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Iced Tea Sipdown (529)!

This was a really sad sipdown; I just love the overall brightness of the cranberry in this tea! It’s very sweet with just enough crispness and tartness for it to not feel unnatural for a cranberry infusion. The basil really isn’t as strong as I think it could be; you wouldn’t notice it if it wasn’t pointed out to you. However, as a smooth, juicy and refreshing cranberry infusion it’s very hard to beat this one.

It’s just all around pleasant with such a clean, crisp finish. The black tea is such a nice quality; with soft floral undertones to it and a jammy quality that’s subtle but still present. Just… damn!

In the grand scheme of ‘Breakfast Teas’ (English, Irish, etc.) I think this one is pretty average. Like most breakfast blends it’s pretty full bodied and strong, but this is also a sweeter blend with more raisin/fruit sort of body notes in addition to the strong presence of malt and baked bread notes. Perfectly fine to drink without milk/sugar because it’s sweet all on its own while still packing a punch. Not the cleanest finish; but it’s cheap so I wont fault it too much.

#Tryallthebubbletea

This week’s flavour of choice? Sesame!

I’ll admit, I was really intimidated by the idea of this one. I just could not picture what it was going to taste like. However, I think I can say pretty easily that this is probably THE BEST bubble tea flavour I’ve ever had – from any bubble tea place and not just the place in the food court where I’ve been doing this challenge. The flavour is really unique; creamy/milky as a bubble tea tends to be but just with this very lovely, sweet sesame flavour that reminds me of the Sesame Snaps I used to get with my dad as a child. So, not is it just delicious but there’s a nostalgia factor at play too.

This easily de-throwns taro for non-fruity bubble tea options; borderline better than blueberry/lychree/peach but those are less directly comparable as all of those are very fruity options…

Very ‘cinnamon plum’ tasting.

Smooth, well balanced, not overly spicy or sweet. Also just kind of boring, though? I feel like I’d be able to get more into this one during the winter – which also feels kind of ironic to say because even though it’s April now our city is still blanketed in snow and freezing so it does kind of still feel like winter anyway.

Welp.

Another new summer tea – trying it iced.

With a name like Moringa Mermaid I had high expectations for this one; I expected something very bright and full of life. This is kind of… wah wah wah…

Like, it’s not bad but I think it’s kind of boring? It definitely falls into the trap of being very generic melon tasting; not any one specific kind of melon, and the moringa and pineapple in the blend don’t impart nearly enough distinct flavour to create any sort of fun, tropical vibe. It’s also a little ‘bubblegum-y’? But that’s not really a new thing for DT’s melon blends. In fact it’s something I’m quite used to already. Yeah…

Bottom line I’d say this is most comparable to Cantaloupe Ice!? But, like, less robust. I didn’t like Cantaloupe Ice, so I guess that’s probably working against me with this one too.

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.

Trying this one hot now.

I waxed poetic about this one as an iced tea yesterday; I’ve had it probably a dozen times and I’m just obsessed with it. As a hot tea? I still think it’s really good, but it’s DEFINITELY not as mind blowing as a hot tea. I think it’s more noticeably tart/tangy with a bigger rhubarb, pineapple, and hibiscus presence all around. Not dreadful intense hibiscus – but more than it comes off as an iced tea. The biggest change up to me though is just that it tastes a lot less creamy overall. I’d totally still drink it hot because I think the tea is really, really good in general – but it’d so much better as an iced tea in my opinion.

Top five favourite DT blends overall as an iced tea. Not as a hot 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.

Cold Brew!

I definitely don’t like the cold brew as much as I like this one made hot; it’s more lemony and sweet as a hot tea and this cold brew was a little more malty with more of those autumnal, leaf-y kind of qualities? Still a little lemony, but more of a lemon peel kind of thing that sweet, fresh squeezed lemon juice. It’s nice, but different.

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.

Gong Fu!

I’ve had flavoured coffee leaf teas/tisanes before and really liked them, so I was very excited to see that UNYTea was carrying a straight form of coffee leaf – and when they did their ‘Spring Clearing’ type sale I decided to grab some and try it out. It was weird to me that they recommended it Gong Fu; I wouldn’t have thought to try it that way. I recently acquired a 50ml Gaiwan though so I decided I’d break that Gaiwan in with some of my sample; that way if I wasn’t into it Gong Fu I wouldn’t be wasting a lot of tea leaf – it was the perfect way to sample it!

And you know what? It was actually REALLY good and worked very well Gong Fu – so long as the time increase between infusions was a good 20-30 seconds, and not just the normal five second increase I generally give. I ended up doing around eight infusions total; I think I could have done one or two more with some flavour, but I don’t really like running my tea leaf completely into the ground; the weaker infusions generally just aren’t worth it to me.

Flavour wise I found it quite sweet overall; not like unpleasantly sweet but just a lot of light, natural sugar cane type of notes in the top notes and then the sweetness of very, very fresh, green Yerba Mate in the body of the sip. Grassy, and smooth with just a hint of really generic sort of fruityness in the middle of the sip. I mean, really the closest thing I can think to compare this to is just a very good Yerba Mate or, like, a sweet and clean finishing Mao Jian green tea with the slight fruity elements going on in the profile. I did think this had some nuttier undertones, though. Like, an almost almond-y sort of thing. Just very, very good overall!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg90yjWAzPZ/?taken-by=ros_strange

Hot with honey.

I over steeped this one, and it definitely didn’t hold up great. What it reminded me of though was actually the one time in highschool where I tried making my own cheesecake; I badly burned the bottom of the cheesecake but nailed the rest of it – so it was like eating a bit of creamy, smooth tangy cheesecake goodness and then finishing on this really bitter, charred note. My experience with this cup mirrored that, only with the addition of raspberry undertones.

From Easter!

Not a trace of mint to be found; I keep wondering if I’m ever going to get a cup of this from my tin with any mint to it. Maybe it’ll be one cup at the end that’s just overwhelming mint? I hope not though, because I do lightly shake up the tin each time before measuring stuff out. Mostly this tastes like strawberry puree or strawberry candy though, with hints of sweet apple. I actually like it a lot – I just don’t think it’s anything like it’s described as, apart from the strawberry.