Autumn Harvest! This is one of Tealyra’s (many) discontinued teas, and since they were discontinuing it at the time I was making an order with them and it was highly discounted at the time, I decided to order some. I like dates and had never seen them in tea before. I’ve been trying to horde it since I know I can’t get it anymore, but since it has coconut chips in the ingredients, I figure that is probably a bad idea and I should just drink it already! Dates are actually a harvest food (albeit rarely thought of as such and certainly not very traditional) so now seems as good a time as any.
This is one of those chunky, heavy blends, so it will go fast. It has big ol’ dried chunks of dates, sour cherries, dried sliced apples (seriously, they aren’t even cut into little chunks, but full dried up slices!), coconut chips, and then some spices like chunks of cinnamon rods, cinnamon bits, and cardamom. It’s supposed to mimick a date shake, and I have only ever had a date shake once, and my memories of that now are a bit fuzzy: I was fourteen, and my family had gone on our first ever trip to Disneyland. One of the days was a bus trip down to San Diego to the zoo, and the bus stopped at some truck stop between Anaheim and San Diego that claimed they had “famous Date Shakes” (I didn’t even know what a date was!) so I asked if I could have one. I remember I loved it, that it was really sweet and creamy. I’m fairly sure I’d have to make this latte-style to try to recreate that flavor, but I’m just making a plain pot of this tonight.
It’s a light golden apple color, and smells of sweet dates and cinnamon in the aroma. The flavor is quite nice; it’s very naturally sweet, with the sweet dates and a sugary-cinnamon taste coming forward on the sip, but toward the end of the sip is a more tangy fruity note that tastes like those frosted cherry heart-shaped suckers around Valentine’s Day.
Another unique flavor and I’m happy to be exploring some surprising variety in blends recently. I’m a bit sad this one isn’t still around, though. I actually have a feeling, knowing now that Tealyra sources many of their teas from Dethlefsen & Balk and seeing “Source: Germany” on my package that this was probably a D&B blend, and that they discontinued the blend, so it isn’t like any other companies are going to have it, either, since it is gone from the source. Bah! I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other date teas, and now I really wish I did!
Flavors: Candy, Cherry, Cinnamon, Dates, Sweet, Tangy
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Totally different sort of blend, but on my list of teas I want try is Dammann Fères’ “Thé de la Palmeraie,” green tea with date, rhubarb, strawberry, raspberry, rose and orange blossom. Too bad about Date Shake, it sounds so good!
Reminds me of an amazing road trip I took last summer from Phoenix to San Francisco. Among so many other intriguing sites, I was not expecting to pass date palm plantations in the desert of southern California. I didn’t see any signs for Date Shakes, though.
I wish I could remember what that truck stop was! Maybe next time I’m in SoCal I’ll have to hunt down some place making Date Shakes…
That tea sounds really good, lizwykys! I think the main reason why I haven’t tried any French teas yet is how hard they are to get here in America (those overseas shipping prices, oof). That and I remember at least one I looked into (I think it was Mariage Freres) only sold teas in 100g sizes, which is a major turn-off for me. I usually won’t ever buy from a company unless I can get sizing at 50g or smaller, since I’m more of a sampler tea drinker and 100g is just way too much of a single tea for me.
Yes, you’re right about that; they do sell 100g as the smallest size, unfortunately! :(
Date shakes are popular in the Palm Springs area. I found a vegan one there once at a natural foods store.
Totally different sort of blend, but on my list of teas I want try is Dammann Fères’ “Thé de la Palmeraie,” green tea with date, rhubarb, strawberry, raspberry, rose and orange blossom. Too bad about Date Shake, it sounds so good!
Reminds me of an amazing road trip I took last summer from Phoenix to San Francisco. Among so many other intriguing sites, I was not expecting to pass date palm plantations in the desert of southern California. I didn’t see any signs for Date Shakes, though.
I wish I could remember what that truck stop was! Maybe next time I’m in SoCal I’ll have to hunt down some place making Date Shakes…
That tea sounds really good, lizwykys! I think the main reason why I haven’t tried any French teas yet is how hard they are to get here in America (those overseas shipping prices, oof). That and I remember at least one I looked into (I think it was Mariage Freres) only sold teas in 100g sizes, which is a major turn-off for me. I usually won’t ever buy from a company unless I can get sizing at 50g or smaller, since I’m more of a sampler tea drinker and 100g is just way too much of a single tea for me.
Yes, you’re right about that; they do sell 100g as the smallest size, unfortunately! :(
Date shakes are popular in the Palm Springs area. I found a vegan one there once at a natural foods store.