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Adventageddon Day 20

Cold Brew!

This was a a new store exclusive holiday tea last year, and this year it’s exclusive to the advent. Maybe next year it will finally be released in all channels? I can dream, anyway. It actually became one of my “go to” midafternoon iced teas at the office all throughout this past year since we had it on the kitchen tea wall – I very much enjoy this blend made iced or cold brewed…

I’ve been watching a lot of Christmas movies the last couple of days, and it’s been very nice having teas to go along with each of them. Today was my yearly rewatch of Oliver The Other Reindeer, my favourite hidden gem. I say it every year, but the whole thing is available for free on YouTube, and it takes less than an hour to watch it. SO GOOD. I notice something new about it each year, and with the postal strike this holiday season, there was a whole new layer at play. Paired great with my cold brew of DT’s Sparkling Cranberry as well – a bright and playful blend of strawberry, cranberry, and a slightly more ‘adult’ note of prosecco. It fit the tone of the movie really well.

Today’s Avent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD0PAQWSm53/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ATuB9Oe4fw&ab_channel=OKCharlie-Topic

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 and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Adventageddon Day 19

A love a good Nepalese black tea, but unfortunately I REALLY badly over steeped this mug because I got distracted by Marika dropping by the apartment to deliver some tea mail from an order we’d split. Well, and to just say hi and wish me a happy holiday before she leaves the province for her holiday break.

So I think this tea steeped for like forty minutes, and it was very cold when I got to it. Also very, very bitter and astringent. If you’ve ever chewed an advil it was kind of like that but with a hint of muscat that somehow fought its way past the medicinal taste. I think this is the first tea this advent season that I’ve just totally botched the brewing of, and it’s a shitty feeling because there’s no do-over with this tea. But I guess one in, like, 70 cups of tea isn’t that bad of a success rate??

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDxqOyIyeMK/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qgafLCLWkA&ab_channel=CherryBlonde-Topic

Adventageddon Day 19

Apparently I never added the organic version of Strawberry Matcha into Steepster like I do for all the other organic conversions – even though we’ve been selling it now for nearly a year. Oops.

Generally speaking I typically find the organic flavoured matchas pretty equivalent to their non-organic counterparts which a couple exceptions like Vanilla and Candy Cane since, respectively, those two use a different type of sugar and have an extra flavouring. This one, however, is another that I personally think is just a little bit different too. It’s still very good, but I’ve always felt like DT’s strawberry matcha was surprisingly quite creamy tasting and this one (to me at least) is a little bit brighter and more ripe tasting with less of that strawberry shake sort of vibe. Unless you latte it, of course.

I was kind of hoping it would pop up in the advent selections a little earlier because I had a bunch of frozen strawberries at one point that I turned into a nice strawberry jam/compote, but I’ve used them all up now so instead I just had this one hot and plain. A very, very big amount of it though. I was definitely quite awake feeling most of the afternoon. You can see in the photo I drank this out of a teacup and saucer set, but it’s deceptively very large. Bigger than every chawan I own except for one, in fact…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDxqOyIyeMK/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RpAQ-iSU9k&ab_channel=HeySteve-Topic

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 and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Adventageddon Day 19

I only just had this tea for the first time very recently as it was a free sample in this advent order, and I liked it a lot then so I was tickled to see it again within the advent itself. It was my favourite today and, of course, it’s so very on brand for my favourite to be the blend with not one but two highly polarizing flavours within North America. That currant was just so round and jammy, though, and the sweet violet the perfect delicate and fresh way to finish off the cup! I was sipping this while wokring on tasting notes earlier today and it was just a great time.

I wish there was a larger presence of both black currant and violet flavoured teas here in Canada, but alas…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDxqOyIyeMK/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxdhDI1R5YQ&ab_channel=ChristianSparacio-Topic

Adventageddon Day 19

I’m not really a big fan of this tea personally, but it’s INSANELY popular and up until we brought it back this winter it was probably the most requested returning tea we’ve had in years. So much so that it’s now part of our base assortment…

I think where I struggle with it is that while it does have a lovely rich, sweet flavour I don’t find that it tastes at all like bourbon and I think there are just other teas from DT that I prefer over this one when it comes to that brown sugar or toffee-like flavour. Salted Caramel Oolong, from earlier in the advent, is a great example of that. Or Gingerbread Toffee, which is a new tea for this winter/holiday season.

I made a huge Western pot of it today though both because I didn’t really want to have any in the tin leftover and because I wanted to really sit with the flavour over a longer period of time and really try to think about the aspects that people seem to love so much. The first thing that got to me was the smell. Even I can admit it’s pretty phenomenal. Very sweet and sticky like freshly baked pastries drenched in brown sugar syrup or, even, pecan pie filling right out of the over. My whole apartment smelled wonderful for hours.

