16396 Tasting Notes
Long Awaited Sipdown (462)!
Man, I feel like I’ve had this tea for ages. It’s actually a little bit of a relief to be out of it now; though I did really enjoy it. I finished it off this time iced, with an extra long steep to draw out the roasty notes and then finished with just a little bit of milk. I also crushed the juniper berries prior to steeping as per the usual.
It was REALLY good! I feel like all my vanilla must have wound up in this last bit of leaf because it was extra, extra silky and creamy with the most potent vanilla notes I think I’ve experienced in this tea to date with great, strong roasty supporting notes and a creamier mouthfeel from the added milk. Hints of slight sweet and pine like juniper in the undertones but, man, the focus was TOTALLY on the vanilla. REALLY satisfying and as beautiful a sipdown as I could have ever hoped to get from this one!
Midday cuppa.
I don’t want to be overly critical of this blend, but it very much feels like Anne kind of just looked around her tea laboratory (which I’m sure looks much cooler in my head) and went ‘Hmm, what ingredients do I have leftover/too much of?" and then just tossed them into the blend to clear out space for more inventory. I don’t think I’d actually mind that, if the flavour come together to create something more unique or memorable but it’s sort of just muddled and meh…
Not a single one of the ingredients is coming through distinctly in the cup I’m drinking now save for the green tea base, which you all know isn’t really my thing in the first place. There are no unpleasant flavours, but the highly muddled and non-distinctive profile of this tea is kind of dull and unexciting to me, and it really makes me feel unexcited to finish off the rest of the sample knowing that it’ll likely just have as forgettable a profile.
Anne has had a lot of really strong teas; but for me this is far from one of them.
Currently sipping on this one.
Steeped aroma smells a little fishy, but the tea tastes fine. Actually, tastes more like lime than anything else, with sweet earthy and rum undertones. Even though it has rum notes, it’s not overly boozy though. Actually quite smooth despite unpleasant aroma. I want more mint in the actual sip ‘cause right now there’s none – but at least I get mint in the aftertaste as a haunting shadow of flavour.
Tempted to add actual rum…
Second of the new teas.
Ok; first things first I am here for this name! I mean, it’s so clever. Obviously a play of “Arabian Nights” – but Valerian root is basically like ’nature’s sedative’ and is super popular in sleepy time/evening blends, so not only is it a fun pun but it’s one that just works on multiple levels. Much better than the name of the tea that launched at the same time as this one, Forever Flawless which not only isn’t fun but also doesn’t tell you anything about the tea…
I was of mixed feeling when I found out about the launch of this tea: I liked that we were going for a sweeter/more flavourful nighttime blend than some of the played out herbaceous chamomile/mint nighttime blends but also we’re still using chamomile in this one, and I just feel like it’s unnecessary for the flavour profile that is meant to be achieved (caramel/coconut) since this already have Valerian Root in it, which is the thing that makes it a nighttime blend, and the focus selling feature. It also bugs me that this tea has rooibos in it, but was classed as a herbal tea. Who was responsible for that call? It’s VERY weird to me. Even if there’s hardly any rooibos in the blend at all, I think as soon as you add some and you don’t have any other base teas this becomes a rooibos blend and not a herbal blend…
This is really tasty though – that combination of creamy, sweet caramel and coconut has TOTALLY been achieved: I think both of those flavour really clearly come through and are very well balanced. It’s sweet, but not cloying and will definitely work for those seeking a nighttime blend that still has flavour to it. Some hints of apple in the undertone, for a really light fruity touch. Mostly dessert flavour though. Plus, no mint and even though there is chamomile in the blend it’s not a strong flavour so if you’re sick of the played out lemon/mint/chamomile evening blends this isn’t going to fall into that trap. I will say, the woodyness of the rooibos did come through for me – so if you don’t like rooibos don’t assume that just because this is classed as a herbal tea that you’re not going to get some of those rooibos flavour aspects. That’s just more justification for why I think it should be classed as a rooibos over herbal…
Of the three Valerian Root teas carried by DT, Big Chill is still my favourite but this is definitely one I prefer over Mother’s Little Helper – and I look forward to trying it as a latte too because it was naturally really creamy, and I think the creamy caramel and coconut would translate VERY WELL as a 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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
New teas! Two new teas, to be exact – this one, and a herbal called Valerian Nights.
This one is a green tea with sea buckthorn, candied ginger, pineapple and rose among other ingredients – the main/featured one is definitely the sea buckthorn though. This isn’t my first time trying a sea buckthorn tea. In fact DT has carried one in the past too, Redberry Tonic which I was a BIG fan of – especially iced or cold brewed. This is the first time I’ve looked at more of the wellness things the berry is associated with and been introduced to it in that way though. Of course, I don’t personally care so much about that: I drink tea for the taste so that’s what I’m gonna focus on the most…
The dry leaf of this one smells weird to me; it reminds me of the smell of aloe scented hand sanitizer and tequila. I can’t place why it smells so funky to me though; usually there’s at least one or two ingredients that kind of ‘tip their hat’ so to speak, and you can pin point weird aromas on just the concentration of them in the wall tin. Not the case here. At least it tastes a lot nicer than the dry aroma, though!
