DAVIDsTEA

This seems a bit overly tart hibiscus at first taste. A very tart fruit punch. But as the tea lingers in my mouth, I’m getting a slight beet aftertaste as if someone spiked the punchbowl with freshly squeezed beet juice. Also lingering is a metallic aftertaste, but its not that bad. I meant to try this iced, though its a bit late in the season for iced tea here, I’m sure it would be pretty good.
It’s not something I’d reach for again, but certainly is worth a sipdown.

Another new one!

Y’all know that I’m not a big Chai drinker, but this one has the type of super appetizing name that if I saw it from any other company I would probably want to try it out just to see if it lives up to the name…

So, does it live up to the name? Mmmm… I’m a bit undecided.

I will say, it smells quite heavenly to me – very sweet and buttery with a sort of butterscotch/caramelized sugar note but also lots of cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom aromas as well. Y’know, that really warming type of Chai spice mix. I can see the name and intention/direction based on the LLT smell, for sure.

My own experience in steeping this tea has been rather mixed. I will say that I have definitely had a few cups where I thought I was tasting that rich, sweet and buttery “butterscotch” flavour pretty clearly and others where I really didn’t taste it at all. From that, I conclude that this is probably the type of tea where either your steeping parameters or ratio of ingredients are going to come into play a lot. I rarely pay attention to what’s in my scoop of tea when I go to make one, but I have noticed that longer steep times seem to work better for me.

What is consistent about the profile is that it’s not overly spiced (in my opinion) but I’m not losing any of those trio of spice notes that I mentioned either. In fact, a reallllyyyyy good comparison is probably Monster Mash. I think if you enjoyed that this, this is quite likely really going to be a profile that speaks to you – it’s so similar in spice composition. I also think there’s a consistent sweetness (even if it’s not always Butterscotch) from cup to cup, and I personally think this quite often tastes very biscuit-y too. Like a sweet and spiced wafer type of cookie. I get a pop of slightly tart apple at the top of the sip, but it quickly fades. The finish is the most like butterscotch to me, and I like the slightly lingering and sticky sort of sweetness on the tip of my tongue after swallowing a sip.

I grabbed myself a small bag because I have a coworker who swears the butterscotch comes through when you make it as a latte (something I’ve not done yet) & I want to try and see if I agree. However, after I finish that little sample amount this isn’t the type of tea that I will personally want to get more of – unless the latte is life changing, of course, haha!

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.

If it wasn’t Autumn tea season before, it feels like it really is now – that change of season is coming and it’s coming fast. With it, of course, comes new and returning fall teas – mostly Chai, of course. In fact – I think this most recent collection is called the “Chai Collection” but not ALL the teas that launched are really Chai blends, some are just nice Autumn profiles…

Here’s the list of returning teas from this Friday’s drop:

- Chocolate Chili Chai
- Baked Apple Chai
- Chai Matcha
- Pumpkin Pie Matcha
- Guarana Chai

And of course Pumpkin Chai, but that launched earlier than everything else. There’s also this new tea as well as a new rooibos based chai called “Butterscotch Chai”.

First things first…

I adamantly refuse to call this a Chai blend in any regard; I’m not sure if it’s actually going to get marketed as one but because it launched with all of these other Chai profiles I worry some people might assume it’s a chai and I just need to (on a personal level) make sure that I’m really clear in saying that there isn’t any spice of any kind in the blend. Yes, that’s right, this is the RARE pumpkin tea without spices! Pumpkin fans, like myself, who don’t enjoy all those spices can rejoice – this year, we’ve got you covered!

I also like that it’s a herbal blend – I think that sometimes we box our herbals into only being these juicy fruit profiles and our rooibos into housing all the sweet/decadent profiles (when it comes to caffeine free options) so I’m happy to see that perception challenged a little bit. But, that said…

I don’t love this tea. I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s missing something to me and I struggle to put my finger on what exactly that is!? The flavour is pretty sweet and creamy with a nice light to medium type of pumpkin-y flavour – think the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard from Dairy Queen but without the pastry or the nutmeg?? It reminds me a little bit of the pumpkin in Monster Mash with the cream flavour that was used in White Peach, with a hint of the same very light apple-y note as well. Boost that creamy note with some white chocolate, and you get more of a Pumpkin White Chocolate or even Pumpkin Milkshake type of profile, in my own opinion. It’s nice – I wish the mouthfeel was a bit thicker to add to that custard-y quality that Creme Brulee has, and exaggerate the creaminess. Milk would likely go a long way in doing that…

Maybe what I feel like is missing is the “Creme Brulee” part of the tea!? Like, I definitely think this is sweet and creamy but an essential part of a Creme Brulee, in my mind, is that just barely bitter burnt sugar/hard crack sugar note that comes from the surface of the creme brulee – and that’s missing. It’s maybe just a little bit too sweet for my own tastes, without something to give it more depth like a bitter sugar note. I don’t know though, maybe that’s not it…

Anyway, while this isn’t my perfect pumpkin tea I do think it’s an interesting one so I of course look forwarding to reading reviews and thoughts from other tea drinkers and seeing where they land on it!

