16384 Tasting Notes

80

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this breakfast blend – it’s so different and unconventional. That just made me even more determined to try it, though.

I guess I probably should have known better, but I was relatively thrown by the fact that this tea lacks the strong, brisk and full bodied cup that breakfast teas tend to have. Like, to me a solid breakfast tea is one that takes milk and sugar really well but when it comes to this tea I feel like adding milk would totally obscure the flavours.

I definitely got a strong sense of the muscat notes though; so the Darjeeling definitely comes through, and smoothly too I might add. Other than that, there’s quite a bit of underlying fruitness to the tea as well. I’m guessing that’s largely from the hops, but perhaps also a bit from the raspberry leaf. I definitely think those fruit notes lean more towards red fruit flavours than anything else; strawberry/raspberry and maybe even sweet red currants? Pretty yummy.

I think that’s my overall consensus; really yummy and surprisingly nuanced and fruity but I just can’t see this as a “breakfast blend”. I suppose I just have too strong a preconceived notion of what a breakfast blend is.

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73

Starting my morning technically afternoon; I slept until 1PM off today with a warm bowl of Grape Matcha; just in water today, not milk. I haven’t yet figured out how to keep milk in my room for my bedside tea set up.

Might be time to invest in a mini fridge…

Anyway; this is really satisfying today. It’s got a really strong, aromatic floral quality to it that’s coming through pretty boldly alongside sweet grape notes and mild grassyness. The grape in this isn’t completely natural tasting but it’s certainly not overly artificial/candy like. It just feels very… perfumed? If that makes sense.

Delicious though, and a nice start to the day.

VariaTEA

I loved having a mini fridge in my room. Never had a bedside tea setup though and that sounds even more delightful.

Crowkettle

When I had a mini fridge it lived right beside my desk and I used the top as an extended tea station. It was wonderful.

Evol Ving Ness

Our tea habit just got even more expensive.

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84
drank Guava Cadabra by DAVIDsTEA
16384 tasting notes

So, many months back I tried to make Matcha brittle – however it wouldn’t set quite right, and so it stayed permanently sticky. Delicious, none the less though.

Well, I found another brittle recipe a few days ago for “Hibiscus Brittle” that looked a little more simple to make, and which used less ingredients. I was intrigued, so I subbed out the “hibiscus flowers” that the recipe called for to be steeped into the water for some Guava Cadabra tea. I figured that would nicely compliment the one other ingredient in the recipe other that sugar and water: lime juice.

I’m still having issues getting my brittle to set completely correctly – but this was a lot better than last time. It just had a sticky residue to it that I couldn’t get to go away. Any tips on how to prevent that would be really appreciate, honestly.

As for the flavour – really delightful! I was worried the distinct taste of the tea wouldn’t come across as well as I wanted it to, but this really genuinely tasted like guava and mango! Plus, the additional lime just made the sweetness of the mango and guava really pop. Acid is a flavour carrier, after all. It was just super fun and tropical. I even paired some of it with a pineapple sorbet to really emphasize that tropical quality!

Check it out: https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17798990_10210030200565515_5679218791838349362_n.jpg?oh=da88a61dbeea3fa3dedabd2d4ad65265&oe=5958FF10

It’s gorgeous, right!?

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.

Evol Ving Ness

Woah! Pretty! Good job, Ms. Strange!

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83

This is a queued tasting note.

Drank this one earlier in the week with a splash of Amaretto added it it. Personally, I find this has that rich, sweet amaretto flavour normally and I thought the addition here would only serve to make that even richer/more full bodied.

The flavour was AMAZING. Certainly, all the amaretto notes both natural and added were very robust and comprised a lot of the surface flavours. The other notes in the black tea weren’t drowned out though, and rich, nuanced notes of malt, honey, graham, and molasses all still showed through in a way that made the flavour of this tea especially well rounded and indulgent.

This is how you do tea and alcohol pairings properly!

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZTKn-IIrN8&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=10

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74
drank Butterbeer by 52teas
16384 tasting notes

Iced Sipdown (216)!

Finished this one off at work the other day, with an added pump of agave.

I still think this one tastes tremendously like root beer and for that I love it. Also, quite a bit of strong cinnamon flavour, especially in this last tasting. Does it taste like butter beer? Not quite what I’ve always imagined butter beer to taste like. I picture more like a cream soda, vanilla, butterscotch, and rum amalgamation – and I’ve always pictured it served hot as well.

I’ll miss it though, regardless.

VariaTEA

If you’re ever at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, get it frozen actually. It is really awesome that way.

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drank Spiced Pumpkin by DAVIDsTEA
16384 tasting notes

Drank this one last night with some added in Cinnamon Bun creamer!

I think the cinnamon bun creamer was a really nice compliment to the already sweet, spiced pumpkin notes in the tea. You got a medley of sweet, warming spices notes including nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon and then rich pumpkin, and an accompanying sweetness from the “cream cheese icing” part of the creamer and the maple in the tea. It was a really sweet cuppa overall, but perfect for late night sugar cravings!

Interestingly, because the liquor for this tea sometimes steeps up really lightly coloured and the creamer is such an intense white that made for a liquor that was almost pure white with little specks of “floaties” in it from the fine rooibos that made it through the filter and from the cinnamon/nutmeg. It was really pretty and unique looking.

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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70

Cold Brew!

So, I spent the better part of drinking this trying to figure out why it tasted so painfully familiar to me. It took the better part of 25 oz, but eventually I landed on the fact that it’s really similar to DAVIDsTEA’s Strawberry Shake! I mean, I even went and double checked the ingredients to see how much overlap there is… and there’s quite a bit.