The tea itself was smooth and, well, sweet. Very sweet. It does taste distinctly like brown sugar with undertones of cinnamon and different pralined nuts, but it still bugs me a bit that it tastes neither of bourbon the alcohol or bourbon vanilla. I guess maybe most people don’t actually want a tea that tastes boozy in that way, but if I’m buying a tea with bourbon in the name I want more substance than just the sweet stuff. As the tea cooled I got more of the apple-y undertones and just a bit more of the lingering stevia as well.

But it wasn’t a bad way to start my day. I think maybe I’m just a little overly critical of this tea in particular…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CWus326c6g&ab_channel=TheWombats

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CWus326c6g&ab_channel=TheWombats

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 and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Another tea that I just had a strong craving for (mostly for the blueberry) that I waited a few days to see if I’d get something similar in an advent or if the craving would pass. When it didn’t I just caved and pulled out the biggest mug I own and made a GIANT cup 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 and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Cold Brew!

I dug out this sample to cold brew because I just had such a strong craving for this type of really intense, bright but jammy raspberry puree sort of flavour. I went a couple days of advent selections in a row hoping I’d pull something that would satisfy it, and it just didn’t happen so I had to make it happen for myself…

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 and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

This was one of Rishi’s seasonal blends this year, and I’m glad I placed my order when I did because it sold out verrrryyy soon afterwards. The dry leaf might just be one of the most stunning herbal/fruit infusions I’ve seen in a long, long time. Deep ruby red cranberry pieces with long strips of yuzu peel and rosemary peppered throughout…

I don’t know if I ever would have thought to try cranberry and yuzu together, but it’s a really fantastic, sophisticated feeling pairing. There’s a lot of aromatic, upfront brightness and tart, tangy notes from both of the two fruits but the cranberry adds a thicker, almost jammy element that keeps the infusion from feeling shrill or sharp and the yuzu has that grounding, almost (but not quite) medicinal and pithy feeling element that balances out the acidity and sweetness. Rosemary and yuzu?? Also inspired because the combo really creates this fresh but pine-like note that goes well with the wintery cranberry and builds on this really festive sort of feeling.

I can picture myself drinking this in place of a mulled wine or cider while at a Christmas market, after a chilly afternoon skiing or tobogganing at a cabin/chalet, or picking out a Christmas tree from a farm to bring home. You almost want to have it in a big crock pot and ladled out into those metal camp-style mugs. It’s a whole mood and I am HERE for it.

Pot of tea!

This was the tea that finally caused me to cave and place this giant Rishi order in the first place. I’ve never had plum blossoms before, and was deeply curious what the flavour would be like. Though I intend to play around with a bunch of steep methods, I ended up doing this as a larger Western pot of tea that was shared with a coworker as this was the tea in my order she was most personally curious about as well.

The initial flavour was much different than I’d expected. Insanely full-bodied and rich with tannic, malty top notes and a lot of upfront woodiness as well. Not bitter, but just a little bit drying in a way that took a small teacup or so to get a little adjusted to. Once “acclimated” I felt like I got much more of the almond flavour that Rishi speaks about in their description. Somewhere in between a more roasted tasting almond with some umami to it and then also at times something a little more silky and smooth, akin to fresh almond milk. Also worth noting that despite the nuttiness and slight creaminess this was not a very naturally sweet tasting tea at all. The undertones were quite complex with elements of dark cherry skins and also a bit of a more heady floral component.

I’m curious to see if this one grows on me as I become a little more familiar with its quirks. I didn’t dislike it, but there was a bit of a “spark” missing from the initial tasting that kind of had me more on the fence. I will say, though, that it was a LARGE teapot and it didn’t really take me that long to finish it off – and those final sips were met with some disappointment there wasn’t more to pour. Which is a good sign for future brews.

Gongfu!

A few weeks ago I went over to Marika’s for the afternoon to catch up and, of course, drink a shit ton of tea. I’m not really a big sencha person and I know she isn’t either, but I got this in my recent Rishi order because the sake component really fascinated me and I wanted to share it with her because I thought she’d probably have that same curiousity.

We only did two or three steeps, but they were quite nice and smooth! I wish the flavour of the sake was a little bit stronger, but I definitely think there was a lot more of a peachy sweet fruity note and like a smooth, honeyed persimmon flavour that wouldn’t have been present in the green tea were it not for the sake. It balanced out well with the fresh, oceanic umami.

Not a favourite, but really interesting and worth sampling despite my green tea aversion. I feel like I might like it more cold brewed or even just Western style, so definitely some experimentation with this one still to come!