Davidson's Organics

I have to agree with the other reviews in that there is nothing special about this tea.

It’s light, it’s black tasting. There’s a nice cool finish throughout the palate once I swallow, followed by a black tea sort of tang on the tip of my tongue.

The flavor isn’t strong at all, but it’s lightly tannic and bitter, just like most of the Indian black teas.

Nothing to write home about, but nothing really to fault it on either.

Chaiday 6 of 6:
Let me start by saying that I am a tea lightweight. I usually only drink 3 teas a day. I knew it was going to be crazy of me to try 6 in one day, but I really want to make some headway into my stash reviews.

I knew that at this point, with my blood made more of cinnamon and black tea than platelets, that I would be tired of tasting and reviewing chai. Even now, the idea of Christmas spices makes me want to run and hide. However, I promised that I would review 6 chais today, so the show must go on.

This tea has always smelled wonderful to me. The blend smells spicy and sweet. I’m wondering what the leaves are coated with—they’re sticky with whatever it is. The spice is nice and strong, and the base makes itself well-known. There’s also a sweet, kind of caramel flavor. I’m glad the orange isn’t too strong, as I like to stay away from citrus, as you’ve probably heard by now.

This is now my morning and sometimes afternoon tea when I need a boost.

Has low bitterness, and an almost creamy quality. The only tea I’ve had that I think tastes better is Teavana’s English Breakfast. Compared to Teavana’s English Breakfast, this tea is weaker in overall flavor (negative for me), less bitter (positive for me), has a creamy taste/feeling (positive), and is about half the price (biggest positive for me).

This is the only Irish Breakfast I’ve had, so I don’t have anything to compare it to; but from what I gather, Irish Breakfast should be stronger than an English Breakfast. Either way, this is going to be my daily tea until I can find one better at a similar price.

It’s definitely not the highest quality tea, but when I need caffeine and don’t care about the taste (ex. when I’m at work for just need a mid-dance class pick-me-up), it delivers just enough energy and is a low enough price that it doesn’t matter that I’m not actually bothering to taste it. That said, it does taste pretty minty. I have found, however, that I need to steep it for more time than I would normally steep a green tea or else the mint won’t really come through.

The black tea used for this blend is not as strong as I thought it would be. It barely comes through the other flavors. I feel as though the pear is an afterthought in this blend as well. You have to really concentrate to find it.

I have Davidson’s Mulling Spices for making spiced cider in autumn, and you can definitely tell that the same blend was used in this tea. It’s very heavy on cinnamon and clove—so much so that it should probably be called spiced tea with a hint of pear.

Overall though, I like the taste. It would be incredible on a crisp, fall day with a touch of maple sugar.

This is a very bitter, astringent tea. It tastes more like a black tea than the oolongs I’ve tried so far. The leaf doesn’t even look like an oolong. I’ve heard a couple of complaints about it being weak, so I brewed it for 2 mins. It sure wan’t weak, and the color came out a dark reddish brown.

If I were doing a blind taste test, I would say it was overcooked Lipton. I’ll try it again with a lighter steep time and temp to use up my leaves, but I’m not really looking forward to it.

One of my favorite teas. I savor each cuppa.

This is the second straight green rooibos I’ve tried. This tastes less sweet than the one from Mountain Rose Herbs, but it’s also less astringent. It tastes mostly like hay and green growing things, with a mild sweetness and not even a hint of bitterness. It’s a very light, summery flavor. I bought this on Amazon, and it’s super cheap, but you have to buy a pound at a time. I think I like green rooibos well enough that I’ll drink it before it goes bad, but I guess now I’ll know for sure!

Too lemony, irritates tongue

This was my first taste of rooibos, and I must say I fell in love. It’s rooty and mellow. I think this brand is just fine. And the tea is just fine to re-steep. Sometimes I mix it with some fruit tea that I have and it works just fine.

I had high hopes for this tea, which is marketed as a “dessert” tea having the chocolate notes of carob alongside the mint. The problem that is nearly a deal breaker is the smell. I suspect its the fault of the barley (why barley in tea??) but there is yeasty unpleasant head to the smell. The taste is nice enough, sweet and smooth from the rooibos and mint/carob combo – but smell is very big for me and the smell at the front of each sip grows very unappetizing by the end.

Not very impressed. It isn’t horrible but like another reviewer of this tea said, “It is uneventful.”

I am trying hard to complete some sipdowns. I’m excited to say SIPDOWN to this one. It isn’t bad but it isn’t fantastic either. What I do really like about this tea is the honey like flavor. Plus it is easy to steep up at work.

I was really disappointed with this tea. The scent is an on-point bing cherry, but the flavor can only be equated to warmed pool water. No cherry, no almond, mainly a heavily diluted honey. I gave away my box. Should have gotten Caramel Peach.

A sweet, hardy herb that makes a bold, brothy brew. The traditional way to make rooibos is to infuse on the stovetop in a pot (or coffeepot), for a long period. You can steep it all day and it only gets sweeter.

I only let it simmer for an hour or two, after bringing to a boil, because I don’t want to wait for that wonderful taste. If you haven’t heated rooibos for at least an hour, you’re missing the flavor of rooibos.

Extra can be left steeping, and reheated in the pot later—just as delicious! Only make sure not to overboil it, because I notice it becomes a little astringent that way.

Really yummy and nutritious. High quality with a very faint (mysterious) undertone of jasmine.

I had a cup of this while cat sitting. I was surprised by how flavorful it is – most bagged teas don’t do anything for me. I used two because this a big mug and it was pretty flavorful. Not strong enough to be a big wake-me-up in the morning, but pleasant. It is definitely citrussy and tropical, though I can’t say I taste mango specifically.

If you like cinnamon tea this is the tea for you. The cinnamon was the strongest flavor, it was sweet. It Lacked the spiciness of chai that I enjoy.

A sample from KittyLovesTea. I quite like orange in fruit teas, so I was interested to give this one a go. Interestingly, there’s a whole lot of chamomile in this blend. I can also see pieces of dried orange peel, cranberries, rosehip and hibiscus. Maybe good or maybe bad. I used 1 tsp of leaf, and gave it 4 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is an odd reddish-grreen, and smells distinctly herbal. It’s hard to pinpoint an exact scent, but I wouldn’t say orange or cranberry.

Similarly with the taste, which is mostly chamomile and hibiscus. The hibiscus comes our first, as it usually does, and adds a tart, slightly sour, overtone. Second to emerge is the chamomile, which is sweet and honey-like. Not a great combination with hibi. I can taste a tiny bit of orange right at the end of the sip, but it’s nothing like as strong as I was hoping. Mostly, drinking this one reminds me of berocca.

It’s not unpleasant, per se, but it’s not a winner with me either. I can’t taste cranberry at all, so it’s mostly a hibiscus-chamomile tea, with an aftertaste of orange. Drinkable, but disappointing.