DAVIDsTEA

Cold Brew!

I’m noticing that I drank a lot more fruity green tea blends this week than I typically do, and it’s not even like they were a consistent family of fruits or all a similar style/intensity. So, that’s kind of interesting to see I was subconsciously leaning that way in my tea selections. This one was very punchy and intense tasting through with both a sweet, syrupy tasting and feeling raspberry note and a very tangy, tart presence of hibiscus.

I sipped down the last of my stash of this tea a few years ago, but I enjoy this blend cold quite a bit so when I saw a bag of it at the office I decided to take the opportunity and give myself a modest restock.

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.

Sipdown (1858)!

Finished off the dregs of my sample bag as a hot cuppa last night. I probably should have made this iced or cold brewed because it shines better when prepared that way, but I didn’t have a whole lot of leaf left. Tasted like raspberry with a more generic “red fruit” undertone and a bit of apple – not as juicy as it usually is, but I think that’s more to do with how little leaf I had left and less the tea itself.

I may get another bag of this from the office before we run out and I lose the ability to restock. It’s not particularly a favourite but it does make for such a nice and punchy cold brew, and it’s nice to have super juicy/fruity flavours that are still caffeinated.

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 Tea!

It’s been off and on hot weather and rain this week, but I made this on one of the sweltering hot days this week. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it on Steepster yet but I’m flying out to LA on Monday for a week long work trip and it’s been unexpectedly chaotic just getting everything ready in advance of that – especially this last half of the week. I had some absolutely ridiculous passport stuff to deal with that was a MASSIVE headache.

I mention it because my tea drinking has been heavily sporadic as a result and I’ve kind of just been sneaking in cups of tea when I can. This was something that was brewed in one MASSIVE batch of iced tea for our office earlier in the week for people to grab from the office kitchen, so I drank a ton of iced Wild Raspberry on that day because it was quick and convenient and it’s just a lovely juicy raspberry and pomegranate profile perfectly suitable for intensely hot summery days.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdtlA35uyKl/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tab5vUx6uBY&ab_channel=WHALES%E2%80%A2TALK

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 new fruity green tea blend for the summer!

Though I personally find the distinct taste of the green tea gets lost in this blend, I do appreciate the body and caffeine that it’s bringing to the table. I would definitely describe the taste of this tea as a saturated mix of sweet and tart flavours. Raspberry is, obviously, at the forefront but hibiscus and pomegranate are also right at the front of that pack with it. Definitely juicy red fruit that makes me think of all the sweet and sour raspberry candy I used to eat in the summer as a child after swimming lessons. Kind of that nostalgic retro sorta vibe but also, thanks to the inclusion of the pomegranate, sort of updated to more of a commercial iced tea profile too!

Though I’ve actually been drinking this quite a bit hot in the last couple weeks leading up to the official release of the blend, I do think this tea feels the most refreshing and stands out the most taste-wise as an iced tea.

I’d definitely say that this is one to check out if you’re a fan of Pomegrateful, Frozen Raspberry, Hibiscus Splash or a few older DT blends like Green Seduction or Goji Green! Juicy, tart red fruit vibes for sure.

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 last night and it was a very satisfying explosion of super juicy orange notes accented by tart hibiscus with just a hint of coconut in the finish. I’d say it was giving me smoothie vibes, but I think it was just a little bit too bright and sour for that even with that little bit of creamy coconut. Definitely something sort of in that vein, though…

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 new Summer blend!

Obviously, this is an orange flavoured blend but there’s some other things going on with it as well. I love, love, love that it’s on a rooibos tea base. However, even better is that it’s on a green rooibos base! I know rooibos can definitely be a little more polarizing but it’s green varietal is generally considered a lot more palatable by people who aren’t usually fans of rooibos and the lighter flavour is much more complimentary to fruity flavours – which is perfect for this blend!

I find the flavour quite punchy. The orange note really leans into more of a fresh squeezed orange juice sort of direction with a playful kind of sweet and tangy balance. This is supported by a softer addition of grapefruit that adds some more depth and complexity to that really ripe orange kind of flavour. Don’t worry, it’s not bitter at all! Think pink grapefruit juice! Lastly, the whole bright citrusy profile is rounded out with a pleasant subtle tropical twist from the coconut in the tea.

