16396 Tasting Notes
Sipdown (490)!
Another ‘mystery’ teabag that I got from M Mack – I say mystery because the only thing in English is the name…
I liked this one better than the Mango tea though! I’m pretty sure it was also a green tea base, but it seemed a lot more subtle to me and the buttery qualities worked pretty well with the idea of a sweet creamy, caramel. It mostly reminded me of those little square caramels you got at the convenience store as a kid or that you sometimes see around Halloween. Not the most high quality of caramels, but still delicious!
Doing a bit of experimentation with this one…
Brewed it up as an iced tea, but in even less water than I would normally use for iced tea to make more of a concentrate/intense red hued liquor to pour over my ice. Then, after I’d poured it over ice I topped up the mug with lemonade. I was trying to get a little bit of a red to pale yellow gradient going but it didn’t work visually because it all just blended together to make a lighter red colour.
However it was fucking AMAZING flavour wise! The taste of the tea didn’t get covered at all; it was still very bright, sweet candied strawberries/strawberry jam with nutty pistachio undertones except there was a sweet and semi-tart lemon top note to compliment the rest of the profile! Obviously strawberry lemon works quite well together as a pairing because it’s complimenting fruit notes while having the contrast between sweet and acidic, but I wasn’t sure how the nutty pistachio would play into the overall flavour. It was great, though! It added a different kind of sweetness, and I liked the nutty quality with the citrus.
So good! Probably more tea lemonade experimentation to come…
Cold Brew!
Didn’t get to enjoy the aesthetics of this one as a cold brew as much as I would have if I’d brewed it in a pot or something like that – but the flavour was there and that’s probably more important than the aesthetics overall.
Now that I’ve made the comparison I don’t think it’s one I’m going to be able to break away from – association is a powerful fucking thing. So, this is basically likely going to forever taste like pineapple cotton candy to me. Not that that’s a bad thing; pineapple is great and cotton candy is great. It’s just got the light, airy ‘spun sugar’ sort of thing going for it that really seals the imagery for me. Fucking delicious.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GByM4P5IM2M&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=9
Also, rating boost!
Sugar and spice and everything nice…
I know a lot of people don’t seem to like the newer version of this tea without the sprinkles that actually made the tea sparkle but I think I actually enjoy the new version better. Not only is it vegan now, but I just find it tastes smoother to me?
I enjoyed a cup of this one earlier in the week with some milk as an evening tea, and it was really relaxing. It’s definitely a sweet and soft kind of spicy that reminds me more of cinnamon sugar, but like if the sugar element of that was something lighter and more airy like powdered icing sugar and cinnamon? With hints of marshmallow, lemon, and clove in the undertones. It’s not something I could drink all the time, but the occasional cup now and then is actually quite lovely.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsL1fVhaNbg&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=7
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.
Starting the day with tea and bagels – which is the best way to start a day.
I added some milk to this one to sip on alongside some PB&J bagel – blackberry jam to be specific. So much yum! The tea is good, but not as overtly boozey as I remember it being. I guess that’s not a bad thing; so early in the morning it might be too weird to be sipping on a tea with a really distinctly boozey quality to it. It’s very sweet and creamy though, and I think the intensity and richness of the overall flavour definitely suits the food pairing. Chocolate, peanut butter and almond is an obvious win – but the blackberry with nutty elements and chocolate works too both because the flavours are being matched in richness but also as just a dessert kind of taste combo.
Also, I definitely liked the flavour better as the tea cooled down – the final third of the cup was sipped on at room temperature and that was the best because it was almost like an extra creamy, nutty chocolate milk! Mmm!
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u47ndpnoxMM&index=3&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ
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.
Hmm…
I used to strongly get ‘rainforest’ from this one whenever I drank it with this sort of petrichor/damp earth sort of thing and underlying sweetness but the last few times I’ve steeped it up it’s read as lighter tasting overall with thick buttery body notes. Very interesting change there, and I wonder if it’s more of a palate change or if it comes down to something technical like steeping parameters or leaf amount. I haven’t consciously started steeping it differently, but who knows…
I don’t dislike the buttery body notes but I do miss the petrichor a fair bit.
