DAVIDsTEA

Sipped down last night when I was too tired to write a note. I kind of fell behind on the online courses through the week with birthday shenanigans, so yesterday I really pushed myself to catch back up. I drank coffee while I was working and by the time I finished for the day at 10pm I was mentally exhausted, starving, and had somehow given myself a blister on my thumb from writing so much (I keep notes in a notebook as I’m studying). My original plan was to finish around 8/9ish, make myself a strawberry daiquiri and relax with an episode of The Sinner on Netflix. Instead I finished after 10pm, heated up my long-neglected dinner, and made a crème caramel rooibos latte to enjoy alongside a short YouTube video before heading straight to bed. Sadly this was kind of underwhelming as a latte and it used up the last of my leaf. The caramel flavour didn’t really hold up, so it was more of a woodsy, sour rooibos latte with a hint of caramel. I ended up adding syrup to sweeten it, which I’m trying not to do too often. It was fine, but I was too tired to fully enjoy it anyway – I only made it half way through the video I was watching before giving up and going to bed. Not the saddest sipdown ever, but I wish I’d been able to enjoy it more.

243/402

Couldn’t resist having this again in the morning today for #matchamonday, though I’ve been drinking it a lot lately in general. Today is whisked it up hot and while it doesn’t pack the same level of refreshment as it does iced, that sweet spearmint is still intoxicatingly delicious and really coats your whole mouth! Plus the little hint of brightness from the lime is excellent! I’ve seen a few people mention adding lime juice to up the lime/mojito element a little bit more, so I bought some limes today to try that with next time…

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCTYQf5AApt/

I got some new bedding over the weekend, in a teal/aqua colour. Not because of DT; it’s just one of my favourite colours aside from orange, and it compliments the colour scheme of a lot of my existing furniture and other possessions – so RIP double sided navy and white striped comforter; you will forever be commemorated in my instagram feed. We’re leaning into the brightness now, though…

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHpsX3blL1Y

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 brand new tea!

Firstly – I just have to get it out of my system that I think the concept for this tea is so cool! It feels really unique and innovative and, while I don’t mind the “raspberry” or “vanilla” matchas of the world, it’s the matcha flavours that I haven’t seen other places that are the ones that really excite me.

When I first learned about this tea, prior to it launching, I had never seen any tea company carry a Mojito Matcha. I know now that Steeped Tea carries one, and I would love to try it to compare the two – theirs uses stevia leaf which I find really interesting. A part of me would love to know who began developing theirs first; the timeline between conception of idea to finalized blend to, then, launching that final blend can vary DRAMATICALLY. Honestly, it doesn’t even matter though – I think it’s just kind of cool that the two companies independently of one another both had this insanely unique and cool concept – especially because it looks like the approach was pretty different.

I think a lot of people probably also know that I really disliked DT’s mint matcha and, in general, I’ve really only even found one mint based matcha that I’ve ever liked (Spearmint S’cream from Bird & Blend) so while I immediately loved the idea for this tea I was very uncertain if I would actually like the taste. I really believed for a very long time that mint matchas simply were not for me. The only route I saw where this would work for me personally was if the lime was the strongest flavour with just a hint of mint.

However, this was not what ended up happening. Instead, I think that the mint is by far the strongest flavour with more of a hint/splash of refreshing and bright lime. However, with that said, I LOVE IT. It’s definitely a sweeter mint flavour, and I get more of a spearmint type of vibe from it over that crisp peppermint that I was expecting. It reminds me a bit of those Spearmint Leaf gummy candies. I hated those candies as a kid, but as an adult I find them really enjoyable. Palates change over time. I would honestly put this in my top five flavoured matchas of all time; and it may be tied with Rose Matcha as my favourite DT matcha ever.

The only cons, for me personally, are that I simply cannot envision this working as a latte and I do really love a good matcha latte. I haven’t tried it that way to confirm, but it’s just one of those flavours that you kind of instinctively know isn’t suited for that method. It’s good hot, but it’s great iced so that’s how I would primarily recommend trying it. I’ll probably still try it as a latte at some point just to see. It also works really well with lemonade for a super refreshing summer flavour, or with a bunch of different kinds of alcohol to make matcha cocktails: gin, vodka, and white rum…

What a great and pleasant surprise!

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.

New(ish) tea alert!!

