DAVIDsTEA

Its been a couple of months. I’ve been trying to sip down a lot of teas I’m not fond of hot as cold brews, so I set this aside. This week promises to be a rather hot one, so good timing.

Came into work this morning with a fresh pitcher waiting and ready to go. And all of my hopes were realized. This is almost exactly what I was hoping for. In fact its just now 11am and there’s maybe 1 more glass worth in the pitcher. I’ve just been downing it this morning.

There is a very slight aftertaste that seems a little off to me. But I really only notice it if I’m really paying attention.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased.

Growing up back in the 70s and 80s, there were two types of tea. Lipton tea bags and some disgusting instant iced tea mix that I believe we tried once and never bought again.
- Edit – It was Nestea, and at the time, it really was quite horrible. At least to my tastes as a kid.

My parents, especially my Dad, were coffee drinkers, so we almost never had hot tea. That was usually saved for the rare times we would get take out from the one and only Chinese restaurant in town at that time.

Instead we always had it cold. My Dad would take an old large glass bottle that had once contained orange juice (back in the days before everything was made out of plastic), stick in some tea bags, and fill about 1/3rd full of boiling water. And there it would sit on the kitchen counter for what seems like an obscenely long amount of time. And then he would fill the glass bottle up the rest of the way with tap water. And there it would sit, tea bags and all, until we finished it I don’t know why we never put it in the fridge. It was just what was done and I never thought to question it.

To this day, no matter how my tastes have evolved, no matter how many excellent teas from all over the world I have tried, I still want to go back to that Lipton tea bag flavor when it comes to iced.

And, with summer fast approaching, I know I’m going to want a lot of iced tea. And while I have tried so many excellent teas over the years, I can’t help but want iced tea that tastes how it tasted when I was a kid. Instead of me going out and buying a bunch of tea bags, I decided to see if I couldn’t try something that was the same, but yet of a higher quality than tea bags.

And thus this.
Whew! Took me a while to get to the point, didn’t it?

Anyway, my order came in and while I have slated this in my mind for iced, I felt like I should at give it a go hot at least once.

And what does it taste like? Very reminiscent of those tea bags from so long ago. There’s a bit of astringency, but its not harsh and its completely expected. Its not the kind of flavor profile I normally look for in a hot tea anymore, but if I were stranded on a cold mountain top somewhere and I was craving tea, this would be acceptable.

If I were to rate this now, it would likely sit at a solid 50. But my intentions for this aren’t for hot, but cold. And I’ll reserve my rating until after I’ve tried it that way.

Very berry….Maybe currants? Surprisingly nice. I haven’t had many puerh teas and was very pleasantly surprised by them. Never thought you could get such a fruity tea. Mostly drank it cold but its nice hot too. Most berry teas that tends not to be true. I wouldnt buy again but I enjoyed it.

Coldbrewed this for the May prompt “a lemon tea.”

It reminds me of other “Pink Lemonade” fruit teas I’ve had in the past; it has a strong lemon citrus flavor, that is pleasantly tangy with an herbaceous lemongrass edge, followed by a sharp and pithy orange note and a sweeter, fruit punch/raspberry finish.

This is a refreshing tea and I’m always happy to have this flavor profile as a coldbrew, but this particular blend doesn’t really stand out to me over any of the other “pink lemonade” style fruit blends I’ve had.

Now if only the weather here would turn sunny and warm, to fully enjoy a refreshing lemonade coldbrew… (It snowed yesterday! AUGH!)

I was super disappointed that mine didn’t change colors. It didn’t even start as a nice blue, just a murky tea kind of color. The raspberry flavor is kind of that artificial blue raspberry taste found in blue raspberry flavored candy, which would be fine, but there’s some weird almost earthy aftertaste that I can’t get past. I don’t usually mind Stevia in my tea so I’m not sure if that’s the issue or if it’s something else. Won’t be reordering this one unfortunately because that aftertaste just sits too weirdly in my mouth and stomach.

