162 Tasting Notes

100
reviewed The Steeper by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

The only reason why I got one was to get that “tea club” card for 15% off all tea I buy for the rest of the summer. I figured…even if I only use it sometimes, I’m going to end up saving way more than I’m spending, so I’ll do more than break even.

And oh my goodness. How did I ever survive without one at home before I had one?!?!?! Easy to use, easy to clean, easy to re-steep, easy to watch your tea while steeping, easy to love. Also easily stains; mine’s looking rather “well-worn” now but from reading another review I’m going home and cleaning it with baking soda!! So exciting it will look new again.

Highly recommended.

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75
drank Cranberry Pear by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

I guess this tea isn’t technically in MY cupboard but my boyfriend’s…but since I bought it for him for his birthday, he’s just going to have to deal with me drinking it all the time. :)

I originally bought this tea for my boyfriend for the “32 days of tea” calendar that I made him (he’s Hindu so doesn’t celebrate Christmas; instead we celebrated to the new year and the birth of the new year, at least, my new year) and in his words “OHMYGODSTHISTEAISMYNEWFAVOURITEOFALLTIME!!!!!” Considering the fact that he said that about almost every tea that he had from the calendar, I didn’t think much of it. But when he said that every time he had a cup and finished this one before any other tea, I figured there had to be something to it. Plus, his birthday was coming…

So I went to DT to, at the very least, smell the tea. And oh my. The smell is intoxicating. I almost needed a minute to recover. Then I got a full tin. None of this “put 100g in it and have it partially empty” thing. PACK THAT TIN LIKE YOU’VE NEVER PACKED A TIN BEFORE!!! And so now I’m stealing a cup from his stash to finally try it. And oh, boy. Lives right up to my expectations. Fruity, tea-y, overwhelmingly good. I most definitely need a tin of this for my own stash at work. The girl at DT also said this was her favourite tea to use for teapop, so I’ll definitely have to try that sometime.

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76
drank Pink Flamingo by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

I like this one. It’s…weird. It’s a whole bunch of ingredients that you wouldn’t expect to go together, yet somehow it works (at least, for me it does). I can’t quite pick out the eucalyptus, probably because I don’t actually know what eucalyptus tastes like on its own (I’m not a koala?).

I used to LOVE this tea. Maybe my palate is maturing…I find that hibiscus in a tea really starts to get to me by the end of the cup. I mean, I like tart teas and I like pink teas and hibiscus petals do both. But I would have preferred perhaps lemon peel or lemon slices as well as the tangerine and orange slices to impart tartness and less hibiscus. It’s so prominent that’s all my mouth is paying attention to by the end of the cup. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Pink Passionfruit; I find that tea similar enough to this one and I far prefer it.

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86
drank Pineapple Oolong by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

I like it! A lot! Reminds me of the pineapple lifesavers, which were always my favourites. I don’t explicitly taste the apricot, but I think it probably just combines with the other flavours to give the tea a fruity sweetness.

I could definitely taste the oolong, but probably because I over-steeped (it didn’t get bitter, though). Something I want to try next time: pick all of the fruit pieces out and drop them in the bottom of the cup, and put the oolong leaves in the filter. Then I can let the tea get fruitier and fruitier without leaving the leaves in there to burn. Ah, the possibilities…

I would definitely buy this one again.

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40
drank Stormy Night (Organic) by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

This was another free sample that I got with my latest order, and I figured: what could go wrong? It can’t be as bad as coffee chai.

And, to my sheer delight, it wasn’t as bad. Granted, while the water was boiling I meticulously pulled out as many pieces of coconut that I could find since I HATE coconut. Since the pieces in this tea were so large, even though previous users had noted they couldn’t taste it, I can pick up the taste of coconut in President’s Choice Decadent chocolate chip cookies. Don’t believe me that it’s an ingredient? Look on the package. Dried coconut and coconut oil. Told you. My palate is sensitive to it. Gross.

Anyway. So I picked out most of the coconut, dumped the rest in the filter and steeped. Steeped until the chocolate dissolved, swirled it around a few times, then sipped. And…yuck. The smell was SO STRONG. Both the dried tea and the steeped tea. But the taste? Somewhat murky chocolate tasting but with no real punch. And I had to use my imagination to pick up any kind of chilli taste.

Definitely not a “would buy” tea. I didn’t hate it, but I certainly didn’t like it.

