DAVIDsTEA

Bleh, I really don’t like something here, maybe rose? It makes this blend quite sour and peppery. There’s also something fake and strange tasting in there. With milk, it’s a little less unpleasant, but it really isn’t the tea for me. I tried it again cold brewed, and I still tasted way too much sour, fake weirdness. I won’t be having more.

Did you know that DT carries straight hibiscus now?

We actually pretty sneakily released this tisane around two weeks ago, and it hasn’t really gotten mentioned/called out anywhere so it’s an easy one to miss.

When we started looking for a straight hibiscus to carry we ended up tasting a lot of different hibiscus samples from all different origins. Like, a lot of hibiscus. There were some tasting where it was just an entire cupping line up of hibiscus over and over. We tried productions that were incredibly tart and sharp and some that were surprisingly sweet with really intense berry notes. It was a rough tasting line up on the palate.

In the end, this was our favourite! Why? Well, we thought it had the best balance of all the things a hibiscus drinker would want but was also pretty approachable for someone who maybe hadn’t tasted a lot of straight hibiscus. It’s got some bright, lively top notes but it’s not super aggressive – unless you steep it for a really long time because you want that quality to come up – and the body and finish have more natural sweetness and a hint of a berry type of flavour!

Personally, I don’t know a ton of people who actually drink straight hibiscus – let alone straight hot hibiscus (unless you’re making a mulled beverage, perhaps). Mostly I think people use it as an ingredient to make other beverages, which is a great option for adding colour or a nice punch of flavour. However I have actually had this iced a few times because it’s pleasant enough that, if I’m in the mood for something stronger with some tang, I can get through a full cup with no issue.

In fact, earlier this week I decided to do a “teas I drink in a day” theme day and I ended up making a verrrryyyy strong iced cup of this to sip on over lunch and in the meeting I had right after lunch!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgP-NpROgXL/ (The first pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uI2LF2iir4

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 bought a tin of this years ago, have it at least once a year and never get around to writing a note for it. Probably because it’s underwhelming for me.  The leaves look so chopped.  I guess I liked the idea of peach and jasmine for an ultimate summer tea, but the peach isn’t my favorite and the jasmine is never there.  I definitely make sure not to oversteep this.  At least the tin is almost gone already?   At least there isn’t stevia in it?  

Day 5 Davids Tea 2023 Advent Calendar

Apparently I already logged this one but my note is M.I.A. I do remember being excited about this one in December. Strawberry Rhubarb is one of my favorite baked good combos. Tartness is expected. It’s a pretty red color and smells like those strawberry candies that my grandmother used to have out in a candy dish for guests. Initially, SRP left me with a mouth puckering feeling that I’m wasn’t enjoying. As the mug cooled and mellowed, I found it more enjoyable and reminded of spring/summer. Probably not going to be on my “buy again” list but I’d try it again if offered

Strawberry Rhubarb is one of my favorite summer flavors so I was excited to try this fruity tea. I always find it interesting to read the ingredient listings and see that the primary flavors are not the lead ingredient. Apple is listed first and then 3 other ingredients before we get to strawberry and rhubarb flavoring. I wonder if I had blind tasted this how I would have tasted the tea. I’m sure knowing the name of the tea influences my tasting.

I currently have pitcher of this iced in the fridge and a mug of it hot on the table to finish off the packet. I have found it to be a tart, fruity tea. Definitely taste hibiscus and strawberry. I am absolutely reminded of a strawberry-rhubarb dessert.

(DavidsTea 2022: 126)

2022 Sipdown 146/365!
Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge April 2022: “Health” tea

I understand this was intended to be a “detox” tea? I don’t know that aloe is used in many drinks, generally. I feel like it doesn’t have a great deal of flavour.

Brewed up the last of this into a large jug of iced tea. I recall not minding it, but it was kind of floral, and that bothered my husband. Wouldn’t refuse it if offered, but probably wouldn’t buy again except by accident (because it sounds appealing, haha).

