New Tasting Notes
2nd day in a row of this.
I find that the main benefit of logging these tea notes is that it’s a reflection of a choice I’ve made to live slower.
2 teaspoons of this in a 225ml pot. 1st and 2nd steeps were quite tasty at 85C. I haven’t been timing them, just intuition. 3rd steep at 90C and it starts to lose flavour. I’ll do a 4th at 95C for longer.
I prefer the Premium Golden Monkey Black tea from Teavivre. That one, I steeped maybe 5 or 6 times into the night and it was still so lovely even when lighter.
Sipdown
We started the day with a big pot of this tea for breakfast, sans additions. Afterwards we were sitting outside just enjoying the weather after all the rain and I made another big pot. It started getting rather cool before we finished it and we were running out of tea drinking steam. The cooler tea had a bit of an edge to it that wasn’t there hot, so I decided to add simple syrup to what remained and put it in the freezer to get cold in time to have it as a sweet tea for lunch.
The tea starting freezing at the sides of the mason jar much faster than I expected so I ended up having a tea slushy and it was so good that I plan to do again in the future!
This is nice and fruity and the ginger keeps it from being a “candy” tea. It was very fresh tasting hot and very refreshing and enjoyable cold.
Sounds lovely! I saw a seasonal blueberry lemon Häagen-Dazs flavor at the supermarket yesterday and was tempted ha ha.
That sounds good! I eat far too much ice cream, but most of it is homemade. I do love some Häagen-Daz, though. There are a few Godivas I will never turn down, too.
I might have to break out the ice cream maker too, now that summer is basically here!
I remember decades ago discovering what is still a favorite combination of mine: Banana Pecan, which was one of the 31 featured by a local ice cream parlor. Haven’t seen it in years. My #2 fave (B&J’s Pistachio Pistachio) seems to have become rare, too. Maybe a home icecream maker will be the best solution for my sweet tooth!
I drink this tea all the time, but I guess I never made a listing. It’s a nice floral herbal blend heavy on the lavender, mint, and lemongrass. It’s fairly well balanced, except the orange blossoms and heather, which I cannot taste.
Flavors: Floral, Lavender, Lemongrass, Peppermint, Rose
Preparation
Gosh, this tea is fantastic. With flavourful, especially when brewed strong. I had this iced, brewed strong (500 mL cold water, 25 minutes, 2 tsp leaf).
Strong floral, fruity lychee and some lovely creamy coconut. The milk oolong is a nice base (I would have liked more oolong and less black tea, personally) with a complex tea flavour under the obvious notes. The after taste is even better than the initial.
Flavors: Coconut, Creamy, Fruity, Lychee, Vegetal
Preparation
Sipdown. I enjoyed this so much in the advent calendar a few years ago that I asked for a full size as a holiday gift. I was gifted a very generously sized 4oz bag. Alas, it seems like that’s just too large a quantity for me. It took me over a year to finish, and by the end of it I was just not as into it as I was at the beginning. Still tasty, but just sort of felt a bit mundane after a while.
Spring 2022 batch – Milky, vegetal, and sweet floral notes. There is a nice ginger flower scent, but I don’t find spice or heat. Using a gaiwan, floral notes last a few steeps and vegetal notes take over. However, grandpa style brings out more floral, milky flavors and the ginger flower scent lasts longer.
Flavors: Floral, Ginger, Milky, Vegetal
Preparation
This reminds me a bit of their Hawaiian tea series in that it’s definitely tropical but a bit difficult to pick out the individual flavors. Apparently it’s supposed to be mango and pineapple with “other fruits”. I do get something mango-esque, though it also leans a bit more toward peach IMO. Not sure I can taste pineapple, but there is a slight tang.
I think this is one that would be nice as a milk tea, as the base is quite strong and has CTC leaves included. I’ll have to try it that way soon!
Flavors: Astringent, Brisk, Fruity, Mango, Peach, Sweet, Tangy, Tannic, Tropical
Preparation
My husband and I purchased this tea about a year ago after trying a sample at a tea festival. It’s smoky, but not as much as a Lapsang Souchong typically is. The tea is very tightly compressed, so it can be a bit difficult to pry a chunk off. The taste is very savory and pleasant.
Flavors: Savory, Smoke
April backlog and sip down
Steeping method: Western. 195F @ 3-minutes.
Tasting Notes: The honeybush takes the lead in the cup; however, it helps elevate the chocolate notes as it cools down. There’s a slight hint of the chocolate oranges I’d get in my stocking for Christmas when I was little. Very nostalgic.
