16384 Tasting Notes
New tea alert!
This one is sort of DAVIDsTEA’s Canada Day shout out for the year! Plus, this year is extra special as well because it’s the 150th year Canada has been around. We’re doing several neat things in store to celebrate, and this is part of that. In fact, the whole blend is inspired by things that are red and white to sort of show that Canadian pride: coconut, watermelon, rhubarb, rose, white tea – you get the picture.
Our whole staff was pretty excited for this tea prior to its launch, but I’ll admit I’ve been putting off my review of it here on Steepster because, well, I just don’t like anything about it…
I wanted to! So badly! However, there’s something seriously off about it to me. When I smell the tea leaf in the tin itself, it actually physically makes my nose burn. I’ve also had it both hot and iced now and no matter how I seem to steep it all I get out of the brew is lots and lots of coconut and this super aritificial/chemical taste that I only seem to be able to associate with the smell/taste of nail polish remover and nail polish itself. I mean, anyone who’s ever painted their nails will know the almost burning sensation of acetone and that’s just entirely what this reminds me of!?
And one you mentally make the nail polish associate you just don’t come back from that.
Seriously though! I’m so disappointed because I wanted to love this one A LOT! I mean, coconut AND rhubarb! That just sounds like the best combination to me. Plus, honestly, it’s actually been surprisingly popular in stores! The day we launched it it was a TOTD and we actually cleared three brews of it which is A LOT for our store to do in one day. So, people are into it.
I’m just not one of those people.
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 (244)!
Thanks VariaTEA for the tea! It took me a while to get around to trying this one, but I’m definitely happy I did – it was pretty interesting!
So I was totally expecting a floral tea because this is “marigold” and that’s a flower. So, you know, obvious connection. The other Tea Trunk teas I’ve had have been similarly straight forward. While this definitely WAS floral in a sort of perfumey kind of way and did have the grassy profile I’d expect from a green tea there was something else to it as well. It’s actually pretty strongly citrusy!? I mean, I can see the lemongrass in this one and how that would influence the flavour to be more citrus heavy – however I swear I also taste oranges a fair bit and that’s confusing me.
Although, orange or not this was pretty pleasant and a good late night option.
Iced.
I don’t remember a whole lot of what the package said this one was supposed to taste like other than “exotic fruits”. What kind of exotic fruits though? That’s actually a pretty broad description; lots of fruits CAN be exotic and they certainly don’t all taste alike.
However, brewed up it turned out to be a bit of a moot point because this didn’t really remind me a whole lot of fruit anyway. Or I guess it’d be more accurate to say it reminded me of one fruit: bergamot. Lots and lots of bergamot, actually. It was also really floral both in the top notes and the finish. That floral bergamot flavour duo was layered atop a pretty brisk, malty black base. It didn’t taste too bad, but also somewhat average? I wasn’t really wanting an EG type tea at the time either; definitely something more fruity. So maybe if I revisit this one knowing it’s going to be heavy on the berg I’ll appreciate it a little more.
New August Uncommon Teas!
I’ve been waiting for what feels like ages to see if AU was going to do a summer collection, and a few weeks ago I got an email asking if I wanted to preorder the new teas before they officially launched on the website and, guys, I jumped on that shit so quickly. The collection came yesterday, so of course I had to try something immediately.
I went with this one because it’s the herbal/caffeine free one from this collection and by the point I was ready to make a cup of tea after work it was pretty late into the evening.
So, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the tiniest bit sick of melon teas; we’ve just had so many come out at work this summer than it feels a little played out to me. However, honeydew/mint? That’s a bit more different so I definitely WANT to get on board with it. I cracked the bag though and was a bit disappointed; something about the dry leaf smells VERY weird to me. It’s maybe a bit too harshly minty and the watermelon smells off. I can’t place it; it’s just off.
I brewed it up anyway though, and I’m glad I did because the steeped tea is definitely a step up from how the dry leaf smells. The peppermint actually IS very strong; however as strong as it is it’s also quite soothing. It’s very cooling/refreshing and definitely has the more herbaceous sort of taste of natural/actual peppermint versus flavourings. The juicyness of the melon is a bright contrast and I think that contrast actually pleasantly highlights the cooling elements of the mint and then the sweetness of the melon. I will say that it’s arguably more watermelon like than honeydew, though. Not that I particularly mind.
Of course this IS August Uncommon we’re talking about so the packaging is filled with all sorts of artistic imagery tied into what flavours and moods are supposed to be evoked by the tea. Supposedly this one is kind of like ‘sunbathing on a boat’ or some such similarly worded thing. I don’t think that’s it at all though: I certainly found myself strongly thinking of something specific when drinking it but for me it was a lot more ‘having a picnic in the middle of a thunderstorm’ like.
Overall? Not bad! The “herbal” teas from AU have been a bit hit or miss for me and I think that trend sort of continued with this one – though I definitely didn’t dislike it either.
So, this review is for the Frozen Raspberry infused dark chocolate bar pictured here:
It’s been hot lately – that’s no secret, I’ve been bitching about it constantly afterall! The perfect way to counter that is ice cream though, and what’s better than ice cream with some fancy ass toppings!? So, I made myself a nice big bowl of pistachio icecream with plenty of chocolate shavings of DT’s Frozen Raspberry chocolate bar.
