6119 Tasting Notes
So thanks to the notice of discontinuation (online only) regarding a ton of DavidsTeas, I went and picked up small samples of another 12(?) teas. As if I needed more to try!
Anyways, this is the first product of today’s expedition. I really only picked it up because of the name; the smell of the dry tea is kind of odd. It’s almost like lemongrass with a hint of orange peel? I probably wouldn’t have picked this one up based on the smell, but any tea with ‘caramel’ in the name warrants a taste test in my opinion :)
Steeped it also has an odd smell which I tend to associate with off-flavours/weakness, along with some orange peel. It just occurred to me that the crappy (hard) Guelph water might be contributing to strange flavours in weak teas such as whites. Hmmm. Mental note to try and remember to use filtered water next time.
Perhaps I steeped it too long; I’m tasting a somewhat (but not unpleasantly so) astringent black tea base, with general fruitiness overtop and a touch of orange. Every now and then I get a whiff of more sweetness. I’m really not getting much cinnamon or spice flavour though.
Overall, not bad, but this would fit into the category of a warming morning tea for me, and it isn’t likely to beat the deliciousness of Glitter & Gold, so glad I tried it, but that’s another one out of the way :)
Preparation
Hmm, this didn’t taste as sweet today. Smelled sweet, but the taste was off. Maybe my taste buds are being weird. Forgot half the cup at home though, and can’t remember what exactly was off since it was four hours ago.
Drinking the cold leftovers, there’s a odd metallic-ish taste under the tasty caramel corn smell. I think I noticed it the first time I tried this tea as well, but it wasn’t as obvious. Maybe I oversteeped it.
Preparation
Steeped: smells kind of like apple cider.
Taste: nutty and barely sweet, with lemongrass in the background. Not really getting cider, nor green tea. Maybe I had the water cooler than I thought.
Will update this later. Gah homework.
ETA: Ok…. It’s now so much later I can’t remember anything more to say! Guess I will rate this properly the next time I have it (and I won’t have it an hour before I give a presentation!)
Preparation
Round three of cold-steeping experimentation. Tried a couple tbsp of this in 12(?) oz. water overnight, and it was pretty tasty. All the sweetness steeped out of the fruit (I tasted it), and the tea pretty much tasted like delicious cranberry pear sweetness. However, I think I like it better warm.
Preparation
Boo, I had this yesterday as my Feb 29th free tea, and it really wasn’t very good :( For starters, I think it was way too weak, and just tasted off. I had them put some sweetener in after I had wandered around the mall a while with it, but it didn’t much help. Not going to downgrade the rating just because of this experience though… still need to pick it up again myself and try it, preferably stronger.
Cold-steeped the last tiny tiny bit of this in the fridge last night (before I go buy more). It was tasty – like a really smooth, creamy grapefruit. I found that I wanted more ‘zing’ though (there was none, it was that smooth); if I brewed it cold again in the future I might end up adding a touch of lemon juice and sweetener. I must admit I kind of preferred Bear Trap iced to this one, if only because of the delicious tartness. So my rating stands for it as a hot tea, less as an iced one :)
Preparation
Figured I’d try this one today since apparently Cherry Potion & Mango Madness are being discontinued (and Strawberry White is not?) Hmmm, rumours, rumours.
Anyways, this one smells sooooooo tart steeped. I’m a metre from my cup and my mouth is watering at the tart cherry smell. Yum. This might have potential as an iced tea (if I get to try that).
Flavour-wise it’s fruity and tart, but definitely not as much as it smells, which is kind of relieving. It’s actually a fair bit more pleasant than I was expecting. I think I brewed it a tad weak puts tea ball back in, but I kind of like it as a light fruity tea. Yum.
I admit I can’t exactly pinpoint what the fruity flavour is…. oh well. My taste bud-to-brain connections will hopefully improve eventually.
D: Do you know which ones are being discontinued?
If you follow DT on facebook they posted a list of teas which will be "discontinued on March 6 (I believe). They will all be available online permanently, but no longer in stores. It’s a pretty big list, but a lot of them seemed to be seasonal ones that hung around.
Beat me to it by a long shot, Uniquity :) I also now see that my wording was quite unclear! But yes, that’s the first official word about discontinuation I’ve ever heard. Still three teas I’d like to try that my location didn’t have in stock.
I like that they’ve finally said something, but it kinda sucks that they’ll only be available online. Since I live so close to actual DT locations, I never have any cause to order online (and pay shipping!) :D
Do you think it would be possible for you to order online and then pick it up at the shop instead of having it sent to your house? Perhaps you can save the shipping that way. The local tea shop where I lived before had a webshop as well, and they had that as an option to save shipping fee.
Did you realize that you can semi-cheat on the ordering online and get free shipping? I ordered some teas last time (to get online-only Swampwater, Mom’s Apple Pie) and they didn’t quite make my order up to $50… so I tacked on a $10 gift card. I’m not sure how much they would let you get away with this, but it’s worth a try?
Also, I kind of asked re: sending an order to the DT store so it isn’t left on my front porch (which is at a busy intersection) for 9 hours… The response was that it might get lost in the shuffle. Perhaps your best bet would be to make a joint order with someone else to reach the free shipping amount?
That’s a strange excuse, really. Isn’t it just a question of designating an area for that sort of thing where all the people working there know where that area is? Sounds more like they just didn’t want to bother with it and didn’t like saying so.
As for the gift card trick, it’s not really cheating though, because they can’t smell that you’re not planning on giving it to somebody. So how are they to know. (Is it worth it to avoid shipping though? How much does that run up in for you)
I wasn’t directly told no re:shipping to the store; perhaps if the issue was pursued one could get somewhere. Maybe something to bring up to DT on the Facebook page? Quoting, I was told ‘For future orders, we can look into delivering it to our Guelph store instead, although as they receive many shipments weekly, it is very possible that it may get lost in the shuffle.’ And there was no mention of eliminating shipping charges (although I hadn’t asked about that).
For me, shipping would only be $5, but given how much I spend there, supplementing a purchase with a gift card to get the free shipping would be worth it, since I’d quickly use up the card in the store.