It’s back!
This is October’s TOTM this year at DT – I know a lot of people have been happy to see it return but personally I just can’t include myself in that group of people. Last year, when this was part of the Fall Collection, it was my least favourite of all the teas in the collection so seeing it back this year was less than thrilling.
I brewed up a hot cup of it though, just to see if perhaps my feelings on it had changed at all. You never know; a year is a long time and maybe this would sit better with me this time around. Sadly not though; while I think there ARE some nice elements to the tea it’s ultimately just got far too much licorice root in it to be enjoyable. That really sickly sweet licorice root flavour, combined with the sweetness from the added in apple/carrot and the whipped cream flavour just all add up to one really cloying tea in my books.
I do like that we’ve got another rooibos tea on the wall now though; and something that’s kind of dessert-like in flavour without relying heavily on caramel or chocolate and other really sweet, played out ingredients. Any diversity to the rooibos section of the wall is good in my books, actually – though I’d prefer seeing the return of some of the more fruity rooibos blends that I like, such as Orange Blossom. We’ve really stripped down the fruity rooibos options in the last few years from what they were…
I also really like the balance of carrot and warming spices in this blend; I think it’s a good recreation of the kind of warming spice notes and sweet carrot than would actually be in a carrot cake. If it weren’t for the rest of the sweetness, that would be pretty delicious. Personally, I’d take out the licorice root, whipped cream flavours, and apple and add in pineapple and either raisin or currant; something more in line with fruits that are sometimes added into carrot cake. Then, if you’re gonna go for a frosting sort of effect for the flavour, I’d just got for plain old vanilla or cream flavour – the whipped cream is a little over the top for me.
Anyway; I’m just happy that the people who did really enjoy this one last year have it back now – because it was pretty popular. I’ll just mourn the fact that Nutty Granola Crunch didn’t return in my own time.
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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