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.
Kind of wish I wasn’t the first to review this one; it’s one I’d really like to compare notes with other people on…
I grabbed it originally because I was really curious to explore another butterfly pea flower tea; they’re so fascinating/pretty and I liked that this seemed like one that both actually had tea in it/wasn’t herbal but also because it seemed like one that wouldn’t be fruity, and so far I’ve only experienced fruity butterfly pea flower teas. I’ve never heard of ‘Blue Moon Ice Cream’ before so I didn’t know what it was supposed to taste like, but I was ready to find out!
This is kind of weird – however it’s a pleasant sort of weird. I thought that overall the tea was sweet and smooth, but it didn’t have much distinct flavour to it? I mean it certainly didn’t remind me of ice cream, and it wasn’t exactly vanilla or anything like that? Mostly it tastes kind of creamy-ish from the marshmallow leaf but like a half-hearted kind of creamy? It also has a very slight lemony sort of undertone to it. But even factoring those two things into account here there was just something about it that was both non-descript and indescribable. It’s got a flavour to it, but not the strongest one and not one I can easily put my finger on. Which frustrates me a little.
Also, as far as the aesthetics go – it is pretty but it steeps up more of a dark teal sort of green rather than a true “blue” colour, which was a touch disappointing. Still nice to look at overall though…
Someone else needs to try this one though so I can compare notes!
I’ve never heard of blue moon ice cream before either but apparently it’s supposed to taste like Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(ice_cream)). Does the tea taste anything like that?
Hmmm…
I guess I can kind of see the comparison? I did find it citrusy/lemony so that’s on the right track. I think I’d have to try it again with that in mind though to really get a read on it.
Blue Moon ice was a classic back in the 50’s I believe. It’s supposed to taste kind of like a creamy blue raspberry. Tried it once at a parlor. One of my grandparents remembers it growing up.
I have a butterfly peaflower tea that isn’t fruity… it’s called “Blue Suede Shoes” and comes from English Tea Store and has a green tea base and sort of a… vanilla-like taste? In fact, the way it tastes almost sounds how you are describing this, kind of creamy-like but in more of a half-hearted way. It wasn’t my favorite and I ended up keeping a small sampler for myself but gifting out the rest in a traveling teabox. I do have a bag of plain ol’ peaflowers that I like adding to iced teas for their presentation.
Blue Moon is a very Illinois/Wisconsin/Upper Pennisula Michigan thing. I don’t know that I’ve actually seen it anywhere else. Which is why I absolutely wanted to play with it!
The flavor is really hard to pin down and every company has a slightly different twist on it. No one in my family agrees on what Blue Moon actually tastes like lol.
In any case, I always thought it tasted like fruit loops milk with almond cookies. Hopefully that helps! :)
I got this one too! Haven’t written a note yet but I recall thinking something was very familiar about the taste of it. I think “blue raspberry” may have been my guess, though I’ll need to try it again when I have the chance to actually think about it.
From last week.
I was kind of craving this one all day, and when I got home from work I got to experience different ‘levels’ of satisfaction. The first was grabbing the tin from the shelf and cracking the top open to scoop the leaf – that rush of escaping almond/marzipan aroma was a small level of satisfaction that only served to deepen the cravings. Like when someone is cooking supper and you’re really hungry. The smell of the cooking food is like “Oh, fuck yeah – I’m gonna eat that soon and it smells SO good” but also it just makes you more impatient.
The next level of satisfaction is pouring the boiling water over the tea leaf and having the smell of the steeping tea fill the kitchen. That’s kind of like the moments where your dishing yourself up at the dinner table knowing you’re about to eat right away. The marzipan notes filling my kitchen were delightful! I knew I had made the right choice with the tea selection, and I was ready.
However the biggest level of satisfaction is that first sip where you just cant help but let slip that little “ahhhh” as if to say “yes, everything is perfect now” as your whole body just kind of releases and you slip into bliss. Because you didn’t realize it, but as you were dishing yourself up, your body was tensing in anticipation for what was about to come. Those first bites, or in this case, first sips, are the fucking best.
