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Kittenna drank Jessie's Tea by DAVIDsTEA

6111 tasting notes

I picked this one up to compare it to some other rooibos (Alpine Punch, Rooibos de Provence, Creme Caramel Rooibos) before making a decision about what to purchase – Rooibos de Provence enchanted me with its lavender, so naturally a lavender-coconut blend might be something I like, right?

The dry tea smells quite sweet and the lavender is there, but perhaps not the most prominent smell of the bunch. Reminds me of what I thought Creme Caramel would be like (while instead it smells absolutely sickeningly sweet).

While I didn’t smell a ton of lavender from the dry tea, once steeped… that’s ALL I can smell! I’m not sure how I feel about this – this was one of my concerns with trying lavender in tea, that I wasn’t sure I wanted to drink a flavour I more commonly associate with bath products. Here’s hoping it’s just the smell, and not the taste too.

Ok, first sip… tastes like lavender. And minty – maybe that’s a bit of the lavender too? I actually am not minding this flavour in my mouth like I was worried I would. Along with the lavender, I’m definitely tasting creaminess (coconut), and a bit of a caramelly sweetness, both of which show up late-sip. Interesting combination. I’m feeling a bit of scratchiness as it goes down my throat – not sure what causes this, but I get it from many teas, particularly if they’re steeped to be on the strong side (extra leaf), or oversteeped. It’s somewhat annoying and detracts from my enjoyment of the tea, but I usually just deal with it.

Aside from the scratchiness, I’m finding this to be a nice, relaxing tea. Nothing super special, but I think it would be a good drink to accompany bedtime reading. I don’t think it will be one I keep stocked, but I’m glad to have tried it! And now I know for certain that lavender does not, in fact, taste like soap in a beverage!

ETA: Second steep is pretty good. Seems that rooibos tend to have at least two flavourful steeps in them, which is excellent.

Preparation

Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

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