15575 Tasting Notes

drank Let It Snow by DAVIDsTEA
15575 tasting notes

#VacationTea

So, this is gonna be November’s TOTM – but unlike usual TOTMS this one is limited edition. We’ll have it all throughout the winter season but after that it’ll gradually get phased out just like the winter teas.

I was sort of “meh” towards this one when staff found out about it; it’s got a green base and it was described to us as cinnamon, clove and custard and frankly we’ve already got quite a few spiced green teas. It just didn’t seem very stand out to me. Of course, the winter collection came out on the 26th, and obviously with a name like “Let it Snow” this one is gonna be prominently featured in some of the sets/kits. So, since I don’t get back from vacation until after the 1st when this one launches I just bought the cheapest prepackaged option with this one in it so I could try it before the launch.

I’ll admit, it actually smells damn good! Very creamy/custardy with white chocolate and vanilla notes, a hint of fruit (pineapple/currant?), and cloves. I actually really likes cloves even though I’m not normally one for spices so I get a little weak in the knees whenever a blend is clove heavy without bringing along all of those other blah spices to the party with it.

Steeped up, this smells heavenly! It’s definitely got a sweetness to it, with warm spice undertones – this time cinnamon in addition to a mild clove aroma. Really creamy; custard is a great descriptor for it and I’d agree that the combination of everything definitely gives off an eggnog-like vibe. Eggnog with white chocolate undertones. I don’t recall the fruit actually being noticable though; perhaps it just adds generic/general sweetness and not any sort of defined flavour.

I really like that it’s so smooth/creamy and that I can’t taste the green tea at all. I’m sure some people will be disappointed that the base doesn’t have a real presence but for me it’s a huge plus. I don’t think any of the spices are too strong; perhaps a little more clove than cinnamon, but both are smooth and gentle and really warming! I always associate clove with Christmas, and in conjuction with the eggnog elements this is actually a beautiful profile for winter!

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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76

Before we left for our vacation, I finished the tasting notes for every tea I needed to/wanted to write about before hand so that I was starting with a fresh queue for vacation teas… except for this tea.

For whatever reason, the Steepster page for this one wasn’t loading properly/was displaying the mobile layout so I wasn’t able to review it. It looks fine now though, so I can finally get this review up!

I mean, this one was pretty simple – not much to write about really. I made it up as a latte at work, but on the advice of a coworker I scooped the steeped up tisane out of the steeper after I’d strained it and poured in the milk, and then I stirred the scooped out tea directly into my latte. Holy bananas! The flavour was insane – just so over the top and rich. I mean, this is a tisane that tastes wonderful when you go really heavy on the leaf, but that can be VERY lackluster when you don’t overleaf or give it a LONG steep time, and it’s so heavy that overleafing adds up cost wise so quickly. So, if you don’t mind some chunks/banana sludge sitting in the bottom of your mug when you make this one then it does WONDERS for the flavour.

Literally SO GOOD, and intense.

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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91
drank Cola by Live Kombucha
15575 tasting notes

#VacationTea

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this ‘Cola’ flavoured Kombucha. I mean, if it actually has a cola-like taste then that would be awesome! Actually fizzy, cola flavoured tea! How perfect is that?!

And you know what? It does actually have a flavour that taste likes cola! It’s certainly less sugary and sweet – which is a good thing in my back, not a drawback. Apart from the milder sweetness levels, it’s also just a lighter flavour in general. Sort of like a watered down Coke taste. Hints of lemon and lime, and some anise and spice notes when you really focus and try and break down the different parts that are making up the whole. I mean, it’s just so good.

Like, easily my favourite kombucha from the trip so far! It’s just perfectly smooth, and so unique in terms of flavour. Not overly acidic or vinegar heavy – just… wonderful!

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#VacationTea

This was something we got back while we were still in Winnipeg – as an iced tea.

We stopped at the Polo Park and St. Vital DAVIDsTEA locations, and this was the St. Vital store. It’s very similar to the one I work at in terms of size, but they carry slightly less product than we do (although they get the Breville kettles and we don’t have those). They’re also in a much nicer location in terms of their mall layout. My store is by the food court, which makes for a louder/crazier surrounding environment, and probably more of a lunch/dinner rush. I’d love a quieter environment like they had.

