DAVIDsTEA

Thanks to Cameron B for this tea! This isn’t very much like EG. There’s rooibos and floral flavors. It’s not bad with milk, but not amazing. After it’s cooled, a weird flavor comes through that’s really not for me.

It’s new and it’s blue!

This past fall DT launched two new teas as part of a new line up superfood latte powders and now we have two more in the mix – this one and another called Ruby Cocoa. As with the other two powders, these were formulated specifically to be made hot with milk or milk alternatives – though of course there’s nothing that says you can’t make them straight up or in cold applications. Personally I love this one iced. It’s just not the official steeping recommendation.

Basically, for anyone who missed those tasting notes/teas or just doesn’t remember, all of these are powdered tisanes that incorporate different functional ingredients. The first two were inspired by Golden Milk and pumpkin spice blends. This one is a bittttt like a “Sleepy time London Fog”. Essentially, we’ve taken bergamot, vanilla, and chamomile extract and blend those on a base of butterfly pea flower and coconut milk powders. It’s very aromatic with a rich, creamy mouthfeel from the coconut milk (less so the taste of the coconut) and a more light to medium bodied citrusy Earl Grey like flavour. Some of my favourite things about this are that, despite it being a main functional ingredient, I can’t actually taste the chamomile in the blend – it’s great for people like me who aren’t the biggest fans of that taste even though they find chamomile to be relaxing. I also like that it’s just sweet enough without needing anything additional – but not so sweet to not leave room for a little additional sweetener if you want something richer. Vanilla agave is a nice touch, for some extra London Fog oomph.

Also, obviously, it’s a pretty shade of blue because of the butterfly pea flower. Definitely makes me Star Wars loving heart happy when I drink it. Very strong bantha milk vibes.

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.

A sample I always wanted to try from David’s!  Thanks so much, Cameron B!  I used half the sample, so about a teaspoon and a half.  The scent of the dry leaf is very true to the name!  The first steep was less thrilling than the scent…. the cappuccino flavor was there (not much vanilla) but it’s such a weak steep — not too much black tea in the blend itself, and I’m sure it isn’t strong anyway.  I liked the second steep better —  still plenty of cappuccino flavor, which I didn’t expect for the long second steep if it is mostly relying on added flavoring.  This blend is like the caffeinated version of Fireside Mocha, which is another one l like more for that added flavoring.  It fits if I’m craving cappuccino!   Thankfully, I didn’t notice rosehips AT ALL. Not bad, but not a cupboard staple.  This is why I love trying samples of teas I’m dreaming about. :D
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 7 min

Day 8 DAVIDs Tea Advent Calendar 2023

Ohhhh I needed something like this today. I hope I sleep after this and some yoga. May this help me through the night, help to minimize my plight. The peppermint, lemongrass, and chamomile blend well together. It smells really good and leaves a fresh feeling on my tongue.

Cold Brew!

I think this was technically my last tea of 2024. Though there was certainly no intentionality behind it, I kind of like that I closed out the year with a tea that’s name is almost this sort of mix of happy, thankful, and celebratory vibes. The tea itself makes for a nice and refreshing cold brew. Very full bodied but smooth and velvety with a light (albeit generic) red fruit note very much in the vein of something from a French tea shop ala Mariage or Dammann Freres. It’s just very easy to sip on with a pleasant fruit flavour that works as a bit of a “backdrop” tea.

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.

Just a quick l’il tasting note for this guy!

If anyone here on Steepster did the DAVIDsTEA “24 Trips of Tea” advent then you might recognize this blend – it was added to the countdown on the 24th day and was exclusively solely to the advent.

It’s honestly a simple blend, but I quite enjoy it. Very brisk and full bodied black tea forward profile in that sort of “breakfast blend” style that has so much maltiness to it. Aside from that it’s just got a gentle touch of a sort of “cooked red fruit” or jammy pomegranate note. Very enjoyable on its own or, like most breakfast blends, with milk. Though personally I prefer it without the milk.

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.

TeaTiff TTB #19

The dry leaf of this blend is so fun with lots of colorful sprinkles and mini white chocolate chips! And I was happy to see that (unlike far too many of David’s Tea’s dessert blends) it didn’t include stevia on the ingredient list. While that meant I didn’t hate it, I unfortunately also didn’t love it. The flavor is quite one-note: straight-up sweet white chocolate that coats your tongue with the oily melted chocolate chips. And in my cup it was an unpleasant murky yellow color. Would probably be better as a latte, but it just isn’t interesting enough to try that.

