DAVIDsTEA

The apple here tastes pretty authentic. I enjoyed this single teabag from the TTB cold. I would totally drink this again. It’s just fresh juicy apple. I actually didn’t like it at first, but it really grew on me. I wish I had a few more bags!

Day 17 of the DavidsTea herbal advent calendar. I have a little tin of this too from an older sampler, but hadn’t gotten around to trying it yet so this was still a treat. The aroma as this brews is just wonderfully peachy. The tea itself tastes like peach juice – I gulped down the first mug so fast it didn’t have time to get cold and I immediately made a second mug. Interestingly, tea-averse partner walked into the kitchen while this was steeping up and swore the aroma was peach-but-something-is-off. So make of that what you will. I think it’s quite on point.

Iced Latte!

Drank this one in the afternoon today because I found myself craving peanut butter and, uncharacteristically, chocolate as well. Obviously the solution for those cravings is to drink a peanut butter chocolate tea. This was pretty solid – very peanut butter forward but in quite a sweet way that made me think a lot of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Completely with that sort of waxy milk chocolate that’s just a little bit cheap tasting but in a nostalgic sorta way.

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 Latte!

Steeped this one up to sip on as a late morning/early afternoon cuppa at work. This is fully on me, but I definitely over leafed when making my latte concentrate so even though my steep time was good my drink ended up quite potent and sweet – just a little bit on the edge of being cloying. I loved the oat milk that I used combined with the peanut notes though – very rich, thick and creamy in a super decadent way. Reminded me a lot of a Reese’s peanut butter cup – but just the peanut butter part. The chocolate was a little fruity leaning in its natural undertone and I think I wanted something either creamier and more milk chocolate in style or, alternatively, just darker and a bit more bitter to offset the sweetness of the peanut butter. But it was enjoyable, and I think a nice way to enjoy the tea – worked better cold than I probably would have guessed and if I’d just not gone so ham on the leaf amount I think this would have been near perfect as a chocolate peanut butter profile.

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.

I’m a little bit behind on new tea releases from DT, but I’m giving myself a pass on this one since it didn’t really “release” in the normal way.

This was an inclusion in the “24 Days of Tea” advent this past holiday season, and it’s actually completely exclusive to that advent so there’s no way to try it without having bought the advent, getting it from someone who bought the advent or… well, being in the incredibly unique position I’m in where I can just walk over to the tea lab and make a cup of it.

It’s a lot like DT’s Peanut Butter Cup blend that often gets brought seasonally around Halloween, but much more chocolate forward – like that tea it’s also completely peanut free, too. The peanut note is almost equal parts creamy and roasted, to my tastes at least, and I think it works really well with the stronger milk chocolate notes. I like the black tea base a lot – it’s not as present in taste as some of DT’s other chocolate blends but it adds a lot of body. Plus, it doesn’t have the fruity undertones I find present in Peanut Butter Cup – which uses apple as the base.

I’m not a massive fan of chocolate teas (and prefer them with fruit flavours) but this was nice to indulge in every now and then over winter. It’s pretty sweet, so not something I would drink habitually – which I suppose is good in a way because it’s not available to buy larger amounts of…

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.

Somebody wrote a note for DT’s Cranberry Gingerale recently, which made me really want to break open my new packet and try it out, especially iced. But I already had my caffeinated tea today and didn’t want to deal with anything too exciting on a migraine day. I opted for this caffeine-free cranberry blend instead. It’s better than I expected – the flavors are really well balanced and enjoyable. The dry leaf smells of hibiscus, cranberry, and lemon. Brewed, the flavor is cranberry-forward with a strong hibiscus note supported by the lemon and oat straw notes. I let it cool and turned it into a tea soda, which was so good. The bubbles really highlight the different flavors at play in this blend, and the tartness here makes for a really effective and enjoyable soda. It’s the kind I’ll probably end up hoarding the last few teaspoons of.

This was a super cute end to the advent calendar. I was really trying to go into this without spoiling much for myself, so I didn’t know there was a “North Pole” inspired blend until the 24th, and I love the concept.

The tea itself… well, it didn’t work for me. The bergamot oil was a particularly potent scent, and there was something in the flavor that was so reminiscent of aniseed that when I read the ingredients to my partner he accused me of lying! The second cup we didn’t get so much of that, so I really couldn’t tell you what was going on. Still, I prefer other earl greys that lean toward the cream side.

