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I’ve had so many varieties of Chai tea over the years but never one that’s been called “pure”, it will be interesting to see how DT’s version stands up to others that I’ve had.

Dry this tea smells like cinnamon… I really can’t detect (or even see) any cloves in there so I’m really hoping that they come out in the flavor profile otherwise I’m going to be highly disappointed. The cinnamon even manages (to me) to overpower the black tea base, which is unfortunate as many other Chai’s that I’ve had the spice is the complement to the tea not the predominant aroma/flavor.

That said it brews up a lovely deep red-brown color and though the main aroma was still filled with cinnamon it was more subtle then what was present in the dry tea. The cloves are a very faint scent at this time and I was also able to pick out the black tea as well.

Flavor wise… it’s not the most impressive chai that I’ve ever had. The first thing that hits me is cinnamon which would be fine if there wasn’t so much of it drowning out the other flavors. I still can’t quite pick out the distinct clove flavors and the black tea is just “there” it doesn’t really stand on its own enough to really say much about it. It does have a pretty good mouth feel though, warm, full and a bit dry on the end notes exactly like a decent black tea should be.

In the end it’s not bad if you don’t mind cinnamon but I don’t really find this tea much to write home about.

I love ginger and use it quite often when cooking (tip: to make grating your ginger easier, freeze it first!), but a tea based on ginger? Now that sounded interesting. I had an order that I was putting together for DT’s that just needed one more tea to reach the free shipping level so I decided to throw this in just for kicks and see what happened…

Dry this tea smells of ginger with pepper and sweetness all mixed in. I had a hard time picking out the rosehips but the orange and licorice flavors would peak out at me every once and a while… though they got a bit lost in the stronger aromas from the other spices (not that I mind… the name of this one does include the word “Heat” in it :D).

Steeped the liquor comes out a clear pale yellow-green while the aroma becomes much more subtle. The ginger is still there and the orange comes through now, but the scent has lots most of its spicy heat that really called to me in the dry tea.

Oh there’s the heat… that first sip warm and tingly from the ginger and the pepper but sweet and not overwhelming. In actuality it’s not really that spicy at all, just enough to heat up your mouth and then cooling down right away to a pleasant lingering buzz. This is definitely a sweeter tea than I was expecting with all the spiciness in it, the licorice and orange help to cut down on the ginger and round out the flavors of this tea nicely. You can get a hint of the green tea that this is based on every little bit but it’s not a predominant flavor note. Nor can I really find the rosehips, oh well.

This tea, it changes during every sip I take one note giving way to another in an intriguing play of flavors… I like it, and though I can’t see myself drinking it all the time, I hope to keep some on hand for the foreseeable future.

This is a tea that grew on me. I got it as part of a Christmas gift last December and I wasn’t sure what to think. I often find cranberries too tart for me and a tea named after (and packed with) them just didn’t sound like it would be a good idea. My fears proved to be true the first time I tried it… it just wasn’t what I was looking for. But then I had another cup (it was the only tea handy at the time and I’d rather it than plain hot water) and it got better.

It’s a very visually appealing tea, there’s lots of color and the berries and anise really stand out, making it a somewhat rustic looking tea. But those berries… they’re large, heavy and end up throwing off any kind of measurement, both in the store and at home. I found that I had to over “leaf” this tea to get the full flavor effect and since the berries weigh much more than the rest of the ingredients you have to purchase a fairly large amount to get enough tea.

That said the aroma of the dry tea is quite nice. The tartness of the cranberry is offset by the sweetness of the star anise and apple. You can just catch hints of the cinnamon mixed in with the safflower, both of which help to round out the scent profile. I didn’t find it to be overly done with anise either (I’ve run across some teas that end up overdoing this particular spice… it’s usually not a good end :( )

When steeped the liquor becomes a lovely clear golden shade which retains the cranberry scent. The hints of cinnamon and safflower are still there but the notes from the anise and apple become quite muddled. Overall I found the tea to have a fainter scent profile than some other fruit based teas that I’ve encountered.

