DAVIDsTEA

This is the most refreshing chocolate tea I have ever tasted. Often they are so sweet or sticky that I think I might as well have had hot chocolate. This has the chocolate flavour without trying to make it dessert.

Nothing special.

It’s more interesting than regular Earl Grey, but I don’t like it as much as Uncle Grey or even Cream of Earl Grey. I can’t really taste the strawberry.

It’s more interesting than regular Earl Grey, but I don’t like it as much as Uncle Grey or even Cream of Earl Grey. I can’t really taste the strawberry.

I’d never heard of Guangzhou, though I correctly assumed it was the name of a place, so that didn’t offer a clue. And milk as a flavour? I really didn’t know what to expect.

In fact, I had to drink quite a few cups before I could write my review. I think I like it. Most of the oolongs I’ve tried were sweet and/or fruity, and this was neither. It is very nice, but since oolong tends to be more expensive than most black or green teas, it’s not one I’ll likely order unless there is an irresistible deal.

Really nice tea.

I don’t often pay full price for a tea I’ve never tried, but I had a feeling this would be really good. I wasn’t disappointed. Nice, not overly sweet, coconutty flavour.

I don’t often pay full price for a tea I’ve never tried, but I had a feeling this would be really good. I wasn’t disappointed. Nice, not overly sweet, coconutty flavour.

I wanted to buy a black tea, but also wanted a change from the Earl Grey flavours I usually go for. I was hesitant to order this because it seemed like an odd combination of ingredients, but it really works! With no added sweetener, it has just the right amount of sweetness for me, and none of the bitterness you sometimes get with black teas.

This is fairly mild, good but nothing to write home about. Some might prefer to add the sweetener of their choice but it is sweet enough for me.

I was expecting this to just be an Earl Grey on a rooibos base (hence the name), but it also has apple and rosehip and mandarin oil? Because you know, heaven forbid there be a tea with no apple in it, ha ha… :P

It doesn’t really taste like bergamot to me. Not sure if it’s the mandarin or what. I do get a bit more of a bergamot note toward the end of the sip, but mostly it tastes like a slightly sweet rooibos with some citrusy notes.

It’s fine. Not really what I expected.

This one is interesting. I like the concept of orange with rosemary and olive leaf, although to me the orange here is a bit like vitamin C tablets. I do taste a hint of the savory herbs.

Mostly though, I taste stevia. Bleck.

This was somehow simultaneously very sweet and also bitter.

Not sure where the bitterness was coming from to be honest, maybe the blackberry leaves? Otherwise, it tastes like Peachy-O’s with a side of apple. Not terrible, but definitely too sweet for me.

This is not really what I expected from the name.

If I’m honest, I taste more lemongrass, orange blossom, and apple than jasmine. And as for the rooibos, I think I would guess honeybush for the base of this just based on the taste. There’s a bit of that peppery note that I often find in honeybush. There’s definitely more green rooibos than red here, as I only get a hint of woodiness.

I dunno, not a huge fan. The apple is adding a bit too much acidity for me, it leaves a lasting acrid taste at the back of my mouth. Also not getting a ton of jasmine, so the name seems a bit… off?

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – October 2024 Tea #2 – A tea that reminds you of falling leaves

This is the Oh,Canada blend with the exclamation point (!)  It looks like there is a different blend without the exclamation point.  This one is full of sweet tasting goodies.  I chose this blend for this prompt, as the most obvious tea reminding me of leaves… as the blend contains the cutest little leaf sprinkles in fall colors.  It hits the decaf sweet craving, for sure, without tasting like artificial sugars.  I also could have chosen this blend for the maple prompt this month… but I will choose something else…

I received this tea in a swap ages ago, never wrote a note. This tea is adorable — love those maple leaf sprinkles! The fragrance is very syrupy. Despite the base being rooibos mixed with honeybush and green rooibos, the brew color is VERY deep red. The flavor is a great syrupy sweet maple flavor. But I also get a kick out of the base, because it tastes like the bark of a tree. Who’s to say if it’s maple bark? Not me. I’m glad this has a tasty flavoring anyway.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

Not a fan of this one. The flavoring is very artificial-tasting to me, and then there’s stevia too. I’m not sure I understand why there’s so much apple, it gives an acidity that kind of works against the creamier flavors IMO.

Another one from the DT Spring Fling sampler that I got for free.

Sorry, this smells and tastes like a pile of chemicals, with accents of cherry candy and florals. To be fair, I never like fake cherry blossom flavored things, but this is horrible. I took two sips and dumped the rest.

So I ordered some of the new spring teaware from DT, and they were having a promotion for a free tea sampler with an order over a certain amount. I happened to be spending enough, so here we are. Truth be told, I wasn’t very interested in the sampler, but might as well try the teas!