I grabbed this one iced just to see what it’s like; this was my favourite of the new teas and since I found it to be a little more orange heavy I thought it’d be a nice, light refreshing iced tea. I was actually a little surprised though; while the orange is still certainly light and strong I actually tasted a lot of the walnut this time around! It was very sweet, kind of maple-y and equally as strong as the orange. It definitely gave this a little more of a wintery/festive touch, and added a nice layer of sweetness and flavour.

Sadly, there was also a negative to the cup. While the body was delicious the finish was almost sort of soapy tasting, with a very slight bitter edge. I think it’s probably from the fact this was steeped for me for four minutes. Personally, I would have only steeped it for two or three minutes, since it’s a more delicate white tea. Just something to take note of for next time if I want to remake this when I get back home.

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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52
drank Pear by Tapuat Kombucha
15575 tasting notes

#VacationTea

This was the last kombucha we grabbed from this company; and between this one, Bee Power, and Grape Memory I think it’s my second favourite.

I thought the pear flavour would be a little stronger in all honestly, but it pretty light. This one also, like Bee Power, had a really strong apple cider vinegar tangy/sour quality to it. That tang definitely spread to the pear, and it made for a very sharp somewhat underripe tasting pear quality. This is also a Sencha based kombucha, and some of that grassy/marine quality definitely came through as well – and of course that’s not my favourite profile in any sort of tea. So while it was drinkable, it just wasn’t mind blowing.

I think a softer, sweeter overall flavour would have gone a long way and been an improvement.

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76

#VacationTea

One of the teabag options I brought along with me for easy/no full travel options. I just brewed this one up as a hot cup to sip on in the hotel room. It’s actually quite chilly in the hotel room – it’s hard to spend time anywhere but hidden under the covers.

I’ve been watching season two of Stranger Things in our down time; I’m a third of the way through it so far and I’m REALLY enjoying it. Thus far, it’s just as good as the first season was and that’s impressive ’cause the first season set the bar pretty damn high.

This is smooth and something easy to thoughtlessly slurp back; very mellow maple tops notes and then more of a crisp apple body and finish. Smooth and silky!

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23
drank Bee Power by Tapuat Kombucha
15575 tasting notes

#VacationTea

Another Kombucha! Technically, this wasn’t one of the kombuchas that I bought – it was the one that my Dad was interested in. He let me try a bit of it though, ‘cause he’s a spot that way. I’m glad it’s one I didn’t go for though because so far this has been my least favourite.

I was hoping it would have some kind of honey sweetness to it but instead it was very tangy and apple cider vinegar like in taste. Like, really heavy on the vinegar quality. I don’t hate that sort of taste in kombucha, but balanced with something else – NOT straight up. The only other flavour here was a hint of floral tones in the top of the sip and a more yeasty, bread-like lingering finish.

Not a fan – glad I didn’t have a full bottle of it.

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72

#VacationTea

Day number two in Fargo! Not much on the agenda for the day; we stopped at the only tea place in town and hit up a museum – later on in the evening we’ll do supper. We wanted to check out the ‘zoo’ they have here, but sadly it’s closed all of the days we’re here. Tomorrow we’ll check out another museum, and then it’ll be time to head back to Winnipeg.

The museum we looked at was actually pretty cool: they had a giant replica viking ship and chapel – all made as authentically as possible. What I found most neat about the viking ship is that they actually sailed it! The same museum also had some Americana art by local artists, and some very cool wooden die cuts. Those were probably my favourite thing overall. Lastly, there was an exhibit about prohibition and Minnesota/North Dakota’s history with alcohol.

We took tons of pictures ourselves, but I don’t have any of them downloaded yet so here are a couple of the museum that I was able to find with a quick google search:

https://mnprairieroots.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/ship-overall-view.jpg

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/d2/e6/0d/heritage-hjemkomst-interpretiv.jpg

The tea shop was pretty neat; the owner was super friendly and engaging – took the time to give us a complete tour of the shop, point out some of his favourite blends, and brewed us up a sample of one of the teas. His shop was largely wellness focused with a lot of different blends intended as health aids, which definitely isn’t my thing in particular but I can see the appeal it has to others and he was clearly very passionate which I think is important.