In general, we don’t tend to have a lot of fruity rooibos tea blends so it’s always nice to have one even if it’s just for a seasonal time frame. I drink this one hot, iced, and cold brewed and it’s generally pretty nice all three ways – though iced is definitely my favourite. I love how lively and flavourful it is for an organic blend, as well! Organic certified tea ingredients and compliant flavourings can be very restrictive so, even though I am not personally a consumer that puts a lot of weight on if my teas are organic or not, it’s just such a huge win to get such a punchy organic tea like this.

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 Sipdown (2391)!

One of the rare times I couldn’t finish a tea that I made…

To be honest, I’ve never loved this tea. I find the weird mix of floral papaya and very bitter notes really hard to get past. I mean, sometimes it literally tastes like someone washed cubed papaya but used kitchen soap or that the tea was misted with Bittrex. So I dumped the last of my pouch of this in my cold brew container and hoped the lack of heat would mean that flavour just wouldn’t come through. But it did. I drank about a fifth of the cold brew, and just gave up.

I gave it a fair shake, but I definitely won’t miss this one in my stash.

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.

Early at the start of last week someone in our office made a whole giant iced tea pitcher of this to be shared throughout the office. Most of the ice had melted by the time I ended up getting the pitcher passed around to my area of the office, and this tea was very watered down because of it. I generally don’t like this tea but I took a very small cup of it because it’s hard to pass on free tea that has already been brewed for you – and, also, I like to challenge my preconceived notions of a tea and revisit blends because sometimes tastes do change.

Honestly, the fact it was so watered down was probably the best case scenario for this blend. It was definitely thin in body and flavour, but also palatable with a more refreshing dragonfruit taste and a bit less papaya. I managed to finish off my small little cup without fuss. Now, would I go out of my way to make this tea in this manner again? Doubtful. That feels like a lot of effort for a sort of okay-ish final brew. I’m glad to have tried it, though!

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.

Okay, tea friends…

Let’s start with the pros. I absolutely love the name of this tea blend and, yes, I’m incredibly biased because I came up with it – but I think it’s one of my best fruit puns yet. Also, this tea is gorgeous when it steeps. Just a totally brilliant shade of pink that I cannot get enough of. Fans of DT’s Maui Madness blend will know the colour, since it’s the same ingredient used in this blend (purple sweet potato) that causes it.

That is, however, about where my pros end.

Look, people who’ve been reading my tasting notes on Steepster for a long time know full well that I’m pretty comfortable saying when I dislike a tea/flavour. However, the one thing I selfishly always pride myself on is being able to view a tea from a neutral lense and acknowledge the many reasons why someone might enjoy a tea even if it’s not something that I am a fan of. Hell, a huge part of my job is understanding that and creating teas that I wouldn’t personally drink but that I think others would.

So know that when I say that I do not like this tea and I do not get this tea at all, that I don’t say it lightly. There are so, soooo few teas out there that I just flat out find unpleasant tasting and, well, this is one of them. I’m sure that somewhere out there there’s going to be something who LOVES this tea wholeheartedly and I reaaallllyyyy want to find them and have them explain it to me because it bothers me that I can’t do my “view a tea from someone else’s lens” thing with this blend in particular.

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!

Currently sipping my way through this cold brew while I work on catching up on tasting notes tonight. It’s a sweet and sour brew with a pleasantly juicy peach candy type of flavour. I do love Just Peachy, but I really much prefer this blend. Both have that sort of fuzzy peach kind of taste to them, but I find that despite the sourness of this tea that it’s got a much deeper and more dense flavour once the pucker passes.

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!

Definitely not going to overthink trying to explain this cold brew because it’s got such a straight to the point flavor. Sour peach. Like, pretty sour peach. Kind of nostalgic, and makes me think of childhood summers and drinking way too much slushies with added shocker/sour syrup. I dig it.

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 very, very tired tonight but I did want to start writing out my tasting notes for some of the new Summer teas that DT released recently because there are a lot that I’m pretty excited for! I’m not gonna get through them all tonight though ’cause I wanna do them justice…

This lovely fruit blend is our latest seasonal peach tea! I think the name is really quite direct in what it tastes like – peach with that kind of mouth puckering flavour punch! The biggest question that I think a lot of people will have with this blend is how it’s different from Just Peachy, and it’s a fair question!