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 24

This advent surprised me! It actually had the highest count of teas I truly enjoyed, which was not what I expected when I purchased it. I was really stretching my comfort zone to go with so much straight tea, and I wound up being very glad I did.

The biggest disappointment here was that of the 4 teas I was ready to purchase, only 1 was still listed on the website. I used a workaround to put them all on my wishlist, which keeps telling me to remove them because they are no longer available, but I’m really hoping that will change. I suppose the one benefit here is that I’ve learned some general preferences that would help me make purchases with other brands if they don’t come back.

This is the other one I lost my tasting note for, so no number and just general impressions. I also marked this as “liked and would consider repurchasing” in my own spreadsheet.

My impressions of this were that the jasmine was quite strong, especially in comparison to the silk dragon jasmine, which was interesting. It also had a bitter note to it though that kept me from totally falling in love. I wouldn’t be disappointed to try this again, and I may need to just to get a better note!

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 23

I lost my tasting note for a couple teas here so I won’t give it a number rating and can only give general impressions. I’m a fan of mint teas; I liked that this was not an overwhelming mint, but I don’t know if it stood out enough to become my go-to mint. That’s a tall order though, honestly. I did mark it as “I liked this and would consider repurchasing” in my spreadsheet.

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 22

This is a fine breakfast blend; a little bit of brightness in a black tea. I sipped it a bit hot (200F, 3m) before going for iced tea instead, and it pairs wonderfully with orange in iced tea.

I am torn between feeling like I need more practice in drinking and distinguishing different black teas and not wanting to do it because I just don’t enjoy straight black tea all that much. Maybe it would elevate my iced tea?

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 21

It’s not anyone’s fault that drinking chamomile makes me feel like I’m standing in a field of fluffy yellow weeds with loose pollen flying everywhere, but I just don’t enjoy it. I took a few sips here to give it a shot and handed it over to my partner, who simply said, “yep, I like chamomile”.

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 20

Sipdown! (5 | 5)

Got this one with a reward. I’m always trying to figure out what to spend my DT rewards on, since their teas aren’t really my jam. But I buy teaware there often, so I always have a few rewards that I can only use on tea. Anyway… This time it was this tea and Butterfly Jasmine that I chose to try.

It’s a very nice fuzzy, golden, bud-heavy Yunnan tea with oodles of trichomes. It has a very thick and satisfying texture, and lovely rich and malty sweet potato notes. There’s also a honeyed sweetness and juicy apricot, but then some contrasting savory potato notes that remind me of French fries.

Very nice tea for sure, I’m not sure I would pay $20 or whatever for 50 grams, but getting it for “free” is hard to beat ha ha. Looks like it’s no longer on the website though, as it was a limited edition.

Sipdown! (10 | 46)

So this one was enjoyable, but not a reorder for me (not that it’s available anyway). I can barely taste the yaupon, it might as well be a fruit tisane as far as my tongue is concerned. And not a fan of the “sweet flavoring” (is that code for stevia?) either, I wish they would just let me choose whether to sweeten my tea.

That being said, it does remind me of ginger ale, and I thought the hibiscus was well-balanced with the red fruitiness.

Let’s be real, DT, this is essentially a fruit tisane. Yes, it technically has yaupon in it, but it’s such a small proportion compared to the other ingredients that it doesn’t really count, in my opinion.

That being said, I do like it, and it does remind me of a cranberry-flavored ginger ale. It’s very ginger-forward with a bit of effervescence to it, but it’s balanced by the generic red fruity notes and the hibiscus. Does it taste specifically like cranberry to me? No, not really, but honestly that’s almost never the case. I’m not sure what “sweet flavoring” means, if that’s just code for some kind of sweetener or what, but thankfully there’s not too much of it. I do get a touch of a non-sugar sweetener sort of aftertaste, but not enough to be distracting.

Anyway, it’s nice enough, and I’m sure it would be even better as a cold brew, if I ever drank my tea that way. Definitely quite ginger-forward though, a bit more than a ginger ale would be.

My David’s order came!! Woot! I got 50 grams of Santa’s Secret plus their winter collection. I remember loving the cardamom french toast, but I put that aside for a cold winter afternoon. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of such afternoons to come! I decided on this one. I was pretty sure I’d had this one before, like a sample from a previous order, but I don’t see a tasting note for it. So here goes:

It brews up nice and dark. I don’t taste much of anything, so it’s not sour or bitter. It has a nice mild flavor, I guess. It is certainly drinkable, but I wouldn’t bother with a separate order of this. It looks like a lot of people really enjoy this tea, but it doesn’t do anything for me. To each his own. I give it a recommendation because it is pleasant enough and if I had a sense of smell I would probably find flavors to enjoy.