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.

A favorite I hoard as it is discontinued. A warm cake like flavor with slight caramel/maple notes. It’s a flavor that’s hard to describe but it’s one of the few flavored teas I really love.

I wasn’t initially super impressed with this one when I first tried it straight up. It was essentially everything I don’t love about David’s Tea dessert teas: a drowned out (green oolong) base, smothered by sugar and flavouring.

As a latte, however, it’s something else. The lush offerings of salted caramel candies fill the void that generally only the decadent fall dessert beverages of Starbucks fill. It’s still very sweet, but oh-so perfect.

This (as a latte) gets bonus points for pleasing a wide array of family members as well. My mom and sister both tried to drink from their empty cups, and wanted refills. That must count for something.

I bought this tea because it sounded weird. It is indeed quite weird. Maybe a little too so. I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea with eucalyptus in it, so my curiosity was peaked enough that I neglected to notice hibiscus in the ingredients. Surprisingly, the hib isn’t overwhelming! The cool euc mix is strange and a hard taste for me to acquire. I chose it today because my lungs have been feeling restricted and I thought it might help open them up on top of my inhaler. Not sure it’s doing the trick, but it was a high bar in the first place. I’d like to try this cold steeped sometime.

My David’s order arrived today! I’m a sucker for all things pumpkin and hadn’t tried a pumpkin matcha that I can recall, so I couldn’t resist adding this to my order. I heated some water, added a David’s matcha spoon full to a cup filled 1/3 of the way up, added 1/3 of creamer and frothed it up. It really does smell like pumpkin pie! So many pumpkin products rely on the cinnamon/clove/ginger pumpkin spice combo to invoke the feeling of pumpkin without pumpkin and it’s a little disappointing. The spices in this matcha are not overdone in an effort to mask a lack of pumpkin! I get a distinct pumpkin flavor that is supported by the spices. It’s harder to taste in the sip, but is very present in the finish. I do wish I had made this with a little more matcha so the flavors were stronger and cut through the allergy/histamine reaction I’m having, but it is still a surprisingly delightful cup! I wonder how quickly I’m going to end up going through this bag.

I got this in a SipsBy box quite awhile ago and had it stashed away, as honestly I thought I would dislike it (I’m pretty picky about spiced teas). I’ve started to switch over to fall tea mode, so this one went into the ‘to drink’ basket. I brewed it yesterday, not realizing it was a green tea, and luckily didn’t ruin it.
Anyway, to the tea- I really enjoyed it! It’s a punch of strong cinnamon and some mild orange. The clove is barely noticeable, and I didn’t detect any chili pepper. I drank it hot/straight and it was extremely comforting to sip on throughout the work day. Re-steeped extremely well too.

Iced Latte Sipdown

This was not in my steepster cupped so the number doesn’t change but I finished it as an iced latte.

This is very sweet. To me, it tastes like blueberry cereal milk. Fake blueberry though which is candy-like and sweet. It’s good but not something I need stocked.

STTB

I haven’t had this in my cupboard for a long time. It smells better than I remember, actually. Brewed it cold, added ice. A nice coconut-y and tropical iced tea.

I saw that this was re-released on the DT site today, and decided to start a sip down of my remaining 2oz packet from last year (maybe 2 years ago?). I like this, but I much prefer the Gingerbread Matcha from DT over this one. Made as a hot latte (my first latte in months!) and it is quite comforting. But, I won’t be repurchasing after I’m out.

sipdown

Tried this one out today and I think it’ll be one I could get more of for when I want herbal teas. Just a nice vanilla -ish berry blend.

Another one from today that I enjoyed. Can you tell I have some new teas? Haha. I’m not adding them to my cupboard currently unless I drink them because between renovating the floors and the ton of samples s for variaTEA, it’s going to take me a bit toget organized. Apparently I’ve been on a pineapple kick today. Will write more on this one Later but I did quite like it.

STTB Tea

1 ball in 450 mL water, 80-85 degrees C water, oversteeped (total over 30 minutes)

I actually planned on keeping this because I enjoy this herb (jiaogulan). However, this is one of the worst cups I’ve ever had and I only got a few sips in before I had to dump it. Now, I /did/ oversteep it (~30+ minutes) but the water wasn’t particularly hot. This is like a cup of concentrated bitterness with way too much sugar added. I would never add this much sugar to a tea, especially a herbal that tastes pretty good on its own. At first you get a very sweet mouthful (basically sugar water with a faint herb flavour) and then it hits you. This might be the most bitter thing I’ve ever had. It seems fine at first and then you have this overwhelming bitterness that you can’t get out of your mouth. If you’ve ever had bitter melon then you know the taste I’m referring to.

Either my taste buds are off or this tea is a travesty. I’m also really sensitive to bitterness but this is crazy.