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Last tea of the night for me.

Overall, I’ve actually had a shockingly productive and restful day. I finished ALL of my queued up tasting notes, drank seven teas on top of that, got some tea mail, explored a few new music artists, watched a movie, cleaned the guinea pig cage, cooked a really nice supper from scratch, and had a really awesome conversation with the boyfriend tonight where I got to share some of the music I discovered tonight while enjoying some of the music he likes. Plus, lots of awesome tea and music pairings! This is exactly how days off should be spent.

As for this tea? It’s maybe not the most amazing flavour to be leaving off on for the day BUT it’s also not the worst either. I’m finding it immensely heavy on the cardamom notes, with softer lemon and other citrus undertones. Honestly, if it weren’t for the music I’ve paired it with I think I might find it pretty boring as a flavour. That’s not far off the sentiments I had about it the first time I tried it though. It’s going to be a long process finishing this one off – but at least I know it’s an option to pull out when I am craving cardamom. On those very rare occasions…

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/4wZsM3YDlGY

Cold Brew Sipdown (351)!

Well, winding down for the evening now – still listening to music though. Decided to switch to something cold, so strained this one to sip on while listening to some nice peaceful songs. It’s been a really nice day of tea and music pairings!

This is really enjoyable as a cold brew: a little more body to the flavour overall and a nice mix of malt, hay, cream, and crisp vegetal notes. Kind of like cucumber skins? Yeah no, as I sip on it it’s exactly like cucumber skins. I’m enjoying it a lot; it’s smooth, and mellow. Fitting for the sort of music that the boyfriend and I have transitioned to now with our recommendations. We started the evening with sort of opposite genres, and now we’ve sort of settled. I think my music won out, though.

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/Me85PztkYP0

But yeah – probably wouldn’t order this again, but I think overall I did really enjoy having it around and the different experiences I had with it.

Boyfriend and I are sharing music recommendations right now; usually our music taste overlaps a decent amount but tonight we’re just a little mismatched. He’s on a bit of a rap kick, and all day I’ve been more into light, mellow indie folk sorta stuff.

When I started drinking this mug this was the song I was listening to: https://youtu.be/CbwYZCga50U

It’s a nice song; easy to listen to and good background music. I felt like the brightness of the peach/nectarine notes in this tea kind of nicely mimicked the sort of higher pitched “blinking” in the background music, and then the very, very light roasty elements of the cup and sweet honey/molasses sort of notes worked for the tone of the singers voice. It was peaceful and relaxing as a combination and I liked this is mirrored the different between the fruity elements that were more upbeat and lively, and the rest of the sip which is smooth, silky and more mellow.

Now I’m listening to this song: https://youtu.be/hn4xtJNQV2A

This one was a boyfriend recommendation. I actually like the mash up, and paired with a different tea I think it could be a really interesting/fun pairing but it’s DEFINITELY not as harmonious a pairing to the tea I’m currently drinking…

So, normally I don’t really love EG teas so to be completely honest I’m not sure why this one spoke to me the way that it did – I’ll be honest, at least part of it probably boils down to teabento’s really cute marketing/imagery.

That said, when I cracked open the sample pouch of this I was pulled in by the sweet smelling, malty aroma mixed with the fresh bergamot oil notes. It actually smelled really, really good. As it was steeping, this stayed true – and the whole kitchen gradually started to smell of aromatic, sweet bergamot notes. Really inviting, and delightful!

I added some almond milk to the steeped brew; if I was smart I would have tried it straight first and then added my almond milk but I didn’t think that far ahead. What can I say, I’m sort of groggy right now. I went for the milk though because rarely do I drink my EG plain; I prefer some sort of creamy element in my EGs and milk helps a lot with that.

Flavour wise, I was a little taken back by how sweet this is! And I know that sweetness isn’t coming from my almond milk because it’s the unsweetened, not vanilla flavoured stuff. No, this is definitely like a French bread and honey kind of sweetness. Really warm and comforting and ultimately quite pastry like in nature. It’s also really, really pleasantly malty. Plus, of course, there’s the flavour of bergamot. I have to say, it’s a really fresh sort of bergamot and, true to the tea’s name, I think it’s pretty gentle all things considered. It compliments the honey and freshly baked breads notes quite well, actually – and the malt is just off set enough from the citrus to really pull out some of the brightness of the bergamot. It’s a very soothing profile overall; makes me feel relaxed and happy. Plus, now I kind of want to have a nap but like in a good way.

Yeah, I can get behind this one.

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

Delicious cuppa at work.

I added a bit of milk and honey to this one; while I love the flavour of straight Hojicha what I was really looking for from this cuppa was something very smooth and comforting and both milk and honey, especially together, seem to really do that for me.

Flavour wise, it was a mix of notes with none of them really being the “stand out” flavour or anything; they all just sort of vacillated in and out of the overall profile. Things like hazelnuts, roasted nuts in general, caramel, cocoa powder, coffee/mocha, barley, generic roastiness, cream. Overall, just a very toasty/comforting and sweet flavour with some serious dessert tea/note undertones. REALLY satisfying.