The flavour is oddly light for how strong the aroma is; it has some of the sourness that I’d associate with sea buckthorn without the astringency/intense mouth pucker. It almost tastes more like a mild lemon/pineapple kind of cross though than distinctly like sea buckthorn. I am reminded of the same almost lemon flavour from my beloved Redberry Tonic, though! So definitely sea buckthorn nope overlap in both teas. Other things in this one are lemongrass, soft apple (definitely distinct to the spongy apple pieces in a lot of DT blends), and floral/rose undertones. I actually… don’t taste the ginger? I was braced for it, for sure, but I just got a lot more of the fruity element and really no spice at all. Not that I’m complaining.
I want to try this one iced/cold brewed before I make my mind up on it because that’s how I best enjoyed Redberry Tonic and there are clearly similarities between the two in terms of flavour – BUT my initial impression is that I prefer Redberry Tonic for the stronger overall body, and slight red fruit notes. However, this is pretty smooth and for both a green tea and a tea with ginger I like it MUCH MORE than I expected to.
Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/1Wk8ZRgXQnY
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.
Made with the Tea Press.
Ok, so my absolute FAVOURITE tea that AQTT has ever made is the Apple Ale white tea, which I just found to be mind blowing good. I’m still sitting on a pouch of that one, hoarding it for special occasions and really shitty days. When I saw this one, I was excited about the possibility of it being similar, and of course I pounced.
The dry leaf smells amazing – very muscat/grape heavy and THICK with rich notes of hops, and red apple as well! It does loosely remind me of my beloved Apple Ale.
Steeped up? Yes, this is fucking incredible. I mean, to be perfectly fair I do not get cake from the flavour here but I am REALLY sold on the “Red Wine”/grape aspect of it in combination with the juicy, sweet apple note that is clearly the same sort of apple as my beloved Apple Ale tea. It’s so weird to me how into red wine flavoured things I get when I actually can’t stand wine itself. I love them though, and I feel the same about this tea. The grape and apple notes are clearly rich and bold, and then work very well together. Do I like it as much as I fucking love the Apple Ale tea? No, not quite but it still is REALLY delicious and I kind of regret not getting more of it.
I wonder if it’s still on the site… (I really shouldn’t buy more tea though)
Just… so good! Ahh!
Ok, this one is just slightly growing on me now that I’ve learned what to expect from it as well as am managing my expectations a bit better. Based on tips I’ve gotten from other staff members into this one, I’ve started overleafing it and it’s definitely a better, richer buttery caramel and almond flavour that way. Which is definitely enjoyable, except for the fact that it screams “add milk to me” and I know better than to do that and ruin my cup. The cherry still feels highly out of place in this to me, though.
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.
Didn’t really have time to make a lot of tea at work yesterday in between the boxing day crazyness, so when I went for lunch I stopped at Umi Sushi in the food court and got a bubble tea to enjoy with my lunch.
I wanted to try a new flavour this time, and based on the suggestion of my coworkers I went for peach. It was a good choice! I think I might actually like this one better than blueberry, which has always been my favourite flavour option aside from taro. I mean, this one still doesn’t beat out taro, but it’s pretty damn good! Very sweet, and juicy with aspects of overripe peach and peach candies. Less creamy/milky than a lot of the bubble tea flavours I usually enjoy but that’s not necessarily a bad thing or a thing I feel like I NEED in a good bubble tea.
So, really quite delicious overall!
Tried this one out yesterday, at the start of the day. Hot, and straight.
I’ve had a few 50/50 green and black flavoured matcha teas from Red Leaf Tea but this is definitely my first exposure to a straight black matcha. It smells really lovely though; like honey glazed sweet bread and cocoa powder.
I found it whisked up pretty well; I was able to get a decent froth on it! It did seem to settle for me quicker than a typical green matcha and I’m not really sure the reason for that. Flavour wise it was pretty smooth; very malty with notes of honey, bread, and molasses. Not really any cocoa, despite the dry leaf smelling of cocoa powder to me. It was nice though; and I can see it being excellent in milk hot or cold. I also think it would be fun to use this one in cooking and other culinary uses.
High up on my list of ideas are in lemonade, as per Garrett’s suggestion, but also I’d like to try making black tea ice cream out of it as well!
Last one of the night.
I need something soft, and floral/soothing to calm me down so I can get to sleep. I thought the lavender in this, and the fact it’s a caffeine free tea in general would be a good option, and I was right but the bergamot is actually helping quite a bit too. I always forget that the odd time I do get really into an Earl Grey/tea with bergamot it’s actually quite a relaxing flavour.
Yes, this will do the trick – sleep is imminent now.
