This was the tea I was most intrigued by in the Cocktail Collection. It’s truly a sour apple tea, and that’s a flavour I had never experienced in tea before. As an iced tea it’s quite nice, but there’s something off about the flavour, and I think that sour apple is a flavour that should really be reserved for candy. It’s very refreshing, with a full-bodied apple flavour and a very pleasant sourness (thank you for leaving hibiscus out of this one!), but not something that I could see myself drinking very often. Definitely a cool novelty tea though!
What follows is some personal musings on DAVIDsTEA from a business standpoint, the tea review ends here if that’s all you care about!
Lately it feels as though DAVIDsTEA has really been pounding out the new releases, and while I love having new teas to try, it also feels as though the quality of their releases has gone down. I’ve heard rumours that the new CEO, Joel Silver, is planning on bringing out fewer releases (about one per month versus one almost every two weeks), and I’m looking forward to where he brings this company. I don’t think that their previous model of fast expansion and constant new releases sat well with consumers; I believe it gave off a sense of greed for a company that had historically built a very personal relationship with its customers.
I’ve seen many people complain of changing business practices and sales tactics within the company, and to that I say it is a business, and they do need to make money. In the beginning, loose tea was a very niche product, and as its popularity has grown, it’s harder to make the sales. People rarely need to buy high-priced items such as a steeper or a travel mug, and those initial sales are easily the most profitable for the company. The vast majority of people who shop at DAVIDsTEA are not tea addicted, and I’ve found that many people who are total tea addicts have moved onto different companies after initially falling in love with loose leaf tea through DAVIDsTEA. They are no longer trying to break into the market, they’re now trying to grow and expand with the market, and that requires a totally different approach. Being an exciting new novelty is one thing, but creating an enduring, prosperous business is completely different. While I am not saying that DAVIDsTEA will be going out of business any time soon, I do believe they need to change their approach as more and more people are turning away from the company.
Flavors: Apple, Apple Candy, Sour