The flavor of the tea is quite interesting too. The cranberry is distinct but not overpowering, and it’s tartness is smoothed out by the addition of the anise and the warmth of the cinnamon. The safflower really starts to stand out now as well. The remaining ingredients aren’t distinct enough to really pick out but they contribute to an overall flavor profile that is subtle, smooth and much sweeter than I was expecting… There are hidden depths to this tea that really cause me to sit down and think about it rather than just having it as an aside.

For those mornings when I need a bit more of a boost I pull out one of the mate’s that I have in my cupboard. This one in particular is aptly named…

Dry this tea smells of dark chocolate covered raspberries. The roasted mate and chicory notes help to boost the aroma into a complex and tantalizing dance that just draws you in.

Steeped the liquor comes out a medium brown with a few particulates that will eventually settle to the bottom of your cup/pot. I find that I lose a fair bit of the raspberry scent when brewed but the almonds and chicory really start to shine through. The chocolate scent becomes much more subtle as well.

It’s funny thinking back on it, the first thing that went through my mind when I tasted this tea was “huh.” All the flavors were there, the raspberries (a bit fake in flavor but not bad), the chocolate, chicory, mate… even the almonds. But I personally found the combination a bit odd. I wasn’t sure I liked it at first to be honest, it was complex but not in a smooth way; it literally felt like the flavors were battling it out in my mouth, each one fighting to supersede the other. The more I drank though the more I started to appreciate the “rocket” going off in my mouth, and not only did the caffeine in the mate wake me up but the flavor battle did as well.

In the end it’s a decent tea to have on-hand when you’re looking for a “different” tea to wake up with. Not sure I’ll restock it myself though.

This was a tea that surprised me… I had seen it online but I’m not a huge peppercorn fan (I like heat but I’ve never been able to handle peppercorns well) so I wasn’t really looking to try it. But it came as part of the chocolate lovers gift set so I figured why not, if I don’t like it I’ll find someone who will. Then I brewed my first cup and ya… I’m certainly not giving this one away!

Dry this tea screams “*Chocolate*”. Sweet and dark, with just enough mint to cut through some of the (almost overwhelming) chocolate scent and a slight tang coming from the peppercorn. Right from the first scent I just really wanted to sit there and smell it forever, it was that good.

Brewed you get a clear orange-brown liquor that smells of a wonderful mix of peppermint and dark chocolate. And the flavor… Yum! The black tea forms a great, somewhat earthy, base for the chocolate and mixes well with the refreshing peppermint flavor. There’s just a touch of heat from the peppercorn, not enough to really pick it out as “pepper” which is what I was afraid of from the start. The mouth-feel is full and rich but not heavy. It reminds me quite a bit of DT’s “Santa’s Secret” but with a darker (and deeper in a way) flavor profile.

Honestly this tea turned out to be the dark-horse of the gift pack; warm, robust and refreshing. I hope to keep my cupboard well stocked with this it for quite some time.

Fall is definitely here, the trees are turning colors and there was frost on the ground when I woke up this morning. I’m not a huge winter/cold weather fan (though when you live in an area where the seasons should be named “Almost Winter”, “Winter”, “Still Winter” and “Road Construction” you have to be able to enjoy at least some of the cold weather or else go insane :D) but it’s mornings like this one that really make me want to stop and take in a deep breath of that crisp air… and then go inside and have some lovely tea!

Another first time tea for me; this one was one of the reasons I made sure to stop off at DT’s last week. I love spice cookies and cake (though a gluten allergy has caused me to start looking for new recipes to try) and as such this tea seemed like the perfect one for me.

Dry this tea has a wonderful aroma of cloves, cinnamon and vanilla. There’s a few higher fruity/flowery notes from the apple and marigold that weave through the scent, helping lighten it just enough that the spices don’t just bash you over the head. It is a bit heavy on the cloves but I like that particular spice so that’s not a huge issue for me. There is also a distinct sweet scent to this tea, not enough to be cloying but it certainly lives up to its name.

Steeped the liquor comes out with a lovely clear orange-brown color with an accompanying scent of clove, just touched with cinnamon and vanilla. I lose a bit of the higher notes found in the dry tea but every once and a while I can pick out the carrot that is hidden in there.

