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Cold Brew.

Part of me feels like I should really be hoarding this one now that it’s retired and I can’t buy it anymore – but on the other hand, I’ve never really loved it either so I might as well just finish it off and have it over with…

The cold brew was ok: very, very strong aromatic bergamot and strawberry notes. There’s this quality to it that reminds me of alcohol but I can’t place what exactly it is that does that for me. It’s very intense in flavour though, and reads a little bit as perfumey as well. I actually like the cold brew better than the hot version of it, but even still it’s not a favourite.

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.

Latte!

I tried this as a latte at the recommendation of a coworker who’s REALLY fallen in love with it as a latte. He makes it a very particular way though – something that I did my best to replicate so that I could experience the same flavour that he’s fallen in love with.

So, I started with steeping the tea for the latte like I normally would. However, when I went to steam/froth the milk I added a half pump of agave into the milk as it was frothing. Then, when I added the milk to my tea concentrate, I put in extra foam and then coated that foam with a generous layer of cane sugar. This is obviously a lot more sweetener than I would usually add to my teas in general; and typically I wouldn’t sweeten a rice scented tea at all but this is Brett’s recipe, and I’m just rolling with it.

The reason he does it this way is because he says it makes it taste like a bowl of Rice Krispies and you know what? I see it. Very, very sweet rice notes and then a lot of creamy milk. It reminds me a little more of the milk left in the bottom of the cereal bowl after you’ve eaten all the cereal, though. Really sugary/concentrated. I still liked it though!

But… I do think I like it more just prepared hot and straight.

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.

Had this one as a hot tea with some milk, a few days ago.

This was the first tea of the year that I broke out my Halloween Nordic Mug for! I really, really love Halloween – and now that it’s officially October I feel absolutely zero guilt getting into the Halloween spirit. I’m probably driving my boyfriend at least a little bit crazy because of it; every day I send him a text and a Halloween themed gif counting down until Halloween!

So far, these have been my gifs for the month:

1st – https://goo.gl/images/Xz85tm
2nd – https://goo.gl/images/Pgf6Pb
3rd – https://goo.gl/images/ygMYtS
4th – https://goo.gl/images/J3PiUj

And I’ve got some picked out for the rest of the month too…

5th – https://goo.gl/images/B9L2eK
6th – https://goo.gl/images/EJm3fR
7th – https://goo.gl/images/AiGWpc
8th – https://goo.gl/images/K9j6iY
9th – https://goo.gl/images/kqm56X

I’m gonna need a lot more though; so if anyone else is a really big Halloween fan or has a favourite Halloween gif please share ‘cause I’ve gotta keep them coming until the big day!

As for the tea? It’s one I go back and forth on for whether or not I love it. This time it was pretty good; the milk helped a lot. It reminded me a lot of Lemon Meringue Pie, rather than vanilla ice cream. It’s just got _ so much_ lemongrass in it, after all. The stevia was pretty strong though, and that’s what stopped it from being a great cuppa in my opinion.

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’m feel the tiniest bit better than I was earlier today; I think getting a chance to sleep for an extended period helped a lot with that. So, I’m switching to some nicer teas for the evening, and getting a little more creative with them as well. By that, I mean that when I made my mug of this tonight I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the top as well.

I imagine the melted down ice cream that becomes this thick, sweet frothy foam at the top of the tea is probably at least a little similar to the cheese tea trend going on right now. I have no way of getting a hold of cheese tea where I live, so it’s the closest thing I can do to get in on the trend. Apart from that, I have to settle for living vicariously through people’s instagram photos and Youtube videos of it…

Anyway; this is a beautiful tea already – very peaceful and relaxing which is what I need right now. The rice notes are amazing; very sticky rice-like. The vanilla doesn’t change any of that, it just adds to the overall creaminess and adds a bit of sweetness. I don’t mind the added sweetness; this is a very smooth tea but it’s not a sweet tea. This is more in line now with those coconut milk and sticky rice desserts, and less so the kind of sticky rice you’d eat as a meal or a side dish. Does that make sense?

To me, at least, there’s totally a distinction.

This was my favourite of the new soup teas – and I actually liked this one enough that I bought one of the large 150g prepacks of it so I’d have some to experiment with at home as both a tea and for soups/cooking and such.

The rosemary in this is REALLY strong; very enjoyable and pleasant! The black pepper though? Actually pretty mild, which for me is a good thing because that was the only aspect of this tea/soup that I was initially not very interested in. Apart from that, I think it also has some pretty strong onion, garlic, and tomato notes and of all three new soup teas this is the one that I think it the most balanced and that passes the most for a “tea” flavour and not just something savory/for culinary use.

