17496 Tasting Notes
This is the other new matcha flavour that came out while I was away in Europe!
Like Key Lime, this one took a lot of adjustment to get just right. It was important to me to have both a distinct frosting note but also that warm, cozy sort of cinnamon flavour. We tried a bunch of versions, some of which used cinnamon flavouring. They were nice, but I just felt they lacked a sort of authenticity? Eventually we switched to powdered cinnamon, which was the game changer I was looking for. Perfectly warm and cozy, and really tasty with the creamy vanilla notes.
Getting the level of cinnamon powder right was its own challenge – enough to impart the taste but not make the mouthfeel drying. And we didn’t want to colour of the matcha to be too brown, either. I really love this type of trial though, and it’s so satisfying when you finally find the right balance!
Though I do enjoy this matcha plain, I think it really sings when you make it as a latte. Hot or iced it’s delicious, though this time of year I’m definitely leaning more towards iced. I especially think fans of some of our more autumnally coded matcha flavours (Pumpkin Pie, Chai, Gingerbread, etc) will really resonate with this one, and I think it’s especially nice to have this flavour around this time of year given how much we typically tend to stack the Spring/Summer matcha releases with fruitier flavours and the Fall/Holiday releases with more decadent and cozy. More variety, in my opinion, is never a bad thing!
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.
While I was away in Europe, we launched two brand new matcha flavours for the Summer! This is my personal favourite of the two, although I have to admit I am an EXTREMELY big fan of both and it has been very, very hard waiting for them to launch…
I’ve wanted to do a key lime pie inspired matcha for a really long time, and it took quite a while to get this one right. In fact, originally I’d been working on it with the hope it would launch with all the citrus teas last year, like Lemon Meringue. The tricker was that I wanted that bright, sweet taste of lime curd like in the pie filling but I also wasn’t willing to budge on this being a matcha that would be safe to make as a latte. So, no added acidity for that extra brightness!
I’m really happy with the final blend though! It’s fresh and fruity with that sweet lime note but also really rich and creamy tasting too, and I’m especially happy to report that it makes the most AMAZING matcha latte. Hot or iced, though I mostly drink it iced. For the last few weeks I’ve had a 500g bag of it by my desk that I’ve just been dipping into as my go-to 3PM matcha latte to push through the last little bit of the day. It’s the perfect little indulgent and energizing treat!
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 finally got around to trying this (one of my last teas to try from Toronto Tea Festival) and it was just okay, at least to me. Maybe I’d like it more if I liked coffee more, but it wasn’t really the coffee I took issue with. The coffee was smooth, full bodied and earthy with a sort of medium roast to it. It tasted kind of like how it smells when you walk into a Starbucks or similar coffee chai. I really wish I’d tasted more cherry, though. Instead I thought the bit of top note bright fruity flavour read almost more like the natural acidity that would come from roasted chicory or dandelion roots instead of cherry. Sort of a so-so cuppa for me…
Has this hot as an afternoon cuppa yesterday and I enjoyed it. It reminds me a lot of DT’s Buddha’s Blend even though the flavours aren’t totally the same. Both are light to medium bodied white tea blends with a fresh, and just a bit bright stonefruit note and a floral finish, though. In this case I think the apricot in this blend is ever so slightly jammier and the floral of the elderflower a little tamer. Still a similar relaxing and slightly ethereal vibe, though!
Sipdown (2901)!
I finished this off over the weekend and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I think it’s supposed to be lavender and lemon? The lavender definitely comes through very strongly, but not strong in a perfume or chemical sort of way. It’s just fresh, aromatic and wrapped up in a bit of a natural sweetness that feels little creamy like a vanilla but also a touch honeyed. I personally love the rooibos that Bird & Blend uses and I think that sweeter taste of it really worked well here. I suppose it’s also citrusy, but I really think that smooth, supple lavender really store the show. It made for a really soothing and relaxing brew.
Iced!
I really, really wish that Whittard had offered their instant teas in some kind of sample pack (maybe in stick pack format) because they all sounded really good and I would have really liked to have taste them all. As it is, they were only sold individually in these large tubes that were pretty heavy. So, we just picked one flavour to bring back with us…
I thought this was interesting because it was sort of exactly what I expected but also so different!? Obviously it’s sweet. I knew to expect that after sampling some of the other flavours in store. However, compared to the in store samples it was much less intense than I’d expected. As a powder you can obviously easily control the intensity by using more or less powder/water, but following tin instructions I’d just expected a more sugary cup than I actually got.
