DAVIDsTEA

Sipdown! I fully ordered the whole sampler last year just to get this blend and another store exclusive blend. I thought I had previously written a tasting note about this but apparently not. It’s been long enough that I forgot what it was actually supposed to taste like. For some reason, I decided that the red and white sprinkles meant that I should expect the tea to be minty. It is not! I totally made that up! The dry leaf doesn’t smell minty, the brewed tea doesn’t smell or taste minty, it’s not designed to be minty, I fully made it up because of the sprinkle color and then wondered why it didn’t taste like the flavor profile I wrongly imagined for it! Here’s what it actually tastes like: creamy chocolate, a hint of vanilla, on a mildly roasty hojicha base. Which is really tasty! I wish they would sell it online individually.

When I took my first sip of this one, I had to interrupt my conversation with my coworker just to mention how good this tea is. The world had to know! I drank it cold, and it tastes like honeydew candy! It’s so smooth and delicious. I only have a small bag, but I need more. There’s way more fruit than tea in the leaf, which is a fine ratio for me. The resteep is floral, but otherwise similar. So good.

Yet another from Cameron B!  Thanks so much!  I had always been intrigued by this one, so I am glad I am able to try it.  I have had it QUITE a few times now and haven’t written a note yet.  I mean, if it says anything, this is the tea I have been drinking more often than any other tea, so I think I’m REALLY trying to figure this tea out.  On all of my steepings, I think two teaspoons for a mug really works the best, as less than two teaspoons, it’s just too light in flavor for me. Despite the fierce looking leaves, so tangled together they cling to the teaspoon, it’s another lighter black tea.  It’s in the name: honey.   Sweet, but also slightly squashy, and a bit starchy.  On the first steep, it looks like the leaves are different colors in the basket, which I don’t normally see.  However, this one is slightly more nuanced than other teas that I have had similar to it lately, but is also still a bit of a flavor puzzle, which is why I keep steeping it up but not writing a note.  It’s tasty, but a mystery!  Reading Cameron’s note… I REALLY wish I had gotten more of Cameron’s flavor notes out of this one!
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 1-2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Trying to get back into writing tasting notes because otherwise it’s impossible to remember what I already tried and how I felt about it.

I like the idea of this tea, but I’m finding this cup rather odd. The chocolate is hiding while the bergamot/stevia combo is more forward and leaves an aftertaste I’m not enjoying. I believe I have another sampler hiding somewhere, so I’ll be giving it another go, but it’s a no for now.

Adventageddon Day 1

It’s the most wonderful time of the year here on Steepster… Advent season! I absolutely adore reading through everyone’s daily advent posts. This year 100% snuck up on me and I was not fully ready emotionally to launch into full Adventageddon mode, but I am leaning in and doing my best with it.

Every year I try to get a mix of different styles of advents: loose and sachets, straight/pure teas and flavoured or blended ones, familiar companies and new ones to be explored, small and large businesses. So, with that in mind, this year, I’m excited to be doing advents from DAVIDsTEA (24 DOT and 12 DOM), Tea Thoughts, Dammann Freres, and Inoki Bathhouse – which is my “new to me” company!

Since every other day of the Tea Thoughts advent is a sticker and my matcha advent from DAVIDsTEA is only 12 days, I’ll be alternating having the matcha every other day – so four advent teas each day! I had ordered another 12 day advent to balance it out, but, to absolutely no fault of the vendor, it didn’t make it here in time because of the Canada post strike. Based on the strike estimates, I probably won’t receive it until January. No worries, though; I will still enjoy the teas outside of Adventageddon when they do arrive!

Since today was a sticker day for Tea Thoughts that meant starting my matcha advent, and the first day was the appropriately holiday themed Gingerbread Matcha! This isn’t a personal favourite of mine, but it did really fill me with a level of excitement for winter, Christmas, and the rest of the upcoming advents that I hadn’t expected it to. Plus, I got several homemade gingerbread man cookies in my local grocery delivery box this weekend so that was perfectly timed out too! I whisked up a little teacup with have the days packet and then enjoyed dunking the cookies into the cup which was actually incredibly delicious. Just super concentrated, cozy and sweet gingerbread deliciousness with the perfect balance of spice and molasses notes.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDDUEFtyMDA/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NnPcQj-Y74&ab_channel=LevUFO-Topic

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.

Like Candy Cane Matcha… Gingerbread Matcha is back for the winter, and now newly organic!

