DAVIDsTEA

Geek Steep S1E6 – Spiderman: The Animated Series

Like I said in my tasting note for Ginger Lemon, which is the other tea I chose for my pairing this week, I actually chose two teas for this geek. I watched the first two episodes on one evening and the last one on the next evening which gave me a chance to improve upon things I thought could be improved with my first pairing…

I was trying to create a feeling of nostalgia surrounding my first ever experience with this Geek – and that was rooted in watching the show when I was sick and drinking Gingerale. So, I started with a tea that I consider a really good “sick tea” and while it hit some of those nostalgia buttons, it didn’t totally work for me. The areas of opportunity, I thought, were that it needed to be a bit “punchier” and more flavourful to better reflect the saturated colours in the animation and break neck pacing of the TV show…

I stuck with Ginger, because touching on those nostalgic roots was important to me with this pairing. There are probably a dozen other teas in my stash that I could have picked with a punchier ginger flavour that would have fit the bill, but I went with this one because honestly I really like it/wanted the excuse to brew it up. It’s a peach ginger, which is a slightly different route – but it still has the ginger I wanted. Plus, it’s called Peach Zing and that seems like the PERFECT “comic book action word”. Y’know – like the words that go in the jagged bubble/circle whenever any type of action happens…

Spiderman punches Green Goblin? POW!
Hobgoblin blows up the podium Fisk is speaking at? BAM!

So, why not a Zing!?

It was honestly the perfect pairing – I got the right intensity/flavour level for the tone/style of the show but still capitalized on the nostalgia factor I wanted!

Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
(FYI – usually Marika write the blog post for the week, but this time it was me!)
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/

Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website

DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

If you want to get caught up on the Geek of The Week for next Thursday, the spoiler for our explored fandom is at the bottom of our latest DB post!

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.

My favourite of the collection, though Blueberry Fields Forever comes close to it…

So to over simplify this blend as a “Ginger Peach” would be a huge disservice to the brilliance of this tea – in my own, not so humble, opinion. It definitely riffs off that flavour combination (which, like, great transitional flavour for this time of year) but it has some interesting little quirks to it as well!

I know I said this in a tasting note earlier this year (probably several, honestly) but one of my favourite uses of ginger has definitely strongly grown to be the combination of spicy/tingly ginger against juicy fruit flavours and that is REALLY what this tea is! There ginger has way more of a kick than you would assume from the look of the dry leaf tea which is quite chunky/fruity but that ginger bites back at you a bit and has a perfect warmth to the finish. It’s hard for me to say that as a non-ginger fan, but this is so spot on for me in terms of usage…

What makes it great though is that for as much warmth and spice as the ginger has it also has equal amounts of very sweet, juicy and candied peach notes with this great almost Fuzzy Peach (but not tart/sour) ripe/candy sweetness. It’s got some hibiscus in the blend which of course adds some colour, but it’s a mellow enough amount to not make for an overly tart profile and the peach is still the more prominent flavour by a lot. I think this type of spicy ginger alone would be unpleasant to me, as would this very sweet and juicy peach but the combination of these two feels quite grounded and well rounded out to me.

That’s what makes it different from other ginger peach blends, in my opinion. Often they focus too heavily on one of the flavours which leaves the other drowned out or thin feeling. And you don’t really see this kind of spicy ginger combod with a sweet/juicy peach at this richness – it’s more of a baked peach and ginger warmth or sweet ginger and peach. Nah, this way you get the best of both worlds – Hannah Montana style.

Good hot, great iced, downright chuggable as a cold brew.

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.

Another from the new collection – one of the blends in it that I like the least, though as I’ve said I actually enjoy this collection in its entirety.

The reason this one appeals to me less, aside from the green tea base, is just that I don’t find the rhubarb and mint to be a natural seeming flavour pairing and the overall blend approach feels quite European to me and not really DAVIDsTEA’s typical blending “style”. Not in a bad way, just in a way that makes it feel less… natural? Hard to explain.

The original concept for this tea was actually a rhubarb and mint chutney but the blend has come a long way from that direction – it’s one of those examples for a concept really evolving overtime. Now it’s a bit more like a Rhubarb Julep, if I had to try to succinctly summarize the taste. It’s nice iced, I do prefer it hot though. I find the rhubarb is a bit more of a cooker or a baked rhubarb note over something more fresh – like Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait. That’s part of what makes it a little more transitional feeling for the seasons, in my opinion. It still has tartness though – and a hint of strawberry.