(DavidsTea 2022: 125)

2022 Sipdown 145/365!
Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge July 2022: Tea from a Canadian company

Found these lovely little tea blooms that I believe were courtesy of VariaTEA some significant number of years ago. I think I have three flavours; somehow this ended up at the top of the pile. It’s a black tea bloom, which is different that most I’ve had.

Aroma was lightly strawberry, and flavour ended up being pretty true – a mild black tea with gentle candy strawberry. It’s fairly simple, but I did enjoy it. The bloom was also pretty, although I admit that I steep the blooms in an infuser, which kind of changes the experience, because they inevitably have little pieces that fall off and annoy me if they’re left in the cup. I do think that this might be an interesting one to have tried… grandpa-style? (Is that where you leave the leaves in the cup and just add water over time as you drink it?)

I really like this tea. Probably because it has licorice in it. It’s been a nice tea to have around in the evenings when I need a tasty decaf option. The licorice adds sweetness without the stevia weirdness and the whole thing does have a light honey flavor to it. One of these days I need to add some real honey in it. I got to harvest a few frames recently from one of my 6 beehives, so I’m rich in honey at the moment!

Sipdown theme: Tea you’ve forgotten about
Got a lot to go to sip this one down. I have a little less than 50 g in a tin and then another unopened 50 g bag. So I definitely know that I wasn’t in the best place last year so I am not going to dwell too much on my tea buying habits of last year and focus on enjoying and sharing the stuff I have this one. So those of you involved in the TTB this year may see some of this in there. :)

Preparation: Western
Tasting note: I like the the grassy, rich notes of this oolong with the sweet creamy coconut. It has a tiny bit of oil but just little specks. It is a nice rich tea that kind of reminds me of a spinach creamy soup. My own drawback with the tea is that sometimes the flavoring can be a bit much. Noy sure if its the smell or strong flavor but it isnt always easy on the stomach.

Yummy creamy lime. It didn’t seem as flavorful as most Davidsteas that I’ve had, but I used a new type of tea bag this time so I’m thinking that’s the culprit. I’ll have to try this one again with my old style of tea bags because I’m sure I’ll enjoy it even more.

Made this iced. It’s ok. It’s pineapple. It’s stevia. Not as offensive stevia-wise but not great either. Just fine and mostly I drank it because it’s caffeine-free

This tea is made up almost entirely of candy, but it was super on sale, so I bought it anyway. Yeah the flavor really isn’t great. It’s like the worst parts of candy – thick and artificial. It coated my mug in the grossest film that was hard to remove. The flavor was pretty mild, but what flavor there was I didn’t enjoy, even with plenty of milk.

Made this one iced using the water bottle method. I’ve been really dipping into more fall flavoured teas these last few weeks and even though green apple is a flavour I do enjoy year-round it does feel especially appropriate during that end of summer/early fall time period. It’s great iced, too. Very bright with a lot of that very tart Granny Smith type of apple flavour before transitioning into more of a grassy and umami matcha finish. Pretty punchy, but clean finishing and refreshing!

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.

Whisked this up at work yesterday for matcha monday! I was really craving something a bit brighter in flavour, and this was the brightest and most juicy matcha we had on hand that I could think of! Still had that more umami and grassy note from the matcha itself, but the rest was like a more sour and tangy jolly rancher – just less artificial than the candy. Really refreshing and lively in the cup!

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 was back at the office on Thursday (from vacation) so I got a chance to whisk this one up so i had a fresh memory in mind before writing my tasting note. If you missed it, this was part of a matcha collection launch from earlier in the week!

In the past we carried a rather unique Apple Ginger Matcha that had microground ginger powder and apple cider vinegar in it – I was a fan, but overall it didn’t seem to resonate strongly with people. For anyone who tried that matcha and was really disappointed, I just want to say right off the bat that this matcha is completely unlike it. We really, really wanted to focus exclusively on flavour and just deliver a very true bright and tart green apple flavour.

I personally think this matcha shines best when you make it iced. It’s got a pleasant kind of tart pucker to it that reminds me of biting into a Granny Smith Apple but it’s followed by a nice sweetness while still not being necessarily a candy apple flavour. I also think that (aside from the Unsweetened Peach) this is the flavour from this recent collection where you actually can taste the matcha the most. The gentle grassy umami plays off the bright green apple notes really pleasantly – it makes me think of apple picking around the end of the summer!

