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This is my first time trying this blend from Tealyra, but I’ve purchased it from other companies in the past (it’s a catalog blend) so ultimately this was more of a revisit than a new experience. Definitely very cinnamon forward, but also strong notes of clove and a peppery undertone alongside that rich, jammy apricot note.

In the past I’ve likened the combo of fruit and spices to ketchup, and I think kind of stand by that. Maybe, though, in hindsight it’s a little more chutney than ketchup!? Despite being a wholesale/catalog blend, I think it is one of the more unique chai profiles I’ve come across and many, many years later it continues to be a favourite.

Definitely a bit of a generic hot cinnamon and sweet red apple profile. Not in a bad way, but just in a matter of fact one. I liked the body the black tea base gave though – it’s different from the rooibos base I see more commonly. Mostly, though, I ended up making this because boy oh boy did I need to jump of caffeine! And it made a huge difference in the flow of my day today, let me tell you…

Made myself a mug of this yesterday morning. On one hand it did feel a little weird to be kick starting my work week with a prosseco flavoured tea. On the other hand, it was exactly the sort of lightly tart, juicy and effervescent sort of profile I needed to put a little pep in my step that early in the day.

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.

Iced Tea!

A coworker very thoughtfully made me a big iced cup of this tea, but she definitely steeped it a lot stronger than I would have if I was making it for myself. The thought was so kind, but I just found it sort of cloying. I ended up waiting for a lot of the ice to melt so it was more diluted, and then drank it that way.

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.

Iced Tea!

Buying a giant ass bag of ice to dump in my freezer turns out to have been a pretty genius move because it really lets me make super cold drinks on a whim which, it turns out, I do a lot when I have that ability.

I made this one last night as my last “tea” of the day since I just needed something to cool down with that was more flavourful than plain water. The gentle fruity tartness was subtle (I went light on the powder), but it was still very refreshing. More hibiscus than anything, but I did get some of the more tropical-ish mangosteen notes too.

Iced Tea!

Still trying to put in the work to drink through these advent tins. I used a bit more matcha in this iced tea than I usually would because of that, and I don’t know if I love the effect it had. Still drinkable, but the stronger concentrate pushed it just a bit too much into that more medicinal sort of direction. A little citronella-y. Sweetener could have course corrected, but I was in the middle of a meeting and didn’t have the time to go add any.

Had this one last night because I guess I was in the mood for something a little more unusual. Definitely cherry coke and definitely chocolate. Do they go together? Well, nearly a decade since first trying this tea I’m still just as undecided on that.

Also, wow that’s weird to say. I feel such a pang of nostalgia when I drink this tea. Della Terra was my very first online tea order, and this was one of the teas I included. Back when I was a baby tea drinker just finding my footing. I even had to get my roommate to place the order for me because I didn’t have a credit card at the time.

Wild. Just wild.

Sipdown (2491)!

Quite proud of myself for getting in a small handful of sipdowns this week! I’m going to be at the Toronto Tea Festival this upcoming Saturday so I know I’m about to have a mini stash explosion, so any sipdown right now is a welcome sipdown…

This is such a darn good Genmaicha blend, though! I will miss it just a bit. Anne almost always hits the Genmaichas out of the park, but the fact this is such a perfect and equal representation of the blackberry, silky smooth cream, and toasty rice is a chef’s kiss kind of moment. Has 52Teas ever done a Strawberries & Cream Genmaicha? That’s something I’d love to see sometime in the future.

Cold Brew!

Didn’t have a super awesome experience with this one, and I’m trying to decide if I think it’s because of the tea itself or if it’s more on the user side – specifically with potential over leafing. The reason I’m thinking it may be the latter is because the biggest issue I had drink this was just the intensity of the flavours. There’s was an almost soapy floral note that felt sort of out of place for an Ice Wine blend but also just an immensely cloying finish. I did expect sweetness because, well, this is an ice wine inspo we’re talking about. However it was just jarring and a bit undrinkable…

So next time I make this I’m going to try really hard to remember to scale back the leaf quite a bit so I can reassess.

Did I ever see a world in which I’d be drinking a tea inspired by Old Greg? Nope. Am I mad about it, though? Also nope. I actually really appreciate this Nerdfelt has gone the extra mile here with including more “deep cut” references to this silly internet video in the ingredients, like with the peach. It would have been easy to create and Irish Cream blend and call it a day, but this feels a bit more unique thanks to the “bonuses”. But does it taste good, though?

Yeah!

It’s still mostly Irish Cream which, don’t get me wrong, is still delicious. However, it’s got a bit of a chocolate-y finish and soft undertones of sweet peach. A little bit weird all together in those first few sips, but before long it all started to click together into something fun and refreshingly unique.