Midsummer Night's Dream

All I can taste is grapefruit. I hate grapefruit. It is like mild hot grapefruit with mint trying to fight it’s way out from the heavy weight of the fruit at the end of the sip. Monty Python comes to mind. The mint is crying “I’m not dead yet!”.

Wow! The dry leaf aroma is potently orange! Like smelling straight concentrated orange oil. The brewed tea aroma is a little calmer but still pretty strong. The flavor is like warm, watered down orange juice. I’m not getting any other flavor honestly. I’d expect the mint to come across more. Mint isn’t usually one to hide. At least I can finish drinking this cup instead of pouring it out like the last two samples I tried this morning. I can’t really say it’s extremely enjoyable though. Overall, I’d describe it as mediocre.

Sipdown. This tea was always sort of a mess to brew, in that I couldn’t make it in my gravity steeper because the flavor is so strong it would taint the flavors of anything else I steeped for a week. So I had to use my tea ball, but the herbal mix is so fine that a lot of it leaked out through the little holes. Nevertheless, it was well worth the trouble because this vanilla-citrus-spearmint blend is definitely one of my favorite David’s flavors (and so much better than its sort-of counterpart, Teavana’s Jade Citrus Mint). So I’m sorry to see it go. Adding it to the list now for my next order.

This came as a sample with my recent DAVIDsTEA order. It has a nice, light flavor and I think it would be really great in the summer as iced tea!

I don’t usually go for fruit teas, but this one smells so amazing! It doesn’t taste as good as it smells, but still tastes pretty damn good.

This one is pretty interesting. Let me first start by saying that I always add rock sugar to this tea, as this is another one of those teas who’s flavors are brought out by the rock sugar.

Now, speaking of those flavors… the reviewers if this tea are getting all kinds of flavors and notes, but I myself would describe this as simply this: a creamy citrus mint. I wouldn’t call this tea ‘complex’ but these three flavors play wonderfully (perhaps confusingly to some palettes) together, and I definitely can see how the illusion of vanilla is created. The cream and citrus are equal parts, while the mint is subtle. In fact, the way the mint leaves fall in your bag may vary so I recommend shaking your bag upside-down a bit just to get an even distribution of the particles before you scoop.

I like this tea even though I’m not in love with citrus (lemon, orange) flavors in general, but I enjoy the creaminess of this and how the contrast of 3 flavors lets your mind/mouth wander to come up with your own interpretations of notes on this tea. This is definitely one of those teas where I can see my opinion and perception of it changing as I become more familiar with it.

How I acquired a sample of this tea is kind of interesting… I had really hoped to go see this play in Stratford with a friend, but couldn’t make it work financially, so I had to bail on her. I wanted to “apologize” for cancelling, so I mailed this to her and at least she could enjoy the tea. Naturally, before I sent it off, I stole a sample first :|
Now, to the tea… It was nice. Given the ingredients and aroma, it steeped exactly how I expected it would. It was citrusy. What struck me is that (in spite of knowing it is an herbal blend), I was absolutely convinced there is Yerba Mate in there. There isn’t, It just really tasted like a Mate with fruit to me… I wouldn’t buy it again, but I did think it was okay.

I really did not like this tea. I went to the store and asked for it iced. The guy offered to add sweetener because I said that sometimes tea was too bitter or tart. There was way to much agave in there plus it was so citrusy. Sorry, but it tasted like watered down Sunny D. Yuck. I am willing to give this tea a second chance…but I think I need a break after that experience!!!

Herbal Traveling Tea Box

So I had a very intense sweat until you feel like you just had a shower workout today. It felt great, but boy did I ever need an Epsom salt bath after that. I plucked this one from the pile of herbals from the box that I definitely want to try befor sending it on its way. I sipped it in the tub with a book and it was heavenly. Just exactly what I wanted tonight. Comforting, citrusy a tiny bit floral. I didn’t get any mint at all.

That two davidsteas out of two that I already really like. I foresee my money leaving me very soon in the form of a davidstea order.

Sipdown!

Cold brewed this to take on my baby stroll today.

It used to be a favorite, I’m pretty sure I used to make it hot all the time.
It smells delicious dry….

When I took my first sip I was like “hmm, there’s some sort of weird familiar taste in here…”

Then I looked at the ingredients and saw “orange oil” and realized it tastes the way orange cleaning products smell.

Cold, at least.

So, I will drink some of it as I walk but whatever is left by the time I return home will be dumped.

I don’t LOVE citrus teas anymore anyway…except creamy vanilla ones. And this isn’t that.