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Sipdown (119)!

This.

This is such a good example of bagged tea that doesn’t taste like bagged tea. It’s very, very well done and something that I would happily keep stocked for those lazy tea days. You all know the ones; we all have them!

Finished it off on the way to work with just a little bit of milk added in. The colour was beautiful; it was sort of coppery and reminded me a little bit of sweet potatoes. And how perfectly that worked out too because the flavour was rich, very creamy and malty and had a soft but consistent starchy, sweet potato flavour throughout! I definitely didn’t taste that the first time around, and I’ve just finished skimming the other reviews and I don’t see anyone else commenting on that flavour, but I know I experienced it. It was heavenly.

Thanks again MissB! This was a really nice surprise, and I understand why it’s so well loved. Not the best tea in the world – but spectacular by bagged standards.

Non Tea Related; the morning I had this one our store had a really bad power outage. A local power company was doing some work and messed something up and the whole little shopping strip we’re located on lost power – the Shopper’s, liquor store and us, a giant grocery store. It was kinda hectic, but also a touch funny.

When it happened I was on break in our staff room microwaving some leftovers, and the timer went off, but made a loud sort of “popping” noise (the sound of a fuse blowing, turns out?) and the microwave just kinda broke down. I was so sure I’d just broken the microwave! Everyone upstairs spent like five minutes trying to fix it before someone glanced out the staffroom window and pointed out that the lights in the dairy coolers, meat, cheese, and Deli departments, and the kitchen were all sporadically flickering on and off, and were completely out in the pharmacy.

Not all the lights (like the staffroom light) had gone out because of our backup generators which is why the outage wasn’t so immediately apparent to us in the breakroom. We only had about ten minutes of back up power though, so it was kind of frantic getting all the customers out and through the checkout before we lost all power and the tills shut off. The coolers that keep all the deli food, meat, cheese, and dairy at the right temperature weren’t working at all, and so those departments also had to rush to get them covered with plastic and cardboard to reduce the temperature dropping as much as possible. And, our security system was down so a whoe bunch of people had to stand at the doors and not only check for receipts as people left but also stop people from entering (the doors were wide open and stuck in place). Some poor teenage girl got dropped off to shop only to be turned away, and wind up having to chase down her ride in the parking lot.

And then, when the lights finally did give out and the tills died it was so dark in the store. The only light was from the windows (which thankfully there are many of). We have a hot food bar, and instead of tossing out the food they let the staff eat whatever they wanted from it, free of charge. That sort of made everyone’s day and relieved some of the tension and stress.

We were without power for a little over an hour, after which we got some of it back – though still not the coolers. All in all, we were closed for just under two and half hours. Thanks to everyone’s quick thinking by covering all the food to help maintain the temperature, none of the food dropped to an unsafe temperature and nothing had to be thrown out; we were very, very lucky about that.

Probably the most interesting shift I’ve had at Sobey’s to date.

Mikumofu

Sounds like quite an ordeal! I’ve experienced the same kind of power outage madness at work too…whether you’re trying to save a freezer of food or yeast cells for research, the panic is the same :p

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Mikumofu

Sounds like quite an ordeal! I’ve experienced the same kind of power outage madness at work too…whether you’re trying to save a freezer of food or yeast cells for research, the panic is the same :p

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Hello! My name is Kelly, though many people in the tea community call me Ros or Roswell.

I am a mid-twenties tea addict, blogger, and all around nerd. I grew up in the Prairies, but a few years ago I relocated to Quebec to pursue a career with DAVIDsTEA in the tea industry! I’m still working on getting my French language skills down…

My first introduction to tea, in any form outside of instant and bottled iced tea, was about seven years ago when I happened to stumble upon DAVIDsTEA while looking for a birthday present for a friend! I tried their Birthday Cake rooibos blend, and I’ve been hooked on tea ever since! In those seven years; I was introduced to the online tea community, expanded my interest in flavoured teas to include a deep love and appreciation for straight teas and traditional brewing methods, got a tea themed tattoo, started reviewing teas, amassed a sizable tea and teaware collection, became a TAC certified Tea Sommelier, & even came full circle by beginning a career in the tea industry with DAVIDsTEA!

I consider myself a Jack of all Teas, and strive to have a knowledge and appreciation of all tea types, formats, and styles of drinking. I don’t like to feel boxed in to just being a “flavoured tea” or “straight tea” drinker – my expectations may vary depending on the type of tea or how it’s been processed/prepared but if it’s good tea, it’s good tea no matter how it’s been made!

You name it, I probably drink it- and I’ll absolutely try anything at least once.

My default method of preparation is hot, Western style, and straight – but I’m not opposed to additions if I’m in the right mood. If I ever add something to a tea or use a different method of preparation I will ALWAYS call it out in the tasting note though.

I like to listen to music when drinking tea, especially when I’m brewing a large pot at a time or steeping Gongfu. Often I curate very intentional tea and music pairings, and sometimes I share them here in my tasting reviews. Music is something that I find can deeply affect the experience of having tea.

I’m also one half of the “tea and fandom” podcast GeekSteep where, weekly, we discuss newly explored fandoms over tea as well as try to figure out the perfect tea to pair with each fandom. You can find us on Spotify and Apple & Google podcasts.

Favourite flavour notes/ingredients: Pear, lychee, cranberry, cream, melon, pineapple, malt, roasty, petrichor, sweet potato, heady florals like rose, hazelnut or walnut, sesame, honey (in moderation), and very woody shou.

Least favourite flavour notes/ingredients:
Lemongrass, ginger, strongly spiced profiles (and most Chai in general), mushrooms, seaweed, chamomile, stevia, saltiness or anything that reminds me too much of meat that isn’t supposed to taste like meat…

Currently exploring/obsessed with: Sheng from Yiwu, Yancha (Qilan in particular), anything with a strong sweet potato note. Also, I need to try ALL the root beer teas! Searching for a really good caramel flavoured blend, ideally with a black tea base.

Please contact me at the instagram account listed below if you would like me to review your teas.

Currently I’m employed in the tea department of the DAVIDsTEA head office. While I’m still sharing my own personal thoughts on new & existing DAVIDsTEA blends, I am no longer numerically rating them due to the obvious conflict of interest. Any comments expressed are a reflection of my own thoughts and opinions, and do not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the company. Any DAVIDsTEA blends you currently see with a numeric score were reviewed prior to my being hired there and have not been adjusted since becoming a DAVIDsTEA employee.

Location

Montreal, QC, CA

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https://www.instagram.com/ros...

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