Strawberry Fondue

this is the best tea i have ever had in my entire life i would go as far to say this is e best beverage i have ever had i don’t think anything will ever a mint to the feeling i got when i tried this for the first time that first sip is something unforgettable i cannot stop thinking about this tea

So… T Kettle…

This is a new company, that’s basically stepping in and taking over a lot of the retail locations that DAVIDsTEA closed over the summer. Completely separate company; not in any way affiliated with DAVIDsTEA other than the fact they’re opening in old DT locations, and will be sharing the same market. There’s so much that I could say here because if you compare the tea blends on the T Kettle website against DAVIDsTEA’s blends it’ll become incredibly obvious that there was a very deliberate intention of recreating most of DT’s blend as closely as possible. I obviously have some strong opinions about that. I want to make it clear that I know that no company can exactly stake a claim to a “lemon black tea” or a “masala chai” as their creation – but in many cases it was taken a step further here by recreating many of the blends down to the ingredients list and order of the ingredients, name inspirations, and visuals of the teas. Obviously I have a bias. Obviously. But…

I drink tea from dozens of different companies and have for years – long since being a DT employee. I pride myself on my ability to drink a tea and look at it objectively as a consumer without bias. And I want T Kettle to do well – for a few reasons. To start, because I truly believe that the market space for tea is massive and inclusive and has more than enough room for several large tea companys/chains. Secondly, I think a spirit of competitiveness will drive innovation – not just for DT or T Kettle either. The more comparable teas are available on the market, the more a need for new and unique/interesting teas will increase and that makes me excited both as a customer and an employee. Lastly, more tea companies means more tea education and consumer awareness! All awesome things!

But yeah – I have so many thoughts and opinions here that I’m working through right now. So with that said – let the tasting note begin!

Strawberry Fondue is basically a mirror of Chocolate Covered Strawberry from DT – which is that pretty classic chocolate and strawberry profile but on a mate base. I’m a fan of the blend from DT and it turns out I’m a fan of this one too!

I find them actually quite different despite having really similar directions. The DT blend uses a roasted mate and has richer chocolate notes and a more saturated flavour overall. Sometimes an intense flavour is a really nice thing, but in the case of Chocolate Covered Strawberry it does sometimes mean that it can be too cloying depending on my mood. With Strawberry Fondue, the greener mate and milder chocolate notes lean to more of a light to medium bodied profile with more focus on a fresh strawberry note with hints of hibiscus. I believe that at times I would find this thin, but because of the softer flavours I think I would likely be able to turn to this more often. It also steeps a gorgeous soft red colour.

So far, it is my favourite T Kettle blend I’ve tried.

(I’m choosing, at least for now, to not give a numeric rating – I’m trying very hard here to be unbiased, but being very honest with myself I know this is a company that I would have a harder time being unbiased with than any others.)