This has the green base, papaya, and the strawberry. Only thing missing is the yogurt, and then of course this has pineapple and rose which the DT blend does not.

That makes sense to me because the sweet strawberry and papaya notes were both really present but I didn’t get the light creaminess that’s in Strawberry Shake. I do enjoy the creaminess in DT’s tea, so the absence was a bit odd. However, I think because of the additional pineapple the fruitiness in this tea is a lot more robust and distinctly tropical tasting so the trade off is more than worth it. I couldn’t taste the added rose, though.

Overall I liked this one! I thought it was fun and rather appropriately Spring/Summer flavoured. I do think the choice to name it after a cereal is kind of odd? I guess I’ve never had Fruity Pebbles before so I don’t know if the comparison is realistic, but nothing in this reminded me even remotely of cereal and I can’t see it going well with milk either. As a dupe for DT’s Strawberry Shake though, I think this COULD work if you were looking for that kind of thing.

mtchyg

You’ve never had Fruity Pebbles?! Oh man, my all time favorite kid cereal.

Roswell Strange

They’re not sold in Canada; at least, not easily. You can get them in some specialty stores though that sell foods exclusive to other countries. Can’t say I’ve ever gone to the effort though.

mtchyg

Well that makes sense then. Remind me if we ever swap to send you some Fruity Pebbles with the tea :)

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69
drank Nandi Hills Black by JusTea
16384 tasting notes

First tea of the day! This one was from the Regional Group Buy!

I’ve yet to leave my bed yet at this point – I just spent the first part of my day reading Marvel’s The Runaways and I have to say that I’m loving it quite a bit so far. Only complaint is that I’d like to see more of a focus on the kids themselves and less on their parents. Gertrude’s the best though, and her velociraptor is fucking amazing.

There’s nothing like rolling over to your end table, measuring out tea leaf from the sample bag you set there last night into the awaiting cup, hitting the kettle and steeping up a cuppa all from the comfort of your bed, snuggled under the sheets though. I just love my tea set up!

Anyway – this tea wasn’t bad, though just based on my experiences with other Kenyan black teas I did find it surprisingly light bodied overall. Probably light to medium body, realistically. For a region somewhat known for the briskness in their steeped up cups, that was kind of surprising? I did like the softer malt and cocoa notes though, they were smooth and satisfying with a nice sort of confectionery sweetness. I also thought the cup had a somewhat autumnal feel to it overall and perhaps some vague sense of fruitiness in the undertones.

Pleasant, and easy to sip on – it just felt weird without the tastes I’ve become accustomed to experiencing with Kenyan Blacks. Where was the briskness? The bordering on pithy citrus notes!?

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Final of the new Summer Teas…

Drank this one iced, and I’ll say it right now – of the four new teas this one was overwhelmingly my least favourite. I just did. not. like. it.

As soon as I saw the ingredients for this one I had some concerns about it though. The key flavours are grapefruit, ginger, and cream on a green tea base – and while I don’t hate ginger and grapefruit as a pairing on principle I do think that it’s very important for something to sweeten them up because otherwise I don’t think they work well together. Everything just tastes very harsh and bitter, otherwise imo.

That’s exactly what happened with this one; it’s not so much that the green tea itself tasted bitter/burned but there was absolutely NO sweetness coming from the grapefruit. That absence of brightness/sweetness left a really harsh, pithy bitter taste in your mouth that kind of made me feel like I was chewing on grapefruit rinds. Gross! Also, the ginger is really, really strong and intense. Way too heavy handed, in my personal opinion. The final nail in the coffin is that the finish has a really pronounced, hibiscus tartness to it.

This one is just a really hard pass, for me.

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.

Michelle

I don’t even like grapefruit so I’m not sure about this one…

Evol Ving Ness

Too bad. It sounded promising.

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Next in the line up of Summer Teas!

Drank this one iced, as I did with all the new summer iced teas for my first tasting. The smell of the dry leaf for this one is definitely berry like and sweet, but I don’t think really conveys the blackberry super clearly so I was curious to see just how strong the blackberry taste would be. After all, there are WHOLE blackberries in the dry leaf so you’d hope that they’d come through in the taste.

Sadly, I don’t think that the steeped up brew totally nails the blackberry flavour – though it definitely effectively communicates that it’s a berry infusion, so at the very least you have that. The most interesting part of the blend is actually the underlying creamy notes though; they’re somewhat subtle but really tasty. In a way, it reminds me quite a lot of a blueberry or blackberry Greek Yogurt; same sort of creaminess but accompanying tangyness as well. I really wish there wasn’t hibiscus in this, because I definitely get the impression it’d make such a nice berries and cream latte. Overall it’s a nice, fruity iced tea though and really refreshing. I think the berry notes, cream, and softer background notes of apple and pineapple all go together quite well.

Of the four new teas, this is my third favourite. Though I think it’s worth noting that those first three are so close together – I mean, genuinely I enjoyed this one, Sour Watermelon, and Rainbow Sherbet quite a bit and would happily drink ANY of them again. They all had really good flavours/aspects, and the fact that this is third on my list shouldn’t be taken to mean that it’s not good.

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.

EDIT: I totally forgot to mention that this one pretty strongly reminds of me a more cleaned up/refined version of Berry Poppins from a few years ago. It’s like the company saw that the berry element of the blend was well received but that the cream was chalky/too artificial so they switched things up and gave us this tea which does a much better job of nicely conveying that flavour.

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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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