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drank Ceylon Spring by DAVIDsTEA
6112 tasting notes

So. I’ve been working on stats all night, so my “reward” is trying my new teas from Cavocorax. I’m super stoked, because she sent me a bunch of things I’ve been dying to try, and a bonus sample of a tea that had been on my list to pick up from DT for ages! Score! (Not this one, this was a request.)

Anyhow! I think I have maybe only had one straight ceylon tea previously, so all I was expecting here was classic black tea/iced tea flavour. SOOOOOOO wrong. Cavo is totally right – grassy but with crazy honey/caramel. Like, if you sniff it it smells massively like hay, but the flavour is crazy sweet, almost syrupy. I got an initial chocolate aroma from the bag, but am not particularly tasting chocolate at all. It’s really, honestly, malty honey on top of straw. Which sounds worse than it tastes, I’m sure. I’m actually rather enjoying it – I certainly expected something a lot different, and while I still prefer straight blacks with chocolate/raisin notes, the complete lack of astringency here lets all the other flavours out to play, and I’m quite enjoying them.

Thanks so much for letting me try this one, Cavocorax! And for sending a crazy generous sample! I’m going to enjoy it :D

ETA: Oops, oversteeped the second infusion, so it’s kind of astringent. Gone are the sweet honey notes, but the grassiness remains. Even oversteeped, it’s not terrible… but I’d certainly be hesitant to brew this one for 5 minutes in the first place, as recommended!
Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec
7 comments
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TeaLady441
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Glad to hear it!

Plunkybug
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I wish I had gotten the chance to try some of this when it was in, but it sold out sooo fast.

MooKiwi
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When I tried this one I think I probably oversteeped it cause it tasted like someone dropped a cigarette in my cup! I think I will give this one another try now after your description of it which sounds rather pleasant!

TeaLady441
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MooKiwi – I definitely oversteeped mine the first time – it was awful and I thought I’d wasted my money on limited time only tea, but it IS tasty if you make it milder.

MooKiwi
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Thanks Cavocorax- I got it in a to-go cup and forgot to take out the bag (oops!) usually I just leave it in and the tea is fine. This is the first one it has seemed to affect-probably because of the smokey undertones in the sweet flavour. At first it was really sweet and I did taste the honey undertones but it became so bitter and smokey I couldn’t finish it. Does anyone know how long this is out for? As you mentioned, it is limited time only and I would love to give it another go before it’s gone!

Kittenna
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AFAIK it sold out very quickly and is now gone, but I think DT is planning to keep releasing these limited edition new teas every so often, so perhaps something similar will eventually come back?

Plunkybug
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Yes, they mentioned that they were going to do “garden to store” direct kinda thing more, but thus far, I have not seen anything.

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Comments

TeaLady441
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Glad to hear it!

Plunkybug
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I wish I had gotten the chance to try some of this when it was in, but it sold out sooo fast.

MooKiwi
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When I tried this one I think I probably oversteeped it cause it tasted like someone dropped a cigarette in my cup! I think I will give this one another try now after your description of it which sounds rather pleasant!

TeaLady441
Delete

MooKiwi – I definitely oversteeped mine the first time – it was awful and I thought I’d wasted my money on limited time only tea, but it IS tasty if you make it milder.

MooKiwi
Delete

Thanks Cavocorax- I got it in a to-go cup and forgot to take out the bag (oops!) usually I just leave it in and the tea is fine. This is the first one it has seemed to affect-probably because of the smokey undertones in the sweet flavour. At first it was really sweet and I did taste the honey undertones but it became so bitter and smokey I couldn’t finish it. Does anyone know how long this is out for? As you mentioned, it is limited time only and I would love to give it another go before it’s gone!

Kittenna
Delete

AFAIK it sold out very quickly and is now gone, but I think DT is planning to keep releasing these limited edition new teas every so often, so perhaps something similar will eventually come back?

Plunkybug
Delete

Yes, they mentioned that they were going to do “garden to store” direct kinda thing more, but thus far, I have not seen anything.

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Bio

I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

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