I feel like I have so many thoughts about this tea! Where to start…
I guess the easiest place is to say that it was part of the fairly recent Valentine’s Day launch that happened – it’s the only new tea, though there’s a handful of returning ones like Chocolate Rocker and Read my Lips.
I know I’m absolutely biased because I came up with it, but I just love the name of this tea. I think it really captures the spirit of the blend while still giving some freedom of interpretation. It’s not exactly like “Pink Velvet Cake” is a thing the same way Red Velvet Cake is so, in that case, what should a Pink Velvet Cake taste like!? I would say probably it’s safe to assume it’ll be lighter in flavour than Red Velvet Cake and I think that’s definitely true of this tea. Maybe it means it’s white chocolate instead of regular/Dutch chocolate? That’s also sort of true though more on the chocolate inspo of this tea later in the tasting note…
Overall I would say this is an interesting mix of sweet creamy white chocolate frosting with a slight tart fruity edge to it. I get a sort of red berry and rhubarb kind of taste but it’s a little hard, I think, to exactly name the type of fruitiness if you’re not heavily focusing on it. I think that openness to interpretation does, again, work with the concept. How many people can tell you exactly what RVC tastes like? I know some people know that “authentic” RVC is cream cheese frosting on a cake that’s red due to the chemical reaction between the cocoa in the batter with acid (baking soda/buttermilk, traditionally) but I know not everyone done. Some people don’t even know there’s cocoa in the batter…
With all of that said, it might surprise people to know that this kind of unique and ethereal “Pink Velvet Cake” wasn’t how this tea started. During development what we had it mind was actually Ruby Chocolate. For a while Ruby Chocolate was very trendy and you were seeing it all over the place. Kit Kat did a really interesting Ruby Chocolate bar and Haagen Daaz also had a Ruby Chocolate coated icecream bar that I really liked too. If you’re not familiar with this gorgeous pink hued chocolate; it has a very sour berry kind of sharp taste to it. Sometimes I get just under ripe strawberries when I eat it. However, that unique sort of fruity high note is offset with the rich creaminess of the chocolate. So, that’s ultimately why this ended up being a hibiscus/white chocolate based tisane since we were aiming to go for the fruit sharp snap of Ruby Chocolate with the creamy mouthfeel and sweetness.
I personally really like how this tea came out overall, and I think it’s fun to kind of take these more ethereal and open ended profiles and play in the space. I definitely have been waiting to read and listen to some reviews because I think it will be really fun to see how others feel about this one and when their expectations and interpretation of the Pink Velvet Cake concept are!
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.
Sounds like fun!