Flavors: Chocolate, Orange
Preparation
MadHatterTeaReview- I believe there may be a misspelling of the tea name? You can probably edit the tea name, once you decide whether it is Artemesia or Artemisia. In any event, the description in the listing states it’s a mugwort, so the actual plant being infused is probably Artemisia argyi or A. vulgaris. It would be nice if the vendor specified, as there may be important medicinal differences. Mugworts are related to wormwood, of course, and other plant species as well, and readers may find the Wikipedia article on the genus interesting. I would caution folks to steep with care, as there may be toxicities (or medicinal effects, depending upon ones perspective). I recall learning in grad school of some of the compounds having abortifacient properties, for example. And the relatively benign Absinthe is legendary— some of its reputation may be owing to poor identification of the exact plant species being infused.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_(plant)
Per their site, it’s “Artemisia.” Good to know! Thank you for the detailed information.
April backlog and sip down
I had made this as an iced tea to top off when we had a friend over. I usually will bring out strange teas for others, particularly one friend of mine, that will drink anything. I had sipped on this on and off during work but knew that this friend was to stop by later, so I had them throw in their tasting notes (they’re slowing getting into tea with my help and I like to test their palate and have them suggest tasting notes). I had generic notes, “Sunflowers & nutty,” but when they tasted the tea, they said, “It reminds me of Cheese Itz without the cheese.” That tasting note blew my mind because I knew what they meant. There was that salty and savory note like a cracker, yet it was a cracker trying to taste like cheese and slightly missing the goal to taste anything like cheese. Ha-Ha.
Flavors: Cheese, Cracker, Nutty, Salty, Savory, Sunflower Seed
After dropping a few backlogged reviews this morning (I’ve 14 more to go. Lol), I decided to top this tea off from last, after playing with friends in a few games of pickleball. They requested something “relaxing and good iced,” and since this was one of the few new teas I’ve acquired yesterday, I decided to brew some up. Let me note that having green and black tea mixed it doesn’t mean you won’t get heavily sedated and need a nap shortly after sipping. Ha-ha.
Despite the lemon grass & lemon balm added into the blend, the only two flavors that stand out are the peppermint and chamomile. I dig those flavors, but I wanted to get a hit in face with lemon flavors, too.
get a hit in face with lemon flavors, too.
Sipdown (2924)!
I don’t really need more jasmine green teas in my collection since I have a shockingly large amount of them for someone who doesn’t like green tea and is pretty picky about jasmine teas. So, probably good to be finishing one off. However, this was definitely a more unique one, with a very smooth and lush feeling flavour that balanced the sweetness of green grapes with the fresh, Spring-like taste and aroma of floral jasmine. It was also personally quite satisfying seeing these flavours together as someone who usually tastes undertones of grapes when I drink jasmine tea.
Maybe my path will cross with this tea someday in the future, and I think I will be pretty happy if or when that happens.
Tea Pop!
I don’t know when the last time B&B carried this matcha was, but I feel like it was such a hidden gem in their assortment. Not only is the combination of bright lime, sweet ripe pears, and soothing floral lavender very fresh, elevated feeling, and delicious but it does such a splendidly fantastic job of covering the unpleasant taste of spirulina and nettle to that point where I’d actually totally forgotten they were in the blend.
Like, that is SO impressive since neither are exactly tasty ingredients and you can’t really tell that they’ve been included based on gritty texture either. It’s just smooth, effervescent fruity florals that feel more like something I’d get at a really trendy and higher end cafe or bohemian sorta- leaning restaurant. It works well!
A perfectly lovely Earl Grey with a bit of a brighter, almost coppery and autumnal sort of top note before settling into brisk black tea, malt, and the familiar heady citrus of the bergamot. What was missing, of course, was the pandan. I smelled it as I brought the mug towards my face for each sip, albeit delicately. A little of the coconut-like softness. But the taste just wasn’t there – and I even made sure to get lots of the pandan leaves into my mug too.
Cold Brew!
Really, really juicy sweet lime flavour with a pleasantly tart and sour pucked/bite and just a bit of salinity on the backend of the sip. It nails the margarita vibe so completely, but I just find myself devastatingly disappointed about the last of heat. I want more from a spicy marg…
4.5g, 90 ml. another session with more choppy/broken leaf bits from my cake.
