I guess that’s a win if you find Spice Is Right to be too intense!? However I like Spice Is Right exactly how it is so a milder version of it is just not interesting to me.

So yeah – that’s where I land with this one. It’s hear and it’s just sort of… “meh”.

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.

Flavors: Bitter, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Mineral, Orange, Orange Zest, Wood

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98

So, this tea has been one of my all time favourites for years now – and it’s easily my favourite tea currently carried by DAVIDsTEA and second overall only to Cranberry Pear (which is retired). I drink a lot of it at work that gets unlogged because I just have it so much; and I always have a 100g tin of it for at home also.

Well, with the new job and the fact I wont be working in a retail store anymore soon I finally took the plunge and I bought myself a tinzilla (250g tin) of it for at home. I filled it all the way though, so in practice it’s actually a lot closer to 350g-400g of it. So now I am fully stocked up so I can have countless cups of it in my new place! No need to worry about whether I’ll have access at the new place – just tons of Blueberry Jam. Blueberry Jam for days. Weeks Months!

Except it’s been packed up in a box and is waiting to be shipped out – so no Blueberry Jam in the next few days, weeks, and month.

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.

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Profile

Bio

Hello! My name is Kelly, though many people in the tea community call me Ros or Roswell.

I am a mid-twenties tea addict, blogger, and all around nerd. I grew up in the Prairies, but a few years ago I relocated to Quebec to pursue a career with DAVIDsTEA in the tea industry! I’m still working on getting my French language skills down…

My first introduction to tea, in any form outside of instant and bottled iced tea, was about seven years ago when I happened to stumble upon DAVIDsTEA while looking for a birthday present for a friend! I tried their Birthday Cake rooibos blend, and I’ve been hooked on tea ever since! In those seven years; I was introduced to the online tea community, expanded my interest in flavoured teas to include a deep love and appreciation for straight teas and traditional brewing methods, got a tea themed tattoo, started reviewing teas, amassed a sizable tea and teaware collection, became a TAC certified Tea Sommelier, & even came full circle by beginning a career in the tea industry with DAVIDsTEA!

I consider myself a Jack of all Teas, and strive to have a knowledge and appreciation of all tea types, formats, and styles of drinking. I don’t like to feel boxed in to just being a “flavoured tea” or “straight tea” drinker – my expectations may vary depending on the type of tea or how it’s been processed/prepared but if it’s good tea, it’s good tea no matter how it’s been made!

You name it, I probably drink it- and I’ll absolutely try anything at least once.

My default method of preparation is hot, Western style, and straight – but I’m not opposed to additions if I’m in the right mood. If I ever add something to a tea or use a different method of preparation I will ALWAYS call it out in the tasting note though.

I like to listen to music when drinking tea, especially when I’m brewing a large pot at a time or steeping Gongfu. Often I curate very intentional tea and music pairings, and sometimes I share them here in my tasting reviews. Music is something that I find can deeply affect the experience of having tea.

I’m also one half of the “tea and fandom” podcast GeekSteep where, weekly, we discuss newly explored fandoms over tea as well as try to figure out the perfect tea to pair with each fandom. You can find us on Spotify and Apple & Google podcasts.

Favourite flavour notes/ingredients: Pear, lychee, cranberry, cream, melon, pineapple, malt, roasty, petrichor, sweet potato, heady florals like rose, hazelnut or walnut, sesame, honey (in moderation), and very woody shou.

Least favourite flavour notes/ingredients:
Lemongrass, ginger, strongly spiced profiles (and most Chai in general), mushrooms, seaweed, chamomile, stevia, saltiness or anything that reminds me too much of meat that isn’t supposed to taste like meat…

Currently exploring/obsessed with: Sheng from Yiwu, Yancha (Qilan in particular), anything with a strong sweet potato note. Also, I need to try ALL the root beer teas! Searching for a really good caramel flavoured blend, ideally with a black tea base.

Please contact me at the instagram account listed below if you would like me to review your teas.

Currently I’m employed in the tea department of the DAVIDsTEA head office. While I’m still sharing my own personal thoughts on new & existing DAVIDsTEA blends, I am no longer numerically rating them due to the obvious conflict of interest. Any comments expressed are a reflection of my own thoughts and opinions, and do not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the company. Any DAVIDsTEA blends you currently see with a numeric score were reviewed prior to my being hired there and have not been adjusted since becoming a DAVIDsTEA employee.

Location

Montreal, QC, CA

Website

https://www.instagram.com/ros...

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