10238 Tasting Notes
This was a free sample from my last order from Dessert by Deb for their Autumn collection. Deb was kind enough to let me pick the teas for my free sample, and I chose this one because I know Deb works with coconut in a lot of her blends but I typically try to avoid buying coconut blends – I figured a free sample was an excuse to not buy a coconut tea and still get to try it. Of her coconut teas, I was most intrigued by this flavour concept…
The dry leaf smell of this is amazing, and it made me really excited for the tea. It’s more coconut forward than lemon, and the coconut is that kind of buttery coconut that makes me think of pastries! In particular, these coconut buns that I get from a Chinese bakery I sometimes pass when I’m going to my local comic book store.
The steeped tea, impressively, doesn’t disappoint! My biggest fear, aside from lotion-y coconut caused from it being rancid (not that I expected Deb to sell rancid tea; it’s just one of THE WORST flavours when coconut does eventually turn), was that it would be too sweet and I’m really happy with the balance of this blend! The coconut is very buttery and a little bit creamy, and the result really does lean quite heavily into that coconut bun/coconut pastry imagery I was get from the LLT aroma. I think for this to be coconut pie I actually probably would have wanted more creaminess or even a custard-y flavour but I’m probably more happy with what I got. The lemon is there, also creamy, but much lighter comparatively. The black tea impressively still comes through in the taste and I actually very much like the balance that the little hint of tannin gives to the blend. I can’t remember is Deb actually says what the black tea base is, but I would guess something Indian or Sri Lankan – the malty/bready notes, full bodied robustness, tannin, and even hints of cinnamon seem to support that.
So yeah – a blend I surprisingly ended up loving a lot.
Another tea I’ve been drinking a lot of recently!
I tried finding rhubarb pie at the grocery store recently because I was craving it and it just wasn’t carried at the moment – but when I got home I realized that this was the perfect was to satisfy that craving! Lovely warming spice, but mostly a good rhubarb! I enjoyed this mug a lot – it’s not my favourite rhubarb tea in my massive stash, but I think it might be my second…
Reached for this earlier in the week to sip on while working from home – one of the few mornings I worked from home this week and had the luxury of my full tea stash at my disposal. It’s still not my favourite; the smell is lovely and does remind me of Black Forest cake but the interaction of the hibiscus and chocolate just isn’t something I see myself getting over any time soon…
Gongfu!
I seem to be craving white tea today, so brewing up this 2019 Wild Baimudan sample I received for free from Crafted Leaf Teas this evening! My tea, earlier today, was interrupted by the fire alarm and an apartment evacuation (everything is fine!) So finally back to relaxing for the evening. This is really nice, it has the sweet and refreshing vegetal notes that I love in baimudan like cucumber skin & pulp, and sweet and almost floral garden peas! However, there’s also an interesting top note that’s like a moderately ‘Sharp’ hit of lemon juice. It’s exactly what I was craving for the evening!
To be honest, the worst part of the fire alarm earlier is that I was brewing tea while watching the series finale of The 100 (a show I have put seven years of investment into) and the alarm went off right in the middle of the episode just at a VERY emotionally charged moment. So I evacuated with a fully puffy face and red eyes from sobbing like a little emotional baby.
I don’t want to talk about the finale yet – I have mixed feelings and am too emotionally exhausted after it…
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CF23FApgXro/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSpJT4-splY&ab_channel=TomRosenthal
With all the stress of the week, it’s not surprising to me that I ended up gravitating more heavily to dessert teas this week – like this blend. I didn’t have my full attention turned to it while drinking, because I was so wrapped up in what I was working on, but I remember how comforting and cozy each sip was and the sweet lingering vanilla marshmallow notes on my tongue in between sips really stand out in my mind!
Cold Brew Sipdown (1119)!
Thank you for sharing this one VariaTEA – I was so curious after it ended up being something you surprisingly gravitated towards so much this summer! Sadly, I think the summer of lemon mint teas is coming to a close – but I couldn’t let it end without trying this sample!
I was surprised how menthol tasting the mint in this blend is and to be honest at first I didn’t love that quality about it – but the citrus, which is primarily driven by lemongrass notes, does work pretty well with it and it gives the overall blend a much more natural feeling. After a few sips, the flavour grew on me a lot and by the end of my cold brew I was really wrapped up in it! I can actually super easily see how this ended up growing on VariaTEA so much over time!
Cold Brew Sipdown (1120)!
Big thank you to Sew Geek over on IG for sending this tea along with three other fandom blends for Marika and I to try on our Geek Steep account! This was officially our first “PR Tea” package for the Geek Steep account! Very cool milestone!
I’m finishing this one today while working on tasting notes and snacking on some Pandan ice cream from a local creamery. As I said in a previous tasting note last night, it was a long week for me. I worked late every day this week, and didn’t have much time for much of anything else. I took a personal day today, and now I’m enjoying getting to work on tasting notes at a much more comfortable pace…
I’m not familiar with The Untamed, the fandom this tea is from, outside of knowing its a Chinese TV Drama that revolves around I believe two main characters? The namesake of this blend being one of them. I love when teas introduce me to new fandoms though!
I feel like the name of this tea must be an inside joke/fandom reference that I’m not getting; but regardless I don’t find the tea boring at all! It’s the rare feat where a white tea has both a dense and jammy blueberry compote flavour while still maintaining its delicate, crisp and refreshing white tea base – with notes of cucumber skins, timothy hay, and clotted cream. It all works really well with the icecream, which is also creamy but more of a sticky rice starchy creaminess with hints of coconut.
Only downside? It’s a chilly day already and cold brew and icecream have me swaddled in big fluffy blankets to keep cozy!
Cold Brew!
A bit underleafed which resulted in a thinner tasting blueberry flavour, though also a side effect of this was that more of the buttery notes and creaminess of the yogurt came through in the taste which amplified the muffin elements of the blend. Not sure if the lack of body/density was quite worth the trade off, but maybe you could push the leaf amount just a little more and get a better balance.
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.
Cold Brew!
Had this one on my commute earlier in the week and it was good! I don’t seem to gravitate towards this blend often outside of Autumn/Winter and that means I usually have it hot, but this time I had it chilled and I found myself deeply appreciating the way it brought out the sweetness of the apple and strong anise notes in the blend!
Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFxR8tJARga/
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.
Had a late night mug of this a few nights ago. It’s been a very long week for me which is why I’ve been less present on Steepster this week; lots of late nights working and then after I finish working I just want to wind down with a mug of tea and some TV – and often some take out…
So, this was sipped with a heavily pineapple covered pizza and some geeky television. I love Lapsang in general, though if you look at my rating for this tea, from yeeeeaaarrrss back it wont reflect that, but this was definitely an acquired taste for me. However, I personally feel a Western steeped mug of Lapsang is best with the juxtaposition of super sweet and tangy pineapple. It’s the ham & pineapple effect, but in tea form.
It was a LOVELY pairing.
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.
