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This is one of the five different teas I asked my mom to pick up for me when she went to Teavana. This was shortly after news had broke that they were closing, so when I found out she was on vacation and has access to a store (we don’t live near one) I wanted to take advantage. I got a mix of things that personally intrigued me, are more popular, and more unique…

I’ve actually had this one before, once, but it was years ago and I don’t remember a whole lot about it other than I didn’t like it as much as other yellow teas I had tried at the time. I thought it’d be worth revisiting though; yellow tea is still fairly hard to get your hands on so even yellow tea from Teavana is worth at least a little exploration.

For my ‘first’ tasting of this – or rather the first tasting of this pouch of it, I made it as a hot tea, Western style. 80 degree Celsius water, and a three minute steep. I was surprised at how sweet and fruity it tasted! I mean, that wasn’t all there was to the flavour, it also had a very strong, sweet honey top note and undertones of straw, hay, and candied peanuts. However the most dominant flavours in the sip are nectarines and peaches! It’s pretty delicious, but I’m confused where that rich, sweet fruity flavour is coming from? It’s just so surprising for a yellow tea!

I’m so curious to see whether or not that fruity flavour will be consistent as I continue exploring this yellow tea…

Made a mug of this one the other night to sip on whilst having the most blissful fucking bubble bath…

- With added cashew milk
- Tastes like an apple pie or apple crumble
- Sweet, syrupy apples with lots of cinnamon notes
- Hints of nuttyness and floral notes in the background
- Very Christmas like and festive
- But also REALLY confectionery/pastry like

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.

Sipdown (335)!

Thanks for this one VariaTEA!

I’ve always wished this one tasted more like fresh, natural strawberries but instead it’s super strawberry milkshake-like instead. Actually, almost exactly like the super thick, creamy strawberry shakes that McDonalds sells. For me, that gives this an almost nostalgic feeling. I drank so much of those things as a kid; definitely less so now. In fact, I can’t even think of the last time I was in a McDonalds…

This time around I drank this as a hot tea with milk; it was tasty to be sure. However, when something intensely reminds you of milkshakes it’s a little weird to be experiencing them hot. Iced probably would’ve been a better route.

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.

Sipdown (335)!

This one was a freebie sample that came with my last Adagio order. The package said it was for cold brewing, so of course that’s exactly what I did!

It was ok, but honestly a little bit boring? Like, it’s a pretty full bodied and brisk black tea flavour complimented by a relatively natural mango note. It’s malty, and floral from the base and the mango tastes like, well, mango. It’s pretty sweet but not excessively. Definitely drinkable on its own, but a hint of sugar could probably turn this one into a decent “Sweet Tea”. As it stands, though, I’m finding it a little one dimensional. Average is a perfectly suitable word for it…

Cold Brew!

Currently sipping on this one; it’s pretty refreshing and fruity! Main notes are cucumber and orange, which is a really nice pairing! I love, love, love the bright juicy citrus and the refreshing, cooling cucumber combo together. It also has undertones of sweet tomato goodness, and a finish that’s quite apple-y. It’s kind of hard to explain WHY the mix of fruit and vegetables works so well but it does – it’s just sweet and tasty!

Now that I have more of this one on hand, after restocking during Cuppa T’s flash sale, I’ve been thinking of other ways I might be able to use this one and I think it could make a REALLY interesting base for a cocktail. Imagine it as the base for a sweeter, fruitier Ceaser? Two or three parts Market Fresh cold brew, one part Lapsang Souchong if you wanted more tea flavour or one part Mezcal if you want more booze but still SOME smoke, one or two parts vodka depending on how strong you want it, maybe some muddled cherry tomatoes to increase that aspect of the flavour? Rim a glass with some sea salt, garnish was a celery stick? I think that would make for a REALLY interesting take on a Ceaser.

But I don’t know – what other kinds of cocktails do you guys think this might work in?

Morning cuppa!

This one was nice to start the morning with; very smooth and delicate which was great to just ease into the day alongside. The bulk of the sip is comprised of pandan notes, which are eerily similar to sticky rice. Very starchy and glutenous, with a soft delicate natural sweetness. I also found that the green tea itself was pleasantly grassy and light with a crisp finish that reminded me of bamboo.

Overall the cup was really good, but definitely better when it was hot! My last third of the cup was pretty cool (like room temp) when I got to drinking it, and it tasted nice but definitely not as good; had a very light astringency to it that it didn’t have when it was hot/freshly made.

Still, nice to drink this one again!

Sipdown (330)!

So, over Christmas I gave my Grandma a tin of this one because I know she really loves lavender and I thought it might be something she’d enjoy because of that. When we were down at her house this last weekend she said it wasn’t a favourite of hers because it was too fruity though, so she asked if I wanted to take a few cups of it back home with me to help finish it off.