I say ‘ish’ because DT has carried a Lapsang Souchong before; it was called Lapsang Souchong Star and it was a very polarizing tea. I know I hated it when I first had it (as I did all Lapsang Souchong) and then over time I grew to be a bit of a smoked tea fiend. This is very similar to Lapsang Souchong Star but it is technically a different tea. However, if you’ve had Lapsang Souchong Star before and enjoyed it then I feel very confidant that you will absolutely enjoy this one too.

If you’ve not had Lapsang Souchong Star before or, maybe, have never even had a Lapsang Souchong at all then boy oh boy and you in for something… distinct.

LS is a pine smoked black tea, so it understandably tastes very smokey. The amount of smokiness you might get from a Lapsang does vary to a degree, but lets just say that DT has never shied away from the more intense end of the spectrum. I have the old LS still (though it’s a few years old) so I’d like to do a direct comparison of the two versions, but going on memory I think this is slightly less smokey than what we did carry. It’s also a little less meaty in my opinion too; the old one had some serious smoked meat vibes to it. I find that this, under the thick layer of smoke, is a bit more woody with a VERY SMALL hint of red fruit – which isn’t a strange profile for a straight Chinese black tea.

A few small things – this bad boy is only available in Canada (thanks Prop 65), and I think it might be online only. I mean, everything is online only right now (thanks Covid-19) but when stores do start being phased open I don’t believe this is going to be sent to them. Also, I will just throw it out there that this is an extremely love/hate kind of tea, but even the people who love it usually don’t love it the first time that they have 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.

This fruit tea is excellent on ice! It has very tropical notes to it, so it is perfect for summer weather. In addition to the dragonfruit, I definitely taste some coconut. It is not tart, which is a welcome change from some of the other fruit teas I’ve had. It is smooth, but not super sweet or artificial tasting. I definitely would recommend this and very well may buy this tea again, especially if it goes on sale.

This one is just ok for me. It has a nice, earthy-like taste that mixes with chocolate notes. The chocolate reminds me more of a Tootsie Roll flavor than of actual, rich, dark chocolate. It is a little sweet, but that was expected since it is a chocolate tea. Personally, I prefer this one cold (I taste more of the chocolate that way), but I have had it hot too. Overall, not something I would rush to buy more of, but it isn’t necessarily bad either.

This tea is relatively light and not too sweet. Predominant tastes are mild berries and herbs. I taste the rosemary and chamomile, but they are not super strong. The smell/taste from the herbs make sense, given the name of the tea.

While there is some artificial-tasting raspberry to it, it is overwhelmingly overpowered by the creamy, sugary notes. I feel like I am drinking powdered sugar. Maybe if someone really enjoys sweets and/or sugary drinks they would like it. This tea is not for me though and I would not purchase this one again. I also definitely would not recommend it to other folks who are sensitive to sugar, as sugar seems to be a strong ingredient in this tea.

If you love lemon, this is the tea for you! Unlike the name suggests, however, there really isn’t much spice to this tea (at least not in my opinion). The lemon is very strong but I only get a slight hint of spice on the back end. I have had this tea hot and cold; it is tasty either way.

I don’t know if I would have instantly said this reminds me of popcorn, but it definitely has a caramel/butter taste to it. It isn’t too sweet, yet it very flavorful. One of my current go-to green teas.

Sweet and spicy… like carrot cake!

I am usually not a huge fan of spiced teas, but this one had a great balance to it. I loved that I got hints of cinnamon and ginger, yet they were not overpowering. There was a fruity/nutty element to the tea too. If you have had Forever Nuts, this tea is reminiscent of that but with a little extra spice.

I’m not sure why this tea has so many low ratings! I really like it, but I am a big fan of peach and jasmine in general so I might be biased. I’m surprised with how well they go together in this blend, actually – even though I love both flavours, they’re not ones I would usually pair together. But it works! I really like the blend of white and green tea, too. More body than a white tea usually has, but without the grassy/vegetal sharpness of a green. Bird and Blend’s ‘Nearly Nirvana’ uses a white and green mix with jasmine too, but that one has spearmint instead of peach, and that’s another one I’m a big fan of. I guess it’s a combo I like. A lot of the reviews of this tea mention an overwhelming floral, but that’s not what I’ve found. To me, the front of this is all juicy peach, with the jasmine coming up second as a sort of floral mist in a way that elevates the peach without taking over. The peach lingers longest after the sip, too. I would say that maybe it’s age, because I’ve had this for a good couple of years now, but I remember it being very peach-forward when I first tried it fresh, too. Maybe I just got a good batch.

