13965 Tasting Notes
Cold Brew Sipdown (1950)!
I had a bit of an awkward amount of tea leaf left in my pouch and, in all honestly, I probably should have split this up into either two cold brews or a mix of cold and hot cups. However, I’ve been doing so well with sipdowns that I got excited by another and I just dumped the rest of the bag into my little cold brew bottle.
It was a mistake because, even for a cold brew (which are usually smoother and not bitter at all) this was too much tea. It was very strong and the tannins of the white tea outweighed the jammy blueberry notes I usually love from this blend. It was a bit of a bittersweet way to finish off the bag.
This was a gift from the Montreal Tea Festival!
I had this as a Western cuppa last Thursday while I was in office. I’m gonna be honest, I remember drinking the cup and noting that it was pretty good but not great and… well, that’s almost everything I remember about it. Oops.
In my little sticky pad of tea jot notes I wrote down “toasty” but I don’t actually mentally recall that – and not sure if I meant toasted in a nutty sense, or grains or just something else…
Sipped earlier in the week.
Something about this cup came out just a tiny but sulpher-like in taste, but not in an off putting way. Mostly I got clove and fennel but with a more brisk, tannic black tea and hints of black pepper. Those tannins and the peppery were such a nice compliment to the hint of more pithy yuzu. Really meshes those flavours together quite cohesively. Sometimes I wish the yuzu was a bit brighter and more acidic because I think the added pop of flavour would really take this from a solid tea to a superb one. However, it also wouldn’t be as nuanced, and the nuance adds a sophistication that I also appreciate.
Just like I noted last time I had this tea, there’s something very bubblegum like in how the different fruit notes combine together with the ginger. Like, if I stopped and thought about what I was drinking I could pick out the tart top notes of cranberry, the more sweet orange, and the earthiness of the ginger. If I let myself drink the cup absentmindedly then they blurred together into hubba bubba.
However, the finish of each sip always tasted like tulsi regardless of the above.
(Also, bubblegum or no bubblegum, I still like the blend!)
Steeped this one up earlier in the week. It’s one of the few teas from Snarky that I got in sachet format, since that’s all that was offered on their site. The smell reminds me a lot of DT’s now discontinued Chocolate Orange Pu’erh – both dry and as it was brewing.
I wasn’t very fond of the pu’erh base itself in this blend – it was pretty funky in taste and didn’t seem super well settled. Kind of that fishy vibe that newbie pu’erh drinkers often associate with shou that’s simply just too fresh/not aired out. The chocolate was nice and fudge-y though, and the orange just right. Like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange.
The pu’erh got better as the tea cooled down, but it’s just not my favourite.
So, I think this cup was a lot closer to what I wanted my first one to be. It was very basil forward and that taste made for a deliciously crisp and refreshing cuppa that reminded me a lot of my grandma’s herd garden growing up – but also a bit Thai in influence as well. The cinnamon was lighter this go round, and more concentrated towards the finish and I thought it complimented the natural clove notes that were present within the basil itself. Very, very different but wouldn’t have it any other way!
Cold Brew!
Let this one go in the fridge longer than intended and the result is that it’s very forward with the green rooibos notes, but it finishes bright and tart with those cranberry and lime notes leaving a pleasant hint of sweetness on the tip of the tongue after each sip.
Another one that I had earlier today because, I guess, it was a green tea sorta day at the office!? It was so pleasant though. Like a liquid creamsicle, but just way more gentle and soothing and without the cloying level of sugar. All the elements present, though!
Dipped into my office stash of this one earlier in the week, after a heavy snowstorm when I just needed something rich and comforting that would be a total hug in a mug. It’s thick, silky and custard heavy with beautiful golden apple notes. Always, always, always a favourite.
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.