Both are pretty juicy sweet peach flavours and just Peachy does have a bit of a tang to it, but I think the biggest split is that Peach Pucker is straight up sour! It’s not an overly intense sour in that it lingers for a really long time as something like, say, a Warhead candy – but those initial first top notes when you take a sip definitely get you with a distinct but fleeting sour edge. That initial malic acid hit, if you will. If you’ve had a Sour Patch Kid before you’ll know the feeling.

It’s followed up with a refreshing peach flavour but also this really unique Spanish Cherry/medlar flavour. Not a lot of people are familiar with medlar (which, like, fair) but it kind of just adds a bit of a depth and a really light hint of sweeter red berry flavour to the peach that gives it a little more complexity and makes that flavour shift from sour to deep sweet peach a little more interesting. On the flip, I find Just Peachy has a very even keel peach flavour throughout the whole sip.

Personally, I don’t like this blend hot – but iced or cold brewed has definitely been my jam for the last year while I’ve been waiting for it to come out!

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.

Smells like Special K blueberry cereal. Nice fruity fragrance and surprisingly strong berry taste. Its good, but not my jam. Probably the best blueberry flavor I have ever had in a tea though.

Steep Information:
2tsp
212°F
4min
Adagio IngenuiTEA 16 oz

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet, bread
Steeped Tea Smell: vanilla, sweet, bread
Flavor: vanilla, bakey
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: atringent
Liquor: dark translucent brown red

Comments: good tea but not anything special

Resteep:
5 minutes – good and worth drinking, i like that this resteeps!

blog https://amazonv.blogspot.com/2022/04/davids-tea-loose-leaf-black-tea.html

YouTube https://youtu.be/nNzwLkgHWuw

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@circuitswan/video/7089098050773257518?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

Twitter thread https://twitter.com/CircuitSwan/status/1517180804069150736

Rating: 3/4 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

Too much licorice. No vanilla….my vanilla sugar didn’t even help it.

(DavidsTea 2022: already recorded)

Iced pitcher of this tea; the flavour reminded me quite a bit of something but I no longer remember what it was. Possibly a tea from another company, possibly a juice… I don’t remember. Still don’t think it’s super raspberry-y but it’s ok.

(DavidsTea 2022: 103)

I appreciated that the fruit was basically minced in this blend – much easier to get consistent brews. It was actually a reasonably tasty blend, although it didn’t taste much like raspberry to me – more like some other fruit, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what. Sweetened with stevia, so not great, but probably ok as iced tea. I couldn’t really taste the green tea, however – it was likely masked by the potent fruitiness.

(DavidsTea 2022: 102)

Really smooth and tasty, with just the right amount of jasmine. Harder to screw up than a jasmine green, too! Would be good when a jasmine craving hits (infrequent).

Steep Information:
4tsp
212°F
5 min
Adagio IngenuiTEA 16 oz

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: oranges, apples, spices
Steeped Tea Smell:
Flavor: Sweet, citrus, spice (clove)
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: shells off nuts
Liquor: translucent dark pink-orange

Comments: it reminded me of forever nuts which makes sense as the website says this is their holiday version of that!

YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZVTbaTbiW1I

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@circuitswan/video/7088450196882935082?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

Steepster: https://steepster.com/teas/davidstea/90166-forever-frosty

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

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.

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

I don’t taste any lavender here, but I taste lots of weird, fake honey. I’m not a honey fan at the best of times, and this honey is really artificial and strange. I also got some of the matcha flavor, which was savory and okay. I should have just poured this out, but I didn’t want to waste the almond milk, so I drank it with lots of whipped cream on top to try to cover the flavor as much as possible. I’d love a lavender matcha with no honey battling it for prominence.

Tastes like french toast in a drink! I had high expectations for this since I had been hearing about it for years and finally got to try it, its really good actually. Especially for an herbal tea. Its more on the subtle flavor side but it works. It is pink though, not a color I was expecting, especially since I liked it best with milk added