516 Tasting Notes
With all my hibiscus hate… I am actually CRAVING it.
What is up with that?!
My last 3 iced teas from DT had hibiscus, and they were so tart and flavourful and sweet and quenching. I made an iced tea of something hibscusless at home and it fell flat! I wanted some tart! I’m just craving it is all.
And guess what? I have ZERO teas with hibiscus in them. Zero. Sigh, so to go teas it is.
This isn’t my favorite iced tea, but it’s pretty tasty. I would never drink this hot, that’s for sure. I’m getting some mango and other fruity flavours, and a bit of flowery taste, but the hibiscus quickly takes over. Which is kind of what I want right now. Go figure!
A tea I didn’t care for – along with a story of a company I care for very much! Story first, because it happened before I drank the tea!
So I went into the Downtown Davids, which I will call the DTDT, for the first time! It was little and busy, but I really liked how there were little tables to sit at. So I picked up my big green teapot to buy, my little gong fu teapot, and some on-sale tea packets and got in line.
I got to the front of the line and asked for an iced cup of Jungle Ju Ju, as I had never tried it before O: . I also inquired as to if there were any matching green cups for my pot, as there were some display ones but none in boxes. There were none, but the awesome girl wrapped up 2 of the display cups for me to take home! Yay!
Secondly, as she was ringing through my stuff, she opened up the gong fu teapot box… it was empty. Man am I ever grateful for that!! She said it seemed light, it must have been the display model box, and it was, so she ran and got me a box with a pot in it. (I am so so so grateful for that – I thought it was light naturally because it’s a tiny teapot made of glass!).
So! I got my bag of goodies and we leave, I thank her for taking such good care of me (after inquiring about a job as well haha), and we walk about a block and a half away, when I go to take a sip of a tea I left there and totally forgot about. “My tea!” I exclaim, as I turn around. And there she is running towards me with my tea. I felt soo bad!! But I wished good karma on her that day, because she was honestly 100% awesome all the way!!!
Happiness!
Well, I didn’t really like the tea that much. haha!
I found it a bit bitter – which may have come from us forgetting about the tea, but I’m guessing it’s the guayusa base. It’s not bitter in the traditional sense, but it’s quite overpowering. Almost earthy… but not in a puerh way. hum.
I can taste the fruitiness, it’s almost equal but then is overpowered by a strange taste. So I’m not sure what’s going on there, but I will say that I feel very lucky to have such an awesome place that I can frequent, and maybe one day work at, we’ll see!
Thank you David’s Tea!
Yea for good customer service! It seems to be a dying art form….
Wow I can see why you’d keep going back!
You know, part of me thinks it’s a little sad when finds a place with good customer service, as I feel that it should be a normal thing to have good customer service where ever you go, rather than it be a surprise when you come across it. You know what I mean? Like @Veronica says above, it does seem to be a dying art form, too many establishments seem to have adopted the idea that the customer is not always right, and while in reality the customer may not always be right, I think they should always be treated as though they are. It is why good customer service is rewarded with my repeat business … then again, one might question whether or not that’s actually a reward. LOL!
Babbling. It’s way too early for me.
You find good service less in big cities in my experience. I shop in smaller stores because of light sensitivity and develop relationships with the people who work in them. They seem to care more about good service. My smaller town is awesome for service!
My old boss use to say, “The customers are not always right, but they are always our customers and guests. Treat them accordingly.” That has stuck with me for years and years, even though I am no longer in customer service. :)
@Bonnie – Your point about smaller shops really resonates with me. I find that independent shops tend to be much better on service (whether they’re in a city or a small town) because more often than not the people you are dealing with are extremely involved in the business (or own it!) and care about it’s survival. When I worked for a local bookstore I would find myself in numerous conversations with people who mentioned that they felt ignored at larger chains. While I have found bad (and great!) service almost everywhere I think the business model/size has a pretty big impact. Unfortunately smaller stores tend to have less buying power and have to translate those costs to consumers. At least in the book world, that is. [/side note]
Dear friends,
I have just christened my brand new teapot and cups with this sweet nectar of a tea. Bags of it were on sale for 2 for 5 bucks at the downtown halifax Davids, so I picked some up along with this: http://www.davidstea.com/accessories/teapots-and-tea-sets/the-bubble-tea-set-45oz (Olive green coloured – my favorite colour!)
Alllllso – I bought a teeny tiny clear gongfu teapot! So. Freaking. Cute. It’s not on the DT website yet, but I am SO pumped to try it with the teas I ordered from Verdant! Double David action.
I digress! I am so happy to be able to try this deliciousness again. mm the sweetness of the almond/marzipan taste with a hint of spice. It’s one of the best rooibos blends I have ever tasted, and I’m happy to have it as the first tea in my pot.