The flavor profile is interesting, very similar to a sweet chai for me. The clove is still the predominate flavor, though the cinnamon helps to break it up some and both spices linger a bit in your mouth (no heat just the flavor.) As for the “sugar”, I’m actually quite surprised at how well DT managed to make this sweet without over-doing it… going by the scent I was expecting much more sweetness but in the end (and with that touch of vanilla) it was just right for me. What was also surprising was the mouth-feel, quite light considering that it is based on a black tea. The other ingredients (apples, carrot, marigold and the tea itself) don’t really jump out at me; I can tell at times that they are there but though they help to round out the flavor, they don’t sing together quite like I was expecting.

Overall a pretty good tea in my opinion, spicy yet sweet with just enough other flavors to elevate what otherwise might be a fairly one-note tea. This one I will definitely try steeped in milk one day just to add a bit of richness to it…

I swear I’m awake… really I am. That cloudy 6 degree Celsius (that’s 42F for those of you in the US) 15 minute walk to public transport in order get to work in should be enough to wake anyone up in late September. And yet here I am at work and I can barely keep my eyes open; so time for some tea!

Hmm…. Pumpkin Chai, how I love thee. Seriously, this is one of my all-time favorite flavored teas, and one of the first that I ever tried from David’s Tea. That said, until today I had only tried one of the earlier versions and with some of the recent comments that I’ve been about this tea, specifically about how DT has changed it up a bit, I’m not certain if it will remain one of my top picks, so I guess I’ll have to just try it out

Dry this tea has a very sweet, strong pumpkin and spice aroma to it. It always reminds me of when my mother would bake pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving (which is now only a few short weeks away… where has the summer gone!!) The sweet scent carries a definite caramel flavor to it with just hints of bright citrus to keep it from being too heavy.

Brewing tip: leave lots of room for this tea to expand; the tea leaves are rolled fairly tightly and can quickly take up quite a bit of space once they start to steep. The liquor comes out as a rich red-brown, and there are some particulates from the spices floating in which makes it a bit murky. And the smell… very nice mix of spice, pumpkin and tea though not as strong as I’m used to it being.

As for the taste… The black tea serves quite nicely as a great base for this tea, it really gives a lovely earthiness to the flavor and provides a wonderful warm and somewhat rich mouth-feel. And the pumpkin is quite predominant as well with just enough sweetness to balance that flavor out. But the spice… I have to agree with some of the more recent comments, it’s not the same. The pumpkin chai I remember had a lot more spice to it, don’t get me wrong the spice is still there but just not enough to call it a true “chai” tea. Maybe it’s just the spoonful that I had but ya… I’m actually rather disappointed.

Well… it’s still a great tea but I can’t give it the rating I would have previously. That lack of spice in the flavor profile makes it a bit unbalanced in my opinion. Maybe when I have it again I’ll actually get the full spice flavor that I was missing, otherwise I might just have to add my own spice to help get it back to the wonderful tea that it was.

A few nights ago we were at the mall getting my mother-in-law’s iPod checked out (silly buttons that don’t want to work) and I decided to stop by and have a sniff of the “new” fall flavors. I went in expecting to walk out with at least some tea (needed to stock up on pumpkin chai at the very least!) but not this one. I remember reading its description when it first came out and thinking that’s waaaay to many ingredients, but when I had a chance to really smell it I was intrigued enough to get a small amount to sample. (Had a great chat with the assistant while she measured out my order; there’s no way I could work at a tea shop… I’d have no money left!! :D)

Dry this tea is very visually interesting; filled with coffee beans and berries, more so than I had originally expected compared to the amount of mate. The strong aroma is an interesting mix of the fresh, sweetness of the fruits and the dark rich notes that come from the coffee and the roasted mate. But there is a definite artificial note that kind of hangs throughout this tea, one of the previous reviewers likened it to cherry cough drops, which for me wasn’t far off the mark. But it wasn’t off putting enough to stop me from trying it.

