9560 Tasting Notes
Cold Brew!
This is the last cold brew from this past week. I found it pretty nice; I enjoy cold brewing rooibos blends a lot though I feel slightly conflicted because I prefer to start my morning commute with something caffeinated – though rooibos is super refreshing. In terms of taste, the rooibos comes through clearly but not dominantly. It does taste like cola, but a cola with more weight towards the citrus (re: lime) in the flavour combination. A little bit of a cola with more brightness/“higher” notes as well. Could use a bit more richness from the vanilla/marshmallow to round out the flavour, but it’s there just not in the intensity that I would personally prefer.
Cold Brew!
Loved this one as a cold brew – I could have probably chugged a whole pitcher of it without blinking. Tasted nutty/herbal from the coffee leaf (so hard to describe; it’s such a distinct but unique flavour) but also a little floral, and a little bit like the strawberry “purse candies” that Grandma’s seem to always have – except a blueberry version of those candies…
Mmm!
Cold Brew!
This tea recently came back online only as a limited edition blend, but I’m still drinking through my older stash of it from before it was retired. I’m a little less enamored with this particular brew for a few reasons – the primary one is that, as the flavours/citrus in the blend have aged, I’m noticing the stevia a lot more in the finishing flavours and lingering on the back of my tongue. I have a high tolerance for stevia, so if it’s bugging me then surely it must really be bad, right!? The second reason is just that the citrus has gotten a bit weird with age – it’s done this thing where it’s gotten “sharper” and more acidic, but less in the way where citrus/lemon usually has some bite and more in a vinegary way.
Still drinkable, but not what it used to be when fresh.
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.
Cold Brew!
I had this one yesterday, and I enjoyed it a lot. More of a sweet lychee syrup or lychee candy with strawberry cordial/grenadine vibe – so, bottom line, sweet. Quite juicy too, and a little bit floral – but not overly. I think I’ve expressed this before, but this is the sort of tea I enjoy a lot but very infrequently – because it’s so sweet/rich I know I would get sick of it quickly if I drank it frequently. It’s best enjoyed as a refreshing “treat” for me…
Having air conditioning this summer has been deeply blissful; last summer I felt like I was basically baking in my apartment and this summer is already infinitely more manageable due to the air conditioning. However, a super chilled cold brew right out of the fridge during the afternoon is pretty hard to beat.
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.
Cold Brew!
The queen of cold brew is back at it, y’all! I mean, I don’t know if I ever really stopped being at it, but I definitely slowed down in the winter and now I’m revving into high gear with multiple cold brews daily…
One more cup and this is a sipdown – it’s good timing, the flavour of the leaf is pretty diminished but in that sort of “sweet spot” where it’s pretty light/mild but neither flat or rancid yet. This is one of the oldest rooibos teas in my stash, so it’s impressive it held up this long in the first place. The cold brew was majority sweet and smooth mineral, wood, and honey tasting rooibos with light notes of marzipan and papaya. Refreshing, easy sipping and I don’t mind the quality of the rooibos base used so even though I’d have loved a richer almond flavour the rooibos shining through isn’t a huge negative for me.
Gongfu!
The second tea from Friday night’s online tea session with Teajay – 2018 “In Bloom” Jingmai Huangpian – which he actually picked out from my stash for me to drink. It was a good selection! I had it in this gorgeous, but very lumpy, bumpy and impractical to drink from teacup that I actually sculpted and glazed myself back in highschool. I was NOT a tea drinker then, so I definitely made it for the “aesthetic” without realizing how insanely impractical it is! The tea was pretty lovely, with an incredible anise aroma on the dry and steep leaf that had me feeling all heart eyes!! Steeped up, the taste was more more of a heady floral profile with a greener backbone. Still pretty smooth and even a little creamy. The oolong I had just brewed out was mind blowing though; so it was hard to compete with that…
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAip2vBAoxv/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wupqoofgrok
Something else that I had Grandpa style at work earlier this week – and managed to nurse it all throughout the day too without the leaves giving out on me.
Definitely very smooth, and woody/earthy with just a clean and clear profile; not very “wet” tasting but more hinting at soft plum or date notes. Lacking a little bit of body, but still pretty rich. Really easy to sip on, and gives you a nicer body feeling too. Warming.
Grandpa style!
Placed an impulse order with Soocha a few weeks ago, primarily for this Mistletoe, and it ended up being a whole weird and complicated ordeal…
Basically, they shipped out the package and then a few days later I got a Canada Post delivery notification, but no package. So, I waited a few days just in case and when the package still didn’t get delivered I contacted Soocha to see if they could open a claim to look into it. I know that Canada Post is INSANELY busy right now, and I’m definitely not concerned about delayed delivery times – but I was a bit more concerned about having potentially lost a $60 tea order because it was incorrectly delivered.
Soocha was great about it though – they filed a claim and, when it started looking like it was going to take a long time for CP to even begin looking into it, they decided to just ship out a replacement package. Eventually the replacement package showed up, and on the same day the original one also showed up – which they said to just keep though I’m going to pass it on to a different local tea friend – feels only right to share the generosity…
So after all that, I had to try the mistletoe right away!!
I’ll be honest, I didn’t take notes – but it was incredible and very unique/distinct. Going by my hazy memory I would say the flavour notes that immediately come to mind would be like brazil nuts, very lightly toasted pumpkin or butternut squash, sweet potato, and like a woody element!? Definitely very cozy and comforting, and a little sweet and a little more savory/umami.
Mistletoe gets one big HELL YEAH from me!
A hot cuppa from earlier in the week!
I enjoyed this cup overall but there was an interesting top note to the infusion that I found a little hard to put my finger on. It definitely had that brightness and acidity of the apple in the blend, but also seemed to be tinged with the high notes of a sharp ginger and something more herbaceous like dill (so weird!). It quickly passed, and the rest was more caramelized pumpkin and warming, sweet spice notes like cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg…
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.
