DAVIDsTEA

This tea is an experiment for me. I’m not a big fan of coconut (I’m indifferent, really), but a HUGE fan of vanilla. Before steeping, the tea smells strongly of coconut, so I’ve been hesitant to buy it until not. But the woman at the store assured me that the coconut mellows after it’s been steeped, and that this tea is delicious is some hot milk and brown sugar.

Steeped, you can still smell the coconut, but the vanilla’s there too. It’s a sweet smell, which makes me happy. Not crazy about it plain, but a heaping spoonful of brown sugar and some milk make it quite pleasant. (Then again, brown sugar and milk will make most black teas quite pleasant.) I’d buy this again.

This had a creamy, sweet, buttery fragrance. Overlying the more subtle notes was a strong, zesty lemon.

Once prepared, the fragrance lost some definition and just the lemon remained. This was true of the flavor as well. The lemon in this was not only strong, but it tended towards tart. It was like drinking hot lemon juice.

This would be perfect with some honey for soothing a cough or taking the edge off a cold so I might keep some of this around just for medicinal purposes.

I really, reeeeeeally like this stuff. I bought it because the ingredient list sounded like German Christmas – mint and orange peel and spices. The taste is much smoother than I expected, and I’m finding that I like the blend a bit more than chocolate mint.

And, once again, one of my favourites is seasonal…

This is my go-to tea for when I want hot chocolate, but not the 200-300 calories that come with it. Teas aren’t usually thick and rich, but this one really, really is. A little sweetener, a little milk, and it’s almost as good as a real hot chocolate, with just a little bit of kick of the chilies. My only regret is that it’s a limited edition tea. I may need to pick up a significant quantity before it runs out.

From my tea calendar.

Not for me. This tea smells great, but I have to accept that I don’t like ginger teas. I want to, because drinking fresh ginger tea has brought me back from the brink of many colds, but I hate the taste of ginger in things other than cookies, I guess.

The lemon is nice, the green base is nice. It smells amazingly lemony and I get that when I drink it too, but I’m distracted by the ginger. If you like these two flavours, certainly try this tea as it seems like a nice one if you’re not me!

This reminds me very much of Coco Chai Rooibos. Except well this is a black tea instead of rooibos and its also much harsher.

Just smelling the canister can overpower your senses. You would expect this to be somewhat weaker when its brewed but it isn’t. Once the liquor hits your tongue, the spices punch you in the face (I mean this in the best way possible). Its the sort of thing I’d expect a “rugged” guy to drink, and not what a nice old lady would.

I recommend drinking this in the morning. Especially if you can’t seem to keep your eyes open.

I’ve been wanting to buy this since it came out but never got around to it. In the canister the coconut and vanilla are really strong scents. And since I bought this during December at the mall, I had to ask the ladies to break out a new bag of Buttered Rum. There was hardly anything left in the canister.

Onto brewing this stuff. It reminds me a lot of the Bourbon Vanilla tea from Teaopia. Except that is lacking the coconut, but otherwise smells and tastes similar. Between the two teas I really prefer this one, it is really smooth and the coconut completes it.
The liquor tastes so rich and full of character, while still remaining refreshing too. It doesn’t weigh you down, it gets you to relax and put up your feet. The aftertaste is good too, the coconut, rum flavoring, vanilla and cornflowers just linger for a bit. Then you just taste the creamy black tea fading away. (I brewed this for 6 mins and the black tea was still enjoyable, not bitter)

When it comes to flavored black tea I prefer blends like this. I don’t like it when David’s Teas loads the blends with candy. Even though I don’t specifically drink tea for its health benefits, I do like to minimize my sugar intake.

Wow, I actually finished a bag of tea! It’s been pretty unseasonably warm, but at least today was windy. I figured I should use this up before winter is totally over and it gets pushed even further back in the cupboard.

I also wanted something that would make me sleepy so I simmered all I had left of this (about 4 tsp?) in almost two cups of unsweetened vanilla almond milk with a bit of light cream in hopes of making its texture more like milk. I also added several cloves, cardamom pods, a few pieces of cinnamon bark, and a tiny dash of ginger.

Awesome! Much better than any other time I had made this tea. I always wanted to like it as the taste is nice and the smell is awesome, but the flavour wasn’t very full on its own. This way, I got lots of the nice baked apple taste but the spices were ramped up.

This tea looks and smells awesome; it’s another I just couldn’t pass up when it was presented to me. I commented on how it looked and smelled like it should be potpourri when I was at the store, and the girl helping me said she had spilled some and that’s in fact what they did with it.

As a diabetic who LOVES making and drinking apple cider during the holidays, this is a great substitute. It’s pretty darn close, and no insulin required! I got rather distracted and let this steep for quite a while, but it didn’t detract. I think this one does need a lengthy steep for full benefit. It tastes like fresh apples, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

I do wish it went further, as now I’m going to have to buy more to make it through Christmas! The big chunks that look so great can also be a problem as if you have only a small quantity left or aren’t using much, you may not get all the different bits in your infusion.

Day 11 of my 25 Days of Tea calendar.