I know it looks like mint chocolate, but I swear it’s NOT.
- The dark chocolate ‘base’ works well with this sweeter nut
- The raspberry comes through in a way that’s almost booze-y
- That rich, deeper raspberry note adds a great fruity layer of flavour though
- Plus dark chocolate itself sort of has a berry like sweetness to it
- So the raspberry was just a smart pairing w. the chocolate in general
- Elevated icecream = success
EDIT: Wow! Only a hundred tasting notes left until 5000! That’s a hell of a landmark. Now I guess the pressure’s on to pick a tea worthy of it…
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 mug, with some Vanilla Toffee creamer splashed in too for extra richness first thing in the morning – sometimes you need a bit of extra indulgence.
- Sweet; the creamer helped focus the “cream cheese” part of the Carrot Cake
- And what’s a carrot cake without frosting!? Nothing; it’s nothing.
- And the tea itself brought everything else together into one nicely wrapped package
- Lots of spice, but in a smooth way that seems to work for carrot cake
- Definitely cinnamon, but also cardamom/allspice?
- Only thing that appears to be missing is the carrot itself!
Still, very good cuppa!
I said I was gonna try this one as a latte, and I follow through.
I did opt for an iced latte though ‘cause it’s been such a sweltering, miserably hot week at work. The mall just needs better air conditioning overall, honestly.
- Reminded me a little of lychee bubble tea; same strong milky, sweet floral fruit combo
- Overall a BIT improvement from the plain iced tea
- Also really enjoyed the peaches & cream vibes too
- The peach actually does remind me a lot of Just Peachy and the brightness of that one
- HOWEVER; the damn white hibiscus!!!
- It’s totally not as bad as a latte, but it definitely still affects the overall flavour
So, all in all this was totally an improvement and it definitely made for a cup enjoyable enough to see through to the finish. However, I see can’t see this as a tea to stock up on at all, and I don’t know if I liked it enough as a latte to make any sort of habit of drinking them at work…
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.
Last Forest Witch tea to try!
There’s always room in my cupboard for a fandom tea, so I was excited about this one. I guess I didn’t browse the ingredients SUPER thoroughly though because I didn’t realize until I cracked the package open just how much spice is in this blend. Ugh…
It honestly didn’t taste too bad; lots and lots of sweet ginger and allspice with this overall creamy candy like sweetness which I know was from the butterscotch chips. Actually, it sort of reminds me of the clotted ginger cream hard candies that the speciality candy store sells in town. I think they MIGHT be British? They’re not too bad, so the comparison isn’t a terrible thing.
However is it Butterbeer? In my opinion, based both on how the books describe it and other tea interpretations I’ve tried, not really. Still and OK tea though.
Iced Latte.
Because I fucking could.
So, this was REALLY earthy tasting, with a strong bean like quality and gentler smokiness to it. Also, very roasty as well. It was kind of super weird, and one of my coworkers described it as tasting “sort of like bitter coffee grounds” and they were kind of correct in that. Like, I didn’t see it before but as soon as the comparison had been made I couldn’t shake it. At the same time, because of the high milk content and that sweeter earthy and vegetal kind of quality I was also strongly reminded of Taro Bubble tea. And, I’ve yet to have red bean bubble tea but I feel like it would probably taste somewhat like this too.
It was just so weird, but in a pretty good way.
So, my mom came home and surprised me the other night with a bottle of Ginger Kombucha! However, it wasn’t labelled or anything so I’ve no idea where it’s from or even really how she got her hands on it. My guess would be that it’s a homebrew.
Regardless, it was VERY good. I’d say arguably the best kombucha I’ve tried yet. Though to be perfectly fair that’s not a huge competitive pool, but even still. It basically tasted like ginger beer. Not ginger ale, mind you – but really good ginger beer with maybe a bit more acidity/vinegar-y tang. I’m not usually a huge fan of ginger either, but damn…
I also used a bit of in an a Kombucha Coleslaw recipe I’d stumbled upon. It was very easy to do, and I have to say I actually really liked the overall flavour too. I mean, lately I’ve been a “slaw fan” in general but this just worked out really nicely and I felt like it brought an extra, special sort of quality to the dish – though obviously it wasn’t fizzy or anything.
Yummy! Wish I knew where this was from…
I bought Tea the North on the weekend. I had smelt the contents of the large canister in store and it had a scent that I liked. I bought the prepackaged decorative tin and was excited to try the tea. I opened it yesterday and the package smelt a little odd but I thought it was maybe the plastic bag that it had been stored in. The tea tasted alright, not one of my favourites that I have bought in the past, but it was drinkable. I opened the tin to show my oldest and my husband and I choked. Literally, the smell that came from that tin took my breath away, and not in a good way. I asked my husband to smell the tea and shot me a look like I was trying to do him in. My oldest as well was not found of the smell. Odd thing is, when brewed it doesn’t smell like nail polish remover and it tastes alright. I have made two cups of ice tea out of it in hopes the smell will go away, but I cannot get past the smell. Nail polish remover is overpowering and turns my stomach. I am with you, I cannot do it. The smell has tainted my taste buds.
What I do not get, or understand, is why the canister in store did not smell like the contents of my tin. If it smelt like that the day I bought it, it would have stayed on the shelf.
Hey Catnap,
I’m following you now on Steepster; do you mind following me back so I can send you a private PM?