The mint is nana mint, which personally I find has a sweeter mint note and is a little spearmint-y tasting to my palate. I think that the mint in this tea is stronger than in Sicilian Lemon in terms of taste (not sensation) if you wanted to compare the two. It’s pretty balanced with the rhubarb. Overall this can be somewhat thin tasting to my palate, so I like to brew it longer or overleaf my cup.

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.

Steepster seems pretty stable/cooperative today and I basically caught up on the rest of my queue so… guess it’s time to catch up on the tasting notes for the Freshly Picked collection!?

It’s been out a while now and I hate that I wasn’t super on top of getting my notes up because I always try to within a week from a collection launch, but Steepster just wasn’t behaving for me! I did get a note up for 9 Berries though, while has more collection background/context if anyone is curious.

I really like this entire collection, but if I have to “rank” or place the teas in the collection then this is probably in the middle for me, but leaning more into the top half of the collection for me. It loses some points for the green tea, even though there isn’t a lot of green tea. I’ve really been having a “lemon mint” revolution and rediscovery this summer though where I’ve had a lot of lemon mint teas and fallen in love with the flavour combination all over again – and yes, this has definitely been a big part of that. I just haven’t been able to share it until now, even though I’ve gone through nearly 50g of it in cold brews in the last few months (a big step for me)…

It’s fine hot – more lemon, and a soothing bright lemon with some sweetness and a hint of mint. I don’t think you can taste the green tea much at all prepared in this manner. However, iced or cold brewed with an extended brew time!? Oh baby! That is where it’s at!

I love the lemon used in this tea; it’s so fresh and bright with a pop of acidity like good lemonade but also still sweet and not at all bitter. There’s a “powdered sugar” flavour used in this blend, and I actually think that as random as it seems it adds this completely perfect level of soft sweetness that helps facilitates the lemon smoothly meshing with what is a very cooling, crisp peppermint. I actually don’t personally taste the peppermint so much as I feel it in the ultra refreshing and bordering on menthol coolness that coats your throat (though you do taste it some). With this method of steeping, I think the green tea comes out a bit more, and it can handle a long steep time. In my experience, this tea does not get bitter at all.

I personally feel this would have been better suited to earlier in the summer for launch, because it’s probably the least “Summer to Autumn” transitional feeling of the collection to me, but I like it a lot as a blend. I hope it sticks around for a while – it’s a refreshing (literally) take on a lemon profile.

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.

I decided I needed to try this after I saw a YouTube video featuring it, and DavidsTea had a free shipping offer…

I mixed 1/2 tsp of this and 1/2 tsp of the matcha Matsu I have in the cupboard. That means it’s not too sweet. Normally I really dislike the flavoured matchas as they have so much sugar, but 1/2 tsp in a latte is super good.

It’s definitely honey flavour, not real honey. And I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s lavender, but it’s floral.

I really like it diluted like this. I bet it would also be great in a lemonade.

I also got the silicon straws as I have the mini and large favourite mugs and they don’t have replacement plastic straws… They’re so long! Way too long for the mini mug and my regular glasses. I need to see if I can just cut them, or if I need to idk, melt them or something to seal the ends.

A fairly straightforward and simple breakfast tea – which is fine with me: it does its job early in the morning to wake me up and ease me into the day.

I bought this tea on clearance back in March 2020. It’s not what I usually go for, but it was something like $3 for 50 g and I thought I’d give it a chance. I steeped around 1.5 teaspoons in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 3.5, 5, 8, and 10 minutes.

Dry, this tea smells like tart, floral, berry bubble gum. The first steep is surprisingly gentle, with cranberry, floral, lemon, chamomile, rosemary, and faint ginger. Happily, the apple and licorice aren’t in evidence, though sadly, neither is the white tea. There’s a lingering sweetness in the aftertaste. I’ve never had sea buckthorn, so can’t comment on its presence. The licorice is a bit more noticeable as the cup cools. The flavour doesn’t change in the next couple steeps, although the ginger and rosemary are stronger in the fourth.

This tea is much more subtle than I expected. Though there’s a lot going on, all the flavours work together to create a fruity, floral, herbaceous blend that fits its spa moniker.