Steep:
10g
212°F
6 min
Adagio IngenuiTEA 16 oz

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: floral, jasmine, perfume
Steeped Tea Smell: rooibos, sweet, woody, hints floral
Flavor: hint floral at the front, sweet, hint floral at the end
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: woody finish
Liquor: orange red brown translucent

Comments: I would not have guessed that hibiscus was in there, tastes more like chamomile and jasmine and apples and rooibos

Post-Steep Additives: honey
Comments: more desert like

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Leaf system:
1=Bleh! not again if it were free
2=Acceptable, if it were free or there were limited other tea options
3=I might purchase this tea from time to time, or select it while out
4=A staple in our cupboard from now on, I will purchase and keep purchasing

YouTube Review https://youtu.be/4kc30EVenGw

TikTok Review https://www.tiktok.com/@circuitswan/video/7095564294900698414

Blog Post https://amazonv.blogspot.com/2022/05/davids-tea-company-loose-leaf-rooibos.html

Statement of Sponsorship or Advertisement:
I purchased this product.

Disclaimer:
All my reviews are as unbiased as possible, whether I buy or receive free product. I accept no other compensation other than free product.

Unfortunately this one seems a little thin tasting to me; however, I only had a small sample and it may not have been large enough for the amount of water I put it in. Not sure if I should order a full bag of it to give it a more fair try, or just stick with one of my other blueberry teas.

After trying this one, apparently elderberry doesn’t mesh well with my food sensitivities so I won’t be ordering this one.

So I just recently participated in a few new swaps with: getanzt, Shae and Emilie and I am finally getting to some of them now. Today I am sampling: Lime Gelato- DAVIDsTEA from Shae.

Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: Wow. So the last lime tea I had was Lime Snowballs by 52teas and that was a zesty sort of lime that I really liked. For some reason, I thought this might be similar. Not at all but in a good way they are both good but completely different. This is sweet and vanilla-y kind of like a lime flavored yogurt but not overly creamy. I like this a lot. It is definitely a dessert tea. Wishlisted for someday when lime teas come back in vogue.

This is super floral, but I don’t taste the lavender, even when I add extra. The cold resteep was too sour for my preferences. Sometimes I find this tea to be okay and sometimes too savory and sour. I find that a shorter steep tones down the negative flavors a bit, though it’s still not great. My recent sixth and seventh attempts were actually okay, just lightly fruity and floral. I guess it depends on the proportion of ingredients you get in each cup.

I really love all of the David’s Teas I have tried so far because they are so fun and flavorful. This one is no exception. It tastes pretty much it like it says, bubble gum! It’s more of a novelty flavor and I’m glad I tried it, but not a flavor I’d want to reach for often so I won’t be buying a full size of this one.

I found the lavender honey matcha to be really gross, so I was sort of dreading trying this one. I’m happy to say that it actually tastes just fine! I don’t really notice much honey or other flavoring, so it’s sort of just mildly flavored matcha. With my usual prep method, it was nothing amazing, but perfectly decent. Basically just regular sweetened matcha.

No particular flavor that stands out, just tea thats sweeter than normal. Not
Memorable. You can do the same by adding maple syrup to any old tea- or your fave.

I brewed this one hot to start and it is SWEET, unfortunately too sweet for me. It smells delicious, like buttered popcorn, and it tastes like coconuty, creamy buttered popcorn (tastes better than it sounds!) but I can’t get past the sweetness. Usually that means it’s time for a cold brew, so I will try that next!

Using this for the sipdown prompt “A tea flavored like a favorite baked good.” (Though I think all baked goods, banana bread excluded, would count as a “favorite baked good” for me, hahahaha…)

Prepared this cold brewed, which is my typical prep style for heavy, chunky fruit teas. I’m sipping on it now from a chilled water bottle to re-hydrate after a grocery run, and it is very refreshing. It is sweeter than I expected (ya’ll know me, I’m a tart ’n tangy hibi fan) and because of that sweetness, I am seeing the blueberry muffin comparison. The blueberry does have that jammy/syrupy sweet taste I associate with blueberry baked goods.

