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I used a ridiculous 4tsp of tea 500ml (~18oz) cup of tea.
That is a ridiculous quantity!
However, the tea it produced was good. I have brewed it before using recommended tea amounts, and the result was weak and watery.

Anyway, this time it is chocolatey, a super muddy looking brew, with a touch of something sightly sour and fruity, I would never know it was supposed to be strawberry if I hadn’t read it on the package.

The chilies I love chilies in tea (mmmm mango diablo), and there is the barest hint of any spice to this tea. I used 4tsp and can barely find it!

Finally I added a little bit of chocolate flavored stevia. Now I can taste the chocolate, and more of the fruit. Now it almost passes for tea.
Almost.

The flavors in this tea are really delicious, but the tea is ridiculously weak. I think 5 or 6 tsp would be enough to make it properly….

This is such an interesting tea. Mint, which I associate either with chocolate, or fresh, cool flavors, mixed with warming spices.
The taste, starts out as mint, a bright potent peppermint, followed by most strongly ginger and fennel.
The ginger is a bit on the astringent side, and the fennel is potent.

it’s an odd combination.
I’ve re-steepeed it twice, the mint flavor dwindling, and I still don’t like it any better.

I call shennigans, where is the chocolate??? This tea is bitter, little the bitterness of dark chocolate without the chocolate taste…
The green tea comes through strong, and there is a slight hint of cinnamon.
The rooibos is detectable, and overall the tea tastes faintly of tobacco.

Next, I added a couple of drops of Stevia. I don’t generally sweeten hot tea, but it was an effort to fight the bitterness.
It was successful, less bitter, the rooibos became more pronounced. Surprisingly, the chocolate did not.

Even if wasn’t expecting chocolate, I don’t enjoy this tea….

I’ve been avoiding trying this tea. It just sounds and looks so weird. Strange green pebbles…
Plus the fact I have been convinced I do not like Ginseng. Ginseng is everywhere here in Korea, usually making delicious things taste nasty (like caramel and soup).
Yesterday though, my boss offered me tea, and all she had was Ginseng tea.
So I drank it, it was tasty.
This finally emboldened me to try the David’s tea version.

Review.

First off, the instructions. to use 1.5 tsp /cup is nuts. I used a scant tsp, and it was WAY too much. 1/2 should be more than enough.

For my first steep, the ginseng had only started to come off the oolong,

Taste wise, really tasty! I love the oolong leaves, soft, mellow, gently sweet.
Then the ginseng, it is a bit bitter, a bit ‘dirt’ flavoured, and sweet.
If you are familiar with the taste of ginseng, you probably know what I mean when I say ‘dirt’ flavoured. It’s not herbal, or woodsy, but a odd natural flavor… Like an improperly washed carrot….
With that said, it’s a tasty flavor. Honestly, it add this interesting depth to the oolong.
Ginseng has this odd innate sweetness, so the tea actually tastes almost sweetened.

Spiced fig is like a fruit cake, but in a good way!
I do not like fruitcakes. But they are composed of many delicious thinks, fruit, nuts, chirstmasy spices, and cake! They should be delicious…
Spiced fig tastes like all those things (except the cake), but in a good way. It’s fruity and heavily christmas spiced.
It smells heavily of cloves, like one of those oranges with the cloves pressed into it…

It’s kind of hard to put into words why I love this tea, I really like teas that balance spicy and fruity. Like Mango diablo… I can see this tea falling in to the too heavily spiced realm for many, or too cloying for others, but it really does seem like christmas in a cup.

This time I wasn’t paying attention to temperature or time. I think I brewed it too hot.
Some weird flavors came out. an almost fishy taste.
It was off putting.
It wasn’t bitter, but the flavors were not right. Something was off.
Still, I drank the whole cup.

Would it be totally pretentious to say I never drink bagged teas anymore?
Yes, yes it would….
Sleepytime is a tea I can remember my Mom making for me when I was little.
I was actually really excited to find out there were other flavors.
So I had to pick up the vanilla.

How does it compare?
I think I like it better than the original!
It’s soft and gentle, yet flavorful. It really does taste like sleepytime with added vanilla.
Wow, that was descriptive…
It seems like they really toned down the spearmint and lemongrass. So the taste is mostly chamomile and vanilla, with the others as a backdrop.
It’s nice, the flavors are harmonious, it’s really drinkable.
Actually, It’s pretty delicious….

On my most recent foray to David’s Tea I was picking up Tea for someone else. Which prompted me to do something I never do, buy black tea.
I hate black tea.
But I picked up a number of tiny sample sizes to try.
This was one of them! I bought both Santa’s Secret and Mint to be, which is the supposed year round alternative.

98C 4 min
This tea smells amazing. Like vanilla mint black tea. It smells like yummy candy. From the smell alone I would think this would be amazing.

The taste is soft mint with with a soft candy, almost vanilla flavor. Paired with a mild sweet black tea. It’s tolerable. It’s possibly the best black tea I’ve tried, but there is no way I am going to be able to drink a whole cup.
The nice part about the mint, is it is not overwhelming. It’s is much subtler than many of David’s mint teas.
However, I suspect it would be absolutely delicious if I was a black tea drinker.

This is such a fantastic tea. It’s rich and flavorful, and endlessly drinkable.

This is the second most coconut flavoured tea I have ever come across. It smacks of coconut. I love coconut. The only one better was David’s Tea’s Spring 2013 Coconut oolong. Which was so amazing. The Oolong was more fresh coconut, and Coconut grove is more toasted coconut.
Either way, both are fantastically delicious.
Coconut grove does have a strong coconut aftertaste. the flavor is a bit like coconut cereal… (How many times can I repeat the word coconut?).
I really like it though.
I really wish David’s would add some dried cherries and call it Toasted Macaroon…. OMG that sounds amazing

Today’s first cup I brewed at the recommended 92C, steeped for 3 minutes, which was long enough to get good flavor. My next couple of cups I didn’t bother with any preciseness, and with this tea, temperature doesn’t really matter, nor time. It comes out great, with no bitterness no matter what (Well I haven’t tried dumping it straight into boiling water).

My third re-brew tasted the same as the first, shockingly it was still just as coconutty.
Yum!