TeaTiff TTB #10

I enjoyed this more than the Lemon Lullaby as a fruity bedtime tea, though it was a bit too floral for my tastes (I’m not the biggest fan of jasmine and didn’t realize it was in this blend when I picked it to try). The lychee flavor was really nice, though!

Inkling Advent Day 25. This smelled so good in my steeper! It tastes like a black tea with creme, so I’m not sure what the name is for. It’s quite a pleasant one though! The creme flavor is pretty fake, but I still really like it. I don’t taste much else, but it’s good at what it does. I think it tastes best cold with milk. Thanks for an awesome end to a fun advent, Inkling!

Day 7 DAVIDs Tea Advent Calendar 2023

Obviously, I’m a bit off with my Advent Calendar. BUT this means I have teas to sample starting into the new year.

I loved the scent from this one prior to steeping. I’m glad I read the container because I didn’t realize it was a green. Steeped at 175 for 3ish minutes. All I smell is cloves. All I taste is cinnamon. I was hoping for a bit more orangeness. I also felt it left a strange aftertaste. Not bad and I would drink it again.

Also not a true sipdown because I have more bags, but this one is finished. I appreciate that I haven’t gotten sick of this blend yet. I think a lot of that has to do with the straightforward creamy vanilla profile. Simple, classic, ideal for a health blend.

Still drinking this one quite a bit! Lately I’ve been having it with fresh mint and almond milk. I was not sure whether the mint would work, but it actually works really well!

Another tea from a Canadian company today! This one has been in heavy rotation. I don’t know whether it’s actually helping my stomach, but it’s not hurting, and it’s just a very easy tea to have a cup of every evening. The creamy vanilla is pleasant on its own, makes a great oat milk latte, and lends itself readily to blending with other teas when I want to mix up the flavor profile. I got some vegan marshmallows in my order today, so I threw some maple vegan marshmallows in my vanilla parfait tea. Great combo. The marshmallows added just a bit of maple flavor to the cup, which was really nice. I’ll probably be doing that again.

I was a touch nervous about the Greek yogurt inspiration for this one, because I don’t like the tartness and acidity of Greek yogurt. Mostly I took a flyer on it because of the vanilla flavor and because my stomach’s been acting up so I’ve been trying to work more tummy-friendly foods/drinks into my diet. Thankfully it’s not tart or acidic at all! It’s just silky vanilla. There’s an almost apple-y note as it cools, but it doesn’t tip over into acidic.
I like the flavor of this, health benefits or not! And Kelly I think you made the right call going for a more “simple” flavor profile for a health tea. It’s the kind of flavor that lends itself to being enjoyable in a wide range of weather, being blended with other teas, being latted, being used as a base for a shake, etc. Which hopefully will make it easier to drink consistently!

TTB sample! I love it! I don’t taste anything that reminds me of bourbon, which is not a flavor I enjoy. I do however taste a lot of brown sugar. With milk, this is so tasty! I wish there had been more left in the packet! It’s so desserty and lovely.

TeaTiff TTB #9

The dry leaf of this one has such a unique look! I’ve never seen oblong “pearls” like this. Steeped, the flavor is also quite unique…kind of like a mix between white tea and black tea. It’s richer and maltier than a white tea, but has that distinctive white tea flavor that always reminds me of hay. It also seems like it would resteep quite a few times! This isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, but I can tell it’s high quality and I hope someone else loves it.

TeaTiff TTB #4

I had a cup of this before bed last night and I did sleep quite well, so props to the medicinal aspect! The flavor, however, was nothing to write home about. It reminded me of a something from Yogi or Traditional Medicinals…more focused on health benefits than flavor. Rather than the strong lemon flavor I was hoping for, I got muted lemongrass alongside other herbaceous flavors I couldn’t quite identify (probably the valerian and vervain?) and a strong blast of licorice root. Not something I’d drink again, but I’m sure it’s someone’s cup of tea!

One of the teas I drank on the weekend after getting back from WTE. I was just so wiped out from the past week that I wanted nothing more than the relax, binge some good TV, and drink soothing teas. Though there are other DT “lemon ginger” blends I prefer over this one because they’re a little more zesty and citrus forward, this ended up being pretty on the nose for that more soothing, herbaceous and spiced kind of self care moment I was seeking. Very ginger forward with a pleasant, warming heat and then that nice lemongrass and lemon oil sort of finish.

