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This review is for the Dark Chocolate Delight infused shortbread!

So, this might actually be my favourite infused shortbread yet; it’s just perfectly chocolately and sweet and works really well for dunking in tea. That said, while I think the dark chocolate component of the tea is 100% spot on I could not, for the life of me, taste the blueberry in this shortbread! That’s such a big part of what makes this tea unique, and it felt absent.

Still loved it; but this loses points in my books for not being totally accurate to the tea even if it’s yummy as all hell.

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 Latte.

I was craving matcha, and chose this one to drink so I could share with a coworker who hadn’t tried this flavour yet. +1 for product knowledge, right?

I still don’t like this one – it’s got very weird undertones to it that remind me of coconut that’s gone “off”. I’m sure what I’m picking up is the coconut nectar that’s used in this as a sweetener. I don’t actually think it’s gone bad, mind you. I just don’t like it.

The flavour of the mint itself is good though, albeit a bit light for my tastes. I wish I could taste the “menthol” a bit more, if you know what I mean? RLT’s mint flavours of matcha always had that minty kick in the finish that felt like you’d just finished brushing your teeth, a bit.

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.

#ProjectTeaWall

Obviously, obviously, obviously I’ve had English Breakfast before. It was just a matter of having this English Breakfast. I chose to drink it with milk/honey because that’s how so many people drink it and I wanted to get a good feel for how this one would taste the way more of our customers seem to prepare it.

I mean, not a lot to say. It was English Breakfast!? Strong, brisk, bold and takes milk and sweetener really well. Personally, I still prefer Irish Breakfast but this is a solid choice too. Now I only have one more “Breakfast” blend to check off for project tea wall; “David’s Breakfast” – the DT specialty one. I guess I’ll soon see how that one stacks up…

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 (181)!

I love, love, love the packaging for this one. It was pretty well enough on its own to make me want to try this one, despite the cheesy as all hell name.

Mint and lemon sounds like it should make for a really refreshing iced/cold brew; sort of lemonade-y I’d guess? So I cold brewed this one! I was really excited about it too.

It’s not bad, I guess. I definitely thought there would be more balance between the mint and the lemon notes but this is very much a ‘mint with lemon’ tisane and not ‘mint and lemon’ and there IS a big difference between those two things. I want to like it really badly, but it’s just strong and a little odd.

Also, if I’m being perfectly honest the intensity of the mint is giving me flashbacks of DAVIDsTEA’s Peppermint Amour and that time I found a maggot in the tea leaf. I still gag every time I have to open the tin of Peppermint Amour for a customer, by the way. Like, every damn time. While I was quickly able to shake the feeling of maggot tea whilst drinking this, the fact is brought up that unpleasant memory in the first place is just… ugh!

I think I’m content with just this one tasting, on this one. Again, it’s not the worst but I think I may just have more cons than pros this time around.

So this one is something that I normally wouldn’t drink really but it was a gift from a coworker at DAVIDsTEA who had tried it at a hotel on vacation and really like it, so she brought a whole bunch home with her for the staff to try.

And on the note of it being something I wouldn’t normally drink…

So my coworker, Leah, was aware of the fact I don’t generally drink bagged tea anymore and she was actually super nervous about sharing a bagged tea with me. It just made me feel really reflective/introspective and put some things in a bit of a new light for me. I don’t even want to be the kind of tea drinker or perceived as the kind of tea drinker that is “too good for something”. That kind of superiority is exactly why people are intimidated by loose leaf tea, and sometimes even the tea community as a whole. I know that my personal experience has always been a positive one, but I understand why people are sometimes scared to take those baby steps into some of the more ‘hardcore’ facets of tea.

The fact of the matter is, you can be surprised by any tea and taste is totally subjective! So, while I fall into this trap myself a lot, a bagged tea can be as good or better as a loose leaf one and it’s worth the occasional “step backwards” to give one a try. And bottom line, friend/coworker took the time to share something with me because it made them think of me, and I am appreciative of that. I don’t ever want someone to be scared to share a tea with me because I’m “too good for it”.

And you know what? When I drank this one on the bus ride to work today it was damn good. Very creamy and rich, with soft vanilla notes and delectable caramel goodness. I was reeled in from my first sip, and you damn well bet I got every last drop out of that travel mug.

So thank you, Leah!

Cold brew, and the final oolong from my oolong weekend.

I’n not really feeling this one tonight, which is odd because normally I really enjoy it. I’m wondering if maybe the reason it’s not vibing as well with me today is the weather? That seems like such a weird thing to be such a deciding factor in whether or not I’m going to enjoy a tea, but I’ve just become so accustomed to this being my rainy day/stormy weather tea that now that it’s just straight up snowing and cold it feels sort of like… c

Well, like cheating, I guess? To be drinking it, that is.

