Tuscanteal Send Message

Another tea at my sister-in-laws. This is a better version of Read my Lips. It’s so much better!

Sorry for the short and sweet tasting notes, I am catching up from yesterday.

Mmmm mmmm mmmm good! I bought this tea for my sister-in-law as a bridal shower present. It smells and tastes delicious. Enjoyed it with some cream and sugar. So yummy.

Day 19 of the 24 Days of Tea

It’s a good thing black teas are my favourite, because they’re dominating this calendar

At first sniff: Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Then the peppermint comes in. It smells kind of like the same chocolate as Chocolate Chili Chai. Like the same…. the exact same… minus the mint. The mix is cute with the sprinkles too.

At first steep: I still smell the chocolate, however taste the mint. It is also the last note in my mouth. That cool peppermint taste. I can smell it right now sitting next to me. The chocolate smell is strong. I added some cream and stevia to it, but it’s weak. I even over steeped it on purpose to try and bring out the tea.

I will give a word of advice. If you want to formulate a real opinion on the DT line, get the 24 days of tea made up for you, or go there and get random 10g samples made for you that you have to drink for 24 days straight. It’s really eye-opening how your ideas on a tea company change when you’re constantly drinking different blends of their tea and not the ones you gravitate to.

Day 18 of the 24 Days of Tea

Well… a mixture of white and green, with jasmine and fruit. Interesting.

At first sniff: Fuzzy peaches!!! Like exact same smell. I do smell the notes of jasmine after the fact, not sure about the hibiscus. The green tea smell is last. I notice the leaves are curled and twisted as well.

At first steep: I failed on the steeping of this one, clearly. Steeped it at 80 for 4 mins and WOW bitter bitter and more bitter. It smells like fuzzy peaches though. I resteeped for 2 mins with more water and it was still quite bitter. I must have for once over-leafed a DavidsTea tea??? Really, that never happens. This tea has some potential, but I’m not sure I understand the strong following behind this tea. I have enough to probably try this tea another 2 times, so we’ll see. Maybe my mind will be changed.

Good Morning first day of vacation (this was yesterday of course.)

I decided to start my day off very French.

At first sniff: Juicy, succulent apricot fills my nose, in a very fruit way. It’s not the fake smell of apricot or peach that one might be use to. Nope, this is the real deal. I find the apricot is marrying with the black tea and I smell it in the background. It’s delicious. I will say, apricots are not my favourite fruit and I find sometimes I am downright disappointed when I eat the real thing, but this tea smells amazing

At first steep: This brews up as a nice strong black tea in the carafe. The smell of apricots fills my kitchen. I added cream and sugar to this one today and it tasted extremely fruity, but in that subtle way. I do like this tea quite a bit and will enjoy the 100g I was lucky enough to score when there was Fauchon in Canada.

Soooo silly me, I wrote this review below for Coco Chai Rooibus and it’s no wonder I was extremely confused about not smelling coconut. This would be why, it was the WRONG TEA!!! I feel extremely bashful now, but my review stands. However I am willing to bump up the review slightly because I feel that the name now makes sense with the tea and I’m not missing a ingredient completely.

Day 14 of the 24 Days of Tea

At first sniff: This is a combo of DT’s Pure Chai and TWG’s Red Christmas. You get the overpowering cinnamon smell from Pure Chai, and the cloves and “Christmas” smell from Red Christmas, but minus the slight medicinal notes that are apparent in Red Christmas. Now, seeing as I rated Red Christmas 100, this one has a lot to live up to. I guess rooibus tea pairs well with the holiday smells and tastes, as I see it a lot with tea companies. I am not really getting coconut in this, and considering the description states a strong note of it, I was a bit surprised. I just sniffed it again for good measure, nope, nadda. It does smell good, if you’re into those teas that smell of Christmas and spice and everything nice. I know I am.

At first steep: The cinnamon carries over into the aroma of tea. The liquor is a deep red (might be my brewing too, as I don’t like a weak rooibus, or weak tea in general.) The cloves come second and pair nicely with the cinnamon. Still waiting for the coconut. It might be the sample, but I don’t see any cardamom in mine. The taste is an underwhelming cinnamon rooibus. I feel the cinnamon over powers the rooibus taste and pretty much anything else in this blend. It smells of cinnamon hearts and has a little of heat to boot.

I’d like to think I enjoy subtle. I have a greater appreciation for French tea, now that I am slowly running out of all the teas I was spoiled with. The French do subtle, but flavourful the best. DavidsTea on the other hand does strong aroma and weak tea. I keep going back to my French teas, and I think I’ll end up staying there. Although I am definitely curious about H&S. If anything the advent calendar has shown me how I truly feel about DT, after having so many back to back teas. There are a couple DT Teas I love, but there many more I don’t like. This one is in the middle. I don’t hate it, don’t love it. I would have a cup if offered, doubt I will stock it.

