16 Tasting Notes

86
drank Cranberry Pear by DAVIDsTEA
16 tasting notes

I’ve been meaning to review this tea for quite a while, along with the 30 other teas I have and haven’t reviewed yet. An argument could be made that I’m a bit of a procrastinator, but I’ll do that some other time (see I’ll even resort to really bad puns to put this review off). But I’m down to my last two teaspoons of this tea, and I prefer to review a tea while sipping it, so I’m kinda down to the wire.

My main problem with reviewing this tea is I didn’t really know what I thought of it. When I first smelled in the store I don’t know what type of mood I was in to decide to take it home with me, because it’s definitely not the type of sent/flavourful I generally go for. There’s an apple-y (from the pears), citrus-y (from the cranberries), vanilla scent to it. I can just assume the vanilla comes from the “natural flavourings” listed in the ingredients.
As an aside I just want to protest the constant use of “natural flavourings” by a lot of tea companies. While I understand they don’t legally have to list all the ingredients if they are under a certain percentage of the mix, for tea even a small amount of a spice makes a very big difference, tea companies should be aware of this, so their laziness is just inconsiderate.
When I first brewed this I didn’t like it very much, it has a distinct ‘Christmas-y’ taste to it that I usually associate with spices (that I really don’t like) like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves – those spices aren’t in here, but they’re equally associated with Christmas as whatever “natural flavours” are in this. The most prominent flavours are the pears (which do come across as apples), followed by vanilla, with bit of tang from the cranberries.
As much as I didn’t like this tea to begin with, it has grown on me. It’s a pretty light black tea, and actually pretty (wow do I ever need my thesaurus) smooth. It also has one of my favorite features in a tea, it allows me to be lazy (yep I am a hypocrite, I want to be lazy, but hate it when the tea stores are). I can just put a teaspoon of the leaves into my 16oz travel tea thermos and let them sit as long as it takes for me to drink it.
I probably won’t re-buy this one again instantly – my tea chest is getting a bit full, and I’m enjoying discovering new flavours. But I can totally see myself buying it again in the future. If I do buy it again I’ll be sure to ask the store associate to scoop around some of the fruit bits, I got a ton of cranberries this time which weight quite a bit, 60 grams of this looked more like 35 grams of Earl Grey.

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100
drank Coconut Creme by Teaopia
16 tasting notes

OK I’m redoing by previous review of this tea because it really didn’t do the drink justice. This is the smoothest green tea I’ve ever had. I’ve only tried it hot, but that’s mainly because it has so much versatility that way. It works as a substitute for hot chocolate while cuddled in front of a fire, relaxing with a good book, and enjoying a calm moment on a spring day.

I’ve done the whole proper tea etiquette thing where I take the leaves out after a few minutes, and resteep it so I can get about three cups out of it and still get decent taste.
My favourite feature of this tea however is that I can take the lazy way out (and my personal favourite) and just throw a teaspoon of the leaves into my Teaopia 16oz travel tea thermos (the type where there’s an insertable strainer between the drinking spout and the brew) and let the leave just sit in the tea as I drink. A lot of teas will go super bitter this way, but not this one. And I can still refill my travel mug for a second steeping.

Despite my love of this tea I should mention that it’s not really coconut flavoured, it tastes like almonds. Which makes sense when you consider that it’s flavoured with almonds, I don’t mind but anyone really craving coconut might.

This tea has a permanent spot on my “never let myself run of this” list.

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61
drank Chocolate Cake by DAVIDsTEA
16 tasting notes

The first time I tried this tea I didn’t like it (totally killed my mood for the rest of the day since I had been looking forward to it for so long).
Finally (ok, more like 10 days later) I gave it another try….and still didn’t like it, I don’t like adding cream to my teas because that blocks some of its health benefits, and i couldn’t find a sweetener thats taste really complimented it, well some did but it didn’t taste like cake and I wanted cake darn it!
Then I got an idea from my Teaopia fireside s’mores tea and (I bet you can get where I’m going with this) threw two mini (and very stale) marshmallows in with my tea leaves and voila! I had cake.
Now I love it, not enough to stock up with it before the end of spring like I will with the birthday cake tea, but enough that I look forward to drinking it.

