DAVIDsTEA

I wasn’t sure if I would actually like this because I love ginger, but really hated the apple ginger matcha I tried a while back.

I found my cold latte (250 mL cold soy milk and 50 mL hot water with 2 tsp of matcha…don’t judge me) to be a bit grey-blue. I think non-dairy milks might not be the correct pH for this to turn beep blue. It looked a bit chalky, but I also used a lot of matcha because I’m soooo tired this morning. I could fall asleep right now. I’m not sure how much caffeine is in this one because matcha is further down the ingredient list, but I should have gotten at least an espresso shot worth.

This is very fruity (acai and berries) with some acidicty. The ginger comes in the aftertaste for me.

TTB! The chocolate here tastes quite alcoholic despite all the actual chocolate that was in there. Combined with the flavor of the orange, it was just too tangy for my preferences. It was okay with milk and sugar, but not something I’d want to drink again.

This is the other new matcha flavour that came out while I was away in Europe!

Like Key Lime, this one took a lot of adjustment to get just right. It was important to me to have both a distinct frosting note but also that warm, cozy sort of cinnamon flavour. We tried a bunch of versions, some of which used cinnamon flavouring. They were nice, but I just felt they lacked a sort of authenticity? Eventually we switched to powdered cinnamon, which was the game changer I was looking for. Perfectly warm and cozy, and really tasty with the creamy vanilla notes.

Getting the level of cinnamon powder right was its own challenge – enough to impart the taste but not make the mouthfeel drying. And we didn’t want to colour of the matcha to be too brown, either. I really love this type of trial though, and it’s so satisfying when you finally find the right balance!

Though I do enjoy this matcha plain, I think it really sings when you make it as a latte. Hot or iced it’s delicious, though this time of year I’m definitely leaning more towards iced. I especially think fans of some of our more autumnally coded matcha flavours (Pumpkin Pie, Chai, Gingerbread, etc) will really resonate with this one, and I think it’s especially nice to have this flavour around this time of year given how much we typically tend to stack the Spring/Summer matcha releases with fruitier flavours and the Fall/Holiday releases with more decadent and cozy. More variety, in my opinion, is never a bad thing!

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.

While I was away in Europe, we launched two brand new matcha flavours for the Summer! This is my personal favourite of the two, although I have to admit I am an EXTREMELY big fan of both and it has been very, very hard waiting for them to launch…

I’ve wanted to do a key lime pie inspired matcha for a really long time, and it took quite a while to get this one right. In fact, originally I’d been working on it with the hope it would launch with all the citrus teas last year, like Lemon Meringue. The tricker was that I wanted that bright, sweet taste of lime curd like in the pie filling but I also wasn’t willing to budge on this being a matcha that would be safe to make as a latte. So, no added acidity for that extra brightness!

I’m really happy with the final blend though! It’s fresh and fruity with that sweet lime note but also really rich and creamy tasting too, and I’m especially happy to report that it makes the most AMAZING matcha latte. Hot or iced, though I mostly drink it iced. For the last few weeks I’ve had a 500g bag of it by my desk that I’ve just been dipping into as my go-to 3PM matcha latte to push through the last little bit of the day. It’s the perfect little indulgent and energizing treat!

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.

TTB 2025. When I opened the pouch, I was hit with a smell that smelled convincingly like rootbeer. The brewed tea tasted like a mixture of rootbeer and buttered popcorn jelly beans, and something sweet but offputting I couldn’t put my finger on. I could have seen possibly liking this tea, if it wasn’t for that offputting sweet note.

TTB 2025. Now this is a solid rooibos chai for me. The earthy turmeric and kicky ginger are well balanced. The clove isn’t hiding but also isn’t overly aggressive.

This is the last of this past week’s new Spring releases and, honestly, the name sums it up quite well. It’s a coconut tea on a white tea base. Well, actually a blended base of white and green tea. A very simple, pure take on coconut – something we get requests for a lot.

I think what I like most about this tea is its flexibility. It’s not really sweet, nor is is particularly a coconut cream flavour. Instead it’s refreshing, lightly buttery and sort of more light to medium bodied. It makes for a really smooth and still flavourful brew when you have it hot and plain, but with room to add sweetener or milk/alt milk to amp up the richness if that’s what you’re looking for. As a latte, it can be quite indulgent but if you make it iced (or as a tea pop) it’s more on the refreshing side and almost more comparable to a coconut water. So, something you can for sure play around with the suit your mood.

Plus, I just HAVE to call out the coconut shreds in the blend. In my opinion, they are visually the most beautiful coconut pieces we’ve ever used in a tea. Thick shreds with a bit of the husk on the end. They just look amazing, and as they steep that coconut fat adds a subtle sort of silkiness to the mouthfeel of the blend that I like a lot.

