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Drinking this one iced with vanilla agave yet again.

However, I’ve begun experimenting with the steep time for this one to see if I can find a time to brings out more of the yogurt/buttery element and less overall tartness. In the past, I’ve steeped this one for four minutes and that’s been alright. This time I tried five minutes; I figured it might result in more tartness/apple and hibby flavour but there was also a possibility of it giving the yogurt pieces/brittle more time to melt down so even though it seemed unlikely to me that it would work I thought it was worth trying.

Yeah, no – while this didn’t taste bad it was definitely more tart with stronger hibiscus and raisin notes. More of that “Blueberry Cider” kind of flavour over “Blueberry Muffin”. That’s fine, next time I’ll just try a shorter steep time.

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.

More pumpkin things.

I can’t decide if I’m happy or disappointed that this one is back this year but only in prepacked 80g bags. I mean, it means less matcha for me to measure out and it’s so messy to measure/weigh out on the gram scale so that’s kind of a pro? However, no Pumpkin Pie Matcha lattes in store and that’s something I was totally looking forward to…

So, I caved and I bought the prepack bag of this one so I can make my matcha lattes at home; if we’d had it as loose matcha this year I probably wouldn’t have purchased it and would have just enjoyed it in store so I guess in that way it’s good for the company sales wise? I wonder how many people who normally would have had it as a ‘To Go’ drink will be encouraged to buy it in the prepack bags because of this, and how many just wont get it. It’s interesting to think about…

Ironically, my first time trying this one this season actually isn’t as a latte but just as a straight, hot matcha. It was just much faster to make that way, and I was in a bit of a rush to catch the bus.

The reason I like this matcha is that it’s got mild spice element to it but it’s not a Pumpkin Spice flavour. In my experience, pumpkin spice very rarely actually tastes anything like pumpkin but this one tastes like sweet, creamy pumpkin pie filling with soft undertones of cinnamon and nutmeg just like you’d get in an actual pumpkin pie. It’s very satisfying for me, in that way, as someone who doesn’t like spiced teas. It’s just the perfect amount!

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.

Starting my morning with a cup of this tea, with some added milk and pumpkin agave. What can I say, I’m hooked on that damn agave! Honestly, it’s very similar to the other Orange Pekoe tea I tried it with last night – but the strong, bold flavour of the black tea and creamy, pumpkin pie like sweetness work really well for a solid breakfast tea. Plus, this is a nuttier tasting OP than the Empress one from last night, so it’s got that added layer of flavour too, which is nice and complimentary.

My boyfriend would loathe this one though – he hates anything with squash and this is SO pumpkin flavoured! I don’t understand it at all – how can you live in a world with pumpkin pie!? That’s gotta be the one thing we disagree about the most. Not squash in particular, but just food in general…

So, along with the new Chais – the launch at DT yesterday came with some new teaware, the return of Pumpkin Pie matcha, and a pumpkin agave. We were sampling out the pumpkin agave in stores the first day it came out so I got to try it – and I have to say that while I’ve enjoyed both the coconut and vanilla agaves this is the first one I’ve ever liked so much that I wanted to have it for at home.

So, call me basic but I’m now the proud owner of some Pumpkin Agave. The question then became what to use it with? Obviously it’s gonna work well with Chai blends or things that already have pumpkin in them – but I want to see what else I can do with it.

Now, this certainly isn’t an adventurous pairing – it makes total sense to me that it would pair nicely with a plain, straight black tea. I kind of just wanted something solid and strong though, and I have so much of this damn black tea that I figured this would be a good way to use some of that leaf. Add a splash of milk on top of the agave and steeped tea and, well, you have something that’s basic as fuck but delicious!

Bring on Autumn guys; I’m prepared sitting here on my porch with my creamy, brisk full bodied malty black tea with sweet, pumpkin pie like goodness! It’s the natural malt and cinnamon notes of the black tea, added milk, and agave that creates that pumpkin pie flavour and honestly? It’s to die for.

It’s gonna be a very pumpkin season, I’m sure.

So, recently I got the opportunity to sample and in turn review a range of teas from teabento – much to my delight that package arrived today so I’m digging into those samples! I have to just start by saying that I’m pretty impressed with the packaging for everything though!

The packets for the teas themselves are pretty nice; they’re in resealable bags bags that block out light, and have the perfect amount on information on them about the tea within! Plus the bento box is just so cute! And everything was shipped very well and securely – so I’m definitely impressed in that regard.

As for the tea itself…

I decided to do this one Western style for my first tasting because the majority of the milk oolong I’ve had in the past has been consumed Western style, so if I want to accurately compare this one to other milk oolongs I’ve had in the past that seems like the best way to do it!