Oh! One thing probably worth noting is that because this is an acidified matcha you cannot make it into a latte – at least, not without curdling. I think the juiciness and brightness of the flavour you get from the lift the acidifier gives it worth the trade off, though…

Honestly, this is probably the new matcha that I’m the least personally excited about of the new releases – but I still think it’s really fun and I like how different it is from all of the other fruity profiles!

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.

From the TTB 2022
Not sure what I expected, its mostly sweet caramel, with a cookie aftertaste and stevia. Glad I got to sample it but wouldn’t purchase or need to drink another cup. I should have looked more closely at the ingredients for the stevia, the tisane is perfectly ok, would be better without the stevia.

Adventageddon Day 9

It felt a little odd to be drinking such a bright, juicy watermelon flavoured tea blend in the heart of winter – especially because today was such a bitterly cold and windy day. However, I do adore this matcha quite a bit so even if it maybe wasn’t the best seasonal match it was a good way to start my day. And I guess better to have it earlier in the advent than near the end.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDX7CdLyJ4E/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTIvFD7TCVg&ab_channel=Charlixcx

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 just had the worst headache on Thursday and since I wasn’t really sure what it was from I kept trying to fix it with caffeine and drinking just tons and tons of water. So, I drank a bunch of breakfast blends and of course my fair share of matcha, too…

This really did nothing for my headache, but it was still delicious and juicy. Almost like a Jolly Rancher style of watermelon but without any acidity, and a grassier undertone from the matcha itself. I feel like I was getting really into Fall/Autumnal flavours lately, but this past week was SUPER hot so I sort of reverted back into these types of high summer flavours.

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.

Sprinkled a few scoops of this over some vanilla ice cream because I thought it might contribute a nice watermelon flavour. I did get the odd pop of watermelon in some of the places with a higher powder concentration, but overall I think I’d need a lot more matcha to get the effect that I wanted.

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.

From this past Matcha Monday!

Whisked this up strongly and paired it with a handful of sweet strawberries! I got to dip into a brand new bag of this matcha today since I actually finished my last one a few weeks ago, so the re-release last week was perfectly timed. Sweet, bright and juicy!! Plus, who can argue with a combination of watermelon and strawberries??

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqTAPODugnR/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfbv_LxRxx0

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.

Whisked this gem up while enjoying some fresh air outside. I usually like this better iced, but even hot I found the watermelon juicy and quite lovely in the Summer breeze. It just felt like a perfectly quintessentially summer moment!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgz_vIQueYz/ (The 5th Photo)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKzEhwiEdZc

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.

Another one of the new matchas to come out today!

This one is especially exciting to me for a couple different reasons. The first of which is that this is DT’s very first organic flavoured matcha offering! Organic flavouring is a lot trickier to work with that other kinds of flavouring, and the flavours you can achieve are also a lot more limited as well so I’m especially proud that we were able to achieve such a juicy, delicious organic offering in this incredible flavour!

The second reason I’m excited? Well, watermelon! I mean, like banana, this is one of the matcha flavours I’ve been dreaming of DT releasing since long before I was an employee. Being a part of bringing this flavour to the finish line has just been yet another experience where I’m again humbled by the fact I’m lucky and privileged enough to be able to make teas that I had dreamed about nearly a decade ago a reality. That never stops feeling amazing to me!

Though I am absolutely one of those people who drinks every flavour of matcha as a hot tea, I will admit that this one especially shines when you make it iced. It’s a very juicy watermelon flavour with a nice pop of sweetness to it, but I don’t find it gets too far into that Jolly Rancher/candy territory despite that, and I like that you can taste some of the grassy umami flavours of the matcha still. It’s really yummy!

If you want a really wild ride then I recommend adding a little pinch of salt as well! I feel like I sound like a broken record when it comes to watermelon and salt, but it’s truly just an incredible flavour combination and I like how that small addition can really change the profile of this matcha in a fantastic 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.