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9
drank Coffee Chai (Organic) by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

And now my note gets lost in the abyss of the interweb. I try again…

I tried really hard to like this one, I really did. I love a good coffee almost as much as I love a good tea, so I figured this tea would be a no-brainer. When I got it as a free sample with my last order, I was excited to try it and then go rush out and buy it. Boy was I wrong. First strike: this tea has stevia in it. I HATE STEVIA. What is even the point of adding stevia to a tea?! If I wanted added sweetness, I’d add sugar/agave. If I don’t want added sweetness, don’t put a gross plant in it whether I like it or not. Yuck.

Strike two: the over-abundance of ginger. I really don’t like ginger. In anything. I figured it might have a few small pieces; that I can live with. It seemed like this was literally a third of my sample. It was just so much ginger it almost made me gag. I couldn’t deal with it.

Never in my life have I dumped tea down the drain, not even the dreaded Cherry Cola. I just couldn’t finish it. Down the drain it went. Perhaps one day I’ll find a DAVID’s TEA chai blend I actually like. The search continues…

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87

I have a hard time believing this tea has a green base, since I can’t taste it at all. The other “stuff” in this tea completely takes over, but that is definitely not a bad thing.

Once upon a time the Ethiopian restaurant in London used to have this kind of “Ethiopian cardamom tea” that I used to love. They’ve stopped offering it because the ingredients for it became too expensive. This tastes so close to that tea I used to love that it’s the best substitute I’ve found so far. There’s something “sweet” in it that gives it a really pleasant after-taste; I think it might be the ginger. The mixture of fennel seed and liquorice root gives a good flavour without tasting like black liquorice. I love the mint leaves, and the pepper and cardamom give it a nice spicy after-taste.

A definite yum, and I would definitely buy it again.

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90
drank Love Tea #7 by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

I am having a serious love affair with this tea. And not just because of what’s in it: strawberries that taste like strawberries and not strawberry flavouring, chocolate chips that taste like chocolate and not wax, rose petals that taste like an infusion of rose and not like a rose garden just punched me in the mouth, and black tea. So. Effing. Good. Perfect balance of everything in a cup.

But perfect for other reasons: my BF and I met on the 7th of September in 2007 and started dating on June 7th 2012. Woot! Lucky 7s.

Makes me wonder what happened to Love Teas one through six.

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96
drank Cocoa Canela (Organic) by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

I tried this tea as one of the teas of the day samples in a DAVIDsTEA store when it first came out, told myself I would buy some when my stock of tea decreased, and then neglected to do so. But it was on sale in the 250g for $14.50 sale, so woo hoo!

To me, this is right on par for a Mexican hot chocolate without the chilli peppers. Maybe I should try adding some chilli flakes sometime? That could be really good, actually…

But I digress. Definitely chocolatey, with the earthiness of the roasted mate, definite smell of cinnamon and a bit of a taste, too, and carob. Yum. My only (continued) disappointment is that the chocolate chips never fully melt for me. I think next time I brew a cup I’ll put the chocolate chips from the scoop directly in my mug then stir it around at the end. It will probably just end up making a gooey mess at the bottom of my cup. Ha.

ADD brain: this tea would also probably be smashing with either strawberry bits or mango chunks in it. Or pineapple. Or…

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69
drank Toasted Walnut by DAVIDsTEA
162 tasting notes

Yet another tea I just re-discovered from 2008. The stale-ness of the tea doesn’t add much to the flavour, but I remember not being all that impressed with it back in the day when it was fresh.

I would call this tea “toasted almond” since I literally taste zero walnut in it. Even when I added a giant chunk of walnut to the filter, still nothing. Not necessarily a bad thing; ironically I’m not a fan of walnuts. Ha.

To me, the pineapple doesn’t add anything other than a sweetness in the background. It’s weird, because I can really taste the pineapple in other teas when candied pineapple bits are one of the ingredients. But not this one. I definitely taste almond. Lots of almond. I also tasted a whack of coconut, which is probably why I’m not a huge fan of this tea. I don’t really see why the coconut was even added; the other two nuts on their own should have been enough “oily on the tongue” texture and flavour, along with the green base and the pineapple. Wish I could have picked it out.

I won’t be refilling my tin with this tea, but I wouldn’t be adversed to buying it again in a smaller amount at a later date. I love too many other teas right now to be bothered…

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I love tea. And I don’t mean like “I like to drink tea in the mornings”. I mean, I LOVE TEA. I also have an intense love for spreading the news that plants and fungi are the coolest groups of organisms on Earth. If you’d like to learn why I think so, you should visit my blog. I write about one cool plant or fungus every day.

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London, Ontario

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