Since becoming a DavidsTea devotee, I haven’t been drinking many unflavoured teas (and haven’t had any from DT!). I’ve ordered up lots of green tea from Den’s Tea, though, so maybe this is a good re-introduction.

I am definitely not an expert when it comes to green teas, so I don’t think I have a lot to say about David’s organic sencha. It’s nice. While I was brewing it, it smelled quite grassy so I was a bit worried. No need, though. It’s pleasant and mild. It tastes like the green tea served at some of the nicer Japanese restaurants I’ve been to, so I will interpret that as a good thing? With so many flavourful combinations out there I tend not to go for the straight teas, but this is nice and relaxing after dinner.

Tastes nice, but I’m having a hard time getting it to brew strong enough without dumping it all in my infuser.

Also, while the nice big pieces of star anise and cardamom are pretty, I had to smash everything up so I could get a bit of everything in the cup.

The smell of this tea is amazing! Cinnamon, apples…yum! Almost inspires me to start baking…almost.

Used 3 tsp for 16 oz water, which is 1 less than the company recommends. Still, I’m finding that, even though it is disturbingly pale, the taste is strong and true. Red Delicious apple and cinnamon. Tastes like a liquid apple crisp, and even has a crusty/crumbly taste to it. Yum!

David’s Tea certainly knows what they’re doing! The more I try from them, the more I love it!

Earl Grey is one of the first teas I was introduced to (in bagged from). So I enjoy occasionally having a cup of it and thinking about how different this blend is from the old bagged stuff. DAVIDsTEA definitely loves bergamot a lot! I remember getting to the bottom of the tea pouch and seeing the yellow residue from all the bergamot oil :O

Good stuff, but I get tired of the strong flavours very quickly. I know it’s common to put in milk and sugar, but I’m just not into that stuff (I’m lactose intolerant anyway). So I drink mine bare, usually served along side either a traditional breakfast or a hearty pasta dish.

Finished the last of my Earl Grey today. I looked into the bag and noticed that it was stained yellow. I guess that has something to do with all of the bergamot oil, wow! David sure doesn’t skimp on the bergamot for this.

Found a nice surprise in the spent leaves after two steeps today: http://imgur.com/m8Fh5

I have not had a good cup of Earl Grey tea in a long time. The bergamot is very present in this tea, and its enjoyable. Usually I have bagged Earl Grey tea, since that is what most places carry when I ask for tea (bleh). And in the bagged tea you never taste the bergamot and the black tea itself is kind of bland and bitter.

This tastes sharp and the bergamot is so zesty! I will definitely buy more when I run out of this.

I steeped this, as directed, for 4 minutes. That was either way too much time or I put in too much leaf (1 heaped tsp), because the tea was overwhelmingly intense. Just too much flavor at the same time. I steeped again, for much less time, and got a cup that I could pay attention to. It was ok, I could detect the strawberry sweetness as well as the chocolate, but somehow the tastes didn’t mix well for me. I’m going to try this again with milk.

Hm. I don’t know how I feel about Buttered Rum.

I like it, but it also scares me. The scent is interesting, but kind of knocks me backwards with how pungent it is. It does smell incredibly like rum.

It’s very buttery, and I’m thinking that’s not quite my thing. I like the taste, but am perhaps not accustomed to how it feels in my mouth. I’m liking it more the further through the mug I get, though. I think this one will just have to be saved for when I am in the right mood. With what looks like lots of nasty weather ahead, maybe that’ll be more often than I think.

This time I drank the tea with a dash of honey and a bit more milk added and liked it even better. The sweetness emphasized the similarily to an SBUX pumpkin spice latte, giving the tea a sweet, carmelized flavour to accompany those fragrant spices. It makes for a very rich, and festive-tasting drink without all (or at least most, I suppose there are some in the honey) the calories.

I’m adding this tea to my shopping list – maybe when I’m down in Vancovuer this winter I’ll see about finding a David’s Tea store and picking some up.

Dear David’s Tea,
Please stop putting all your samples in itty bitty tins that I can’t get my scoop in without tea spilling everywhere.
Love Jillian.

Oh. My. God. This tastes like those Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes only better! The flavours taste more authentic and the spices are fresher and well…spicier. The addition of some milk makes it creamy and smooth-tasting, and for once I’m actually able to taste the pumpkin. The spices in this blend work really well with the pumpkin – I can taste primarily cloves and cardamom which I like better than the cinnamon that’s often used in autumn-themed teas.

I bet this would be fantastic steeped as a traditional-style chai with steamed milk and honey.

I’ve just bought a box of this tea and I have to say it’s a real shame they are discontinuing it. I wish I could buy loose tea leaves like the other teas they carry but tea bags is all they have left :(

I can’t say I’ve learned to love this one yet. I want to, because it looks great and smells pretty good (and mostly I want to experience its “jumpy” properties!). I haven’t been a fan of the mates I’ve tried, though.

This just tastes kind of bitter and rather woodsy to me, without much of the chocolate or almond. I think I need to try 1) steeping it for a shorter amount of time and 2) perhaps sweetening with a touch of stevia. It will be getting another chance.