16396 Tasting Notes
Drank this one on the way home from work!
I was super, super pleasantly surprised by how good this one was. I mean, when I say I drank it on the way home I mean I scrambled in the five minute before I had to be on the bus to get this into an empty sachet and in a cup with hot water and I left the tea steeping in the cup for my whole twenty minute bus ride because it didn’t get steeped before hand and I didn’t have anywhere to put the sachet on the bus ride after an acceptable amount of steep time.
Let me tell you, the tea held up though – and it was great! Main notes here were cocoa, carmelized prunes/dates, sweet wet earth, and candied orange peel. Lots of candied orange peel, actually! It was a great, sweet fruity note and it really made me nostalgic for Christmas when I worked at Value Village. I had a coworker I was pretty close with, and both holiday seasons I worked there she brought me these absolutely delicious candied strips of orange peel that were so good. That was like exactly the note I was getting in the body of this tea: it made me really sad for the fact I wont be getting any of that delicious, hand made candied orange peel this year…
But yes! Delicious, sweet and fruity profile with actually pretty minimal earth notes overall for a Shou! It was so smooth too, and no astringency/bitterness even after like a twenty five minute steep. I bet this would be great done Grandpa style!
So, I finally caved last week and bought one of DT’s tea infused “Hot Chocolate On A Stick”. I was really, really tempted to get the Candy Cane Crush one since I’ve been on such a CCC kick lately but I opted for this one to try something different and, in a way, give this tea another chance since I wasn’t super impressed the first time I tried it.
I thought the perfect idea would be to ‘steep’/melt the chocolate for this hot chocolate stick in the tea that’s infused into it – you know, for an extra rich/concentrated flavour and to really get the most out of it. So, I steeped up a normal, plain cup of this tea and then swirled around the chocolate cube and marshmallow until they were both melted. Only one problem…
The whole thing curdled!
I mean, I guess in hindsight I shouldn’t have been that surprised since the tea itself does curdle milk and this was a milk chocolate but at the same time why would you choose to use milk chocolate as the base for a tea that curdles milk!? I mean, you have to know that at some point someone is going to buy one of those cute hot chocolate sticks and try doing it with frothed milk or something like that – right? Is the tea infused into the chocolate going to curdle it then? Or is it just because I used this tea as the base of my ‘hot chocolate’? I mean, I certainly don’t feel like buying another one right now to test the idea out…
Anyway, curdling aside it actually did taste really good. It was very sweet and nutty, with strong notes of almond and chocolate. The caramel was actually a little bit lost; it was present but I think mostly just contributed to the really vibrant sweetness of the chocolate. I didn’t get any creamy marshmallow, unfortunately. The worst part was the same as the worst part when I first tried this though – the sour cherry. I mean, just why? I’ve talked to so many customers about this tea so far this season and I’ve still yet to actually have someone think that adding cherry was a good idea!
Also, yes, that’s right – I still drank it. I just ladled out the worst of the curdled mess, and then kind of sucked it up and drank through the rest. I wasn’t going to waste it…
Yeah – not sure how I feel about this experience as a whole.
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.
Last one of the night – with milk.
It’s a little understeeped if I’m being honest, but the creamy/silky pineapple and strawberry notes are still working really well for me in terms of flavour. In fact, the fact that it is a little milder might actually be better as a softer, relaxing before bed cuppa. I think it also probably helps that I’m currently sitting in the dark so I can’t see how intensely green the steeped tea looks. I mean, nothing wrong with the colour but I think it would shatter the illusion I’ve created of this as a “bedtime” tea.
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.
Evening cuppa!
I ordered a lot of Shou today, so I figure I better get my ass in gear and start drinking some of what I already have. I think I got this one like two years ago? Jeez. This made for a nice cup though; very sweet and earthy with notes of honey and red fruit among all the forest undergrowth. Quite delicious!
From the For Tea’s Sake holiday sampler.
I definitely tried this one last year, and I was not a fan so I wasn’t thrilled to receive it in the sampler but I tried to have an open mind brewing it up. I still don’t think it’s a great tea, but something must have changed because I did have a better experience with it. I don’t know if that change comes down to a formula change for the tea itself or if my palate has just changed – or maybe I just knocked preparation out of the park. Who knows?