On a separate note that has nothing to do with the taste the brown ‘chocolate like’ slime that’s left on the mug is icky looking, the slime left in my tea strainer is icky, and annoying (insert words not appropriate for this venue. lots and lots of those words) to clean, I basically had to put it in a pot of boiling water, now I just put the leaves straight in the cup (I didn’t drink the liquid at the very bottom anyway because as mentioned previously it reminded me way too much of sludge. I have never had that much of a problem with my strainer and other chocolate teas.

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99

I love, love, love, LOVE this tea.
I ordered it for the first time this season based on its online description as soon as it came out, aka before smelling it in store, something I normally only do for clearance teas.
I couldn’t be happier with this tea.
First impressions once I opened the tin were “Oh My Gosh! I have never seen marshmallows that small!” followed by “I smell each of the cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow parts, this is great”
Second impressions once I first brewed it was that I could taste each of the classic s’mores ingredients too, which is great since as I’ve mentioned in other posts I’m a celiac and can’t normally enjoy that.
Third impression on the second brewing is that without the marshmallows (they melted on the first brewing) I mostly got a tea that tasted like Graham crackers, which I miss greatly from my pre celiac days so smiles all around!

tigress_al

I know you rated this a long time ago. But I just got this and was wondering at what temperature and for how long you brew this at!

Robin Nicole

I’ve tried this a few different ways. You’re fine anywhere from 180-200 degrees boiling makes it bitter. I generally use 190 (to really bring out the graham cracker taste) for about 5 minutes.

tigress_al

Thanks, I gave it a try!

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100
drank Birthday Cake by DAVIDsTEA
16 tasting notes

Here’s a secret that I try to hide from other tea lovers: I don’t really like rooibos teas, sometimes their smells will trick me into buying them (see: calming wellness tea from Teaopia that I ended up giving to my mother, and Orange Truffle from Teaopia, which I do enjoy drinking, but only when I’m sick) but at the end of the day they just aren’t my thing.
When I went to DT today (making a Happy Easter even happier) I had a list of their spiring teas I planned to stock up on, and this was not on my list. Actually it was on my “don’t accidentally purchase it because it says cake” list, and yes that was a category on my list. But then I smelled it. And saw the colourful sprinkles. And heard the girls in the shop talk about how amazing it is. And caved.
Which I am so glad I did. To me it smells like a coffee cake (never a bad thing), and tastes like those cakes that used to be at every birthday party you’d go to in elementary school (Never Ever a bad thing). I have celiac so not only is this a great tea in its own right but it also lets me enjoy the old tastes of my childhood.

as an important side note to other celiacs, If you are really strict about your diet I don’t know if the sprinkles Davids uses are gluten free, I took the chance because I know a lot made in North America are now, and I’m not as strict as I should be, but you may want to look into it.
Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C

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100
drank Pina Colada by Teaopia
16 tasting notes

I love this tea, but I wish the coconut taste was stronger as I find the citrus taste tends to overpower the coconut. When I don’t mind the punch of caffeine I add Teaopia’s Coconut Green Tea for a smoother taste.
On its own it makes a great iced tea alternative for juice.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 45 sec

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Bio

OK I’m just going to do a short bio now so I can follow other people’s tea blogs without seeming too creepy, I promise to do a better (and more interesting) one soon. So probably in a couple of years.
I recently finished my college degree and and have my fingers crossed to get accepted into my grad school of choice. Once my education is all finished I want to be a librarian, mostly so I can drink tea while surrounded by books all day (and get paid for it!!) while encouraging all librarian stereotypes with my knit cardigans, pulled back hair, and glasses.
I’ve been drinking herbal tea with my mother (who I also got onto this site – HI MOMMY!!) for as long as I can remember. I started buying Orange Pekoe grounds (let’s face it there’s nothing leaf like about them) for myself in high school for the caffeine boost, and have been buying loose leaf teas ever since.
When I have to explain my love of tea to others these are generally the reasons I give:
1.) It’s like a hug in a cup, there’s something incredibly soothing about holding a warm mug and smelling your favourite scent.
2.) Although I didn’t start drinking tea for the health benefits, I will definitely enjoy them. Lower LDL levels? Protection against heart disease? Healthier skin? Yes please, sign me up.
3.) I’m a celiac and was diagnosed when I was 13, which was late enough in life that I know exactly what I’m missing out on. I don’t really care that cake tea, or s’mores tea has less calories than the actual product, but I do LOVE that I can sit and smell things I’ve missed while tasting something that’s similar (and often better than their gluten free replicas).

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British Columbia, Canada

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