Yum! Happiness!
Wow you are going to drink 45oz. hope you have your own bathroom! Ha! I have trouble finishing my 24 oz. sometimes. I think that’s doing good 2 or 3 times a day! It’s pretty though! I like the glass too. I use my glass one 24oz, a 8oz glass puer infuser, cup infuser, gaiwan, small 12 oz pot. And assorted others. Fun isn’t it…and I live alone. What if I had friends? Congrats. Do you like Halifax?
what is up with tea sellers being named david? i swear it’s some sort of unwritten rule.
Stacy owns Butiki Tea! But I know what you mean!
Phew, well, as I found out tonight it is a lot to drink! I did convince my boyfriend to share it with me, but I still ended up with the bulk of it. I’ll have to save it for teas I really really want – or company if I ever make friends here! haha
Halifax is lovely so far, just doing the job hunt right now! Can’t wait for Spring to really show up, I love fresh green things – so far just the grass has a little peek of green but I bet it will be gorgeous in the summer!
ooo also we bought some ice cube trays today finally, so come on hot weather so I can make some iced tea :D
I’m being bad and reading things when I know I shouldn’t, but you have to tell me how that little teapot performs! I nearly bought one myself last time I was there, but there was no price listed, and then I forgot.
Also, tea on sale? What?? I just bought 100g of Alpine Punch at full price a short while back. Bah.
Hey you – go work on stuff!
If it helps, it looks like the tea packets were from the Winter Collection box, so I’m guessing whatever stores had lots of boxes left are the only ones that had them on sale. In other words, only one out of 3 David’s here had them – so it must just be dependent on location! :)
The teapot was 14 bucks I think, which was about the price I wanted when looking for gaiwans online – I will definitely review it in full when my Verdant teas come in :)
I just called the DTDT to ask if they had gaiwans and totally confused the girl who answered the phone – Whoops. Then I re-read your post and saw that I had leapt to conclusions. Nonetheless, I’m checking out new teaware tonight after work! :)
PS – the bubble teapot is awesome. I got mine (the smaller one) in blue and have two sets of cups so far. Yay!
I purchased my gaiwan (8oz) for $8.99 in an expensive tea house in Boulder so they should be inexpensive anywhere. In small towns like mine they’re harder to find but online they are cheap. I’ve seen quite a few under $15.00.
Oh no I’m sorry Uniquity! haha well, it’s a good substitute for a gaiwan but I can see how that would be confused :) They had 4 or 5 boxes yesterday, you should definitely check out the little pots _ Let me know what you think! The holes are pretty big in the strainer part, but I think a good quality full leaf would do the trick. :)
@Bonnie – I haven’t been any to find any gaiwans locally.. although I haven’t been to too many places in Halifax yet. Uniquity – do you know if there’s any places to buy gaiwans around here?
I got mine from Sawadee Tea House (on Granville street downtown). There is also World Tea House on Argyle, but the only time I went in there I didn’t really get any service so I haven’t yet returned. Sawadee’s are cute though! : )
Yay thanks very much!
I’ll have to check it out asap :)
1tsp Zocolatte Spice, 1 tsp Black Tea, 1/2 tsp 52teas caramel vanilla chai!
I needed a treat to reward myself, so I wanted to try to make a perfect chai! I failed, however, I made it into a latte and it’s much better! haha.
So the reward was for launching my flash game website, GameThousand! If you’re into that sort of thing, you should check it out – I’ll put the link in the comments section so I’m not a spammer haha !! I’m so excited – it took me a few months because I’m self-learning everything, and it’ll be a little source of income for me while being super fun!
mm, I just sipped the tea.
Okay, so I made it extra strong because I knew it would be a latte, but when I took a sip before adding the milk, something was so bitter it was almost sour, ah! After the milk and a huge amount of vanilla syrup, all is well in Chai Latte town :D
The green cardamom pods from the Zocolatte add a brightness to it, while the super-clove from 52teas keeps it nice and spicy. There’s a dark chocolate note from the carob which I’m liking, and although it’s not even close to my perfect chai – it’ll do for now!
:D!
If you’re interested, my new website is http://www.GameThousand.com
I’m hoping to start a tea website soon, which would host those seasonal swaps I’m anxious to host!
Too funny! I just tried the caramel vanilla chai today for the first time. And I talked about my quest for the perfect chai in my review. LOL I should try mixing my chais to see if I can come up with the perfect combo. You’ve inspired me!!
Are you still in Regina? I was there last month for work and to visit family. I dropped by the Davids Tea in Cornwall and was elated to find pumpkin chai since it was sold out at the Davids near me.
Nice! I actually just moved to Halifax, but I had no idea Regina’s DT had a stach of pumpkin chai! Awesome, it’s soo good
Thanks to MadelineAlyce for this sample!
