Another “new” tea that came out today as part of the Autumn/Winter wall flip…
I say new in quotations because this is more of an improved tea than a new one; anyone who’s been drinking DT blends for a while probably knows about the OG Oh Canada! blend that was retired a while back – this is a heavily modified version of that, meant to improve on the weak parts of the OG blend. I debated whether I wanted to update the existing Steepster page for the original or create a new one, and I opted to make a new one because they’re so drastically different from one another and do technically have different names (the original had an exclamation point as part of its official blend). I’m still not sure if that was the best choice, but it’s the one that felt right…
So; this keeps the spirit of the original blend – it’s a rooibos base with a maple profile. However, aside from that I personally find this one is better in every way. I was one of the people who was massively disappointed by the original: I found it very dull/flat and largely rooibos tasting with only a really, really minimal maple syrup profile. It was drinkable, but I thought it had the potential to be a lot better. I fully believe this one is better.
It’s richer and sweeter and has a stronger, more clear note of maple – that note of maple compliments the woodier, sweet notes of the rooibos to create the feel of a very sugary and sweet Canadian Maple with a almost natural/unrefined/woodsy quality. It reminds me of my experience this Spring at a Sugar Shack for the first time – which makes sense, I think the French name of this blend is actually “Cabane a Sucre”. It has a much stronger/less boring visual appearance as well!
Aside from that – I do find this one does have a bit of an oatmeal-y quality to me, I think it’s from a mix of the maple sugar, the apple, and the rooibos itself. It reminds me (the best) Maple Oatmeal – kind of like I had as a kid quite often. It’s nostalgic for me, actually. Also still pretty subtle; I’ve tasted this maybe a 1/2 dozen times now with other people and no one else ever gets the oatmeal thing – so I could very possibly be alone in that observation. Taste is weird and subjective like that…
Another cool thing? This is the first blend that DT has released that uses Monk Fruit – which is another form of natural sweetener. I know most people don’t love sweetener in their tea (myself included – though I do think this is a blend where it works), but this is one that I find actually tastes pretty food, and my hope is that if people seem to mesh well with the taste that this could maybe replace stevia in the DT blend – which I think is the far nastier tasting and more polarizing sweetener option. So, I’ll be looking to see if people pick that out in the blend and if they respond positively or negatively to it. It’s got a bit more of a denser sweetness to it, sort of a “low note” sweetener…
So yeah, that’s the new Oh Canada – it’s pretty cool, IMO.
EDIT: Forgot to say, makes a killer latte!
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.
