16899 Tasting Notes
Cold Brew!
Definitely a sweeter fruit blend with a noticeable bit of stevia in the aftertaste, which I have struggled with a bit in the past. However, I do love a pear blend and so it’s been kind of nice revisiting this blend over the last few months (it was in the advent this past year) with sort of readjusted expectations. Basically, just knowing going into brewing it that it is quite sweet…
And so, when I prepped this cold brew, it was coming from a place of really craving something much more sweet and juicy. Given that’s what I was seeking, this tea really delivers! It’s bright and almost even just a smidge peachy at times with such an incredibly ripe, succulent, and dewy pear note with a floral-ish undertone. I want to have it as a tea pop because I just feel like those fresh, tender orchard notes would really shine with a little effervescence.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
I feel like I was sort of just indulging in favourite blends the last few days, and this was one of them! Definitely a cooling, crisper side from the peppermint in the blend and I do enjoy that, but it’s that sweet and very creamy almost pistachio pudding-like flavour that I was seeking out when I decided to brew this one up last night. I sipped on it slowly while watching some TV last night and it was just a solid little wind down moment.
Made this as a Western style mug of tea and I wish I could say that I really tasted the cedar oil in the blend, but it just doesn’t seem to really come through. That said, it was still a nice mug of tea with a smoother medium-body and woody (just not cedar) leaning profile with some undertones of stonefruit and maybe, like, ginseng? Not as astringent as I’ve found it to be in the past, and once I got over the initial disappointment of no cedar I did really like the mug.
Made this earlier in the week and though it was fine tasting I did find myself thinking it was rather light in both taste and body as I was drinking it. I don’t think it was because of my steeping as I used water just off a boil and my standard five-ish minute long steep. So, it was just a bit strange. Still pleasant though, with smooth notes of both bergamot and lavender. Actually, because it was a little lighter I felt like maybe the lavender came out a little stronger than it normally does? Give it was a stressful afternoon, the extra lavender was a boon more than a bummer.
Brewed this one up yesterday! I’ve just been seeing blackberry everywhere the last few months and with Starbuck’s most recent launch of their Blackberry Sage refresher it made me think of this blend – one of my favourites from Adagio.
I actually tried the Starbucks drink and I thought it was disappointingly light on the sage, though I can see how most people probably wouldn’t want a ton of sage – it’s a little more of a polarizing flavour, so the conservative approach was probably the most commercially safe option. In contrast, this is pretty sage forward in such a soothingly aromatic way. Sage is great for aromatherapy, and I definitely was feeling that sort of blissful, relaxed vibe as I drank this mug. It’s still blackberry in a sweet, jammy and dark kind of way – but it’s almost like the reverse of the Starbucks drink which was primarily blackberry with a little sage.
Man I love this blend, though!
Tea Pop!
One of my favourite year-round blends from DT, and honestly something I should probably drink more than I actually do since it brings me so much joy. Yesterday a coworker and I made some teapops to enjoy in the afternoon, and this was the tea I picked out for us. It just slaps every time. Sweet, juicy raspberry with that soft, creamy sort of finish that rounds out the whole drink. Very refreshing!
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Holy snow day!! Today was basically endless white in every direction you looked, so it was the perfect time to get cozy and try out this tea – one of the new teas I picked up from Toronto Tea Festival this year, and also a new (to me) tea company as well!! This tea won the black tea category of this year’s blind tasting competition, and it’s not hard to see why. Though I would maybe personally prefer a bit of a richer and more sweet milk chocolate note, the tea is undeniably very, very smooth with a pretty solid balance between the cocoa and creamy flavours with a brisk, malty and more full-bodied black tea base. It’s perfectly comforting on a day spent bundled up indoors. Well, other than the quick jaunt outside to snap some tea photos…
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGB4auQS3dK/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iThlpKPtsdo&ab_channel=TeenageDads
A tea enjoyed yesterday for Valentine’s Day!
What could be more on theme than oversized heart-shaped shortbread cookies dunked into a delicious teacup of this black tea blend with a splash of coconut milk? Like a lot of teas I’m drinking this month, this was a pick up from Toronto Tea Festival! The sweet raspberry and chocolate notes of the dry leaf won me over and, now that I’m brewing it up myself, I’m happy to report that it’s just a rich, jammy and wonderful once steeped with the perfect balance of berry and cocoa alongside a more brisk, full-bodied black tea. It’s even interestingly just a little bit nutty in its undertones, which was unexpected but welcome.
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGEgkPsy0ym/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xee_2r-5L2U&ab_channel=CameronWinter
Cold Brew!
Smooth, fruity, floral, and fresh with a great balance between jammier Saskatoon berry notes with just a little bit of fleeting tartness on the top notes of the initial sip that capture the pleasant burst of flavour you get eating real Saskatoons straight off the bush in the summer. At times I felt like I was getting a smidge of welcome cranberry, and the aftertaste was a little rosy with the honeyed sweetness of the rooibos. Made me feel just a bit homesick.
Iced!
There’s a lot of different fruits in this blend and none of them specifically stand out as, like, a singular flavour you can taste. It’s sort of just a more mellow and refreshing tea that kind of tastes “generically pink”. I guess maybe mixed berry if you wanted to get specific, and if I was blind tasting I could see a world where I interpreted the notes as a more floral lean and less conventionally sweet/tart strawberry note??
But to be super honest I really think that my brain would go to strawberry more so because the aftertaste is sooooo fresh and basil forward? Just a really good clean, crisp herbaceousness from the tulsi. Why would that make me think strawberry? Simply just because strawberry and basil are a much more common pairing that really any other berries/fruits. But all that said I enjoyed this a lot! I didn’t need it to have a really clear fruity flavour direction to still be refreshing and balanced feeling with the white tea base and tulsi inclusion.