I do think it does have more spice notes that a “Sugar Plum” blend should have, but at least I actually did taste plum this time around! It was a very dark, rich plum taste with lots of clove, and cinnamon undertones. Also, a brisk flavour in the cup for sure but no awful astringency this time around! As a spiced plum blend, this could be quite good and I guess I can see the finer/festive appeal of these flavour pairings. Just…
It’s called Sugar Plum. Don’t you think it should be a sweet plum blend!?
Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/A0Ws3rB5eg0
Midday cuppa.
So, I’ve tried a green Korean Sejak before but admittedly I’m not educated about most green tea at all – and especially Korean tea so I have absolutely no clue what the difference between the two actually is.
I’m enjoying sipping on this one right now though; it’s pretty smooth with a really nice toasty/nutty character to it in the top and body notes. There are also some more generic grassy green undertones, and notes of straw in the body that tie in pretty well with the nuttiness I’m getting in the top. Reminds me a little of roasted peanuts, in a way? Unsalted, of course. The finish is a little sweeter; more of like an ambrosia/nectar like fruitiness? It’s a little bit harder to place exactly what kind of fruit I’m reminded of though the one jumping to mind is Pluots – plum/apricot crosses. It’s been a LONG time since I had a pluot though, so don’t know how accurate that actually is.
Totally couldn’t drink this one often – but I’m happy with the sample!
Cold Brew!
This was actually significantly better as a cold brew – for starters, it did not taste like green bell peppers and right off the bat that’s a huge improvement. In fact, most of what it tasted like was Hershey Kisses? Though it also had lots of strawberry too, so it made for a primarily chocolate covered strawberry sort of profile. Only major downside was the finish, which was a little acetone-like. However it was a VERY light acetone flavour, especially compared to how gross my hot cup was.
I mean, I’m definitely not saying acetone tastes good or that as a whole this was a good brew – just a better one.
Iced, with some milk. Not totally sure where it comes from, but I definitely thought this had a nutty sort of taste today. Also, it reminded me a lot of mint chocolate flavoured shortbread. Just, you know, very pastry like/buttery in general on top of the sweet chocolate and crisp mint…
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.
Couldn’t resist trying this one out…
For my first tasting, I just stuck with straight up cold milk. Man, do I love matcha milk. I whisked it up with an electric frother instead of my bamboo whisk ’cause I was feeling lazy and HOLY SHIT DOES THIS FROTH UP WELL. Like, in seconds my entire cup of matcha/milk had turned into this cloud of cool, light, fluffy milk foam. Yessss milk foam!
Taste wise? This is actually great! It’s very creamy and sweet with notes of vanilla, custard, and carob and while it doesn’t scream “Ice Cream” to me I do get where the comparison comes from, for sure. I’d say it’s mostly just creamy vanilla-esque flavour, though. I can imagine this would make for a killer hot latte! The taste of the matcha itself is nice too; it’s actually very mild with only the slightly grassy floral taste. Ultimately, the only weird thing/downside for me comes down to a texture thing. I’m pretty sure it’s the carob powder in this and not the matcha itself, but drinking it there’s a very powdery quality that I couldn’t shake at all. No matter how well I whisked this the “powder” would not dissolve. I mean, it was super fine ‘grain’ but still…
I mean, it’s a minor thing and one I’m pretty sure I can get used to given time/repeat tries of this but it’s definitely still something that stood out this time.
Had this one the other day and… AMAZEBALLS.
Seriously, I’m really kicking myself right now for not ordering more of it back when I was in Fargo ‘cause now I don’t have a way of getting more unless someone in the area sends me some (and I don’t know anyone in the area) or we go back, which I don’t think is gonna happen ANYTIME soon. But I mean, how was I supposed to know it would be so good!? I was just so skeptical after trying Story of My Tea’s really unpleasant rhubarb oolong. Ugh!
This was super rich though, with a surprisingly creamy sort of rhubarb taste! It did have a little tartness/sharp edge to it, partly from the oolong base which tasted very green and floral but on the whole I was actually reminded a lot more of rhubarb and custard flavoured things that overly acidic/tart rhubarb. Plus, it had a very velvety mouthfeel, and just a super smooth profile overall. I don’t even mind the hint of grassy sharpness of the floral elements, it just completely added to the tea for me.
Yessss! YUM YUM YUM!
