15695 Tasting Notes
Discovery Tea Box – Tea Three
So, I think this is what I pulled out of the tea box? It was one of several teas from Yatra that simply had the company and estate name. I may visit a couple of the other teas from Yatra because it’s a company that’s new to me, sorta. I say sorta because I HAVE heard of them but I’m not able to order from them here in Canada (no international shipping). I chose this one specifically, though, because it was the only estate of the teas in the box that I wasn’t 100% certain that I’d tried a tea from before.
My first thought trying it was that it was really bland, however progressing through the cup I’d say that it’s less that it was a ‘bland’ tea and more that it’s just really quite mellow and light bodied. Some fruitiness popped out to me; generic red fruit sort of notes and a mild lemony sort of undertone. Couldn’t help but also think of Yuzu, because there was some pepperiness/SUPER mild spice notes in the blend as well and yuzu is basically peppery citrus – but I don’t think this tea really had the ‘punch’ that I associate with yuzu for it to be a super valid comparison. This was also a bit malty, and sort of honey-ish sweet.
Didn’t hate it, didn’t love it.
Put the rest of the bag back in the box, hopefully someone else will get something from it.
Sipdown (646)!
From the Discovery Tea Box – Tea Two
So, I’ve been aware of Pique’s tea crystal/instant tea for years now, and a couple grocery stores in town actually carry their tea as well. However, it’s something I’ve always been HIGHLY skeptical of and just unwilling to spend my own money on because I just know that there’s no way I’m going to like them.
There was one of these little packets in the box though, and I figured now is my chance to scratch that curiosity itch and just give one of these a whirl so I can finally just sort of ‘move on’, if you will. Basically, these are like little premeasured out instant iced tea packets that dissolve the same way powdered juice mix does or, say, instant Nestea iced tea. I think these are meant to be a higher quality than the latter, though.
Anyway, my suspicions have been confirmed: these are GROSS. For starters, it brews up an ungodly fluorescent yellow colour and smells a little bit like an overly chlorinated pool with a tinge of mint. The taste isn’t much different, but in addition to the chlorine and vague mint thing it’s also just REALLY bitter, and had a strong seaweed kind of taste. I swear I tried to be super open minded here. I swear. Like I was telling someone on instagram though, I don’t think the pairing of mint and sencha is an inherently bad one. It’s just not done well in this case.
I guess I can see the appeal to these if you worked in an office without decent tea making conditions or for travel!? But apart from that, it’s pretty nasty. It’s basically bad Nestea instant iced tea mix. Plus, we all kind of just know that while Nestea is technically tea it also just… isn’t. That’s what I’m feeling about this one right now. It’s technically tea, but really it isn’t at all. Worse that most bagged teas, as well.
But hey – at least I finally got to try it so that I could know FOR SURE.
Sipdown (647)!
From the Discovery Tea Box – Tea One
This is my first pull from the tea box; it’s definitely not a new company to me and Lupicia’s barley teas in general aren’t new to me either. However, I’ve had several of the flavoured barley teas and not the straight barley tea itself so I thought that it was definitely worth the opportunity to get this ‘baseline’.
I really enjoyed this; barley teas/tisanes are great because they have this deep, roasty sort of profile that tastes like a lot of ‘actual’ teas (Houjicha or roasted oolong, for example) – which makes for a great caffeine free options when you do still want a tea-like profile. I thought that this had those really great toasty cereal, roasted nut, and light char sort of tastes but it was also surprisingly sweet and fruity!?
Like, it was fruity enough that it pretty distinctly reminded me of the “apple” flavoured version of this barley tea from Lupicia that I have tried before. This was just labelled in the box as the pan fried barley teas so I’m going to still assume that’s what I drank – I just thought it was really interesting how much it resembled that to me.
Enjoyed this a lot though, regardless.
Cold Brew Sipdown (647)!
This is a pretty upsetting sipdown for me; Pink Flamingo is one of the OG teas I ever tried and not just from DT but in general. It’s always had a place in my cupboard. I was so angry when it was retired, and I tried to ration what I had left of it to last a while but this is the time to let it go – when it can be best enjoyed over the summer for the strong, thirst quenching tangy citrus/grapefruit notes it has and that wonderful eucalyptus quality.
Still… this brings me no joy saying goodbye.
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” (648)!
Quotations, because it’s not a true sipdown – I’ve decided to pass along the last few cups of this to the Discovery Tea Box. This cup was great; sweet and strong butterscotch notes, coconut body, and strong allspice/ginger finish. I think it was legit the best version of this that I’ve tasted to date. Maybe that’s because I left the teabag in the cup which let it get really potent, maybe not. I don’t know. I just know I’m not going to jinx it; this was a good cup and that’s the note I’m choosing to end my experience with this tea on.
There’s nothing else I think I can get from this tea, and so I think it’s time to let someone else try it and hopefully get a fun experience from the fandom connection.
Made a cup of this for my trip to the post office today to pick up the travelling tea box.
Mostly I wanted something refreshing and minty to ease into the day with as this was my first tea of the day. This definitely checks off those boxes, plus I liked that it was mildly caffeinated – just the gentle push I needed to get up and get active. The weird thing, for me, though was that this tasted like a chocolate mint tea even though it’s most definitely NOT a chocolate mint tea…
Weird.
Sipdown (649)!
Well, bit of a cupboard increase again because I just got a big package from White2Tea and the Discovery Tea Box arrived today also; I’ll did into both of those in a little bit, though…
This one is a VariaTEA share, and one that I don’t remember coming out? I must have just missed this one when it was tea of the week because it’s something that would have interested me – if I had noticed it, anyway. I’m finishing my sample off iced because iced peach black tea sounds DIVINE on a hot day like this. It’s interesting; not as sweet as I’d expect from a peach tea, and not as sweet as it smelled either. Neither of those are bad, just surprising. The black tea base is REALLY full bodied and brisk though, much stronger than the peach in the blend. It’s malty and has a bit of citrus pith/cocoa to it as well.
The overall profile, strong black tea and undertones of natural peach, make me think of Southern style iced tea but without any sweetener of any kind. I’m pleasantly surprised by this even if it’s not at all what I expected out of it.
Late morning cuppa.
I still don’t think this screams “whiskey sour” to me; it just lacks acidity/tartness which I think is an important part to any ‘sour’ style drink. However, it’s very full bodied and thick and has really nice malt notes with hints of smoke, cocoa, and lemon peel and I can definitely really appreciate that aspect of it. That’s what I wanted this morning when I selected this – so I was happy it delivered on my flavour expectations.
Afternoon cuppa, because I was craving something sweet.
Not a bad cup, and smooth – but almost everything I’m getting this time around is an almond extract and boozey sort of flavour. I guess that is sweet so it does work with my cravings. Just, I wish this was a little creamier so as to better fit that “ice cream” label.
Sipdown (638)!
Just got a REALLY large White2Tea order in the mail, so I’m feeling the pressure this afternoon to get some sipdowns in. Hence the revisit of this one so quickly after first trying it. Not really much differing thoughts about it though; I still think it definitely gives off more of a spearmint flavour than peppermint and while it’s not bad I just don’t know how I feel about spearmint and chocolate together overall. Peppermint just seems better.
Also, dentist went fine – they said it’s a purely superficial chip and while he, of course, wants to create a prosthetic to hide the chip it’s not necessary to do so. It’s not a front tooth, so I’m like 99% sure that I’m just going to be leaving it as is.
