46 Tasting Notes
I was looking for a new travel mug to purchase and decided to give the carry travel mug by DAVIDsTEA a try. I have yet to own one of their travel tumblers and was pretty curious to test it out.
I’ll admit the first thing that got my attention was the colour. I purchased the carry travel mug in mint, and I’m a huge fan of all things mint (as in the colour and the tea).
The second thing I also really like was that it has a handle. This is a huge plus for me, since I often commute using public transit in busy downtown traffic, and my hands are usually tied up with other bags and my purse. Having that extra handle makes life easier (as sometimes I hang onto it by my pinky if I need to).
Overall I’m fairly impressed with my carry travel mug. It has a stainless steel inner wall that keeps my tea piping hot for hours. It has a removable mesh infuser basket that is a fairly decent size that allows for good leaf expansion. However you aren’t able to control the steep times, so if you’re on the go, trying to discard the tea leaves may be a pain.
It also has a secret tea compartment to store extra tea, although I tend to find if the travel mug is not staying in a constant upright position, the leaves tend to get wet and damp. It is a neat idea though.
You can also read an in-depth review of the carry travel mug on my blog:
http://worldofteainfusers.com/carry-travel-mug-davidstea-review/
The Orange Pekoe is one of my favorite, go-to loose leaf black teas. I’ve tried many other black teas but for some reason this one I always come back to. There really isn’t anything that exciting about it. Its a very straightforward, unexciting tea (maybe that’s secretly why I like it – out of all the hustle and bustle in my life, I crave something simple and straightforward?)
Dry, the leaves do not have a flavourful aroma. It has a fairly ‘leafy’ standard ‘tea’ smell. The pieces are made up of long, thin, wavy pieces of dried black tea leaves. Once brewed the leaves fully expand into large leaves.
My personal preference is to have this tea with milk and some honey. Even if I drink it just black, there are hints of sweetness you can taste. I drink Orange Pekoe regularly in the mornings as a substitute for coffee.
I find that Mango Madness has a delicious citrus and tropical smell. Dry, I can definitely smell the zesty goodness of oranges.
Once brewed, I found it to be a very refreshing tea. It’s delicate, fruity, light, and sweet, all at the same time. I could taste more oranges than mango, but I get ‘Orange Madness’ doesn’t have the same ring to it.
I would be curious to see how this tastes as a cold steeped tea.
Sleigh Ride has such a delicious smell to it. It literally reminds me of Christmas morning. The first time I came across this tea, I literally sat there for a good couple of minutes just soaking up the smell. It has a sweet smell that really reminds me of gingerbread cookies.
I should know better by now, but I always have this assumption that when teas smell sweet, they’ll taste sweet as well. Definitely not the case with Sleigh Ride. It was fairly tart which was a bit of a shock to my taste buds. It really shouldn’t have been all that surprising since Sleigh Ride does contain hibiscus after all.
I wouldn’t say this would be my go-to winter tea, but it definitely is a festive tea. With it’s dark red liquor and strong cinnamon and hibiscus flavours, it really is a type of tea I would only drink during the winter months.
I was having a bit of a crummy day today so I was hoping today’s tea would be one of those comforting, yummy, ‘feel-good’ teas. I sampled this tea as part of the 24 days of tea advent calendar, and to be honest I had mixed feelings about this one. I’m not a huge fan of cardamom, and the scent of it along with some other spices, was so strong when I took the lid off. Dry, I could smell cardamom, with a zesty hint of cinnamon muffled in the background.
While I was waiting for my tea to cool down a bit, I got distracted and didn’t get to it until it was cooler than how I usually drink my teas. I went in with really low expectations and was actually quite surprised with the taste. It was sweet and buttery, and had a hint of spice in the background. It wasn’t that overpowering kind of spice that just takes over the entire tea. It was gentle and subtle, and more sweet and buttery than spicy. It really did remind me of french toast.
I’ll have to brew another cup of this and try it hot, as it may taste totally different. The trick to enjoying this tea may be to drink it slightly cooler than warmer.
This is my go-to tea if I’m on the go and need a quick fix. I find the steeped tea at Tim Horton’s such a refreshing change from their coffee. I always drink this tea with two milk and one sugar. I’m not sure why but drinking this in the autumn and winter makes it taste so much better.
