Y’all. Making a gingerbread tea was so much harder than I expected it to be.
It took probably around three years to really perfect this blend to the point where we were ready to launch it. The ginger was maybe the easiest part, but getting the balance of the rest of the spices and that really distinct, borderline molasses tasting “sweet brown” flavour was tough. A lot of previous versions of this tea came out either fruity leaning or too bright and just not quite right. I love this one though. It’s my favourite of all the new holiday teas this year.
The pu’erh tea base is so essential to getting the profile right. It’s full-bodied, very rich and also grounding and earthy which created the perfect framework to layer the spices and more decadent notes overtop. In addition to ginger this blend has all the spices that are traditionally used in gingerbread. It’s really the use of allspice that gives it that especially cozy and festive sort of spice note and feeling. I just said it in another tasting note, but it’s sort of crazy how in North America we have this Pavlovian response to allspice where we just associate that taste with the holidays. I think it REALLY captures that dense, darkly spice and sweet gingerbread flavour so well though!
And of course the toffee! Y’all know I love a good caramel or toffee blend, and I think the toffee note in this tea is pretty close to perfect. It’s thick and not too bright at all so it really emulates that deeply golden, densely rich sweetness very well. There’s a hint of cocoa in the blend and though I personally prefer my toffee/caramel teas without chocolate I do think that inclusion really helps give it some depth and extra decadence.
And so good as a latte. Hot, but also iced. I drink it as an iced latte very, very often. It was one of my go to iced latte blends this summer while I was waiting for it to launch. Haven’t done it as an eggnog latte yet, but I can only imagine the sublime level of indulgence that would be.
I think this blend will really appeal to fans of teas like Salted Caramel Oolong, Cardamom French Toast, Brown Sugar Bourbon, English Toffee (IMO it’s way better than English Toffee), Burnt Sugar Boba, S’mores Chai, Jack Frosted Mocha, and Hazelnut Chocolate. Y’know. The decadent, sweet, and brown tasting teas. Like, I don’t want to call it prematurely but I can see this becoming on of those big returning holiday teas. But maybe that’s me projecting a little bit.
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.
