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Iced, in my tea press…

I’ve really fallen out of love with this one over the last year. Like, at some point I honestly truly did DEEPLY enjoy this one but lately it’s just tasted so vile to me. Probably just one of those cases of palates changing over time?

Anyway, I’m trying to finish off my tin of this one so that I can refill it with something else. So, pushing through these last unpleasant cups worth. This one was just so sweet/cloying it was making me gag on how sugary it was. I drank about half the tea press, then tossed the rest. I felt a little guilty doing so, but I think it’s probably best not to waste time on bad 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.

Welp; there’s a new collection out today! This time it’s Chai teas, which I guess means that as far as the DT world is concerned Fall is officially here! Time for big cozy sweaters, pumpkin everything, lattes, and tea on the front porch.

Personally, I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of a Chai themed collection because I don’t generally like Chai – but there’s certainly a demand for this kind of collection, and I will say that when I saw that the new Chai teas were more dessert themed I was a little more intrigued than I would have been otherwise.

So, I think this is probably the sweetest tasting of all three Chais from this collection; it’s got lots of white chocolate in it, as well as some cacao as well. I do like white chocolate a lot so that should mean this is great, right? Well…

The biggest issue for me personally is that there’s SO MUCH ginger in this tea. Like, I know I don’t like Chai in general most of the time so there was an expectation I’d already find this one pretty spice heavy but I mean they SPECIFICALLY were fairly heavy handed with the ginger in this one. It’s practically all I can smell in the dry leaf, and it’s the SECOND listed ingredient. For someone, that’s a dream come true but for me? Definitely not a selling point.

Steeped up, I didn’t hate it but it didn’t do anything for me either. It is fairly ginger heavy, but not as much as I’d expect just based on the smell. It’s also sweet, but I’d say in a more generic way than a specifically ‘white chocolate’ way. Honestly, for me it kind of reminds me of just a classic chai, but presweetened? I don’t know – there’s nothing terrible about that, but it’s not for me. The only thing I actually truly disliked was that this one falls culprit to oily mouthfeel because of the melted down chocolate. Not a surprise, but not super pleasant either.

I don’t know. This one could have been worse for me. By my own personal chai standards, it was drinkable. I’m curious what someone who really loves Chai would think about it, ‘cause I’m certainly NOT that person…

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.

Had this one like over a week ago, and now I’m seriously regretting not writing down any notes from it because I hardly remember what it tasted like at all, apart from very warming/comforting. I guess I do remember that it was a little milder than I’d recalled it tasting last time I tried it hot…

I don’t know; the leaf is getting a fair bit old so maybe it’s just losing some of its flavour. It’s almost a sipdown now though, so not the end of the world I suppose.

I’ve been getting more into matcha lately; or rather I should say back into matcha…

Anyway, a few weeks ago I placed a matcha order with Matcha Outlet to pick up some new matchas; a mix of new things and things I’ve tried before. This one is a new one – one that I’ve debated getting a few times now, but just been very on the fence about. I really wanted to get more fruity matchas in the mix with my stash though so I went for it.

I should note, I’m writing this review under the “Red Leaf Tea” entry but I bought this one from the newly renamed Matcha Outlet. Since the tea is identical to the RLT version though, and I’m feeling pretty lazy, I’m not making a new entry for it…

I’m trying this one in a shake first; I know I probably should try it straight but I really wanted to make matcha milkshakes and I told my mom she could pick the flavour we used and this is the one she went for. So, oh well…

Shake Recipe:

Half cup of milk
One Banana
One large scoop of vanilla gelato
Two and a half tsp of matcha
Three ice cubes

It did come out a little thin, so if I was to recreate this one I’d probably either add more ice cream or maybe freeze the banana before hand? Something to make it thicker…

Flavour wise, it was delicious though! Very sweet and creamy, with strong notes of both the banana and the mango. I think, had someone been blindly trying this one, it would have been pretty easy to just assume there was actual mango mixed into this and not just the mango matcha. It even had that almost “pine” kind of taste that mango has when it’s just slightly under ripe. I actually love that pine kind of note, even though I’m sure that generally most people don’t like under ripe mango.

More on the particular nuances and flavour notes of this matcha when I inevitably try it straight though; it’s just kind of hard to decipher really fine details in a format like this where you have so many outside flavours adding to what you’re experiencing. It was REALLY good though!

Cold Brew!

I want to like this one so much because the dry leaf smells great, but this is my second time drinking this one and it’s just so awful…

The brew actually starts off pleasant enough! It’s sweet blueberries notes that for a split second remind me of blueberry pie filling! It’s lovely, and great – and then it all goes downhill so very fast. The rest of the sip is just horribly bitter; and not in a “bad white tea” kind of way but in a very harsh, chemical/artificial flavouring kind of way coupled with an acai/currant flavour that just tastes straight up like cough syrup. Like, I don’t know that I can even begin to convey just how bad it is…

The finish is equally bad, and very weird because while retaining all that bitter grossness it also manages to somehow tastes chalky and soapy on top of that. I powered through a quarter of my cold brew and now I’m just gagging on how terrible it is. Ugh…

So yeah; dumped the rest of this brew! I haven’t tried this tea hot yet, so I’m super crossing my fingers that at the very least it’s drinkable as a hot tea so that this tea leaf isn’t a complete write off. I’m skeptical though.