Day 16 of the DavidsTea herbal advent calendar. I’ve been pulling really long days at work this week so have not had time for tasting notes. This blend tastes exactly like the name suggests: strawberry, rhubarb, and cream. Sweet and tart. Not as complex as the Sleepy Lychee but tasty enough as a dessert tea!

This is a really nice blend! The only caveat is it is expensive. It has very attractive curling leaves that open up beautifully when brewed and it has a very rich, layered malty, dark chocolate sort of flavour. After that, there’s a gentle sweetness that’s mellow and quite warm. It’s a subtly flavoured tea, but I like that, I think it suits this blend very well. Compared to other David’s Tea blends with flavours, this one is a lot less sickly sweet and much more well-developed.

This has a nice vanilla and coconut flavor, which I hesitated to cover up with almond milk. I’m glad I resisted! This one gets bad reviews, but I thought it was really smooth and desserty and nice. This almost cookie-like vanilla really works for me. I don’t always love the base tea they use, but I really have no complaints here. Thanks for sharing, getanzt!

Another Valentine’s Day backlogged tasting note!

I was really leaning into the VDay themed black teas, so it seems. This was the third one that I made during the day. It was rosy in a sort of romantic, ethereal way that felt appropriately on theme – but more than anything else it was just super silky and smooth with really custard or creme anglais-like vanilla notes. I have so many favourite teas I’ve gotten to work on for DT for different reasons, but I’m personally that more black tea-leaning type of customer/consumer so this has always just been particularly up my alley.

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.

Sipping on this tea currently as my first tea of the day. It’s brisk and full bodied with silky notes of fresh cream and aromatic rose. I’m enjoying it as a little bit of a gentler way to ease into the day as I wake up and work through these tasting notes.

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!

Sipped on this one yesterday in between recording Geek Steep episodes with Marika. We turn off the air conditioning during recording for sound, and it gets HOT in the apartment. It’s good to have something cold during podcast set up and in between episodes while we take a short break…

As a cold brew, this is very much a vanilla/cream first drink. Almost like just drinking a vanilla black tea, but with a hint of that floral rose in the finish. I think I prefer it hot as the flavour is a little more balanced, but it still works surprisingly well as a chilled tea too! I think it would actually be really stellar as an iced latte, if you upped the leaf amount a little more than you normally would for that preparation to get a slightly more potent flavour and not lose the rose notes entirely.

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.

So the Valentine’s Day collection is out now!

Not gonna lie, I feel like it’s a little early this year and I wish that the Mocktail/Dry January collection had been given more time to breathe – but I’m still very excited about this tea regardless.

I totally have some bias because I personally love rose flavoured tea blends, but even with that aside I think this is such a elegantly simple and very approachable floral blend. For people familiar with DT’s classics, I think the easiest and fastest way to explain this tea is that it’s basically Cream of Earl Grey but with the bergamot swapped for a soft rose flavouring. Not perfume-y or aggressive, just a nice hint that really compliments that silky vanilla note!

If you do like rose, I think you’ll be satisfied with the clarity of flavour and amount present but if you’re on the fence about florals then I think it’s a delicate enough touch to be a good way to dip your toes in. Hopefully that perfect middle ground. Plus, super full bodied and brisk black tea that you can taste in the cup and because it’s not really sweet/sugary you really get a lot of control with your steeping preferences and additions. I love this as a latte, but it’s a great teapot tea too!

…and I’m pretty proud of the name. I think it’s one of the cutest I’ve come up with in a while.

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.

Sip down!

When I went to make myself some today I realized there was just a little more than I needed, but not enough to make more at a later time, so I just tossed it all in my pot. Its a bit stronger than I like but still not bad.

So this is another tea that slipped through the cracks during the insane couple of months before the office move. I drank it, liked it, never had time to review it, and then it got lost in the shuffle.

This has this flavor I can only call bready, which I know isn’t quite right, but its the best I can come up with. Its warm, rich, and soothing. Like all its corners have been rounded and softened.

Keeps this flavor even as it cools. I do very much like.