Nutty & Spice

I was excited about this one when I read the description because it sounds lovely and Christmassy. Unfortunately, it didn’t end up tasting much like it is described at all. I was imagining something like a spiced fruitcake sort of flavor. And all the ingredients to form that seem to appear in the tea..bits of fruit, nuts, spice – but yet it just doesn’t translate into the brewing. And I’ve tried adding more tea, leaving it to steep up to 10 minutes, and it still is fairly bland. I get a decent nutty flavor, but it is very very mild on any taste of fruit or spice. And Im not really a huge fan of pure nutty flavored teas, so this one doesn’t hold much appeal to me and I won’t repurchase.

I picked this up with the rest of the Winter Collection, even though I had already had Snow Day and Sweet Almond Green from last year (wanted to try them again). I loved the smell of this one….warming and spicy, though I could not pick up any nutty smells. I was worried about the rose petals but had hoped the spice would overpower them (it does).

Sadly, I don’t like this as much, due to the hot cinnamon taste, which becomes more prominent as the tea cools for me. I’m not sure if adding milk will change the flavour enough for me to tolerate the rest, or if it should just go in the box of my tea rejects that someone will eventually get, and maybe they will like.

I had higher hopes for this one.

Last night I pumped so that I could take the trek down to David’s and the boyfriend could watch our daughter. I hate pumping. Well anyways, back to the tea… I was a little hesitant about trying this tea because I saw a review saying that it tastes like red hot cinnamon hearts. I hate those things. I also hate that hot cinnamon gum..yuck it makes me nauseous thinking about it! But, I didnt really get that vibe from this tea. I tried it in store because it was one of the teas they had on tap and I really enjoyed it. I am currently sipping my second cup at home. I can see how it has that hot spice flavor…but you have to think about it to taste it, its not overpoweringly spicy! I like it with a little agave. It does leave a little cinnamon-y spice on your throat and in your belly though, so that may deter people that aren’t into hot cinnamon flavor, like myself. But the fruitiness and the nuts in it definitely tone that aspect down. I can see myself drinking this in front of a fire with christmas music playing. yum!

I stopped in at DAVIDs this weekend for my free birthday tea. I left with 160 grams of Nutty and Spice too. I just loved the aroma of this one and had to try some – it smells like holiday baking to me. There’s something warm, cozy and comforting to it. Like what you’d expect being home for the holidays to smell like. The flavour is a lovely mix of spices, nuts, fruit and baking. It’s definitely channeling the flavours and smells of a holiday fruit cake or Christmas cake. I never tried Bubbie’s Baklava tea to compare, but if it’s like this one, I’m sure I would have adored that too.

Last cup of the night, most likely.

This one is warm and inviting; it tastes the way your mother or grandmother’s kitchen smells as they’re doing all of their holiday baking! Sweet and confectionery with this array of yummy pastry, fruit, and nut aromas. I get mostly cinnamon, almond, papaya, rose, and chicory notes from it myself. Sometimes it’s a little much, but when it clicks together in just creates this very all encompassing profile that’s a huge comfort and warm inner tummy hug.

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.

I got this tea as a free sample with my online order. It smells and tastes just like red hot cinnamon hearts. At this point, I’m unsure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It’s strange to be drinking the flavour of cinnamon hearts in a hot tea. Something I did notice is that the sample appeared to contain almost no tea but when I steeped it, the leaves expanded significantly more than I have seen with any other tea. It’s not something I would buy or crave another cup of but was drinkable.

Not a huge fan of this tea. Drinkable but I would not look forward to having another cup. I found it kind of weak and it left with an unpleasant after taste. Thank goodness this was a free sample.

additional notes: Well, the Steepster ‘show more’ button stopped at a certain point, so I’ll be missing about a day of tasting notes. Darn it – it was working so good for a while!. I’ll be drinking this lovely today, Frank’s Eggnog Yunnan and I’ll be skipping B&B’s advent from my own stash today because I think Mulled Wine is too much like Mulled Cider. (I don’t think I could tell a difference.) But I will drink Mulled Wine at some point this month!

I can’t really tell the difference between this and Bubbie’s Baklava since it’s been a while… maybe a side by side taste test is in order. But if you like the old one, you should be happy with the new version.

Last free sample that came with my order. This is supposed to have loads of different stuff in this—fruit, nuts, and spices galore—but in the end, it was very boring. I couldn’t taste the oolong base at all, and more than anything else, I tasted almond flavouring (not quite as strong as almond extract, or the almond extract-like flavour present in other teas) and cinnamon. Lots of cinnamon. Then there was a sweetness in the background from the fruits, primarily apple, but nothing else stood out. I wonder if it wasn’t as complex because it was only a sample size (and thus wasn’t enough to get a bit of everything) or if it’s just the tea itself.