16396 Tasting Notes

79

Latte!

This is a bit of a more subtle flavour, latte wise. It’s a medium bodied and highly nuanced tea on its own anyway, so I guess it makes sense that quality of it would probably carry over more to the latte-d version. Flavour wise, when it was really hot pretty well all I got was soft chocolate notes and raisins/prunes. That actually wasn’t too bad: like a fancy as fuck Glossettes kind of taste? As it cooled, the raisin quality got a little light and more of the orange started coming through.

I was also eating this one with some food – my favourite baker from the Farmer’s Market had some left over bread rolls from the morning and he stopped by the store and gave them to the staff. So, I got to munch on a Saskatoon Berry Roll with lunch, and it was pretty fantastic to dunk into my tea. Creamy, elegant chocolate notes with that burst of sweet Saskatoons! Mmm!

Autistic Goblin

Mom likes Saskatoon berry.. me not so much. It’s always nice to get good baked goods from the Farmer’s Market. I got some really good Salsa that way. Luckily enough they sale their salsa at some stores too so I could get it all year round :D

Roswell Strange

My absolute FAVOURITE salsa also comes from the Farmer’s Market… Pineapple Mango Jalepeno! It’s so good! I didn’t get a chance to grab any yesterday though; I was working :/

Autistic Goblin

That does sound yummy! There’s a mango one from the Farmer’s Market that is also sold in Co-op and Sobeys I think. It’s pretty tasty.

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78
drank Melon Drop by DAVIDsTEA
16396 tasting notes

Cold Brew!

This is so smooth and thirst quenching – very sweet as well! I’ve gotten in the bad habit of eating the candied melon out of the tin of tea, and this cold brew tastes exactly like those delicious candied melon pieces. I mean, as it should? Given that those delicious melon pieces are what give it most of the flavour in the first place.

It’s not just candied melon though – it’s also kiwi and juicy apple. Mmmm!

I should drink this one more often. Yes, drink it – not just eat the melon tidbits.

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.

Autistic Goblin

Adding it to my list to try. Although I never eat the candy pieces.

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32

Tea number four of my five custom teas…

I wanted to do my own take on an Earl Grey because even though I don’t love straight EGs I’m usually pretty on board with flavoured ones. This also just seemed like a really fun tea name that I wanted to take advantage of. My original idea was to do something like Harney’s Boston – almond and cranberry. However, I also want to be able to share this one with my mom so I consulted her for flavour ideas and she was really against cranberry. After consulting my flavour bible we ended up settling on apricot instead.

So, this is apricot, almond and vanilla on an EG base with some rose because that seemed like a nice visual accent, decent flavour compliment and a good way to play into the name/theme of the tea!

- Drank this one iced
- Least favourite of all my custom teas thus far
- Very artificial and chemical tasting! Eww…
- After some unpleasant sips, I think I’ve pinpointed the cause of the gross flavour
- It’s definitely the apricot flavouring… Maybe I just don’t like apricot flavour!?
- After all I did hate the apricot matcha from Red Leaf Tea too and it was similar
- After watering this down it’s more tolerable
- The almond and vanilla are actually nice; very sweet, creamy and nutty
- Marzipan like, if you will
- The rose/floral tastes in general are weird as well; very aggressive and dominating
- It’s just not that good

Yeah; I should have stuck with my gut and gone for the cranberry…

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54

Latte, with agave.

This was ok; it’s one of the teas that my mom brought back from her BC vacation. It’s was a surprise one though, and not from one of the places I had asked her to check out. Being surprised with tea is usually really lovely – it’s just that she bought A LOT of it. So, there’s a lot of pressure to enjoy it.

I made it as a latte first because if I like it that way then that will be the easiest way to finish it all off – it was ok, very very malty with a hint of nuttyness to it. Even with the agave and creaminess from the milk, there was still this bitter edge to it though. I mean, I wanted to like it so much but that bitter edge…

I don’t know. It’s just maybe a little TOO simple, and with that bitterness I just can’t get as into it as I want to. I’ll try it again and reassess.

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68

Many, many thanks to VariaTea for sending this to me… ages ago!

I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get around to; all my ziploc samples are in a different box/part of my cupboard and because of that they so frequently get forgotten about. I should really do something about that!

Anyway, my thoughts!

- A little bitter/astringent
- I get both the cherry and vanilla though!
- Probably would have assumed this was a sort of wonky Monk’s Blend though…
- Had I not read the ingredients, anyway
- Hmmm, maybe a little cough syrup-y as it cools down though?

Yeah; bottom line is that this one smells really good but when it comes down to taste it leaves me a little unimpressed. I don’t dislike it though, and I think with some tweaking it might be redeemable. My first thought is that it could be a sweeter iced tea, and if it works well with milk that might take the edge of some of that astringency/bitterness?

I’ll have to see what I end up doing, though.

VariaTEA

Yeah, I also was disappointed by this one especially when you take into consideration that it’s a specialty blend for one of the most popular ice cream shops in the city. It just fell flat. I hoped you’d have more luck.

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100

Something a little bit different this time around…

- Cold brewed the tea, then ran it through the soda stream
- Finally dropped in some frozen raspberries and let those slowly infuse
- It was actually delicious! Like this super fruity ‘spritzer’/soda kind of thing
- With clear, rich notes of currants and raspberry
- And then softer undertones of lemon, champagne and the white base
- Really fun, very refreshing and a nice way to switch up a tea I’ve done a lot with

Side note: if you’re gonna run tea through the soda stream make sure you remember to relieve the pressure like you’re supposed to – I was tired, and completely spaced out and instead unscrewed it from the machine without relieving that pressure. Which resulted in something that looked a little like this…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=860e_AgaF-Y

(The machine was fine though – just made a small mess for me to clean up)

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Finally caved and bought a tin of this one for at home.