This sounds good in theory, it’s a flavored milk oolong with strawberry. But it sort of tastes like two different teas competing with each other. I think it’s because of the hibiscus, but it mostly tastes like a weak strawberry fruit tea with a bit of creaminess, and there’s also a roasty flavor that reminds me of coffee. Not sure if that’s from the oolong or what. And then there’s the stevia, ruiner of teas…

Needless to say, not for me.

I don’t have any distinctive thoughts about the taste except that it tastes really nice and creamy with oatmilk. I got a small sample packet to try, WRP with a sale

In the bag, this smells strongly like coconut to me, even though that isn’t an ingredient. Steeped, I don’t get that particular aroma, and the tea has more of a marshmallow/vanilla cream scent, with a mingling of spice.

In the flavor, I am not getting “Sweet Potato” but I am definitely getting “Sweet”! Perhaps the base tea is of the yammy variety, but if so, I certainly can’t tell against the total domination of the rock sugar. The base notes are getting washed out for me, becoming more of a muted maltiness beneath a very sweet sip. Marshmallow is one of those flavors I don’t really ever taste in tea, but I think I can kind of see it here… there is definitely a sort of vanilla creaminess that, mixed with the level of sweetness, is tripping my head into marshmallow flavor territory. Toward the end of the sip I get a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg which is quite pleasant.

I’ve prepared this hot and plain as well as a latte, and the latte works a bit better for me since the thickness and creaminess of the added vanilla almond milk combined with the sweetness of the tea feel like a more indulgent coffee house guilty drink. I feel like plain, this is the sort of tea I’d crave most in the evenings, but since it has a black base I have to drink it during the day.

It’s unique. I think I personally would like the black base to pop a bit more, but I do enjoy a good indulgent latte when the mood strikes.

I had a super good green apple bubble tea the other day, and I was hoping this flavor would go in a similar direction. Really, this tastes quite pleasant, though only vaguely fruity. When I got to the bottom, where most of the powder had settled, it was thankfully not bitter like matcha sometimes gets when it settles. Instead I finally tasted the tart apple, which was nice and almost candylike with no negative qualities. I just wish this one had mixed better so I could have tasted that throughout. The flavor was pretty accurate and fun when I could taste it.

When I was a kid, pistachios were too expensive for our family to buy. As an adult, I enjoy always having pistachios in my pantry as a sort of indulgence, and I use them in all sorts of recipes. I’ve made pistachio macarons before, and this tea is nothing like its name. I was surprised when this ended up very fruity and floral. There’s so much rose in here – why? The resteep was much too rosey. When I drink this cold, I do sort of enjoy it. It’s a decently refreshing fruity floral blend, but the name is all wrong. Though there are some whole pistachios in the bag, they don’t contribute anything to the flavor. I drank about four cups of this, and I don’t think I’ll have more since I’m tired of the rose.

Finally trying Banana Matcha from the Matcha Advent Calendar. I tried it first as an iced latte with oat milk. It had a faint banana flavor. I like it better as a smoothie with a banana and strawberries. I like the Banana Matcha better from 3 Leaf it has a more intense and natural banana flavor. I still like the flavored matcha’s from David’s Tea but I like the matcha’s better from 3 Leaf. I like that there is no sugar and it’s more natural flavor. I have only tried three flavors but I will eventually buy more once I sip down more matcha’s I have.

Sipdown and it meets ashmanra’s sipdown challenge as a tea I won’t repurchase. Despite the intriguing name, I never ordered this one because it has stevia in it and I am not a big stevia fan. But I picked up a sampler a while ago that included this and it did grow on me despite the stevia. The buttercream flavor is very specific, not just generically creamy but more like buttercream frosting. The lavender is lightly floral. The combo is both dessert-y and soothing. Because of the stevia, it’s not one that I would reach for regularly and therefore am not inclined to go out of my way to purchase, but I wouldn’t avoid it in a sampler either!

I have two packets of this tea from the holiday (or winter?) collection I ordered right after Christmas. I enjoy a good, plain herbal mint tea. I mean, how can you go wrong with peppermint? In my experience, it doesn’t matter if it is a cheap grocery store bagged peppermint tea or a fancy, organic peppermint tea. This one does stand out though, over my usual Stash peppermint tea. It is very fresh and the cooling sensation of the mint is pronounced.

This was a reward to myself for getting through this latest round of CT scans. Those were yesterday, and today I saw the oncologist to talk about what the scan showed. There are two areas they want to watch: a 4 mm nodule on my left lung and a dime sized spot near my tailbone. The dime sized thing has not grown in 6 months so he doesn’t see any reason for concern with that. The teensy tiny little nodule on the lung may be cancer or it may be totally not related to the cancer. Dr. W says we will watch that one too. So I have my next set of scans in June. We will see if either or both of those problem areas change or grow in the next three months.

Meanwhile, I need to drink up more tea. We are in a blizzard warning for the next 24 hours. So perfect tea drinking weather!