Flavors: Almond, Honey, Marzipan
Enjoyed this one earlier in the week.
I was originally gonna wait to order this one until I’d heard a bit more about it from other people, but it didn’t seem like anyone I could easily compare notes with was going to jump on it any time soon so I got a little impatient and ordered it for myself anyway.
Initial impressed after opening the bag and smelling the dry leaf was kind of just ‘woah’ – I got a lot of intense notes from the dry leaf including malt, under ripe/just slightly sour berries, and rye bread. I figured I was in for a very interesting mug of tea, just based on that impression. Also, the dry leaf is just fucking stunning! Large, twisty motherfucking leaves and pretty umbers and golden tips. Just very pretty to look at.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdiki_NlRkz/?taken-by=ros_strange
Taste wise, I didn’t think this was nearly as interesting as the dry leaf aroma had been but it was still really tasty! The primary note for me was malt, very very smooth and full bodied malt that coated the whole mouth and lingered so pleasingly. Then there was also notes of freshly baked bread and baker’s chocolate, with floral undertones throughout. I was kind of disappointed I didn’t get those under ripe berry notes the same way I got in aroma; in fact I didn’t really observe much fruityness at all with the steeped tea and I think for a tea called ‘Berry Malt’ I’d at least want a little bit. Maybe Gong Fu would highlight that aspect a little more so.
I’ve tried a few W2T blacks now and there haven’t been any I’d disliked but I think thus far this would be my personal ranking just going off this first impression:
1. Bang Dong Hong
2. Berry Malt Black
3. Little Red
4. Natural Redhead
Also, song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeALftDMAdc&list=WL&index=11
I just kind of fucking love trip hop/psychedelic pop. It’s weird, and the electronic elements of the song don’t mesh super well with the tea but there’s still a melodic and kind of ‘spacey’/smooth quality to it, especially when you just focus on the vocals that I think works with the idea of a really malty, smooth black tea with kind of sharp/sour fruity aromas to it.
Sipdown (482)!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had new Butiki teas in my cupboard; or ‘new to me’ at least. However, I just got several from the always overly kind and generous Kittenna as part of a swap. Teaware for tea samples, though.
I can’t remember why I originally skipped this one when it first launched years ago; maybe just ‘cause there were so many other Butiki blends to try? And I definitely had a smaller tea budget. I’m glad I’m trying it now.
It’s kind of weird, to be honest, but at the very least the dry aroma works for me. It actually still smells really strongly of melon after all this time – but I actually thought it was watermelon over cantaloupe. It smells more like watermelon to me, almost exactly like Watermelon Xylophone but with this malty/earthy undertone to it. Less creamy than Butiki’s white based melon teas, for sure.
Taste wise it’s not as strongly melon as both dry and steeped aroma are; but it is there. I imagine it would have been a much more punchy flavour when this one first came out, but the subtle watermelon in the body of the sip is still nice. I don’t get malt so much; in fact I get more of an earthiness – so much so I actually had to double check this one was a black tea and not a shou. It’s also a little salty, and I can’t place where that’s coming from. I’m actually really into it though – salted watermelon is very much a lovely and delicious thing and to me this is just reading as a fun recreation of that treat.
I wont rate it ’cause I doubt this is good representation of what the tea was intended to be like, but I had a fun time experiencing this one!
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbnVMSYVbvA&list=WL&index=5
So, it feels almost blasphemous to me to not be listening to some Pink Floyd with this one but this is what was speaking to me when I steeped up the tea. I’ve been on an indie/rap kind of kick lately. Actually, though, I think I may have picked this one kind of because of some word association though; the album image for the track is of a horned melon, so…
I didn’t know you’d missed this one! I ended up with quite a bit of it, and then had very mixed feelings about it. The watermelon was indeed a little stronger originally, but if I recall correctly, it wasn’t overly so. I couldn’t tell you where any saltiness would be coming from – you’re making me want to try it again!