I didn’t take all of it, or even that much honestly – just enough for a mug. I was tempted to take more, but I have so much tea at home already and I can always drink this one at work whenever I want to…

Anyway; I finished off that mug’s worth of tea last night right before bed. I guess in hindsight, I can see what she’s talking about when she says it’s too fruity: the dominant flavour in the cup is definitely sweet and tart strawberry notes, accented by blueberry and apple. It does finish with some softer floral lavender and sweet spearmint notes but it’s a stretch to say that those are the main flavours. I enjoyed it is as a before bed tea, 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.

Was skeptical about ordering this one because of the lavender component, but the reviews made me do it – it just sounded really good. Plus, as of late I haven’t HATED lavender teas, especially on a white base or with a creamy component. This has both, so that’s a good sign right?

Surprisingly, I think I actually wish this had a little MORE lavender flavour to it. It’s not that it wasn’t present, but it was quite delicate and the rest of the flavour totally hides the bulk of it. It’s a very lemon heavy profile. It’s delicious though, truly! The lemon in here is so sweet and creamy; it really does feel like a delicious, creamy/buttery lemon infused frosting on such a light, delicate and airy cake!

I wouldn’t call it light bodied profile overall, because it reminds me of buttercream and that can be pretty sweet and heavy – but the rest of the profile, the delicate floral elements and light airy vanilla cake flavours, those are pretty soft and gentle. Plus, hints of sweet hay cutting through from the white tea base as well. That’s always one of the best things about AQ2T blends – they embrace their tea bases, not try to bury them under tons of added ingredients.

Overall – this feels like exactly the sort of thing you’d eat/drink at a really fancy, high class wedding! I’m not sure if that’s what she was going for with it flavour wise, but it really works for me! I was really pleasantly surprised with how much I loved this one, despite a few things that could have been just slightly tweaked to make it completely perfect.

Another tea from Winterwoods Tea Company!

This one seems like it has a lot going on ingredients wise, but the way it comes together is pretty seamless. It’s not impossible to break down the flavours at all: fennel and cinnamon top notes, more of a minty and cooling finish with woody body flavours. However, it really is better when you just leave it be as one uniform flavour that feels very refreshing and outdoorsy. It’s a combination of the sweeter elements, mild warming spices and then the cooling/refreshing mint that ties that imagery all together.

And I’m no stranger when it comes to the idea of using the cooling/refreshing feeling of mint in tea blends to evoke the refreshing feeling of a cool breeze in the outdoors – it’s pretty well exactly what I had in mind when I made my own blend, Daughter of Satyrs.

I did add a splash of vanilla agave near the end of the mug though; no real rhyme or reason to it – I’m just obsessed with the stuff as of late. It didn’t do much, except draw out some of the mint. Vanilla mint is just a really good flavour combo…

Yeah, only real downside for me when it comes to this blend is that I’d have loved the sarsaparilla to be a clearer, and more distinct flavour because sarsaparilla is just so damn tasty. This was SUPER refreshing and relaxing though even as is.

So, this company really intrigues me; their blends are either fair trade and organic, ideally locally sourced and sometimes actually foraged from the wild!? That’s pretty interesting/unique and I love the attention to detail and that they focus so heavily on freshness. I actually got all my samples of their teas through Amoda because it was the easier way for me to get samples of their blends – but if I have enough success with the teas I got samples of the idea is definitely to place an order through their website and get some things in larger quantities!

This is my first one, and you know what? The dry leaf smells pretty damn good! I’m not entirely sure what a huckleberry specifically tastes like that separates it from a blackberry, but in my head a blackberry is what I’m picturing and the dry leaf smells pretty sweet and blackberry like.

Taste wise? I’m not immediately in love, but this is pretty solid! I imagine it’d actually be a far better iced tea so that’s probably how I’ll finish off the rest of the sample. It’s very sweet, enough so that I had to double check there wasn’t any sort of sweetener like stevia in the leaf, but nope – it’s probably just the blackberry leaf up to no good. Blackberry leaf is sneaky sometimes; it’s pretty sweet stuff. The berry comes through clearly; again I don’t know what separates huckleberry from blackberries, but it definitely reminds me of blackberries. Maybe blackberry jam, specifically? Like I said, it’s a pretty sweet tea! It’s also got a tarter finish, definitely from the hibiscus. I’m not the worlds biggest fan of hibiscus, but if you’re going to pair it with anything then I think berry is usually the right route to go, and in this case I don’t find it too heavy handed.

I think, for a new to me company, it’s a good start and introduction! I’m definitely excited to see what else they have to offer!