This is super similar to the non-organic gingerbread matcha with that darker and more molasses-y spice note. I’ve always found it to be almost more clove heavy, and that holds true now. I will say, if anything, it’s maybe a smidge less sweet? Without having the two side by side I think it’s a darn good match. As super delicious as a latte, of course.

I’m excited to have it back, but to be totally honest my current obsession is definitely Candy Cane. Still plenty of time for me to flip back and forth between the two, 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.

Adventageddon Day 23

Matcha Latte!

It’s Christmas Eve Eve! The morning started off festive and minty with a set of peppermint blends from DT, including the LAST matcha in this year’s 12 Days of Matcha countdown calendar. Very fitting that Candy Cane was the flavour to close us out for the year. I mentioned this back in, like, I think November but I’ve been drinking A LOT of Candy Cane Matcha this year – it’s really resonated quite strongly with me this year.

Today I made it as an iced eggnog latte. Possibly my last eggnog latte of the season as this finished off the carton in my fridge and last time I went grocery shopping the store was totally sold out of eggnog already. It was a rich, creamy and slightly cooling drink though and a great note to go out on if it does end up being my last eggnog latte. I also FINALLY got a really cute photo of it and it only took me the ENTIRE 12 day countdown to get…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD79dBPyeuo/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rUMtuVa9NI&ab_channel=AnnaJusten

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.

Candy Cane Matcha is back for the year… but organic!

Generally speaking the organic reformulations of DT’s different matchas are pretty identical, but this one actually is just a smidge more different. To start, it’s vegan now! The previous version had milk powder in it which helped with creaminess, but that was a struggle for us to do in the same way as an organic blend so to still get that rich creamy flavour we dropped the milk powder and added in a white chocolate flavouring.

Honestly, I love the new organic version. More than the non-organic. In fact I have been on a serious Candy Cane Matcha kick the last week or so. Seriously. I think I’ve had a bowl of it in the morning or at work pretty much every day for the last week, usually as an iced latte. I almost never repeat the teas I’m drinking in the same week; sometimes not even in the same month or months. Plural! But I’m finding this year’s release, especially creamy and cooling, and it’s I guess tickling this deep, dark subconscious part of my brain that is ready for the holidays…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBg4P59JRQt/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Uj6QahC-8

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.

Sip Down

This is one of the better apple teas out there. It reminds me of those caramel apple lollipops that are perfect, but will stick to your teeth, forcing one to feel as if they have lockjaw, but are worth the struggle. sigh Anyway, I enjoyed this one!

Sip Down

Opening the bag, I immediately thought of Captain Crunch’s Crunch Berry cereal! Thankfully, there isn’t the same type of waxy coating on the roof of one’s mouth, as with the cereal. I marked a few food items that this tea reminded me of, aside from the strawberry jelly donut, which include, Fruity Pebbles, Crunch Berry cereal, strawberry milk, strawberry milkshake, and strawberry ice cream. It’s safe to say this is a far better option over the actual jelly donut.

Sip Down & Backlog

This reminded me of Girl Scout’s Thin Mint Cookies, with an odd aftertaste. Not such terrible flavor but may have been due to the age of the tea. Considering it sat unopened in my storage for such a long while, and quickly sipped down after discovered, I’d say it was a solid cup!

Sip Down and Backlog

Despite having sat in the bag for two-ish years, the candy cane notes were still there. The snowflake pieces added more texture to the cup, but the black tea base seemed muted, which isn’t an issue considering the final dregs worth of tea were sitting for a long time.

Sip Down and Backlog – Sept. 8

Floral, clean taste, honey flavors and light texture! It was a lovely tea.

Sip Down/Backlog

Another tea that was nearly to the bottom of the bag and a friend helped sip it down! I found an unopened bag of this about two weeks ago (August 19ish). With the weather changing and Fall slowly making its entrance, I decided it was best to make this my daily drink. I knew that this was sitting in the cupboard with enough for two iced matcha’s, so I topped it off during Labor Day!

I got this at the DavidsTEA in Toronto. It was really exciting to go into the shop after buying online for years. I taste the bergamot and some coconut as well. There’s something a little herbaceous in the aftertaste that I wouldn’t have minded being left out, but it’s really not bad. Mixed up in some milk, it’s a nice way to have a matcha feeling in the evening. I bought this in April, and the coconut is starting to go off, so I’m hurrying to finish it up now. My last cup tasted like a mix of floral flavors and old coconut.

