So this is a new tea! It launched back on May 5th (the same date as Watermelon Heat), but as a store exclusive blend…
As I think I mentioned with Peaches & Cream Oolong, which was also store exclusive, I had a lot of mixed feelings with store exclusives. Some of it is, for sure, bias because of course I want the teas that I worked on to have a wider reach and be tasted by more people. It’s tough to set that emotion aside, for sure.
I think this is the first tea we’ve introduced with a Guayusa base since Queen of Tarts, and that was back in (I wanna say) 2013!? Maybe 2014!? So, like, it’s been a long time since we’ve worked with this ingredient again. I was really inspired to create something bright and tropical, but also very lush and juicy as well. Since I was looking at a lot of rainforest and coastal jungle imagery when conceptualizing the blend, guayusa just seemed like such a great addition to lean into that – and of course our Mate/Guayusa section is a little bit on the sparser side so tea wall diversity with types is always something I’m mindful of. Though we did introduce a couple other seasonal mate blends this year to help fill out the category, like Horchata Chai and La Vida Coconut.
As for taste… Well, I’ve already said that I was aiming for tropical fruits! In particular, I ended up going with a bright, sweet combo of mango and guava as the featured flavours. More fresh and sweet versus the very intense and borderline jammy or “cooked down” guava that people might know from Guava Cadabra or Guava Getaway. Also no where near the same level of hibiscus. If I had to make a comparison, Gaba Guava would be closest – but if you crossed it with, like, Mango Fruit Punch. It’s very, very iceable and refreshing!
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.