A year ago I was a very casual tea drinker. By that I mean that I enjoyed the occasional cup of tea from time to time. While stopping by a David’s Tea location I was recommended this tea by the tea guide, and that’s where my journey started.

I LOVE this tea. I would absolutely reccomend this tea to people who enjoy fruity teas but want something caffeinated. I just wish they made it a permanent item in their collection!

A previous review says this tea tastes like cinnamon valentine hearts, and that’s what I’m thinking of as I drink it. The cinnamon is sweet with a bit of a burn in the back of my throat, and also a tiny bit of chalkiness going down. I really enjoy it as sweet teas are my thing.
It doesn’t have a lot of caffeine either so I can have a second cup of this one in the morning.
smell: sweet cinnamon, bit of orange
sip: a smooth gentle sweetness on my tongue
swallow: sweet with a bit of heat going down
aftertaste: VERY faint spice burn

I’m a little hesitant to write new collection tasting notes right now when the site is still not behaving normally, but I also don’t want to get backlogged so I think I might do them!?

Anyway, DT just launched a new collection called the “Freshly Picked” collection which features an assortment of new and returning fruity blends that act a bit as a Summer/Autumn transitional collection. I mentioned this on instagram the other day, but Autumn is by far my favourite season but I’m not a Chai drinker and since so much of the Autumn releases tend to focus on Chai/spiced blends these fruitier transitional collections tend to be some of my favourites!

There are two “returning” teas in the collection – Apple Cider and Cherry Berry Punch. We just had Cherry Berry Punch pretty recently, but it’s nice to see Apple Cider come come back and get some love outside of the holidays!

Of the six new teas, I think this is probably my least favourite but there isn’t a single tea in this collection that I don’t like and I actually got some of each one for myself because they’re all teas that I would drink and want in my cupboard. I also think it’s really cool that we have such a fruity and flavourful tisane as part of the assortment that is organic! It seems so rare that the in your face, juicy and fruity blends are organic – it’s usually the more herb forward blends…

I’ve had this hot, iced and cold brewed now – iced was probably my favourite prep method although I enjoyed it a lot cold brewed as well. Hot, I found it was just too sharp/tart to my kind of thing. I find it similar to both Bear Trap and Queen of Tarts and it’s definitely somethign that I would recommend to fans of either blend.

There really are nine berries in the blend, but in my opinion the ones that come through the most in terms of the taste are the black currant, raspberry and elderberry – in that order. The start of the sip is very tart and sharp, tinged with hibiscus, but then it settles into something more overtly berry and deep with an understated sweetness and even a hint of beet earthiness. It’s a pretty solid and natural feeling berry tisane, in my opinion.

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.

Iced Tea Sipdown (268)

I don’t like this one. I got it as part of the cocktail collection back in November and today I prepared it to go for a socially distant visit with a couple friend. This was just a super convenient single serving pack of tea with caffeine that could be nice iced while we sat outside.

It’s not bad but for my tastes it just a touch too sweet. Sweet and has that waxy apple/fruit flavor that some DAVIDsTEA blends get. It does have a sort of Bellini vibe to it so I could appreciate where this is going. It just didn’t take me there.

Sipdown (267)

Made this hot and I am definitely not a fan of this tea. I hoped there would be more ginger burn when hot and not mixed with lemonade but there was so much icky sweetness. Not for me at all.

Made this as a tea lemonade and this is so much sweeter than I expected. A lot of ginger but just so. Much. Sweet.

At first I really didn’t like it but it did sort of grow on me. Then, as I kept drinking the sweet built and I disliked it again. So overall it’s alright. I have a small package of this left and I think I’ll try it hot and see how that is…

Thanks for the sample, Amandastory! :) Sorry it took so long for me to come around to it. I am not a huge Kale fan but I must say I am pleasantly surprised as this was pretty tasty. I’d much rather take in kale this way, than eat it. hehe

The mixture of matcha with kale powder turned out to be a grassy, umami, creamy cuppa. Extremely energizing (probably up there in health benefits too no doubt). Love that there is no sweetener at all in this. Surprisingly, it is not bitter but has a unique, and different kale-spinachy-grassy-matcha notes. Thanks again. :)

Soothing cuppa from late last week – just a nice herbal and slightly savory blend to sip on during an evening when I wanted to escape a little bit more from more heavily flavoured sweet/fruity type teas. This was basically all mint and Greek Mountain tea – as it should be, honestly. Accurate to the name.

