Bear Trap

Another one from the DavidsTea advent calendar! I steeped it in half of a giant mug with boiling water, topped with almond milk and maple syrup to sweeten. Seriously SO good. The berry taste really comes through. It is nice and grounding. I love the night time lattes I have been making. It is sweet but the right amount of sweet. I loveeee it.

MMM the smell of this one is amazing! Berry delicious. It tastes as good as it smells!! It’s got the tartness that I love too. This is definitely a go to for something with no caffeine.

Finally I’m back at my computer and able to review teas again. I finished off this sample today as an iced tea. 500 mL water, ~2 tsp leaf, cold water, ice, 30 minute steep.

It was a bit tart, so I added some agave and more ice. This brings out a lot of raspberry and berry notes. I thought the looseleaf looked like it had a lot of lemongrass or bamboo leaf in it, but I’m seeing either in the ingredients list. I also don’t taste citrus. Just a lot of rose hip (cranberry?), apple, raspberry, and blackberry.

Sour and fruity.

Very tart. In a good way. Can easily brew twice.

Gah! On the good side, this was definitely full of flavor. But wow, it was so so tart, and with a weird bitterness underlying it. I imagine some sweetener would have mellowed it and maybe made it more berry tasting than sour, but this was so. so. sour. And the bitterness was just weird.

I realized today that I had not written any reviews for the teas I have been consuming on a daily basis since I returned to work. Whoever said teachers have an easy job has not actually taught a class of 20 students in a mixed grade before. Thankfully it is the weekend and I all I am doing is lesson planning and writing my long range plan for the school year.

While I do this, I decided to try a new tea and sip away while I worked. This did start off hot, but as time wore on it has now become cold, well warm since it has decided to finally give us summer when it should be fall.

Dried, I pick up the hibiscus flower more than the berries in the leaf. Brewed, it produces a deep red liquid with a very berry aroma. The first sip was a smack in the face that was welcoming, the black berries danced along my taste buds while leaving behind the lingering taste of elderberries and cherries. Every sip both hot and warm is pure delight and reminds me of sitting with my grandpa eating Bordeaux Cherry ice cream while my grandma set up the next round of Yahtzee.

Love this tea and brewed a cup of it tonight since it’s not caffeinated. and I was craving a fruity tea tonight. This one is lovely and reminds me of grenadine both in color and taste. It’s one of the first loose leaf teas I tried when I first started getting more into tea. I like this one better as a tea pop but just made it warm with some agave for tonight. Off to do some textbook reading and then maybe watch an episode of A Million Little Things.

Bear Trap is DAVIDsTEA’s most “berry” blend, containing everything from strawberries to black currants. It brews a very satisfying deep red colour and tastes like tart juice. The juiciness of this blend is what makes it a go-to iced tea for me; I find it refreshing without the astringency I find some hibiscus blends can acquire. The major notes in this tea are raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, black currants, and rosehips. The hibiscus definitely took a backseat to the other fruits, which is fine by me!

Brewed at 90 degrees and added maple syrup. I made a double portion and refrigerated the rest (also with maple syrup).