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Another one from OMGsrsly!!!

I’ve heard nothing but good things about this one, so I originally meant to save it for last, but I am the least patient person in existence, so that didn’t happen. OMGsrsly was generous enough to give me a sample big enough for two sessions anyway (thanks!!), so I still have a bit to hoard away.

The leaves are kind of silky-fuzzy, heheeeeee. I liked the way they felt against my fingers when I was picking off a chunk to brew.

This tea really is super heavy on the honey sweetness, and I’m noticing a hint of woodiness coming out in some of the longer steeps. It feels like it should be a dessert tea…like I’d be breaking the rules if I drank this before clearing my dinner plate of all my veggies. Anyhoo, it was yummy and I’m happy to report that my sweet tooth has been Appeased.

I’m trying to not be grumpy about this tea, but I am…a little bit grumpy about this tea.

To start off though, the pros: well spiced, perfect amount of heat, nice enough base tea if you’re into that kind of thing.

The cons: this doesn’t really taste like Mexican hot chocolate to me at all? I’m trying not to hate on this tea because it doesn’t taste BAD or anything, I was just really looking forward to it, and it’s nothing like I was expecting. I can live without picking up hints of marshmallows or whatever, but I’m really not getting “chocolate” here and that was kind of the main selling point for me. Maybe the chocolate is just too subtle for me, but tbh this isn’t a tea where I’d expect or appreciate subtlety.

Another OMGsrsly sample, wheeeeee!

I wasn’t super huge on this one…it tasted kind of like a typical young sheng, but with the flavours on mute? If that makes any sense? Like, the most pronounced characteristic of this tea for me was its bitterness, which is kind of weird to say because it wasn’t actually overwhelmingly bitter, especially compared to other shengs. I just didn’t really find much of anything to balance that bitterness out or otherwise add interest…

This totally could have been user error on my part, but I’m happy with the shot I gave it (thank you again for the sample!) and this isn’t something I feel the need to buy or try again.

This was one of the oodles of samples OMGsrsly gave me (thank you!)

I was really curious about this one! I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is a SUPER friendly sheng, which makes sense when you think about who was carrying it. The leaves smell kind of peachy-fruity when wet and the first few steeps are honey sweet with no bitterness and a hint of grassiness.

Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly, this tea has virtually no endurance. I didn’t bother with a rinse (1st steep was just 15s right off the bat) and I still only got about 4 steeps out of it, and the 4th was pretty ehhh.

Still I’m happy to have tried it, and tbh I think this was a good pick on davidstea’s part as an approachable intro sheng. It’s so mild that I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get away with steeping this western style. I gave a bit to my mom and she said it was, “Not bad,” which is high praise from someone who won’t touch most of my other stuff haha.

Ahhhhh!!!!!!!! This is REALLY nice.

Super creamy coconut and banana with a really lovely, malty base. Sweet but not cloying, and just really well balanced overall. I went into this knowing it was discontinued, but if it wasn’t this would definitely be going on the wishlist.

Thanks a bunch to MissB for sharing this with me!

Smell is a mix of mint and berry, which is actually less strange than it sounds. Predominant flavour is mint, but it’s not an in-your-face mint. It’s quite mild (which I really like, mint is something I prefer in small doses) and shows up as a bit of a cooling sensation more than anything.

This is a creamy tea, and I mean that in the usual sense, but on top of that, the cooling from the mint gives an impression almost like actual cold cream despite being a hot drink. There is a floral hint to it, and some of the berry flavour comes in after the tea has cooled down a bit, but to me this is really a cream/creamy mint tea.

I don’t really get any kind of cakiness or association with birthday cake (who’s ever heard of a mint birthday cake?), but this blend does feel a bit like an upscale Santa’s Secret, and my birthday is close-ish to the holidays, so whatever, I’ll take it.

Much thanks to MissB for a whole tin of this! I’m really happy to have this as a part of my cupboard!

Tastes like rose and fennel with a bit of tartness/sourness. Apparently it also has chili and coconut? in it? I don’t taste either, but this is also a very old sample.

Okay, so. To start off, I don’t have a cold. I’m just trying to clear out a bunch of my old teas with only 1-2 cups left (or in this case, a random davidstea sample from an online order). I picked this one because it’s a herbal infusion, and I can’t do caffeine at this hour unless I want to be up all night.

So, I rip open the packet and dump the whole 5g into my strainer and the first thing that hits me is the smell of Vick’s vapo rub. This has eucalyptus oil…and peppermint…because it’s for clearing out your sinuses…when you have a cold…thus…the name…Cold 911…I’m an idiot.

After being brewed you can smell a bit of the orange and some of the super mentholated smell dies down but yeah…this tastes exactly as it sounds like it would taste, and there’s really not much reason to drink this aside from needing to clear out your sinuses when you have a cold (@myself duh!!!!!). I dumped this and to be honest, I’d probably rather huff vapo rub than try to drink this again.

Seeing this tea in store immediately reminded me of 52Tea’s Coconut French Toast w/ Cardamom Maple Syrup, and as much as I like supporting small businesses, the Canadian dollar still sucks, and I was thrilled at the idea of easy, inexpensive access to a similar tea.

I actually like the smell of this one more than 52Tea’s Coconut French Toast, I find it stronger and sweeter, but I feel like it’s missing the egg-y french toast taste that 52Teas nailed. I preferred the 52Teas base tea as well.

Overall I like it, it’s definitely one of the better teas I’ve had from David’s, and I’ll probably pick up some more to tide me over until whenever Coconut French Toast w/ Cardamom Maple Syrup gets re-blended and I can purchase more.

I picked this up because I liked the way it smelled and I liked the idea of it (I’ve had ripe puerh with chocolate-y notes before, so i figured the flavours would pair well), but it didn’t live up to my expectations. It does taste like watery packaged hot chocolate, and i probably wouldn’t mind it so much if the stevia weren’t so strong, but it is, and I can’t see myself getting this again.