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.

Probably my personal least favourite of the new teas, but really just because I’m not as into chai/spiced teas typically. I think this is a well balanced blend though, and surprisingly not actually all that sweet even though it has both real maple and brown sugar in it. Actually, of all the maple teas we have currently (Manoomin Maple, Simply Maple Breakfast, Maple Matcha) this is the least sweet tasting. Instead it’s more aromatic with a bit of heat primarily from the cinnamon and ginger with undertones of clove and then the maple coming through in the finish.

I would say the spice composition is pretty similar to DT’s older Maple Chai which was a black tea, however there’s a little more ginger in this one and no cardamom. I think the maple is slightly stronger too – and it’s naturally flavoured instead of artificially. In my opinion, this tea definitely shines best with an addition of milk or as a latte, which just rounds out that melange of spices really nicely and brings out a little more sweetness to the cup. It’s so cozy regardless, though!

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.

Another new tea!

Moroccan Mint is one of the most common in store tea requests we get and, though we have North African Mint in our assortment (which is our more twisted take on Moroccan Mint), it doesn’t seem to always meet the ask for a more simple, “pure tasting” mint…

We’ve actually carried a traditional Moroccan Mint before too with the gunpowder green tea base, but having North African Mint and Moroccan Mint both in the green tea category feels a little too close for comfort in some ways. So, this tea was developed to meet the spirit of the request for a simpler, more straight forward caffeinated mint blend which being juuuuussst different enough. Walking a fine line, for sure.

The oolong tea that was used is a ball-rolled style, and we actually tried to find one that was not only a visual nod to gunpowder green but that had a few overlapping tasting notes too. So, it’s on the lighter oxidation side but still with some more grassy, mineral and ever so slightly smoky tasting notes. I think it pairs really well with the nana-mint (aka “Turkish Mint”) which is quite naturally sweet and refreshing, with a similar taste to spearmint. If you were blind tasting this tea you might even mistake it for a traditional Moroccan Mint and not an oolong. Definitely a nice way to keep it classic, but also maybe introduce some people to oolong who aren’t familiar with it!?

And I like that the oolong kind of leans in to both the more communal aspect of Moroccan Mint and the functional/digestive aspects of the nana mint. Moroccan Mint is historically served to guests as a sign of hospitality, and oolong just makes such a good big teapot kind of tea that can be resteeped multiple times as the conversation continues. Oolong, of course, also has some traditional use as a digestive (as does mint), so it works on another layer of being a refreshing and feel-good tea after a heavy meal with guests too! And, don’t sleep on this blend iced/cold brewed either. That’s also really smooth, refreshing and delish.

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.

Quite a few new teas just launched for the Spring, along with several returning blends such as Blackberry Jasmine Blast, Coco Mango Chai, and English Toffee…

Of the brand new tea blends, this is my personal favourite. It’s an incredibly simple blend with a really robust, full-bodied “breakfast style” black tea base and a pop of fresh, juicy red apple. I was really inspired by the idea of “global breakfast blends” when developing this tea: particularly concepts like a New York, Tokyo, or London Breakfast that would me majority black tea with a subtle flavour inclusion that nods to the city of inspiration. I’ve had many New York Breakfast blends and it always baffles me that they’re never apple flavoured as a riff on “The Big Apple.” So, now an apple flavoured New York breakfast tea exists!

I’ve said many times before that, personally, the blends I tend to favor are ones that are incredibly flexible with their preparation – and I think that’s why I love this one so very much. It’s great hot and plain with its bold and malty black tea profile mixed with that sweet, crisp red apple note. However, a splash of milk and some sugar isn’t so bad either, like how you might take a typical breakfast. It’s also really refreshing iced or cold brewed! I actually had a cold brew of it today, and I find the apple comes off a little sweeter and more forward in taste, with the brisk black tea rounding out the end of the sip. Finally, it’s a really lively and refreshing tea pop too! Just a tea that’s super fun to play around with.

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.

Random old sample from davidstea, chosen last night because I wanted something simple and caffeine-free. It was fine, tasted the way you’d expect from a rooibos vanilla blend. I just mixed the second steeping of this with the second steeping of the earl grey I just tried, and that was actually a pretty good move.

I love this tea and I have kept it in stock for years. It’s a very forgiving tea with oversteeping or adding creamer. It’s warm and comforting with the blend of spices. I’ve been trying to get through my bag of it recently and am coming close to a sip down. I’ll likely reorder it in the future, but for now I’m ready for a break and more room in my cupboard.

