The first of DT’s holiday drops has officially landed and, with that, come A LOT of returning/voted back holiday blends including (but not limited to): Orange Spice, Alpine Punch, Cardamom French Toast, Hazelnut Chocolate, White Cranberry Bark, and Brown Sugar Bourbon. Of course it’s not a holiday drop without some newness, right??
This playfully sweet and nutty blend is one of two new teas, but if I’m being honest it’s the one that I’m more excited about. I spent a really long time tweaking the ingredients and ratios of this blend to get it just right. For a long, looooonnnggggg time I’ve wanted to have a more holiday-style nutty blend with “Nutcracker” in the name. We’ve definitely had nutty teas during Winter/Holiday before (Nutty & Spice being maybe the most iconic) but it’s a little crazy to me that we’ve never explored something Nutcracker inspired in loose leaf tea when we have had some pretty cool Nutcracker teaware in the past…
So, what does Nutcracker Brittle taste like? I feel like it wouldn’t be out of pocket to assume peanuts, but you definitely won’t find any in this tea. Instead this is a rich maple walnut flavoured blend! Basically, the idea is if you made an indulgent and nutty brittle with the peanuts swapped for maple glazed walnuts. It’s just a little toasty with a distinct walnut flavour and a sweet maple syrup note.
…and here’s a secret for just y’all on Steepster: one of the alternative names we considered was Nutcracker Pancakes! There were actually a few different routes we thought the blend might end up, and one was a little more overtly maple flavoured with salt. Sort of like a more Canadian twist on a “Salted Caramel” profile. Salted maple. We dialed back the maple to make room for that cozy brittle element, but I still really liked how that salt amplified both the maple and nut notes so we did keep a bit in the blend. I wouldn’t describe it as a salty tea though. It just gives those flavours a bit of a boost! We love a good flavour carrier.
Honestly, I think this blend is gonna appeal to a lot of people. Someone described it as the love child of Maple Syrup Oolong and Caramel Shortbread, which I think is actually pretty dang spot on. But also if you like teas like Forever Nuts, Gingerbread Blondie, Cardamom French Toast, Toasted Walnut, Simply Maple Breakfast… then I wouldn’t at all be surprised if you enjoy this one too!
Hot is really my favourite way to make it, though a bit of milk is nice as well. Just be careful because, like Caramel Shortbread, sometimes there is enough acid in this blend to curdle milk (especially cow’s milk – alt milks are a bit better). Especially if you give it a long steep 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 and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
