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Okay, this is by far my favourite tea from today’s launch.

Yes, I am of course hella biased because I spent over a dozen revisions and close to a year working on this tea. I just really needed it to taste like what was in my head and I think I got it perfectly!

One of the things I’ve always been surprised that DT has never done (until now) in our nearly fifteen years open is create a donut inspired tea. I mean, there’s just so many amazing flavour options to riff on just looking at the classic diner options alone- and you throw in all the weird hipster bakery possibilities? Yeah, there’s a lot of meat on that bone in terms of creative angles to play on. However, in my opinion, the best donut is the humble jelly donut. Especially when it’s filled with strawberry jam.

So that’s what I did here! I think the rooibos base was essential because it added body and worked as such a great canvas for the more buttery pastry/dough like elements of the tea to really shine and come together. I know not everyone likes rooibos, but I do think the flavour is pretty neutral all things considered. It’s really just there to give the mouthfeel some depth while keeping this a caffeine free blend. So that’s the “donut” part of the Jelly Donut, kinda…

The kinda part is because I want to talk about sweetness for a moment. This is definitely a sweeter tea meant for someone looking for something on the rich and indulgent side, but I definitely don’t think it’s cloying. Of course adding sweetener or steeping it a long time exaggerates those notes, but I think it’s a very controlled sweetness overall for a decadent tea. What I like most about how this reads, though, is that it’s almost kind of light and airy and that delicate sort of top note ‘general sweetness’ really makes me think of the icing sugar dusting on your typical jelly donut. Surface level I think it’s easy to say you need to capture the “donut” and the “jelly” in order for the tea to be complete, but I don’t think that’s the case – the icing sugar is as much integral to the experience as the other elements.

So part three… jelly! In this case, we went for strawberry. Unlike that sort of icing sugar kind of note/vibe which feels like it very much rests in the top notes as this almost airy/fluffy component, the strawberry is dense and thick and rests a bit lower on the palate which gives some weight to the blend as you’re sipping it. I think it’s important, when playing with different sweet components, to make sure they don’t all hit in the same place while you’re drinking – that’s a huge part of what makes teas feel cloying and excessive. The other thing is that it was very important to me when developing this tea that it could be made as a latte. I’ve heard soooo much feedback about teas like Chocolate Covered Strawberry, the Strawberries & Cream oolong from a few years back, or even Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait being frustrating for people because the hibiscus in them causes curdling. And I get it – I am also that customer that wants to latte all my fruit teas, so I’m right there with people about wanting a decadent fruit flavoured blend I can add milk to without issue! So, with that in mind, I was determined for this to be discernibly strawberry without the use of any acidified ingredients.

And, I can not stress this enough, you should make this tea as a latte. Honestly the effort paid off ten fold. My go to has heavily been to make this as an iced latte (it’s so refreshing and dreamy) but it’s a really killer hot latte too. I almost feel like the inclusion of milk even makes it feel more donut-like too!

So yeah, Jelly Donut. Is it gonna be for everyone? No, I don’t think so. But what tea is, anyway? But for all my fellow sweet tooth flavour junkies I think this is an EPIC blend and I’m excited to finally get to share it with people.

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.