Last new Halloween tea!!
This one is also really neat – and fun fact it was one of the first unreleased teas that caught my eye when I started at the SSC. In anticipation of it being released for Halloween, I actually ended up exploring several different styles of this tisane – which is traditionally called Jiaogulan or Five Leaf Gynostemma – from other companies ; including My Cup of Tea, based here in Montreal, and Yunnan Sourcing.
It’s so strange, and I really liked learning more of the history behind this super traditional style of Chinese herb/tisane. I had never seen it before starting at the head office! So now that it’s officially launched, I feel like I’ve already gone through a whole journey of discovery and exploration – I hope I get to watch other people try this one out and go through the same discovery! Plus, what a fun name! This totally looks like some sort of weird tumbleweed-y type potion ingredient, and Eye of Newt takes what might actually be an intimidating traditional tisane and puts a fun and very DT spin on it!
So, here are some of the notes that I’ve taken on this tea, and held onto, from the last few months of my exploration of it…
Large Glass Teapot: Really light/mild. Sort of a sweet (cane sugar) grassy vibe?
Nordic Mug: Stronger/thicker with a more pronounced grassy/lawn clipping note and under ripe green melon. A bit bitter; one ball is probably too much for a Nordic…
Gong Fu: Actually brews very nice when prepped that way; sweet, herbal, kinda has a fennel bulb note? Smooth!
I will definitely be picking up some of these to have on hand! I hope other people find them as weird and interesting as I did and give them a try – it’s a cool way of exploring something traditional and also incorporating a herbal tea into your tea assortment that feels a little more “tea like” than, say, something like Caribbean Crush. I do find these sort of comparable(ish) to green tea, so if you’re a green tea fan this could be a nice caffeine free evening alternative? Or if you just don’t always want to go for that more rich/dense and sweet profile with your evening teas…
Also there’s some traditional wellness/functional aspects of this herb – but that’s never really the focal point for me personally. Still, I know that appeals to some people so worth pointing 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.
This is the one tea that looked interesting in the DT Halloween collection and I love the name! The prints on the Halloween tins are super cute too. I wish they had done a travel mug with those designs!