Iced Tea Sipdown (256)

We decided to try a new cupcake place today and one of the cupcakes was a vanilla cake with grape frosting which just seemed so weird but so interesting. With that calling my name, I heard this tea calling me as well.

I was excited for a grape flavor after I had quite a lot of success with the cupcake. Unfortunately, this was sorta grape-y, mostly hibiscus though and then just soap. Me and the white tea bases that companies use don’t always get along it seems and despite my high hopes, that was the case here.

This tea had quite the strong smell when I opened the tin, so I was expecting the worst. However, it’s not bad. The chocolate flavour does not particularly stand out, but at least my cup was not bitter like some other reviews stated. I’m reminded of a really dark piece of chocolate in the 90-99% range. I was out of milk, or else I would have mixed some in. Maybe next time.

Edit: Curiously, I looked back at my previous tasting notes, and I had rated DAVIDsTEA’s other chocolate teas poorly in the past. Compared to Hot Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Delight, this tea sat really well with me.

Classic. I knew I was going to like this. I don’t think the dusting of matcha did anything to wake me up, though. I’m perpetually tired.

Cold brew sipdown! (237/400)

I only drank this hot once, when I first got it, and don’t remember much if anything about it. I was hesitant to try a cold brew because it would use up the rest of my sample and I wouldn’t be able to give a note of the tea hot, which is usually the first way I like to review a tea, but I am so glad I went for it because this makes a fantastic cold brew! I actually think because of the tart citrus and cool menthol it wouldn’t be that great hot, and I think I’ve made the right choice. It smells like sherbet (the fizzy sweet kind, not the American kind), and it’s a glorious pink shade befitting the name. This makes me think that hibiscus is present in a level which would have ruined this as a hot brew. Iced, it’s tart but it has some natural sweetness to it too, which makes it refreshing and gulpable at the same time. A medley of citrus notes are most prominent, leading into a slightly herbaceous, cooling eucalyptus note at the end of the sip which lingers at the back of the throat. I’d love to try making this into a cocktail. Maybe something with gin, or Cointreau. I wonder how it would add a twist to a Blue Lagoon, or perhaps a Singapore Sling… It’s a shame it’s a sipdown. While it wouldn’t make a list of my favourite teas of all time, there’s just something about it which excites me and is making me want to try it a million different ways, half of which involve alcohol. This tea is awakening the mixologist in me!

Sipped down the last of my sample from MissB this morning while I was doing some of my online courses. It’s a nice mint chocolate black, and I appreciate that it’s sweet already though that might put some people off. It’s good for drinking black when I want something a little sweeter, but I do have to remember that if I’m not in the mood for added sweetness. I have more from my advent calendar that I purchased through Marzipan, and I might use that sample to make a latte. One thing I’m not keen on with this tea is that the chocolate flavour seems quite artificial – overall I think I prefer Santa’s Secret, which has a similar vibe but without the artificial chocolate note. Both are nice, creamy mint black teas with some sweetness and no astringency meaning they’re great for drinking sans-additives. This note is probably super unhelpful and disjointed, but I’ve been really busy all day and I’m super tired so I’ll just have to do a better job next time. I was trying to cram in enough work that I could have the day off tomorrow, but I think I’ll probably still have to do some. Oh well, it’s not like I have big plans for a quarantine birthday anyway…

Odd combination of the mint and fruit that was somewhat off-putting at first but was something I could adjust to.

Incredible bright and fruity smell that didn’t translate as much to the taste – more like a lightly flavored green tea.

I steep this one for a really long time to make sure I get a strong flavor from it – like 20+ minutes. The resulting flavor is pretty tasty! You get both the banana and maybe some light nuttiness. It creates a thick sludge in the bottom of the cup, so watch out for that on your last mouthful. The second steep is pretty good too. It definitely tastes more like banana chips than fresh banana, but I’m just glad it tastes like some form of real banana. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to purchase this one since its weight means you don’t get much for your money. But I would always say yes if it were offered in some sort of magical free method.

Well, I made this as a hot brew without reading my previous note on it, which meant I didn’t see my reminder to myself that it was astringent and I should steep it at a lower temperature. As predicted, this was very bitter at my usual 80 degrees Celsius. It’s such a shame because it smells like it’s going to be a really sweet, delicate and delicious jasmine, but the bitterness of the poor quality base tea just overpowers it. Here’s hoping I actually remember to lower the steeping temperature for my third and final cup!