When brewed the liquor comes out a murky brown, filled with particulates from the various powders that are part of the ingredient list. The scent changed every breath I took: first sniff… “Wow coffee!”; second sniff “Lots of berries”; third? “Oh there’s the mate… and more berries.” There was still that artificial cherry tang as well but it’s less potent steeped then it was dry.

My first sip though was quite disappointing; after the strong showy aroma of both the dry and steeped versions I was expecting an explosion of flavor in my mouth… but alas I was out of luck (I even tried a longer steeping time, doubling what was recommended, it still didn’t help. In the end the flavor was still quite weak and just didn’t match the scent profile.) The light mouth-feel lead into berries, berries and more berries; but they’re so mixed it’s hard to really pick out one distinct flavor. And sadly I found the artificial cherry flavor to be predominant, almost entirely overwhelming the coffee and mate notes underneath it. Plus, it left a very off aftertaste in my mouth which is not a great way to finish a new tea experience.

I think this might be a case of too many ingredients leading to an overall muddled tea that just, for me, lacked balance. Which is too bad, I think the idea of a fruity coffee flavored tea to be a wonderful idea, but unfortunately DT’s execution came up short.

I believe I’ve mentioned before that I’m a chocoholic… So in the spirit of indulging myself I got DT’s chocolate gift set earlier this year and ohhh boy was I ever a happy camper :D One of my favorites in the set is this tea. Dark and warm but refreshing at the same time it just hits the spot when you’re looking for something comforting but with a twist.

Dry this tea reminds me of smelling one of those chocolate oranges that show up around Christmas time; warm chocolate, bright orange, just the right amount of sweet and a touch of dark earthiness from the Pu’erh. It’s completely addicting, to the point that it’s almost (but only almost!) enough just to smell it.

When steeped this tea produces a dark brown liquor which gives off an aroma similar to freshly baked dark chocolate orange cookies. The orange isn’t as bright at this point as the pu’erh base really starts to shine through, enhancing the chocolate scent. Fair warning, there may be a bit of “film” on the top of this tea, between the oils from the orange zest and the chocolate fats it’s not surprising, nor do I personally find it distasteful, though don’t forget to wash your infuser out after! :)

But the taste of this one… Complex and yet lovely at the same time. Neither the orange, nor the chocolate manage to overwhelm the pu’erh or each other… they all find this very interesting balance, almost a dance of sorts where they trade off the “spotlight” as it were. One sip you get a bit more orange; another more chocolate; the next the earthiness of the pu’erh shines through. The mouth-feel is full, and rich but not dense and lends itself well to the flavors found in this tea.

And the best part? The second steeping is just as good as the first! :D

Another sample package from DT’s, one that I was intrigued by… honeydew mate. I enjoy the fresh fruit, but I’ve never been able to find anything else that actually was able to replicate the actual flavor without it becoming artificial. Well with nothing to do but try it out :D

Dry this tea punches you in the face with it’s extremely sweet scent. It does actually smell like honeydew (if a bit artificial and concentrated) so it’s somewhat of a success on that side of things but I can’t really find the other scents due to how overpowering the sweet honeydew aroma is.

Steeped this tea’s liquor is a clear orange color. It still smells like honeydew but luckily isn’t as sweet as the dry tea and it has lost some of that artificial scent. Instead you can actually start to smell the yerba mate as a slightly darker note underneath the honeydew along with a very slight floral tone from the hibiscus.

The flavor profile is very light and definitely maintains that honeydew flavor; I was quite surprised at how real that flavor became after steeping, especially given the artificial quality of the dry tea’s scent. And the mate warms up the melon flavor quite nicely, it’s actually almost like drinking the fruit portion of a crumble, it has that kind of baked quality to it. As for the hibiscus, you get hits of it every once and a while, just enough to round out the top end of the flavor profile but without giving it an overly floral flavor. As for the green rooibos, it helps to lighten the mate up enough to really make this blend work but flavor wise I don’t find that it really added much. Then again I think that if this tea was any more complicated it would fall through, it’s the simplicity that really helps it to balance out.

Overall I was quite surprised by this tea, it successfully pulled off a hard flavor without it being overly artificial. Light and refreshing it would be good hot or cold and can really wake up your palette on those days when everything seems to be a bit dull.