Autumn tea tiiimmeeee!!!
…and with the change in season comes reappearing tea friends here on Steepster! Yay!
So DAVIDsTEA just released this year’s fall collection – honestly, none of the new teas really had me interested but you know I have to try them all anyway ‘cause it’s just what I do. I did have a problem that I haven’t really had yet (this year, at least) though: that every single infuser mug they released this collection appealed to me and was one I wanted to own. That’s just not reasonable though – both from a financial stand point and a shelf space stand point. So I got one of the pretty, pretty mugs.
This one: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/wood-bear-nordic-mug
But anyway, this tea…
First reviews haven’t been super favorable. When I went to look at fall stuff in store I was kind of undecided whether or not I’d grab samples of this and Nutty Granola Crunch because reviews have been so mixed. And even though I actually really liked the dry smell of this one I didn’t pick up a sample because when I was talking to the sales associate she said the whole store/staff really disliked this one: there are only two blends I’ve seen associates talk so openly about disliking (Elderflower Spritz and Choconut Oolong) so I definitely made serious note of her honesty. I still needed to try it though; so I got it iced to go in order to satisfy that bit of curiosity.
So – I definitely don’t think I disliked it as much as my tea twin VariaTEA. My biggest problem wasn’t so much that it tastes BAD: I just really don’t think that it works as a carrot cupcake flavour. MAYBE if they had called it “Spiced Carrot” or something like that? There’s just really NO cake like component to the tea other than possibly the licoricey/cloying sweet finish. And I say that only because I wonder if the reason for such a sweet finish like that was to possibly replicate the cream cheese frosting/‘icing’ on the top of this “cupcake”. Even if that was the intent, however, it’s not successful and I think that licorice flavour greatly detracts from the overall cup.
What did work for me was the carrot notes themselves which I think came through pretty well. It is always just a tiny bit weird to be tasting vegetables in flavoured tea (the distinction there is important; I’m not talking vegetal notes in base tea/pure teas) but carrots have a great natural sweetness to them so the flavour works here. And, I think the pairing of cinnamon and ginger notes complimented the carrot and weren’t horribly offensive. It definitely strengthens this as a fall blend.
So overall: I’d call this fairly average/adequate at best since there were components that worked and ones that greatly didn’t. Bottom line though – I don’t think DAVIDsTEA conveyed the flavour profile they intended though, and this works more as a Spiced Carrot blend rather than a creamy, “cupcake”. Butiki and Della Terra both had more accurate Carrot “cake” blends that I found better.
EDIT: Carrot is one of those words that the more you see it the more it really, REALLY doesn’t start to look like a word anymore…
Why the licorice? Why?
Can the nordic mug go in the dishwasher?
No; the decals will wash off :(
That’s the only thing I don’t love about their mugs. Doesn’t stop me from buying them though lol