I read the reviews just now (after drinking it) and I can totally see how the ingredients remind me of Buttered Rum by DT. Sadly though, I did not enjoy this tea :(
Something about the smell, both dry and steeped, smelled off. It reminded me a bit or something I won’t mention, because I don’t want to turn other people off of this tea haha, but it was not a good sense memory! The taste had a rum flavour to it, that’s for sure, but I couldn’t shake the bad taste – almost sourness – so I gave the rest to the boyfriend. He enjoyed it!
Thanks for the sample though <3
I think I’m going through my stage (finally) out of flavoured blacks being #1 and into the world of straight teas. Whoop! I have a lot to drink until then haha.
Maybe I did something wrong, but this really didn’t taste like anything to me.
I steeped for about 10 minutes, had close to 2 tsp of tea, and even had a jelly bean in there.
Well, I can taste a little bit of swamp water-ish taste, and I like that! But as the tea cools down, it tastes more and more like water. hum. Well, I got it just to get something, I didn’t really have anything in mind, so it’s not too much of a loss!
I might use up the rest or save some for a swap, we’ll see!
Ooh! Free portrait?! :D (I’ve always wanted a portrait done, haha.)
Also, I’m wondering if something went wrong with your cup of Jolly Jellybean. Mine tasted like fruitier swampwater, and wasn’t particularly weak. I wasn’t super thrilled with it, but it wasn’t bad! And the sample I had in-store was even good, with some lovely pineapple flavours. I’d give it another shot if I were you :)
I’ll try it again then! I was just so confused because it was boiling water and almost 2 tsp! But I will try again and maybe my rating is a little harsh lol! And you’re on the portrait list yay!
Yeah, it didn’t sound like you did anything wrong with it. Perhaps it’s just not for you!
And yay!
I’m up for a free portrait. :)
ooooh portrait, fun!
Awesome, thanks for commenting gals! Tomorrow I will randomly pick a winner! And if I have time, I’ll try to do everyone. Who knows!
Whee! Do everyone!
me to me to!! and I hope your second cup of JJ is better :)
I really enjoyed Jolly Jellybean when I first tried it. Sweet and swampwatery. I think I steeped it longer than recommended though.
Would love a portrait. Would you need to meet in person?
okay I’m in for a portrait if you can work from just a photo. :)
I’ll just use photos I think! If whoever wins is comfortable sending me a few photos or added me to facebook or whatever you’re comfortable with! I’ll pick a winner (or just winner #1 of many) later today :)
I was definitely assuming she was going to use photos :D As much as I’d love to travel to the east coast, I’m pretty sure my budget and schoolwork won’t allow it!
Well hey, if she was up for paying for that trip out east, who are we to say no? :p
haha, they do say you should suffer for your art!
Okay Random Number Generator time:
1. Krystaleyn
2. Heather Martin
3. Kay Kanada
4. Indigobloom
5. Cattibrie
6. Angrboda
The winner is Cattibrie!
http://i39.tinypic.com/jr2zwy.png
I’ll come back and draw more numbers if I have time to do more art :D
I’ll PM you if you win so you don’t have to keep an eye on this review haha!
Awwwwww I saw myself as number one and got so excited! :P
Aw I’m sorry – don’t worry I’ll try to work fast and pull a few more numbers n_-
Do we get to see it when it’s finished?
For sures!
Yay!
Yay. I never win anything.
aww shucks. Next time, I hope! :)
I hope you do more!
I’m pretty happy with this purchase. Although when I realized I went into DT and came out with 2 rooibos’ I kicked myself in the butt haha. (This one and Jolly Jellybean).
However, I was really not disappointed. On the contrary!
The dry smell is suuuper sweet, like funfetti cake mix YES! I frequent a recipe blog that uses funfetti all the time, so the smell of this tea makes me smile :)
It smells sweet, and looks even sweeter. More sweet.
Brewed! It’s still sweet! Man it’s delicious. Almost creamy from the ice cream bits and there is a strawberry flavour that is reminiscent of a pound cake with fresh cream and strawberries.
All in all, I hate those Safeway/Grocery Store bought cakes, but having a tea that tastes like them is 100% better!
I really haven’t been enthralled by DT’s latest couple sets of offerings. Three cake flavoured teas? Four citrus teas? Bleh. Glad to hear this one’s not bad – I had low hopes for it (but plan to pick up samples of everything anyway when I make it back there).
Yeah it is kind of like… all the same thing inyourface! And the cake teas are all the same but.. slightly different… so it’s really weird. But! It’s tasty at least, I’m looking forward to the other cake teas, although I doubt I’ll break the bank on them haha
this one reminds me of Oh Canada, only a little more vanilla ish..