I made it iced on one of my days off this week because it was so hot in our house, and I just needed something refreshing and sweet. I let the tea steep for way too long before pouring it over ice though; like, well over an hour. It was VERY intensely orange flavoured. Basically, it was like an orange juice concentrate, with traces of the more tropical passionfruit. I actually still liked it A LOT because as intense as it was, it was a REALLY natural flavour too. Maybe a bit carrot-y tasting, too?

I don’t think I’d go out of my way to brew it up as strongly in the future though – it loses that ‘Five Alive’ quality I so strongly like about it even if it gains a more in your face orange taste.

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.

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87
drank Euphoria by Kusmi Tea
16396 tasting notes

As an iced latte, again.

I’m more so tasting the chocolate this time around – it’s very sweet, and obviously creamy from the addition of the milk. Kind of like a really good, liquid version of a plain milk chocolate bar? Though, there are hints of orange in the background and the soft roasty quality of the mate base comes through a little bit. Still really enjoying this one, though!

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82

Cold Brew.

So, I didn’t really notice much about this tea – but I think the reason for that is pretty justifiable! I was drinking it while the not-boyfriend was over at my house and we were watching shitty d-list horror movies. I was far too distracted by him and his reactions to the movies to pay next to any attention to the tea I was quickly downing.

He was just too adorable.

I do remember thinking it reminded me of DT’s Superberry tea in some way – but now I can’t pinpoint exactly what it was that made me think of that tea. I did like Superberry a lot though, even if it wasn’t one of DT’s more popular blends. I’d love to see it come back as one of the New Years/Feel Good teas!

Anyway; I’ll get to experience this one again – I did buy 100g of it, so plenty left to sample.

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80
drank Supreme Pekoe by DAVIDsTEA
16396 tasting notes

Morning cuppa – sweetened with a bit of cinnamon honey.

I can tell I oversteeped this today because it’s fairly astringent – however, the flavour is still good. It’s really thick in mouthfeel with a rich malty/bready quality and then some sweeter notes of graham crackers and spices. Obviously it’s got the taste of cinnamon from the honey, but the tea itself also has a nice lightly spiced/cinnamon bark quality to it as well. Basically, it’s like a big slab of fresh baked bread with honey and cinnamon sugar.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-dqW4uBEE&index=4&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

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.

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Profile

Bio

Hello! My name is Kelly, though many people in the tea community call me Ros or Roswell.

I am a mid-twenties tea addict, blogger, and all around nerd. I grew up in the Prairies, but a few years ago I relocated to Quebec to pursue a career with DAVIDsTEA in the tea industry! I’m still working on getting my French language skills down…

My first introduction to tea, in any form outside of instant and bottled iced tea, was about seven years ago when I happened to stumble upon DAVIDsTEA while looking for a birthday present for a friend! I tried their Birthday Cake rooibos blend, and I’ve been hooked on tea ever since! In those seven years; I was introduced to the online tea community, expanded my interest in flavoured teas to include a deep love and appreciation for straight teas and traditional brewing methods, got a tea themed tattoo, started reviewing teas, amassed a sizable tea and teaware collection, became a TAC certified Tea Sommelier, & even came full circle by beginning a career in the tea industry with DAVIDsTEA!

I consider myself a Jack of all Teas, and strive to have a knowledge and appreciation of all tea types, formats, and styles of drinking. I don’t like to feel boxed in to just being a “flavoured tea” or “straight tea” drinker – my expectations may vary depending on the type of tea or how it’s been processed/prepared but if it’s good tea, it’s good tea no matter how it’s been made!

You name it, I probably drink it- and I’ll absolutely try anything at least once.

My default method of preparation is hot, Western style, and straight – but I’m not opposed to additions if I’m in the right mood. If I ever add something to a tea or use a different method of preparation I will ALWAYS call it out in the tasting note though.

I like to listen to music when drinking tea, especially when I’m brewing a large pot at a time or steeping Gongfu. Often I curate very intentional tea and music pairings, and sometimes I share them here in my tasting reviews. Music is something that I find can deeply affect the experience of having tea.

I’m also one half of the “tea and fandom” podcast GeekSteep where, weekly, we discuss newly explored fandoms over tea as well as try to figure out the perfect tea to pair with each fandom. You can find us on Spotify and Apple & Google podcasts.

Favourite flavour notes/ingredients: Pear, lychee, cranberry, cream, melon, pineapple, malt, roasty, petrichor, sweet potato, heady florals like rose, hazelnut or walnut, sesame, honey (in moderation), and very woody shou.

Least favourite flavour notes/ingredients:
Lemongrass, ginger, strongly spiced profiles (and most Chai in general), mushrooms, seaweed, chamomile, stevia, saltiness or anything that reminds me too much of meat that isn’t supposed to taste like meat…

Currently exploring/obsessed with: Sheng from Yiwu, Yancha (Qilan in particular), anything with a strong sweet potato note. Also, I need to try ALL the root beer teas! Searching for a really good caramel flavoured blend, ideally with a black tea base.

Please contact me at the instagram account listed below if you would like me to review your teas.

Currently I’m employed in the tea department of the DAVIDsTEA head office. While I’m still sharing my own personal thoughts on new & existing DAVIDsTEA blends, I am no longer numerically rating them due to the obvious conflict of interest. Any comments expressed are a reflection of my own thoughts and opinions, and do not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the company. Any DAVIDsTEA blends you currently see with a numeric score were reviewed prior to my being hired there and have not been adjusted since becoming a DAVIDsTEA employee.

Location

Montreal, QC, CA

Website

https://www.instagram.com/ros...

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