Just a few days ago we released a new mini capsule of teas that all had a bit of a boba theme. Some, like in the case of this tea, are definitely more obviously directly related to boba…
If not obvious from the tea name, this blend was very directly inspired by the flavour of Brown Sugar Boba/Bubble Tea – one of the most iconic/menu staple bubble tea flavours around. It actually took a few years to get this one quite right because, as I’m sure you can imagine, it’s sort of challenging to recreate that super iconic taste of brown sugar syrup without actually having brown sugar syrup in the tea itself. But I’m really proud of the final tea!
Lets get the obvious out of the way first. This is not a 1:1 boba tea recreation. It’s a loose leaf tea with the flavour of a brown sugar boba, so even though you can see adorable tapioca pearl sprinkles in the dry leaf (as a visual homage/nod to its inspiration) when you buy this tea on its own you wont have tapioca pearls in your beverage unless you add them in yourself. with that said, we did specifically develop this tea with the idea that the people drinking it would probably be using to “recreate” the type of drink you’d buy from a shop – whether that’s because it’s more convenient or cost effective to make your bubble tea from the comfort of home or otherwise. So, with that in mind, I would pretty strongly recommend having this tea with milk or a milk alternative (either hot or as a latte). It was really envisioned to be consumed that way and I think the flavours really shine and feel most balanced when prepped in that style. Of course, the beauty of loose leaf tea is the ability to customize and do your own thing – so if you want that sweet caramelized sugar taste and the robust black base but without milk/alt milk there’s nothing stopping you enjoying it that way too!
In terms of flavour, this is quite a rich tea. I mean, bubble teas are notoriously sweet and brown sugar bubble tea is one of the sweetest. It’s got a very dark, heavy kind of brown sugar meets butterscotch meets caramelized sugar kind of taste that works really well with the strong black tea base. On top of the black tea base being so full bodied, we also added black milk tea powder to the blend (like what would be used in a lot of boba shops as a drink base) which only ups the maltiness and emphasizes some of the tasting notes of the black tea, like a hint of raisin and cocoa. It also gives some extra velvety fullness to the mouthfeel.
I’ve made this as an iced latte a few times already this summer, and it’s just a nice rich and decadent break up from the fruity profiles that usually dominate DT’s summer assortment. I’m excited to finally share this blend with others! Feels like it was a long overdue.
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.