I think they’ve all been done already, there is little territory to explore!
Made myself a little latte out of this for comfort and joy. mmmm.
It made me think of fall, which isn’t too hard since nothing has really sprouted around here yet. No green .. except for the evergreens. :)
SO yes, I sweetened with a little honey, added steamed milk and a drizzle of vanilla syrup. Yum. Sadly I didn’t get a chance to resteep, but I know it would have been subpar compared to the first one anyways.
Here’s to Spring!
Wow, I was really surprised by how much I LOVED this tea!! Loved it!
I remember trying Sleigh Ride from the Advent Calendar and despising it, but this one is amazing. Iced! I should say Iced!
I went into the Halifax Shopping Mall Davids to see if they were accept applications and to see what else I could apply for, since it’s a close enough bus ride and I wouldn’t mind a mall job for a little while. The desk job was not so good for my health. Anyways -
I went away with this tea to go, Iced! mmmm it was so freaking good. The tartness came only at the end of the sip, in a really delightful, sweet lemonade way. I did have agave, which helped with the sweetness, but all the fruits and cinnamon and mm! Yum!
I’m the master of comma abuse.
Anyways – yum!
Oh, and they’re not hiring but I’ll bring in a resume anyways, just in case!
Good luck!
Thank you! :)
Would be fun to know an insider!
There’s also a DT on Spring Garden downtown, but if you’re in the Bayers Lake area that would be a bit much. Good luck!
I’m with Bonnie! :D
That we are! Yeah, my boyfriend’s sister lives on Spring Garden road. It’s nice down there, pretty pricey, and would be a bus ride I would dread haha. I’ll probably stick to looking for jobs in the Bayers Lake/Halifax Shopping center area, unless I get this desk job with Staples which would make a little more money, but would be farther to travel. Might be worth it! In the meantime I’m trying to sell some art. Art for tea anyone? haha
What kind of art do you do?? (other than portraits) What mediums?
Honestly, anything and everything really! I enjoy sculpting, designing ceramics, painting, drawing, crafting – whatever keeps my interest for an amount of time, haha! The only thing I don’t really like is oil painting, mostly because it never dries x_x
I was surprised to love this one to! it has… hibiscus in it!! and I like it! odd.
Oooooh sculpting! That is something that I can NEVER get my head around. How the heck do people make something awesome and artsty out of a hunk of something, I’ll never understand! Good on you!
We have a home!
An amazing place that is empty but gorgeous, and we’re slowly filling it (very sloooowly).
I am sitting at my cheap cheap dining table, the only seating in the house, and celebrating with this delicious cup of Vanilla Comoro, brewed to perfection with my.. wait for it..
variable temp kettle! eeee!
It’s gooorgeous baby. You can change the temperature by degree, so I brewed the first cup at 175 because I find this tea to be a little finicky in the bitter department sometimes. It was perfect, vanilla, sweet just lovely! Did a second cup at boiling (212) and it was just as good.
So yes! Happiness! Happiness and tea!
Whoopie! I’m soooo happy for you! A home and …gulp …the coveted variable temp kettle! eeee!
Hooray! What fun you shall have!
I am so glad to hear you found a place!
Which kettle? And glad you found a place!!! Have fun moving in!
Yay!!!! I was getting worried about you there. Congrats on the new place! and the kettle! :)
CONGRATS! I’m super jealous of the kettle!
Thanks friends! All is well, ah thank goodness.
Here is the Kettle I purchased from.. probably Walmart haha (I know, but we’d go broke if we didn’t buy some things there right now! Horrible. bleh! Anyways). It’s Black and Decker so it has a 2 year warranty which I love, and it was only around 60 bucks compared to some of the very pricey ones.
http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/black-decker-programmable-digital-kettle/10030687
Congratulations. Empty, you say? Is it common to buy houses complete with furniture where you live? You never see that here.
Thank you!
Well, apartment-wise anyways you can get furnished apartments. I’m pretty sure you’d have to be a millionaire plus though, they are suuuper pricey.
You’ll have to keep us updated on how the kettle works, & durability, etc.! I think I was eyeing that same kettle last time I was in Walmart, but there wasn’t a price in the vicinity and I reaaalllly need to stop buying new things….
Congrats and yippee!
Hibiscus is very high in vitamin C, so it might be that your body is telling you that you need some vitamin C?
Me too! I actually like the tartness of hibiscus, especially in pink flamingo but it’s nice in this one too. Not sure where the overwhelming hatred comes from…
For me, at least, I think the hatred comes from horrible bagged teas! haha – bagged teas that say they are a fruit flavour, but really are just hibiscus, so it kind of travelled forward with my loose leaf addition – but I’m finally breaking free! Hooray!