Does anyone out there like this tea!? And if so, how do you prepare it in a way where it doesn’t taste like garbage!?

Drank this one last night…

Flavour wise, it was pretty spot on to what it normally is, and that was delicious and comforting in all the right ways. However, something was off mouthfeel wise. I can’t explain where it came from, but it was just so thick and oily. Very, very unpleasant texture. Definitely was the cause for some conflicting feelings…

Tea Press.

I definitely wish I’d taken more detailed notes when I was drinking this one. I’ve kind of fallen out of the habit of writing my tasting notes on the cup I’m drinking out of at work, largely because half the time I’m drinking out of another type of vessel like the tea press or matcha maker. I can’t exactly write on my tea press the same way I can a paper cup…

Anyway! I wasn’t originally interested in this one at all, but seeing how well received it’s been here on Steepster definitely made me curious. The stand out thing was, of course, the fact that VariaTea was pretty into it – and she is NOT an oolong fan. That told me that the flavouring in this one must be good.

The first thing I noticed personally was that honey flavour that AQ2T uses. It’s something I so distinctly associate with this company now; but honestly I’m kind of “meh” towards it usually. It’s not bad; but it’s so strong and it kind of dominates whatever it’s used with? However, it works quite well in this blend! Combined with the creamyness and ‘tang’ of the ‘cheesecake flavour’ it really creates this vivid imagery and flavour of a good, old fashioned New York Cheesecake: just a hella good cheesecake. Plus, this one totally has the rich, graham and honey notes to pull off an equally good ‘crust’ element to support the cheesecake goodness! It’s just the complete package, honestly.

Genuinely, other ‘cheesecake’ flavoured teas should take note of this one – it’s got the sweetness, the creamy element, the “tang”, basically everything you need to convey cheesecake in an accurate and delicious way! Definitely one of the best cheesecake teas I’ve ever tried!

And bonus points for the base. It’s very soft/subtle, but the little touch of grassyness and floral orchid-like notes in the finish as the cheesecake elements subside are the perfect reminder that this is in fact a tea. Plus, they’re just the right contrast from the otherwise very rich and indulgent flavour to temper this one just enough that it’s not too decadent and sweet.

It’s just… a very well done tea, even with that sort of overdone honey flavour.

Cold Brew!

Started my morning with this one yesterday! I’m still pretty enamored with it, to be honest. It’s really sweet and juicy, and especially yesterday drinking my cold brew it felt at times both like I was eating super juicy, ripe pears and getting that rich, sweet pear juice dripping down my chin and slurping at a fruit cocktail, with the peachy cocktail syrup doing the same thing! It’s just such a good medley of both pear and peach, with pineapple and apple undertones.

I will say, that while I think the pear flavour is very natural tasting I do find that the rest of the tisane is so sweet/candy like that it’s hard for me not to associate it with either candied fruit or things like sugary fruit cocktail mixes. I’m sure that’s probably in part from the fact that several of the fruit pieces are candied, and in part from the stevia. I still don’t really think the brew tastes distinctly like stevia, with that funky artificial kind of quality stevia often has. However, it’s definitely sweet.

Still, I really enjoy this one! Sweetness and all.

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.

Tea Press Sipdown (334)!

I had actually already thought I’d finished this one off when I found the bag of it in my sample box, so this is kind of like a surprise bonus cup of it! I think the fact I was so pleasantly surprised to see that I had another cup of it really speaks to how much I enjoyed this one, though!

This last cup was fairly one note – but it was a good one note. Basically, it was just really sweet, fruity and bright kiwi notes! Kiwi is pretty great though. The only thing that kept it from basically just being a purely kiwi flavoured cuppa was a hint of lemon in the finish. It was the perfect second layer of flavour, and a pleasant end to the sip.

I’m not looking to get more of this one right now, but definitely something I’d consider ordering again the the future!

Latte Sipdown (335)!

Finished this one off at work as a latte; with extra foam and a vanilla agave drizzle on top!

This one actually works better for me as a latte than a lot of other, normal EG blends do. The main reason, I think, is just ‘cause the bergamot in here is fairly mellow in the first place so it’s more of a creamy, soft smooth flavour with a mild overarching bergamot flavour than an intense bergamot heavy profile that I’d get from something like, say, DT’s classic Earl Grey or even the Cream of Earl Grey…

I mean, I like bergamot – but I don’t want to drown in it.

This one is also nice though because of the fruity element. To be honest, it’s never really tasted distinctly like pomegranate to me and even as a latte I still didn’t get any real distinct fruit notes/flavours but there’s something to this one that just conveys fruit. I’d say it’s sort of just very light/mild generic red fruit notes, if I had to describe it. A coworker did try this latte, and she thought it was kind of like a SUPER light and creamy strawberry flavour though, for what it’s worth.

Anyway! Point is, as far as EG based lattes go this was pretty mild mannered but still really good/smooth! It was a nice way to finish up this tea. I don’t think I’ll really miss having this one in my cupboard though; I’m not a HUGE EG person anyway, and of LP’s creations that used bergamot I still vastly adore the Peach Formosa oolong so if I’m going to feel sad about running out of any LP creation then that’s the one I’d be mourning…