Firstly, this one comes off as very light to me! Not that milk oolongs generally are super full bodied, but usually a bit more than this in my opinion. However, despite being super delicate/gentle in taste I’m initially fairly smitten with this one. It’s very smooth and silky, with a mild buttery creamyness to the flavour. However, as lovely as that buttery element is I think it’s actually second to a floral component; it’s more delicate floral notes rather than just heady florals. Things like orchid and lily notes! It reminds me a lot of the orchid notes in DT’s Vanilla Orchid sans the added in vanilla flavouring.

The most interesting thing about this tea to me, though, is the fact the company describes it as tasting like ‘mango’ – as soon as I saw that I knew I’d have to focus and see if I could find any mango notes in the tea. For me, the answer to that was disappointingly no; however, there were moments that I kind of picked up on a peachy sweetness in the finish of the liquor following that light wave of floral notes and buttery elements and I’m sure that’s likely what they were referring to?

So yeah – this was my first tea from teabento and I have to say that it was different than I expected it to be, but not in any way bad! I’d say among all of the other milk oolongs I’ve tried, I’d probably put this one somewhat in the middle or slightly above the middle. It’d be nice for times I wanted something light and calming; however I just wish it had slightly more body to it.

Iced, with some honey.

Really into this iced cup; to me it came out especially rich tasting on this particular afternoon and had some really brilliant notes of cedar wood, pine, rosemary, and lemon all with that gentle, soft honey sweetness in the background. I was so impressed with how strong it tasted, in fact, that I let my boyfriend try it! His sense of taste/smell is pretty shot and in general he struggles tasting/smelling most things, not just tea. So, normally straight white teas are a no go for him. For once, he could taste the tea though!

…He just hated it. More for me though, right?

Evening cuppa!

Wanted something fruity, but also sweet to kind of sate some late night cravings. This one was a good fit because it tastes like sweet, lemony buttercream! This time around, a bit more of a lemon grass flavour over actual lemon, but still really tasty! I’ll need to try it with a spot of milk at some point, you know to really push the buttery/creamy elements to the extreme.

Side note – I’ve been REALLY into lateral thinking problems as of late but I’m running out of new ones so if anyone knows any tricky ones I’d love to take a swing at ’em?

If you don’t know what a lateral thinking problem is… here are a couple examples:

A woman is listening to music while walking. When the music stops, she dies. What happened?

The woman is a blind folded tight rope walker for a circus. The ringmaster plays music for her, and when he stops she knows she’s safely crossed the rope and can walk off onto the platform. On this particular day, he messes up and stops early. She walks off the rope, midair and falls to her death.

Or…

A man pushes his car until he reaches a hotel. He knows at that exact moment that he’s bankrupt. Why?

He’s playing Monopoly…

Stuff like that!

So, I picked this one out yesterday because I wanted something that would work as an iced tea, but that was still kind of fun and Autumnal in flavour. This checks off both boxes on the list. I ended up letting it steep longer than originally intended, and it did come out pretty intense consequently. Very, very rich and sweet with some very over the top apple, clove, and anise notes. It certainly nailed that “mulled cider” kind of flavour.

A coworker interestingly pointed out that I may have had some subconscious reasons for picking it though – I was in a very bad mood, and didn’t want to be touched by ANYONE at the moment. Romantically, physically, in a friend kind of way, etc. So, I made this one knowing full well that in less than ten minutes my boyfriend was gonna be stopping by to visit on my lunch break…

My boyfriend who is VERY allergic to apples.

So, uh, suffice to say there was no lip to lip interactions between the two of us. Which worked well for the mood I was in… Thanks, brain?

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.

Iced at work.

I think I got a weird ratio of ingredients in the leaf measured out for this cuppa because it tasted much more apple heavy than it normally does, though still with that Five Alive citrus/tropical fruit undertone that I really like. Also, a bit watered down tasting? I’m not totally sure 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!

Let’s be real, this one definitely wasn’t intended to be drank hot. Like, I’m sure the team that made it knew it was going to be made hot by people – but 100% this was marketed as an iced tea this summer and up until now that’s definitely how I drank it.

As a hot tea, this one wasn’t bad though! It was, of course, very sour and tart but that’s only to be expected. It is called Sour Watermelon afterall, and I know from trying this one iced that it’s not really an exaggeration. Thing is, as a hot tea it’s MUCH MORE apparent to me that the sourness is coming from the apple in the blend and not other sources/the watermelon. It reminds me a lot of the other ‘sour’ tea we released this summer, Sour Appletini. Again that’s not really a surprise since both blends use the exact same ingredient (sour apple) to achieve the sour flavour. It’s just more evident when prepared this way…

So for what this one was, a sour apple tea with melon undertones, it was actually quite good! Definitely not something I could just drink any old day though; you definitely need to be in the right mood to want a hot of something that tart.

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.