Sipdown.

I had this a few times and like other peanut butter teas, I just couldn’t perceive the peanut butter flavour at all. It could be that after having peanut butter powder in a smoothie, I’m expecting that level of flavour. Either way, disappointing. I drank this a while ago and oddly can’t remember my thoughts on the hojicha powder, just the lack of peanut butter flavour.

Sipdown!

I prefer my matcha in latte form, and while this was ok, watermelon milk is not my top choice of flavour. Decent enough flavour, though.

Not bad for a pear tea! I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. None of the flavors are overpowering but it’s not a weak tea either. Just right for the taste

Cold Brew!

I’m still not really sure how to log/talk about this tea without giving away the flavour, but I don’t want that to stop me from enjoying it when I want to. It is damn delicious, and this cold brew was such a refreshing joy. I guess a hint, maybe? Yeah. A hint.

It’s fruity. And maybe a bit nostalgic.

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.

DAVIDsTEA’s newest tea is here, and the flavour… a total mystery!

I usually tea to do a bit of a deep dive into the background and flavour of each new teas and all the different ingredients and why they’ve been added but, well, doing that with this tea would almost defeat the point. Maybe I’ll do it eventually, but for now I think this one needs to stay a mystery to keep things fun.

I think I first had the idea for this ta in late 2021?? I was seeing this resurgance of “mystery flavoured” food and beverage products from companies like Oreo, Milk2Go, Sour Patch Kids, Fanta, and Mountain Dew (among a whole bunch of others) that made me really nostalgic for those types of campaigns in the late 90s/early 2000s. I know mystery flavoured things are definitely not for everyone, but I’ve always LOVED them. I think there’s something so fun and challenging and, ultimately, communal as well about guessing the flavours. I love a good taste test, and it’s just really fun to do it with a group of friends and see if you agree or disagree.

I’ve never seen it down with tea before – I’m almost positive we’re the first. The secret to pulling it off is the flavouring in the blend. Instead of listing out all the flavourings like we usually do (ex. blueberry flavouring, chocolate flavouring, etc) we’ve grouped the two flavours of this tea under “natural flavouring” so it’s a secret. The rest of the blend is really simple – full bodied black tea, some apple for natural sweetness and as a flavour carrier, and then the purple sweet potato as a fun visual cue and nod to the cryptic colours often associated with this food/bev trend. I really, really wanted the visual of the loose leaf tea to be colourful but simple – nothing that would give away the flavour of the tea.

And, without giving away the flavour, I will say that I think this tea is REALLY good steeped a whole bunch of different ways. I’ve personally been mostly drinking it hot or cold brewed, but it’s nice iced too and as a latte (hot or iced). It’s kind of fun experimenting with the steeping and seeing the different ways that effects the flavour. Some of the methods bring out some of the tasting notes more than others.

I will say that the only downside of working on this tea has been that, from day one, I’m the only person who hasn’t gotten to play along with the guessing element of the blend. I’ve always known what it is. I need someone to make me my own personal mystery tea at this point so that I can have my own turn!!

PS. As part of the campaign for this tea, if you live in the US or CA you can try to guess the flavours of the tea at the link below to enter to win a $1000 tea shopping spree. No purchase of the tea necessary, but obviously it’s much easier to guess the flavours if you’ve had a taste ;)

https://davids-tea.wishpond.com/mysterytea/

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.

Found a tiny bit of this one in my work bag. I honestly don’t remember trying it but it looks like the old subscription packaging (I really miss it). I really liked this blend, the fennel is really nice. It’s best with a splash of milk in my humble opinion but I also liked it plain. Wish I had more than just one cups worth… will be looking for more.

This is such a good matcha with the most perfect sweetness to give it the sugar cookie flavor

I haven’t been drinking caffeine, especially coffee (too acidic) but I wavered today and had a mug of this.
Wasn’t a huge fan. It’s really artificial tasting and too sweet with a musty undertone (coconut?) Other than that, it’s just fruity, not much of the green tea flavour is seeping through. Was left feeling unfulfilled and disappointed. Definitely not worth breaking my no caffeine rule.
Going to pass the rest of this on to my Mom who will drink any green tea, even if it’s not her favourite.

I wasn’t sure at first if i was going to like this but the coconut and pineapple seem to compliment the matcha very well