And yes, that is a big of a humble brag – since I’m the one who named the tea.

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.

This is the other new tea from yesterday!

So, I named this tea – I’ve named a handful of DT blends now but this is honestly the one that I’m most proud of!!

There were so many name ideas suggested – my “not actually serious” suggestion was Zeus Juice but this is honestly much better. I just like this so much because it reminds me of the fun, and clever type of names that a lot of more old school DT blends had – like, “Checkmate” level of clever (a blend with white and black tea). Not to be too immodest, haha. It roles of the tongue, and cheekily references the two main ingredients in the tea: mint and Greek Mountain tea…

If you’ve never had Greek Mountain tea before then you might be surprised by the taste of this tea – it’s very herbaceous and savory with more basil or thyme kind of flavours. The Greek Mountain tea, which is so pretty and fluffy, also comprises A LOT of the blend so it’s definitely not overpowered by the mint or other ingredients. I personally really like teas with herbal notes like basil, and I think it’s a super unique and differentiated tasting “mint blend” from anything else that DT currently offers. It’s still probably more in that light to medium bodied kind of range – but I do see people unfamiliar with this ingredient being thrown by the savoriness of it. On the flip, if you are familiar with Greek Mountain tea and love that flavour I really do think that you’ll be happy with how prominent it is. In that past, with blends like Tulsi Tranquility, I’ve been disappointed because I do really like the taste of tulsi and I found that it wasn’t prominent enough in the flavour to satisfy me…

Aside from the Greek Mountain tea, there are some other nice and more herbal tasting flavours that compliment really well. Mint is, obviously, a big one – it’s crisp and cooling and plays well off the basil-ish elements. There’s a subtle lemony note, and a slight tickle of black pepper in the back of the throat. It all comes together nicely.

Definitely a sipping tea, not a slurping one – but I enjoy the blend and love that it adds an interesting herbal element to the DT tisane line up, which does have a tendency to be really fruity tisane dominant.

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.

Two new teas yesterday, and a handful of returning ones that I’ve listed below here…

Bravissimo (Major blast from the past!)
Zestfully Green
Eucalyptus Mist
Cool Eucalyptus
Reishi Recharge

I don’t typically write fresh tasting notes for returning teas, but I have quite a few for all of these ones (except Reishi Recharge – just the one for that one, ’cause allergies) that you can search through if you want…

The collection is called the “Self Care” collection and yesterday was national “Self Care Day” so I understand the tie in and intention – but most of these teas are sort of cold and defence/sore throat/immunity type of blends so the timing seems a bit off in terms of them being “sick teas” because it’s not cold and flu season. I guess summer colds are a thing though (and it does suck to get one and not have a couple of go to sick teas on hand) so I suppose I get it…

Of the two new teas, this is the one I prefer the least – for some obvious reasons. I don’t drink a lot of green tea, and I’m not particularly fond of turmeric either. I did pick up a small amount of it for myself (maybe 15g) because I haven’t had the chance to try it while sick yet and I think that it might actually be really nice on the throat.

In terms of taste, I’d say this leans sweeter than you would typically expect from the standard cold and flu type of tea blend – and that makes sense to me, it’s inspired by those sweet and very coating throat lozenges. It’s a sweet lemon flavour, without really any “bite” or sourness to it, which is good because if you have a sore throat you really don’t want acidity or anything harsh like that, right? The honey is a little “fake tasting honey” to me, and quite strong but the sticky, lingering sweetness that coats your mouth and throat could definitely be a positive to some people – when I think about this blend versus, as an example, Throat Rescue, I definitely think the flavours of this one speak to me MUCH MORE than Throat Rescue which I just cannot drink because of all the licorice root. I do taste the stevia in here a little bit. Also a FAINT bit of earthiness from the small cut pieces of turmeric.

It’s not a blend that I would personally reach for just to drink casually, but I see elements in it that would appeal to me if I was sick. I’m curious to hear what other people think of it as well!

Also, it’s really pretty. Like, I know that the prettiness of the tea leaf does literally nothing in terms of making this a better self care/sick tea but that bright, pigmented yellow colour throughout is so appealing to me to look at!!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CDCPw8LAew_/

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.