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.

The last new loose leaf tea from the Wellness Wonders collection!

This is probably my personal least favourite, but just because ginger and I have such an extremely love hate relationship.

I think the function is fairly obvious from the name. Similar to David’s Detox we added ingredients like blue spirulina and nettle leaf to support that function. Ginger too, obviously. Actually, a lot of ginger – I personally find this a little spicier and more intense and aromatic than Super Ginger. It’s actually a bit of a lemon ginger blend as well, as there’s a decent amount of lemongrass and organic lemon oil in the blend too. More emphasis on the ginger, though…

Though the blue spirulina contributes a bit to the colour of the tea, most of the teal blue hue is from butterfly pea flower. This is the first time I’ve gotten to work with organic butterfly pea flower. It was tricky to sustainably get a hold of organic butterfly pea flower with the demand for BPF being as high as it is. I think when butterfly pea flower started blowing up as an ingredient we all sort of though it was a fad and would shortly fade away, but that’s just not happening. I think people just like the idea of blue tea too much, and this is an ingredient that’s not going anywhere any time soon.

Though I think people will probably mostly drink this hot (it’s good with honey), I think my favourite way I’ve tried it was actually as a tea pop. It’s got an almost gingerbeer sort of vibe to it, and the touch of lemon is nice too!

…and with Morning Detox and David’s Detox both part of the core assortment, we’ve essentially now got a morning, noon, and night little trio of teas – which I know some people will care about and some will roll their eyes at. Detox teas are always super polarizing.

It’s still a nice ginger and lemon blend though, regardless of the name.

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!

I made this as a cold brew shorting after finishing my mug of Blackberry Jasmine Blast this weekend because I was craving something with a similar tart but juicy and fruity/floral kind of vibe. This tea delivers. It’s a really beautiful bright elderberry note with jammy undertones and a nice hibiscus tartness. Floral in its own unique way too. I still think it was underrated as part of this year’s Spring wellness collection. I get though, since elderberry is so polarizing (as is kombucha).

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!

I had a bit of a stressful day today so it was nice to be able to come home to this pre-strained cold brew and just kind of wind down with a refreshing tea and the routine of writing tasting notes. Nice and predictable.

This blend starts off very bright and tart with a lot of upfront hibiscus. The liquor is super thick and syrup which is just brilliant for the jammy and floral notes of elderberries and elderflowers. It really tastes like homemade elderberry syrup or jam. The kind that was 100% done stovetop by a grandparent or kooky aunt or something. I always enjoy this tea – it just fits virtually any mood.

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.

Deep, jammy elderberries with the bright, tangy top notes of the hibiscus and a softly floral finish. Another extremely refreshing and hydrating blend, and one that I’ve been gravitating towards a lot this summer. In this case I made it iced to drink while working in the office – it was an awesome midafternoon option to cool down with. It just gets SO HOT in the office this time of year. Sometimes it feels like a sauna.

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!

This has easily become one of my favourite teas to make iced/cold brewed so far this year. I just think the balance of tartness, sweetness, and floral notes is really well done and fits so many different kinds of moods – and though I am not someone who puts a ton of weight behind functional claims I also feel like it can’t hurt to take advantage of the elderberry in the blend for that potential immunity boost it offers. I mean it taste like purple berries in, IMO, the best kind of way!

Sadly this was a less popular tea from the wellness collection though the people who did buy seem to have enjoyed it, at least based on our website reviews. That just means more for me for longer I guess. I’ve topped up my own tin of it a few times now and I’m about at a point where I need another refill.

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.

Iced!

This is the tea that I made to drink during this past week’s board game night! I think I need to bring more of this home because it’s really become one of my favourite iced teas lately. Those deep purple and slightly floral elderberry and hibiscus notes are so different from anything else in my stash right now, and it’s a great balance of flavours. Not too sweet, not too tart, not too floral – just enough of all three.

The game this week was Septima! It has this sort of “Dark Academia” vibe to it and is themed around witches with three different sort of win paths you can take: brewing potions to heal villagers, expanding your spell book, and helping save other witches on trial. It was my first time playing, and I actually won! Really, really good game.

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.