Day 17 of the 24 Days of Tea

Well, after having a terrible sleep Sunday night, I had the best sleep ever. I can thank my neighbour and our bottle and a half of wine last night. I hit the pillow and woke up feeling rested. I skipped over to my Advent Calendar and opened up number 17. I exclaimed with delight at the fact that it was a) a black tea and b)it was an Earl Grey. I will put a disclaimer though. I am not a huge fan of EGC blends. I find they take away from the classic and if done wrong, can feel fake. It’s like putting Audrey Hepburn in hippie attire… BLASPHEMOUS! No no, she belongs in her little black dress, with large sunglasses and glamourous necklace.

At first sniff: I smell what all EGC have in them to make them smell of “cream” or I guess what people feel smells like cream. I smell the vanilla and bergamont dancing with each other and something else I can’t peg.

At first steep: I brewed it stronger and added half and half and stevia to the mix. I get the creamy feeling, but I feel the bergamont is lost a bit. I can see this tea catering to the sans bergamont crowd who shy away from EG because of it. However, I feel let down. I get more creamy vanilla from this than lemony creamy delight. Side note: Tea companies need to make vanilla teas with Mexican vanilla, after hoarding a whole bunch from my last trip and shamelessly (read begging) people who go there after to bring me back more bottles, I’m convinced it smells the best. Sometimes I put in 1/2 tsp of extract in my vanilla teas and boy does it just enhance. I didn’t do that in this case, but seriously Mexican vanilla… mmm.

I’m kind of at a standstill on how to rate this tea… I don’t want to unfairly rate it, but it didn’t wow me either. I enjoyed my cup this morning, and it was a nice treat, but I am on the fence about purchasing it. So many companies do EGC, it’s almost a necessity to have a sip off.

Day 16 of the 24 Days of Tea

Interesting – a mate tea. I’ve never had one before, so I am curious to try this.

At first sniff: When I smell it, it smells like Tang, or some other orange powder drink. It doesn’t smell necessarily natural, but smells good. I am not getting any earthy smells or anything and the blend looks quite peculiar. I guess that’s what mate looks like hey?

At first steep: Honestly, it doesn’t taste like a whole lot. It tastes kind of like a muted green tea with a hint of citrus. It’s not unpleasant by any means, just a bit of a let down from the smell. I get earthy notes towards the end of the sip and the after taste that lingers if that of a chemical flavour taste. Curse my sensitive taste buds. I am applauded for them with wine and food (my family relies on me when we go out to eat to pick out spices and herbs in dishes, for replicating at home.) But the down side is, is it makes me sensitive to artificial way too easily. As this cools, I am getting more earthy notes as well and again, I don’t mind it, but I get an astringent quality at the very end of the sip that I am not fond of.

So my neighbour (who is fabulous and I am so lucky to have bought a house next to people that rock!) was having a rough morning and messaged me. Sometimes because we work odd schedules, they mesh up. She needed to vent. I immediately put on a pot of this, as I figured chocolate gives you endorphins and makes you feel better. I think I might have under-leafed it a bit. I made a litre of it.

At first sniff: This smells decadent. Rich, spicy, chocolate-y and delicious. I could sniff this tea all day long. My boyfriend knows when I make this one which a coined response of “Is that the chocochili tea?”

At first steep: I only usually make 2 cups of this, and am pretty generous with the scoops, so I think I made this a bit weak, it was still good but the flavours were more muted. It brews up a nice brown. Now, I really think DavidsTea should take out the “Chai” in this tea’s name. It is not a chai tea. It is still delicious though. We had ours with half and half and some sugar in pretty Denby tea cups, and she vented. We all felt better afterwards. This tea use to be one of my favourites, I wouldn’t say it’s that status any longer, but it’s still up there. I would definitely still restock it.

Oh la la, romance, rose, elegant.

At first sniff: I am getting a sweet rose, not just the rosewater rose smell. There is a sweet note to it for sure. As the Dinasaura said, a candied rose. I like it. The Chinese tea compliments the sweet smell and rounds it out.

At first steep: It smells more like rosewater now, the sweet smell has faded a bit into the background, but is still lovely. I always think roses have a slight apple undertone. It’s subdued, but there. That would make sense though because they are part of the same plant family. I normally am not as huge a fan of floral teas, because so many of them make me feel like I’m drinking perfume, but this one does not. They capture the aroma and the black tea balances any perfume taste one might have got. Very satisfying.