2025 TTB #17

I liked this more than I was expecting to! The matcha gave it a rather unpleasant murky look in the cup and the stevia on the ingredients list scared me. But the actual flavor was quite ice cream like without being cloyingly sweet. I think it was the nuttiness of the almonds that saved it for me.

2025 TTB #14

Stevia, ugh! I really need to learn to check the ingredients on David’s Tea blends before trying them, because so many of them are ruined for me by that nasty stevia aftertaste. This one did seem to have a pretty enjoyable chocolate orange flavor, but the artificially sweet aftertaste just messed everything up.

The best way to taste the flavors for this one is cold without milk. Then I can taste some caramel and some fruitiness, though both elements could definitely be bolder. The rooibos base is nice and smooth. This one is good, but not great.

Had this hot as my first tea of the morning and it worked to wake me up! I find the chocolate and raspberry flavour in this a little artificial? Not necessarily in a bad way. It reminds me of those boozy chocolates where there is a relatively hard chocolate shell on the outside and some sort of liqueur-flavoured syrup on the inside, you know? Like that, but the syrup inside is raspberry flavoured. It was fine, but not the sort of thing I’d crave super often.

2025 TTB #9

Butiki had a Caramel Apple Oolong that I ADORED back in the day and every candy/caramel apple tea I ever try gets measured up against that one and found wanting. But I have to say, this one was an exceptionally odd take on the concept. Who puts cinnamon on a caramel apple? The flavor doesn’t even read apple pie, because the cinnamon is so assertive…more like a cup full of melted red hot candies (maybe that’s where the candy comes in?) with an apple slice or two hanging out in the background someplace. Not for me!

I needed to add more powder than usual in order to get a strong enough flavor. Even then, in many sips this didn’t taste like much. In one or two sips, this tasted like marzipan, which was nice and desserty. The second time I had it, I tasted more nuttiness, which was fun. The marzipan flavor was definitely there too. The last time I had it, I tasted a bit of grassiness and another indistinct flavor that I didn’t love. This hasn’t turned out to be one I want more of.

2025 TTB #2

I’ve tried a number of root beer blends in the past, so I was curious to see what was “radical” about this one. Turns out it’s a healthier take with puerh, dandelion root, and chicory. While I’m sure my gut is appreciating all the good-for-me ingredients, I have to say that the flavor was more earthy and less soda-like than I would prefer. The licorice root is also STRONG in this one, leaving a lingering sweet anise flavor on my tongue. It’s possible I’d enjoy this more cold or with a shorter steep time? But I think I’ll pop it back in the box for someone else to sample.

New tea time!

It might seem a little weird to be releasing a mango blend during what still feels like the heart of winter, but I think there’s something to leaning into the bright liveliness of a tropical blend like this around this time of year. It’s liquid escapism, in a way! And something to tease warmer weather which isn’t realistically that far off.

This is an interesting tea (at least to me) because it started off as something else and during the development process kind of morphed into what it is now. The original idea was something much more yogurt-like in taste that was a lot more inspired by Mango Lassi drinks. I suppose we didn’t get too far away from those two flavours in the end. This is still a creamy, smooth blend with a pleasant yogurt note and it’s obviously also still mango. Just, more mango that it was initially. As for the yogurt, if you’re a fan of blends like Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait or Frozen Raspberry then you’ll know exactly the type of yogurt flavour in this blend. It’s most apparent in the finish, and it just contributes a nice richness to an otherwise bright and tropical profile.

I’d say what we ended up with is in the direction of a mango smoothie! Fruit forward but with a thickness and richness as if you’d blended in yogurt… and coconut! The coconut isn’t the strongest flavour here, but it is present and it adds to the tropical getaway sort of vibes. I suppose you could also probably equate the profile to a “Mango Colada” and that wouldn’t be so far off either. Oh! We also used green rooibos in this blend instead of red! I thought that the more mellow, delicate and naturally fruity notes of the green rooibos would really compliment and highlight the mango. I really wanted, in particular, to capture the taste of Ataulfo mangoes which are both more naturally sweet and creamy tasting. They’re my favourite in the summer – I go through them like no one’s business. On their own, but also in things like smoothie bowls, salsa, or shakes. So, it was the perfect mango flavour to lean into here!

This is definitely a limited edition blend, as it won’t be too long until Mango Fruit Punch rolls into town for the summer. For those curious, the key difference between the two is that this is creamier while Mango Fruit Punch has more of a citrus note to it. But here’s a secret for y’all on Steepster… I like this one much more than Mango Fruit Punch.

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.

A strange vegetal flavor, no vanilla. I threw it out.