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Hi Steepster. I haven’t been here in years (3 years as a matter of fact, how time flies) but I just popped in to recommend this tea. I am not a fan of the classic Earl Grey because I find the bergamot is usually overpowering and kind of bitter in the finish. This has a very light touch of bergamot and has more the flavor of an orange, not so much lemon. Drinking this with Silk soy milk and a touch of stevia. It is quite delicious and refreshing. Reminds me a bit of a Terry’s chocolate orange. I got a sample bag, but think I’ll need to order a tin once this is gone.

I am not sure about this blend. It does have a very tropical flavor with the coconut and pineapple. The soursap does seem to have given it a very sour element. To me it seems a little overly sweet and overly flavored in general. I think it would have been better with some more green tea and slightly less fruit. I’m not overly fond of it. Slightly reminiscent of Fruit Stripe gum. I will try steeping it for a shorter duration next time. May need to try this as a cold brew someday…

Couldn’t sleep last night so I’m up early tasting some more of the David’s spring teas.

This actually doesn’t have a whole lot of black tea in it. It’s more pieces of nut and fruit. I decided to add soymilk to it and it got kind of cloudy and congealed looking for some reason — so I wouldn’t recommend doing that! The flavor of this is ok, pretty nutty, definitely pistachio. I’m glad there’s no sweetener in it. I don’t love this but I will likely finish it off someday.

It’s a little better than I thought it would be but for now I need something with more caffeine.

This tea is rather delicate which is not something I’ve come to expect from David’s Tea, with their tendency to oversweeten and flavor pretty much everything. It’s a blend of white tea, jasmine and milk oolong. I did steep this Western style (i’m at work) but would like to try gong fu’ing it someday.

Although fairly subtle there is a lot going on here in terms of flavor. Definite milk/butter, though I understand this is artificial… also I’m getting a bit of nuttiness and some sweetness. It reminds me a bit of cookies, but not in a sickeningly sweet way. Definitely a good tea for the afternoon time, as it’s low in caffeine and pretty relaxing.

Better than I thought it would be!

The first from David’s Tea spring collection I’m trying. This has a definite peachy/nectarine flavor but it is oddly sweet. Almost like there is stevia added… but I checked the ingredients and didn’t find it there. This reminds me of a tea I used to drink called Peach Blossom by Rishi. Though Rishi’s version is better, I think.

I may try this as a cold brew or maybe mixed in with some plain white tea. I’m not a fan of the lingering sweet flavor unfortunately. It reminds me a bit of Kool-aid, lol

I haven’t been to a David’s Tea in Forever, but I got a cup of this to go when I stepped in to get the spring collection today. I asked for this hot, along with sugar and soymilk. I wouldn’t say I got much “cake” flavoring out of this but it is very strong on the lemon flavor. I felt this tea was a bit too acidic for me and sure enough, when I checked the ingredients it does have hibiscus in it. I think perhaps this would be better as a latte. It would probably be good as an iced tea too. I can’t quite give it a high rating because it upset my stomach a bit. Overall it was tasty though.

Finishing the last of this tasty yunnan in my collection this morning. I should just stick to buying straight black teas and ditch everything else. They are the only ones I seem to drink on a regular basis!

Finally decided to test out this sample I’ve had for a while, got it from Yunnan Sourcing in the dark tea club a while back. This has aged quite a while now (12 years).

I steeped this in a yixing after breaking a little piece off. My first two steeps were around 30 seconds. I found the tea to be very mild and light in flavor but around the end of the second steep it became a bit muddy.

IMO this benefited from a longer steep of about 60 seconds (or maybe I just need to use more tea next time). It took on a definite coffee flavor with a slight bitterness, some tobacco notes as well as fruit. It became the best around the 4th steep.

I am not wild about this, I think due to the bitter quality but it’s worth trying if that is something you like in a shu pu’erh.

I’m kind of a cardamom freak. I’ve always wanted to try this tea so I ordered some from Amazon when I needed a few other things. This is by far the largest tin of tea I’ve ever had at 17.6 ounces! The tin is HUGE. I recall having an 8 oz. tin of Florence by Harney and Sons that seemed to last forever. I guess I’ll have this stuff for years. Let me know if anyone would like a sample ;)

Now on to the tea tasting notes. I steeped it this morning in my Adagio tea maker for 3 minutes. I didn’t see an cardamom pods or powder in here. I think this is cardamom flavored tea. I’m not sure if the flavoring comes from oil or what. Compared to the cardamom french toast I had from David’s Tea this is much milder. Less cardamom-y. Since I have so much of it I might throw in some cardamom pods or desiccated cardamom into the tin to bump up the flavor a bit.

As for the tea itself, it’s a dark, somewhat standard ceylon. I found it had quite a bit of heft compared to some other ceylons I’ve tried. It has that citrusy, sort of copper-y flavor that’s fairly unique to ceylons. I had a mug of this in the morning with soymilk added. I haven’t tried it with sugar yet, but I imagine that would be good with this particular flavor combo.

Overall I like this stuff but I wish I liked it a bit more, since I definitely have way too much of it. I guess it won’t go stale anytime soon, that’s the good thing about black tea.

Purchased a box of this online from Amazon.com.

In the winter time I tend to feel lethargic, sluggish and lazy. In Ayurvedic terms this signifies a kapha imbalance if you believe in such things. I decided to get an herbal kapha tea to see if it would help to perk me up without any caffeine.

This stuff is VERY strong and potent. It contains ginger, turmeric, saffron, cardamom, black pepper and clove. It tastes a bit like a really spicy soup or some kind of Indian marinade. The clove is a lot stronger than I thought it would be. I have to say, this is pretty invigorating and warming stuff. However, it is not for the feint of heart due to the large amount of spice. I also wouldn’t drink this if I had a stomach ache or heartburn, I think it could cause utter turmoil!

I guess it’s about what I expected but I’m seriously NOT drinking this for the flavor experience, more for medicinal purposes. :)