1. pretty smoky, berry forward and some fruit. Fills mouth and extends into throat and is fairly satisfying strong brew
2. stronger more forward smoke, woody. TCM medicinal, slight sweetness
3. still very smoky. Trailing underlying bitterness mostly dissolves into goji berry taste
4. berry forward lingers.
5. sweet, turning into stewed leaf taste
Overall felt more rough on stomach today, though I’ve been fairly weak and really sensitive to caffeine in general lately so really taking it easy these days.
This is something that I’ve absolutely tasted with other orange and spice blends and it’s such a weird phenomena, but as I was drinking this tea the sweet orange and the slightly numbing clove and other spice notes sort of melted together into something very, very bubblegum-like in flavour. Definitely still enjoyed the cup, but it was certainly a little different than what I’d had in mind because of that strange combo effect.
This is one of two brand new additions to DAVIDsTEA’s Superfood Powder line up – both of which are actually superfood iced tea powders instead of the latte ones we’ve been releasing the last couple years!
The other has mushrooms in it (and I’m allergic) and I’ve yet to do my usual “sip and spit” taste test like I have in the past for other teas I’m allergic to – so deep dive on that one will have to wait. This one, however, I’m excited to finally talk about!
It whisks up such an absolutely gorgeous and rich deep purple colour and, although there’s some butterfly pea flower in the blend to support that enchanting hue, most of that colour is driven by the inclusion of different berries and hibiscus. Obviously maqui is the big one and, if you’re unfamiliar, it’s a very anti-oxidant rich purple berry with a darker, juicy flavour a bit like blueberry or currant with a bit of tartness. There is also blueberry powder in the blend, which of course compliments the similar tasting maqui but adds a touch more nuance and deepens this sort of rich mixed berry flavour of the blend.
The mojito part of the name comes primarily from the inclusion of peppermint! It’s probably a bit of a stronger mint flavour than an actual mojito, but those really crisp and cooling elements are so instantly refreshing. It’s a huge part of why I love this tea as a very easy to whisk up iced bevvie for the summer – you take a few sips during a heat wave or when it’s really humid out and you just immediately feel cooled down, refreshed, and more comfortable. Very hydrating, too!
Other things that are cool about this blend is that it’s totally sugar and sweetener free, so great if you want iced tea but less of that sweet feeling. On the flip side, starting with something sugar free means it’s super adaptable – we’ve been having a lot of fun in the office making different cocktail/mocktails with this blend and adding our own simple syrups or liqeuers. You can also add a bit like a shot to a lemonade and make a fun purple or layered berry-inspired refresher that way. Also so good as a tea pop with the powder whisked into a concentrate and then topped with sparkling water or club soda! Highly flexible!
I guess the one way I wouldn’t recommend drinking this one is with milk or dairy. The acidity from some of the ingredients like the hibiscus powder definitely cause some curdling, even if I wouldn’t describe this as a particularly tart tasting drink. You can make it hot, and that does bring out a little more tartness – though this was absolutely formulated specifically with the intent it would be consumed cold so I personally think that’s how it tastes best.
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!
So the flavour of this tea was actually revealed several months back, so I guess I can now officially share here for anyone who missed the announcement that…
It’s strawberries & cream and kiwi!!
A lot of people guess the strawberry flavour, and cream was pretty common too though sometimes more described as vanilla or yogurt. Actually, to that point, so many people said this tea tasted like those strawberry & cream Campino or “Creme Saver” candies from the 90s/2000s and I totally see it! Kiwi, however, was definitely the harder flavour for people to nail down – though over the coarse of the campaign I did see about two people get it spot on, and one person in our office also figured it out without any hints/background on the development.
This cold brew was definitely pretty black tea forward, but still so smooth and creamy with exactly that strawberry yogurt candy kind of vibe to it and just a kiss of the kiwi at the end of the sip.
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.
Pulled this one out because I was craving a more smooth, buttery coconut tea but also wanted what ever I made to not feel too thin or light. So the dense, heavier body and slight earthiness of the pu’erh with the stronger notes of cinnamon, anise, and allspice here were the exact right addition to really lean into those kind of crepe-like cookie and coconut flavours while still having a substantial feeling cuppa.
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.
Smooth, bold, and fruity with hints of apricot and heat. The leaves smell sweet and earthy, and the tea pairs well with all sorts of food. I enjoy this tea very much and have purchased the full cake for everyday drinking. For me, the best flavor brews out in the gaiwan, but grandpa style or thermos brewing also yields good results.
Flavors: Apricot, Earthy, Fruity, Sweet
