Snow Day

I’m not a huge fan of peppermint teas but I enjoy this one. I enjoy this one because there is a stronger bite to it at the end kind of like a peppermint candy, it doesn’t just taste awkwardly herbal. I don’t really taste the white chocolate but I’m curious if I tried this as a latte how it would taste.

I tried this when I ordered the 24 Days of Tea Advent Calendar (from 2016). I was surprised at how much I liked it – it tasted like After Eight in liquid form to me. (I have been cutting down sugar, so that may be why this tasted so sweet to me.)

I had it with quite a bit of milk – I’d say about 1-2oz. This was definitely one of the few David’s Tea that I liked from the Advent Calendar. I even bought more during the sale.

This tea smells terrific as a dry mix. When you brew it, you smell mostly peppermint and the cocoa and white chocolate seems to be overpowered. Once I tasted it, I was disappointed in that there was so much mint that it was like toothpaste, but unlike toothpaste, there was a bitter aftertaste . I’m really starting to think that I don’t care much for flavoured teas, although I’ve always enjoyed authentic natural mint teas from time to time. This was is something I’d save for when I have a cold perhaps, as maybe it would improve with honey added. I’m sad I bought this now, as I think I’d prefer just plain spearmint leaves from the health food store, mixed with hot chocolate powder added after steeping. This one did not live up to its smell.

A nice mint chocolate tea. The tea itself contains mostly peppermint leaves, with a hint of milk chocolate. I found the peppermint made up most of the flavour, with the chocolate flavour as almost a top note. The chocolate tasted quite fake, like the cheap chocolates one would buy at the dollar store. This isn’t terrible by any stretch, but it’s not something I’d reach for. 15g lasted me a very long time.

The secret of this tea for me is TONS of milk. I’m talking…double the amount of milk to the amount of brewed tea. I don’t really bother with a latte as I find for whatever reason this blend eliminates my foam anyway. Maybe I’m not foaming it enough to stand up to the oils of this tea?

Either way – this one is rather difficult to brew. When chocolate is included in a blend I think it needs to be closer to boiling in order to melt, but when mint is in a blend I know too hot and you really risk embittering the leaves. When I’ve done it too hot and for too long, there is an overwhelming ‘chemical’ taste like others have described. So I brew it for about 4 minutes at a little less than near boiling, then drown it in milk. ;)

If treated with kid gloves like that, and a little luck, it’ll taste like a weak minty hot chocolate – no weird chemical after taste. It just needs a lot of milk – is it worth it? Well, not really. I’ll be able to get through my stash but I’d not repurchase.

I don’t think I like peppermint tea’s. My mom loved snow day, but for me it was ok. Not my favorite tea and I wouldn’t buy it again. It smells very strongly of peppermint. Which I loved because I love the smell of peppermint. The taste was also strong peppermint, but it also tasted a little bitter and I got a hint of dark chocolate. Overall, if you like peppermint this tea is for you. If not, I would pick something else.

Looks and smells nice in the tin. Smells even better steeped, just like an After Eight mint. The after-taste is really strange though? Bitter, slighty soapy (maybe just me?), and I saw someone mention dirt. Kind of agree lol. It’s not so bad that I can’t finish a cup but I’m not looking forward to the rest of the sample. It’s a shame because I love mint and you do get that and the chocolate at first, but as soon as it hits the back of my tongue I shudder a bit. I’ll have to try it with some milk and see if that helps with the after-taste. Used 1 perfect spoon for a large mug. The second steeping was a lot better so maybe half a PS next time?

Hello and Happy New Year Fellow Steepsters!

I know I’m not a regular poster…I was starting to when I joined the site in 2014, but then my personal plans took over my life. The good news is that I got what I needed to do done – college upgrade complete and divorce done. The bonus is that I got engaged to my long-time fiance in early December, and a few days later, landed a fantastic job! I am now a full-fledged visiting nurse. :)

Now that I have a more stable schedule, I’m getting back to living life and doing the things I enjoy, two of which are writing and being an amateur tea connoiseusse!

On to the review.

Snow day – I got this on a whim, having taken advantage of the semi-annual sale at David’s Tea. The smell of the tea reminds me of After Eight/Mint Ovation chocolate, which I inhaled as a kid (weird, I know). I also figured that this tea would be similar to Teavana’s White Chocolate Peppermint.

Boy was I wrong.

First sipdown last weekend – brewed using 1 PS (perfect spoon) in boiling water, steeped for 4 minutes, no sweetener. In a word, yuck. The taste was not only chemical but there was some weird bitterness as well. I was quite disappointed and had considered going back to the store and asking if I could swap this with another tea.

Then I remembered that Teavana sweetens their samples and thought, “Why not?”

I had better success with this last night. I used slightly less than 1 PS, boiling water and steeped for 2 minutes as opposed to 4. There is still that weird chemical/bitter taste but it is a little more tolerable this time when using Teavana’s rock sugar. For this first batch I used 1 PS of rock sugar (a little too sweet but better than drinking it straight!).

Tonight I decided to brew a teapot of this. Slightly less than 2 PS of tea, boiling water, 2 PS of rock sugar, steeped at 2 minutes. Again, it’s palatable but not amazing. I much prefer Teavana’s White Chocolate Peppermint (of which I bought a healthy amount at 30% off, woot woot!).

I really thought that this would compete with Teavana’s tea, so I foolishly got 100g of this. Needless to say, there’s SNOW way (see what I did there) I will get this again. Perhaps to help me get rid of this batch I’ll give a couple people a fairly generous sample…

Made this as an eggnog latte and not gonna lie, it is sorta just incredibly disgusting. It’s like menthol with dark chocolate that has gone a bit off. The different chocolate elements give this a sort of strong alcohol scent that is hard to get passed and even if you do the flavor isn’t much better. In case you were unsure, I am definitely not a fan of this. Blech

I like this tea. I will drink this tea. I probably will not actively buy this tea again. The most I can appreciate is how it is different. It’s sweet and pepperminty, a common flavor, but there is something about it that is different. Perhaps that is why I don’t like it. There is a bitterness or something. At first I thought it was oversteeped green tea, but there isn’t any green tea!
I would still recommend this to try, at the least.