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Cold Brew Sipdown (457)!

Not as sweet and floral as I remember it tasting last time I tried this one as a hot tea, but still equally smooth with that very crisp finish and almost “rain water” like quality. I would have loved a stronger elderflower/peony flavour but it was still a pleasant enough cup. I’m not overly sad to have finished it off though.

Tea Press Sipdown (458)!

I had kind of forgotten about this tea if I’m being honest, but even with the lapse in memory now that I know I’m officially out of it I am actually a little sad. This was a pretty simplistic blend; mostly sweet spearmint with peppermint in the body and a slightly dry and pithy but ultimately pleasant lemony undertone and finish. That simplicity definitely translated into reliability and smoothness; and it can be really nice every now and then to have a flavoured blend without any sort of frills to it. I know I have some similar herbal teas on hand though, so maybe I’ll try mixing those with a black base or something to try and create a bit of a ‘dupe’…

Sipdown (459)!

Honestly I’m pleasantly surprised with how many cups of this I was able to get overall from my sample. I don’t think it’s a Genmaicha that I’d personally want to purchase again just because the strawberry wasn’t as bright/vibrant as I’d have ideally wanted from a flavoured Genmaicha, and without the added flavour this is basically just a regular Genmaicha. However it was nice to have on hand and I appreciated it’s smoothness and consistency as a lightly fruity, and comfortingly toasty tea.

Cold Brew (460)!

Actually a little sad to be out of this one; one less pear tea on hand! It was a nice enough cold brew; very smooth dewy pear notes but quite a bit of grassy undertone too. I’d have liked just a little bit more sweetness but it was a nice representation of both the added flavour and the base tea.

Thanks again VariaTEA for the subscription that I got this one in!

Sipdown (453)!

Last tea of the day, and the free sample I got in my Teavivre order.

Anyone who’s been following me on Steepster for a while knows I have a weird relationship with goji berries; I’m totally fascinated by them but 9/10 times I inevitably completely fail to taste them in blends. I’ve probably tried close to a hundred different blends with goji berries in them and I’m STILL not even 100% sure I know what they taste like. So, I was actually SUPER happy to get this as a sample. Finally, the mystery of what goji berries taste like will be solved for me!

I let this steep for about half an hour; mostly because I forgot it was steeping if I’m being perfectly honest here. I’m incredibly frustrated though because even after half an hour of steeping I can hardly taste ANYTHING when I sip on this!? Like, the ‘tea’ visually looks like it’s steeped/infused because it has a clear yellowish tint to it but I straight up just taste water when I drink it, with a sliver of a sort of sweet but VERY non-distinct sugary note in the finish – and only the finish. WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Why can I not seem to crack the mysterious flavour of goji!? I mean, the dried goji certainly smelled fruity/had a nice aroma to it by I legit don’t feel like I’m drinking anything but hot water, possibly sweetened with like table sugar or something. Am I alone in this? ‘Cause I’ve DEFINITELY heard people describe things as tasting either like goji or goji tasting sweet and fruity/like generic red fruit. Are they just bullshitting everyone else or is this actually a unique to me anomaly where I simply cannot pick up on the flavours here?

Ugh! This was supposed to be an informative cup of tea that would answer a question I’ve had for literal years and now I’m just frustrated and left with even more questions than I had in the first place! This is not the kind of relaxing/satisfying cup of tea that I had planned on ending my evening with…

Damn it.

Sipping on this one now, while browsing Netflix…

I need a new show to watch; something with more than a season or two but that isn’t a massive ten season commitment either. Something I can tackle in less than a month. Any suggestions?

As for the tea; it’s pretty enjoyable! I let my cup get cold in between all of the flipping between different TV show ideas, but it’s still perfectly fine that way – maybe even a little smoother/easier to slurp down? It’s very fruity, with honeyed peach notes standing out the most to me and lesser red fruit undertones, with a nice backbone of malt and cocoa. I’m pretty down for lightly chocolate and honey drizzled peach slice tea!

