Confession time…
Halloween teas might just be my favourite to work on creating.
Now, maybe that’s because Halloween has been my favourite holiday for as long as I can remember. However, I think that’s only a fraction of the reason. I think it’s because they’re ultimately flavour forward blends where a huge part of the goal at the end is just to create an experience that’s just as much fun as it is delicious.
So, with that in mind, I’ve wanted to work on a Candy Corn blend for as long as I’ve been in research and development. Look, I don’t even personally like candy corn. I’m firmly in that camp of people who think they’re too sweet and just taste like fondant. However, that hasn’t stopped me from buying every single candy corn blend I’ve ever come across as a tea drinker. Why? Because they’re flippin’ fun. Candy corn is like the ULTIMATE expression of Halloween candy. It’s as iconic as you can get. And, maybe perhaps selfishly, I wanted to put my own stamp on that.
Now, as I just said, candy corn is very sweet. Too sweet. Ultimately, that’s why I decided to make this blend a chai. If it was only candy corn it would have captured that goal of making a fun Halloween tea but I needed it to actually have some other flavours going on too. Both to balance out that sweetness and because, as I said, I wanted my own stamp on candy corn teas.
So yes, this blend is sweet but it’s also spicy! Cinnamon, ginger, and clove to be exact. In that order. The cinnamon works well with the creamy sweetness of the candy corn in the blend (because, yes, we did put real candy corn in this tea). It’s sort of like a cinnamon bun type of vibe because of that frosting/fondant note except there’s no flavours of the pastry itself. The ginger and clove add a little more depth, and the ginger in particular with its subtle earthiness and heat does do a lot to help balance out the sweetness. It makes a mean latte too. But again, just to reiterate, it is still a sweet tea. I mean, it’s candy corn. You can’t buy a candy corn tea and not expect sweetness.
This is a store exclusive blend because, well, Candy Corn is a polarizing flavour. I know it sucks because most people aren’t near a store – but it’s just impossible to make everyone happy and stores are just the best way right now for us to test out teas. However, if it does well in stores or enough people express interest in having it online, I hope that we’ll get to release it on web too next Halloween!
EDIT: Totally forgot that this is in the “Six Steeps Under” sampler too, so there is technically a way to try it even if you’re not near a store!
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.