While I normally drink my fruit teas cold, due to the sweet nature of this one, I think I’ll have to try a warm cuppa this evening. Still satisfying cold, just lacking the tartness I typically expect and enjoy in a fruit tea cold brew.

Tastes like nail polish remover…yuck

The chai flavor here is super strong, so I can’t really taste the matcha, which is okay. Unfortunately, the flavoring they used isn’t one I prefer. It seems to veer almost entirely in the red hot cinnamon direction, and I prefer my chai to have more nuance than that. I used my entire advent sample for a big cup of this, and after a few sips, I was quite tired of it. I decided to make overnight oats with the rest of it. Cinnamon goes well with peanut butter, so it turned into a decent lunch. I wish I’d turned that lavender honey matcha from the other day into something tasty instead of chugging it.

Starbucks Vanilla Frap…is this you? I don’t drink a lot of coffee, can’t handle the caffeine. But I have had a vanilla frap from starbucks 3 or 4 times…years ago. I think this tastes like I remember. I like it..and it’s low caffeine. This one I am glad to have a larger size of. I’ve been drinking right though my sampler set. I had a back up of Davids Chai- which I don’t like and gave to my sister- not sure if she will like it, and this. I can’t wait to dig into it. Almost through with my sampler now. It does have artificial vanilla- probably helped by my vanilla sugar, which I make with tons of vanilla beans..It has a nice coffee flavor.

It does taste like hot chocolate, but something is missing. Maybe I needed to brew it up with more milk because it was on the thinner side for hot chocolate. Idk, I think I would just rather drink hot chocolate

I cold brewed this up overnight and I think I’m even more in love now! The floral lavender notes have really come out at the beginning of the sip to compliment the coconut that’s hanging out at the end of the sip and in the aftertaste. The rooibos isn’t as strong but is still there and mixes with the lavender well

Wow, I really like this one! I feel like this is a tea made up of a bunch of controversial flavors that I happen to love.

The rooibos and lavender are there at the beginning of the sip, and the coconut comes in at the end. And it’s not just coconut, it’s like a tropical mixed coconut drink, super tasty. My only complaint is that I wish there was more lavender!

Steep:
3 tsp
212°F
5+min
kati loose tea system 12oz

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: medicinal, citrus, lemongrass, herbs
Steeped Tea Smell: still medicinal, citrus, lemongrass
Flavor: nice citrusy-fruity punch
Body: Full
Aftertaste: lemongrass and herbal
Liquor: dark red translucent

Comments: tastes better than it smells

Post-Steep Additives: honey
Comments: enjoyed it as a sweeter evening drink, but not different

Resteep:
very weak, not worthwhile

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Leaf system:
1=Bleh! not again if it were free
2=Acceptable, if it were free or there were limited other tea options
3=I might purchase this tea from time to time, or select it while out
4=A staple in our cupboard from now on, I will purchase and keep purchasing

YouTube Review https://youtu.be/Ro3eExyk9p4

TikTok Review https://www.tiktok.com/@circuitswan/video/7091778091160194347

Blog Post https://amazonv.blogspot.com/2022/04/davids-tea-loose-leaf-herbal-tisane_29.html

Statement of Sponsorship or Advertisement:
I purchased this product.

Disclaimer:
All my reviews are as unbiased as possible, whether I buy or receive free product. I accept no other compensation other than free product.

I was nervous about how sour/tart this would be with a name like that. I had visions of tons of hibiscus, but it turns out there doesn’t seem to any here!

I cold-brewed this overnight and tried it out yesterday. It definitely has a tart, peachy flavor. My fiance loves sour things and he really loved this. I’m not a huge fan of sour things but I still enjoyed this. I think I would prefer something more peachy, less sour personally but this delivers on what it claims to be!

This is a really nice chocolate macaroon tea. The coconut flavor is really good. Not overpowering. All natural flavoring which is a bonus to me. The tea base is very very light. This is a one time steep tea to me. I did really like it, but not enough to want a full size.