It’s also very floral tonight, and in a kind of fake-y way. So, probably going to dump out the bulk of the cold brew. It’s just not working for me tonight, and that’s ok. It’s just better to not waste my time with bad tea, is all.

Thank you very much for the sample Veck!

I’m saving the bulk of the sample you provided to Gong Fu, but I brought enough with me to work today for a Western mug as well because I really just wanted to try one of the things you sent me in the Slack Secret Santa exchange, and this one fit my oolong themed weekend.

My coworkers got a good laugh over the name of this one; I had to give them a short run down and explain the name’s origin/that it’s based off an actual place and not just a silly sounding pairing of words…

Tasting notes I scribbled on my cup today:

- Smooth. Really smooth.
- Light to medium bodied
- Delicate floral flavour that reminds me a bit of lilies?
- Soft grassy undertones
- Stronger/more prominent honey notes

This was just delectable overall, and a real treat! Thank you Veck!

First tasting note, but not my first time trying is so it doesn’t count for Project Tea Wall…

I’ve tried this once prior to this; just as a sample when I was in store the day it launched. I thought it was pretty good then, and picked up a small sample to try Gong Fu which I still haven’t done, but will eventually. Since I was drinking only oolongs today though I figured I’d try it hot in store today and give it more of a proper tasting.

- Sweet honey/nectar top notes
- Very mild roast overall, but it is still present
- Light to medium bodied
- Body of the sip has an array of fruit notes; red fruits, plum, and apple/quince
- Bit of a floral finish, which ties in to the natural floral quality of the quince
- Very smooth

All in all, I quite enjoy this one. In many ways it actually reminds me a lot of What-Cha’s Vietnamese ‘Red Buffalo’ oolong. There are a lot of shared tasting notes between the two…

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.

This is the only tea I’ve had this weekend which hasn’t been an oolong, but we finally got it in store and since I’ve been waiting since the Feel Good collection was launched to try it I figured I could cheat on my all oolong weekend once and it’d be fine.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this one even before trying it; it’s a green tea, and one with ginger and licorice root which are all ingredients that I’m kind of ‘meh’ about at best. Plus, I don’t think it’s the most unique blend and with it coming out right around the time of the launch of Live Wire Lemon as a core tea I’m not convinced introducing another lemon heavy blend was the best game plan.

That said, when I tried this one today I actually found the flavour pretty agreeable. That is to say that while it wasn’t anything more than average, in my opinion, for a tea that utilizes so many ingredients I dislike it could have been much worse. The lemon is sweeter and not very acidic/tangy which I think is good. I like when lemon blends are sweeter and less on the sour/acidic side. Of course, the licorice root is responsible for quite a lot of that sweetness but even the licorice root didn’t come off as super cloying or unpleasant to me. As for the green tea, despite the fact that this has a green base and matcha in it I thought the flavour of both was really well hidden. So this could be a good green tea for people who don’t like green tea, such as myself. The ginger was softer than I’d expected, but still present.

Overall, like I said, it was sort of average for me. I want to describe it as a bit of a cross between The Buzz and Live Wire Lemon, but just marginally greener.

And now that I’ve tried the complete Feel Good Collection here’s my final scoring…

1. Moroccan Mint
2. Buchu Superfruit
3. Turmeric Glow
4. Zestfully Green
5. Cocoa Boost

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.

Had this one tonight on shift.

I was really, really craving something creamy and I think of all the oolong options we have in store (since this weekend was oolong themed and that was all I was drinking) this is the creamiest one so it’s what I chose.

I’m still not thrilled about the level of added cane sugar in this one but I guess the good part about making my own tea on shift is that I can do my best to control the balance of stuff in the leaf I measure out. In this case, I just tried to get more coconut shreds/white chocolate pieces and the rolled oolong leaves that appeared to have the smallest amount of cane sugar sticking to them.

The tea was really good; very strongly creamy and with really solid coconut notes. I like that this blend has both the fresh coconut shreds and then toasted coconut as well. The combination of both creates a more more dynamic feeling coconut flavour. It was pretty sweet, but I think a lot better than it would have been otherwise since I was being quite conscious of what I had measured out to steep for this one.

Also, eating the coconut shreds out of the brewed up leaf is one of the best parts of this tea. They’re just so good. Right up there with eating the gooseberries out of Midsummer Night’s Dream after you’ve steeped the 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.