So, since I bought it, obviously I plan on drinking this one again – but here are a list of some of the other things I think it would be good for cooking wise too:

- As a rub (for poultry or pork)
- A stock for a heartier soup/stew
- Popcorn seasoning
- Mixed into sour cream or cream cheese for a dip
- Sprinkled on French fries as a seasoning
- Breading/batter for deep fried meats
- Marinades

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.

Second soup tea!

This was the one that personally I was most hesitant about – I’m not a huge fan of spicy dishes/curries, and that’s where this one gets its inspiration from. That said, when I steeped it up as a tea I didn’t hate it, although it is my least favourite of the three.

I find it’s actually pretty reasonably spicy though – I think it’s a nice middle ground for people who don’t like spice and those who do. Plus, you can always water it down if it’s a touch too intense for you. What it strongly reminded me of was Chicken Noodle Soup/Butter Chicken and for that reason I think that it would be a really nice, natural compliment to poultry dishes. Also, of the three new soup teas I think this is actually the one that tasted the least salty to me.

If I drank this one again, it’d be because it reminds me of Chicken Noodle Soup, so I think it’d make a nice sick tea/soup. I’d totally cook with it though! I think it would work well used in any of these sorts of things:

- As a rub (for poultry)
- As a seasoning to mix into homemade turkey burgers
- A stock for a heartier soup/stew
- Popcorn seasoning
- Mixed into sour cream or cream cheese for a dip
- Either with noodles in it or as a seasoning for noodles (like Ramen)
- Breading/batter for deep fried meats
- Marinades

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.

Soup Teas!

Yes – you heard me right, DAVIDsTEA is dipping its toes into the world of both savory teas and culinary teas! For some that may sound weird, but there are several companies out there that currently carry savory teas or have in the past. For me, Numi is the company that stands out as having done this the most – they had a whole line up of bagged savory teas that were actually pretty good! Plus, tea has a rich and documented history of being prepared both as soup on its own, and used as stock/broth for other tea infused dishes.

So – all three of DT’s new ‘Soup Teas’ can double as either a savory tea if steeped and strained, or as a soup if you leave the mix in the water. They all use a green tea in the mix as well. For all of my tastings, I went with the savory tea approach.

Honestly? I expected and wanted this to be a lot more tomato heavy though – it’s definitely got tomato notes, and a hint of spice from the turmeric. Definitely a savory/umami sort of profile, with a saltiness to it. I was actually really concerned about how strong the salt would be in these teas, but it was actually pretty reasonable overall! Less salty than a Soup To Go cup would have been! Anyway – the flavour that jumped out the most to me wasn’t tomato, turmeric or salt. It was actually the celery! I didn’t expect the celery to be so strong, but it was actually a really pleasant flavour that pushed past everything else.

So would I drink this tea again? I don’t know – but I definitely feel like it’s something I would be interested in using for culinary purposes. Here are just some of the things I think this would be nice for:

- As a rub (for beef/red meats)
- A stock for a heartier soup/stew
- Popcorn seasoning
- Mixed into sour cream or cream cheese for a dip
- As the base for a Ceaser cocktail or to rim a Ceaser
- Breading/batter for deep fried meats
- Marinades

I’m sure there are many more ideas for it, 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.

Hot cuppa from a few nights ago.

I was really in the mood for berry, but a darker/full bodied berry that wasn’t overly sweet or sugary. This was a really good pick because it had beautiful, natural currant and raspberry notes but still a strong, present black tea flavour for backbone. Malty, and jammy all at the same time!

It would have been really good with scones or tea biscuits for dunking, as well.

I went over to my Dad’s last night for supper, and this is the tea that I brought along with me to share with him and my step mother – I thought it would be something a little different for them, and personally I found myself really craving something sweet and nutty.

To me, this tastes so strongly of almond/marzipan! It reminds me loosely of Christmas and Christmas treats, which does make sense given that it was originally a holiday blend. However, I don’t think the flavour is so specifically holiday themed that it doesn’t work year round – which also makes sense given that this one was made a core/year round tea years ago as well! This particular cup was also heavy on the coconut, with rose and apple undertones. I also realized that despite several spices in this blend, I don’t really think of it as a spiced tea or often pick up on the spice notes in the blend just in general. I mean, maybe the cinnamon but certainly not the cardamom.

My step mom liked it too! Dad was a little more neutral. I don’t know that he likes rooibos teas that much in general, though. He’s more a black tea or oolong kind of guy.

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.

Home sick today…

I figured I’d make myself a hot cup of tea; I thought that would be really nice and comforting! The problem is that I made the tea, brought it to my room and then fell asleep before touching it. When I finally did wake up, the tea was of course cold. It still tasted delicious; like pistachio pudding! It even had a thicker and more viscous mouthfeel which emphasized that pudding quality. It just wasn’t the soothing, hot cuppa that I had envisioned…