The most surprising thing about the cup was actually the colour of the brew though. With the milk/honey added it was sort of this weird browny taupe sort of colour? With like purple undertones. I’ve never seen that before with a Hojicha, and I wish I’d taken a picture because it was stunning!

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/41/25/b3/4125b3cc10c80890de44006f235f5f3a—taupe-color-rose-taupe.jpg

If you’re using this grid of “taupes” as a reference though, I think it was something sort of like the deep taupe/medium taupe sort of hues. REALLY gorgeous, and I wonder if it’s something I could replicate…

With milk and pumpkin agave.

I honestly feel like all kinds of basic drinking this; it’s so pumpkiny. However, pumpkin is the epitome of fall, and I’ve been leaning into fall flavours/teas so heavily as of late. Plus, I just really enjoy that it’s so full bodied and smooth, with a great mix of creamy malty flavours and sweetness. Can’t beat it.

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/H20BWllOyWo

Gotta pair it with some equally Autumn feeling music.

Had this one a few nights ago, after getting home from a long night at work flipping merch/reorganizing the product shelves for the Halloween launch.

I know 52Teas has done a few versions, but I think the only other Razzleberry tea I’ve had from them has been Razzleberry Genmaicha back when the company was under Frank’s ownership. I remember really liking it though, so I bought this one with the hope I’d find it good as well.

I was just a little loopy while drinking this one; honestly I probably should have been sleeping and not having tea but it felt like a waste going to bed right after getting home from work and not doing something with my day. The flavour was really nice though; I remember feeling like it has this quality to it that was almost rolling? Like, the raspberry/blackberry combo was sweet and conveyed a good mix between like a candied berry sort of flavour and natural berry notes. Rather than always sort of being a mix of the two, it sort of playfully shifted between the two in a way that made me think of a rollercoaster – just with a more soft, gradual slope rather than a really steep/sharp incline and decent. You know… rolling…

I also really liked that it had a plumpness to the fruit notes, as well as a bit of a sourness/acidity. Nothing puckering, but just this teasing quality that complimented and contrasted the otherwise smooth, well rounded sweetness of the berry.

It was just really good, really solid, and well balanced all around.

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/85kmFwqNIwo

I don’t think that the lyrics are necessarily a good representation of the tea, but when I talk about a flavour profile that was a mix of rolling, and teasing this is the sort of music I think would be matched alongside that. There’s the same sort of softness, and kind of a candy like quality to the singers voice, while having an instrumental track that replicates the gentle rolling motion of the rollercoaster that I’m picturing in my head and on my tongue as I tasted the tea.

I went back and forth on whether or not I was going to buy this one this year.

I mean, I did enjoy it last year – and I’ve been wanting some diversity in my rooibos selection. That said, I didn’t think it was MIND BLOWING last year. Ultimately the deciding factor for me was the jar it’s packaged in this year; I really, really like. I mean, I’m a sucker for anything Halloween themed. So, I now have a hundred grams of this to keep me going for a while.

I went for a latte, for my first tasting of it this year. I remember this being very strawberries and cream sort of tasting, so I thought that would be nice for a latte. I wonder if they changed the blend for this at all though? I’m getting a lot more of the tropical fruit elements this time around, like the passion fruit. A very, very creamy passion fruit sure – but not really any strawberry. I can’t find any information on a blend change though; so it’s probably just a combination of stuff I scooped out or just that my palate has changed a little bit. The important part is that I still liked the flavour, even though it was a bit different from what I was expecting.

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/7vCMq_C0aTg

Something sort of equally weird, to match the tea. Though still smooth, and enjoyable.

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.

Revisiting this one again; but this time I’m drinking it hot and straight.

I still haven’t shown this one to the boyfriend; I’m waiting for a time when he’s over where he actually wants a cup of tea. Lately he’s been on such a hardcore Jumpy Monkey kick that he hasn’t been drinking anything else.

Though, I’m getting more and more hesitant about showing him this one. I mean, I think the idea behind it and symbolism of the ingredients is still really sweet, and perfect but the more I drink this one the more licorice/anise heavy I find it, and he’s not a licorice/anise fan so I’m doubtful he’d like it anyway, symbolism aside…

Right now it’s reminding me of a 50/50 mix of soft, subtle and creamy star anise and a blueberry fritter. I don’t know why I’m getting fritters/donuts – I just am.

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/1XGtb_1skkA

A little bland/watery tasting and light on the cola flavour overall, but still a nice option to have when I want a black tea late at night while still being able to actually sleep at a reasonable time. This time around I found myself more reminded of flat coke that had been sitting around for a long time, with hints of lemon.

I’m noticing a definite trend though that Cola teas rely heavily on lemon as an ingredient to convey the cola flavour. I wonder why that is? I’ve never drank a Coke and thought of it as a lemony or citrus heavy flavour. Am I alone in that?

Anyway – two more sachets of this left, though I’m probably gonna leave them for when I go on vacation at the end of the month. It’s time to think about what teas I can reasonably take with me during a six day trip, during which I’m probably only going to have hotel access to hot water/tea making abilities. I refuse to go a whole week without tea though, so gonna have to make some sort of game plan…