I did end up getting a good handful of things to try though; largely blends. I thought a fair bit of his offerings were pretty unique/diverse and I liked that he does as much in store as possible (although they did sell A LOT of Republic of Tea product as well). Plus, he sold in one ounce sizes, which definitely was a big bonus for me! Perhaps the most surprising this was that they actually carried a selection of Pu’erh from Misty Peak. He didn’t seem to know much about them though, other than which were Sheng/Shou. Apparently Misty Peak had approached him in regard to carrying their teas.

I was tempted to buy some of the loose sheng – Misty Peak’s reputation aside. It actually smelled pretty damn good. It wasn’t worth blind buying it though; if I’m going for a straight pu’erh I want to know as much information about it as possible. Besides. I know Misty Peaks has an online store, so if I really want I can always order from them directly. It was just kind of interesting/surprising seeing their teas in this small, out of the way shop in Fargo.

This tea was ok – it was the one that he brewed up for me and my Dad. I looked for it on their website, but it’s not listed so it must be a new blend. I remember him saying that it used a Wuyi oolong for the base though, and it definitely had hibiscus in it as well – I could visually pick it out in the dry leaf, and it was pretty present in the taste too. The roastier oolong paired with hibiscus was… different. I didn’t hate it, but it was a little weird. It also didn’t really taste at all like plum, sadly. Mostly, it was just a slightly sour/tart generic berry kind of profile. Maybe a little raisin too. I’m grateful we got to try it, but it wasn’t interesting enough for me to feel like I wanted to buy it.

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66
drank Bubble Tea by Asia City
15575 tasting notes

#VacationTea

So, one of the vendors at C4 this year was Asia City – a local to Winnipeg restaurant that does bubble tea, among other food items. Of course I’m not from Winnipeg so I have no familiarity with them, I was just happy to see bubble tea available for purchase so I had something to sip on which we walked through artist alley.

I opted for the lychee flavour of tea; something generally reliable that I really enjoy! Then, I had the option of traditional tapioca pearls or a flavoured topping/jelly. I went for the flavoured, and keeping in line with with the tropical fruit choice I’d already picked I decided to go for the pineapple jelly.

It actually tasted really good! Very sweet though, and quite juice like. You wouldn’t really know it was tea and not just fruit juices – but that can be said for most bubble tea, anyway. Plus, it was delicious and to me, at least, that’s the most important quality it could have. Taste above everything else. I actually really, really liked the taste of the pineapple jelly that I’d picked out – BUT I hated that it was cut into these tiny little rectangular slivers – they didn’t suck up at all! So, by the time I was finished the tea half of them were still in the bottom of the cup. That was kind of disappointing…

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76

#VacationTea

Well, we’ve safely arrived in Fargo! We’re here for about two and a half days in total; not totally sure what we’ll get up to but I’m sure it’ll be fun! I know there’s a tea store in town, so definitely gonna check that out.

We’ve actually already been to the mall, and then we stopped at the giant natural foods grocery store to pick up lunch/supper to have in the hotel. Probably just gonna have a mellow evening in now – maybe watch Stranger Things season two?? I got a really good Kombucha haul from the store though! I’ve seriously never seen so many different kinds of kombucha in one location. Like, they had a kombucha aisle. It was kind of crazy. I ended up getting five different kinds – three different brands in total. All of them were companies I’d never even heard of before. So, definitely looking forward to checking those out.

This is Kombucha number one of five; I’ve actually had grape kombucha before but I’ve really enjoyed it so I decided to try this company’s take on it. Actually, three of five different kombuchas I got were from this company – as a whole, they had the most unique range of flavours and the packaging was also REALLY pretty.

This is very tasty! It’s really msooth and has a very bright, vibrant concord grape flavour! It’s super light, really refreshing and just the tiniest bit acidic. There is hibiscus in this one, so I bet that’s where the bulk of that sort of acidic/tangyness is coming from. Other ingredients include Gingko, which I feel like I can taste just a little as well. Mostly just very grape heavy, though. The finish is very crisp and clean cut – no real lingering flavours here. I also found it really interesting that this is a rooibos kombucha. I’m certainly no expert – but when I took the kombucha starter seminar offered by TAC I definitely remember them clearly saying that they didn’t recommend using rooibos/mate or purely herbal bases for kombucha – I think it kills the SCOBY overtime, if I’m remembering that correctly? Perhaps someone here on Steepster who’s more knowledgeable about kombucha would know more?

Anyway! This was tasty! Definitely nice to have something cold on hand to sip on at the hotel since I haven’t had consistent access to iced tea since we left.

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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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