Delicious, but so much for my cup of tea with some TV. By the time I land on something to watch this is gonna be all sipped down…

Early evening cuppa.

Less lemon heavy in flavour this time around; though I did switch from a softer steep temp to using boiling water because I know that this one can hold up to boiling water. It still had some lemon too it, but overall was a lot more straw heavy in terms of flavour with a nutty sweet finishing taste.

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.

Midday cuppa!

I was feeling a touch festive this afternoon, so I cracked open some walnuts and have a nice cup of tea paired with walnuts and Christmas Sweater shaped sugar cookies as an early afternoon snack.

This tea is ok; it has a custardy component which is I think where the “eggnog” comes from in the name but it’s more cinnamon/clove with creamy undertones and hints of orange than it is straight up eggnog to me. Actually though, as I sip on it this isn’t the only tea I’ve seen that uses that custard and cinnamon/clove pairing to recreate the taste of eggnog though! DAVIDsTEA released a tea this year that uses that exact combo of ingredients to make an eggnog flavour – and I actually think DT’s does a better job recreating it. I wonder why that is? The difference in base teas? Or maybe this is just heavier on the spices which brings me out of the imagery a little more.

Anyway – it was a nice enough cup and even if I wasn’t feeling the ’nog I do think it was very wintery/festive in spirit regardless.

Cold Brew!

I’ve decided that I’m gonna work towards a sipdown with this one – hoarding be damned!

It’s funny ‘cause I bought like 40g of this one specifically to hoard so that I’d have some around for next summer in case it didn’t get brought back, but I have so many teas on hand and I know it’ll be a quick sipdown if I just cold brew this one to use it up. Plus, nice as it was I don’t think it was unique enough to feel sad about if I don’t have it around for next summer. I can always find something similar enough elsewhere.

This brew was nice though! More pineapple and orange than raspberry, but I like that sort of citrus and tropical fruit pairing quite a bit actually – especially with some sort of sort differing fruit undertone to provide just enough layering of flavour to give the herbal some nuance – raspberry in this case. Stonefruit would be nice too though; like a peach or an apricot kind of thing. Of course, it warrants being pointed out that it’s a very candy sweet and slightly aritifical fruit flavour though. If DT ever revisits this one in the future I’d love to see a very slight formula change, just to introduce some lime into the blend to actually make this a little more like the traditional trio of fruit flavours in Rainbow Sherbet. Pineapple is nice, but not the same.

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.

Placed my very first Citizen tea order a little while ago because they were doing a free shipping promo! Now that is how you get my business – free shipping is the fucking BEST because it lets me order whatever I want without feeling guilt. Tons of little baby samples? Can do! Only one tea, but a decent amount of it? Yup! Both of those approaches have some major pros – both in terms of introducing yourself to a company and just in regard to restocking favourites.

In this circumstance, I went for two medium-ish quantities of teas I’d been really curious about for a while with the knowledge that I’d also get three free samples which would help with the whole sampling/introducing myself to this companies offerings thing. This was one of the teas I was specifically interested in though; I’m very into fruity whites and I’ve liked A LOT of the bamboo teas I’ve tried in the past so I was intrigued by the presence of both those things – plus cranberry is a flavour you can enjoy year round but that feels particularly appropriate around winter.

My first tasting of this was as an iced tea, and I have to say I was very impressed by it! It was very soft and light bodied, but with a great crispness and really light, delicate vegetal/grassy notes from the bamboo! Like, that tastes comes through really clearly and it just works very well as an iced tea. It’s like the best parts of white tea and green tea converged into one, with a very clear/defined finish that makes it feel all the more refreshing/hydrating.

What made it better was the cranberry though. It wasn’t a bold or rich flavour, but it was really present in the top of the sip as this really lively burst of both distinct cranberry sweetness and just a fleck or too of tartness, which transitioned really nicely into that bamboo heavy body flavour. I think it’s a really well executed balance that really, really represents all of the things in the blend! Colour me impressed!

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/BKLVpDTZOPQ