I knew the rose would be milder than the lychee because rose is just so much more of a polarizing flavour, and that was true. I’d call this a juicy, fresh and lychee forward drink. However, the rose wasn’t actually as muted as I’d expected and it was a VERY lush, fresh, and natural tasting rose than leaned in so perfectly with the supple notes of the lychee too. Really balanced, but distinctly floral in a way I think would appeal to even people who typically don’t tend to like rosy flavours. It was just very refreshing and accessible feeling!
…and bonus points for whisking up a sort of dusty rose/blush pink kind of colour.
Iced!
I’m so excited to see that Blume is continuing to expand their SuperBelly line because I really, really like this product. A tropical flavour just feels like the perfect fresh, summery introduction to balance out the other flavours offered. I had to buy it.
To be honest, I was surprised that this wasn’t more intensely tangy and sweet than it actually is. I mean, it’s still got some tang to it from the apple cider vinegar inclusion and I’d still overall describe it as a juicy, sweet tropical mango flavour. I think I just expected them to go a bit bolder given how much flavour is packed into the others. This is NOT a complaint though, and I think the balance of flavours is actually quite refreshing and smooth. More mango than passion fruit, but given all the marketing and photo assets leading up to this release that’s what I’d expected. Plus, you can obviously make it more intense tasting by either using less water or doubling up on the stick packs.
Does it dethrone Acai Pomegranate as my favourite? Nope, not a chance. But I can definitely see this growing on me and comfortably becoming a solid second favourite.
This was exciting to me because I quite like ginseng as a focus-aid, and in reasonable levels I like the taste of ginseng a lot too. I actually drink a fair bit of mate (especially in the morning) for a similar reason as I find I personally benefit a lot from the more focus-boosting, naturally stimulating properties…
Taste wise I thought it was fine. The tropical notes are pretty nice with the mango being leaned on more heavily than the pineapple. It’s juicy and sweet in a safe, commercial sort of way. I do get a little bit of that woodier undertone ginseng tends to have, but I think it plays pretty well with the fruit. As someone who knows that’s what ginseng tastes like, I find it easy to dismiss and I would like to think it’s also still mild enough to not be an issue for people unfamiliar with the ingredient too. Unfortunately the finish of this was awfully sweet. Definitely has that signature stevia taste, and I struggled a bit to look past it.
The Twinings store was cool to visit because their in person selection is just so, so much greater than anything we’d ever have in North America – even from the online shop. Seeing their large assortment of straight/unflavoured teas wasn’t surprising, but I was a little intrigued that at least a third (if not closer to half) of the store was dedicated just to wellness/supplemented blends…
We picked up a lot because they aren’t readily available in Canada, so expect a whole barrage of reviews for them as I slowly taste my way through. I started with this one for two reasons though – the first is that I find the wellness function so niche and it kind of intrigues me that there would be a blend catering to it. Mostly in the sense that I wouldn’t think people experiencing the negative symptoms of menopause (ex. hot flashes) would think to turn to a company like Twinings for a solution but also because it’s such a narrow pool of people that I would be skeptical what the financial viability of such a specific tea would be…
The second reason is just that I think the flavour combination sounded really delicious. Peach and sage? Yeah, actually sign me the fuck up for that please.
It did taste pretty good, too! For sure a more herbal and savory undertone and not just from the inclusion of sage – but the peach note was so fresh, dewy and floral. Definitely sweeter and more like a white peach with a more supple, tender flesh to it. It balanced out the herby notes of the sage very well, and added a needed bit of natural sweetness. I did leave in my teabag and so the sage got quite strong over time – eventually overtaking the peach a bit. However, if I’d pulled the bag out after a few minutes I think this would have been a really nice, well balanced mug of tea.
A tea that a coworker picked up from Harrods when we visited.
I’m not sure what’s supposed to make this Earl Grey “special” because, to me at least, it really just tasted like a very standard Earl Grey. Smooth but full bodied black tea base with undertones of malt and flowers and then a fresh, citrusy and aromatic bergamot seamlessly interwoven. Not particularly light or heavy on the bergamot. Maybe the flowery is referring to the pretty petals scattered throughout the visual? Maybe it’s referring to the term “flowery” that is sometimes used in tea grading? I guess it could be both or neither.
Regardless, I thought this was a perfectly whelming Earl Grey.
