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This is a queued tasting note.

It sort of feels like AU releases a new “smoky” tea with each collection, doesn’t it? The last one, Silencio, didn’t really deliver on the smoke notes in my opinion though so I definitely took the ‘smoke’ descriptor for this tea with a grain of salt. I was wrong to do so, though, because I think this is arguably the smokiest tea that AU has released to date.

Honestly, it was almost even a little to harsh for me. I like smoky teas; but I kind of borderline felt attacked by this one. However, I did enjoy it even if it was a bit jarring. Plus, the dark cherry/overripe cherry undertones that crept through underneath that thick top layer of smoke was really lovely. Very rich, and in a way sultry as well.

What it actually reminded me of was a more blunt and heavy handed version of Adagio’s The Woman – which is the fan blend for Sherlock’s Irene Adler. Personally, The Woman is by far my favourite Adagio blend to date. So, the fact this one made me think so vividly of that one is a good sign! It means with just the right bit of tweaking to just slightly mellow out that smokey edge, this could be a truly divine tea instead of just a quite good one.

I also really want to try it with milk, as well.

Sipdown (146)!

I guess ultimately a forgettable one, though? I know I drank this cold brewed but I didn’t take notes ‘cause I was at work and now I can’t remember if there was anything stand out or out of the ordinary for this brew. I guess not? It probably just tasted like it did any other time I’d cold brewed it…

Regardless, while I’m not happy to see it go I’m not disappointed either. I’ve just gotten tired of it at this point, and I’m not looking to stock a coffee tea right now.

For the first time in ten days, I not only got my full eight hours of sleep but I also got to sleep in! It felt blissful, and I woke up feeling so relaxed/refreshed. I do work today at DAVIDsTEA, but I’m enjoying having the morning to myself to just eat a nice, home cooked breakfast and drink some tea…

I finally invested in a milk frother after what seems like ages of meaning to get one; and by “invested in” I mean one of my coworkers bought a new one and gave me their old one. Regardless; I am now in possession of one! So I’m drinking some matcha almond milk, and that milk frother is the fucking bomb. Seriously; I’m in love already! It was easy to use, and now everything is light, frothy and fun. I even have a frothy matcha milk moustache as evidence!

And of course it tastes great too; definitely sweet but a particularly “bubble gum” flavoured sweet as opposed to a simply sugary sweet. The almond milk flavour is strong as well, so my bubble gum drink has nutty undertones – but it’s not bad, just maybe a very slight bit weird to be tasting the bubble gum and the almond milk. I think I’ve done this pairing (or cashew/coconut) before though, and that’s usually the case anyway. It’s just sticking out to me a bit more today than it normally would.

One more review ‘cause my queue is getting ridiculous, but then I think I better use the sleep because this is looking to be like the fifth day in a row where I’ve gotten less than five hours of sleep at night…

- Cold Brewed, and consumed at Job #2
- Shared it with a coworker who I know has an appreciation for straight teas
- She really liked the fruity notes; she described them as strawberry like
- Red Fruit undertones; don’t entirely agree with “strawberry” but it’s along those lines
- With a light, bright cream/honey top notes
- And body notes of lightly roasted nuts
- Very smooth, medium bodied “easy drinking” tea; good for thoughtless consumption

This is a queued tasting note.

So, I’ve got like 2 1/2 people left to get holiday presents for and all three of them are getting tea related things. The first is the lovely VariaTEA though to be perfectly honest I still don’t entirely know what I’m grabbing for her, the second is my Grandmother, and the 1/2 is my Secret Santa person from the Tea Chat group on Slack. The ‘1/2’ is ’cause I already bought 1/2 the gift on Black Friday, and I just have the second half to go now.

My grandma is going to be getting an infuser mug from DAVIDsTEA though ‘cause I got her tea samples and sachets last year just to test the waters on weather she’d like/use them and since that was a success it’s time to invest in something more permanent! I’m also grabbing larger amounts of the samples I nabbed her that she liked the most, and then I wanted to get something new as well…

Last year all I grabbed was green tea options ‘cause that’s what she drinks the most of but it was suggested to me that she might like something caffeine free for before bed, and that’s where this tea comes in to play! My grandma loves all things lavender, so those were the options I started exploring as night time blends for her. I ruled of Jessie’s Tea because she’s not big into coconut and from what I remember the coconut notes in that one are pretty strong. So that leaves this one…

I decided the best way to feel out whether it’d work for her would be to actually drink it, so during one of my shifts last week I did just that. I was actually surprised by how much I liked it myself given that I’m not a fan of lavender and from what I could remember when I tried this one years back I wasn’t a fan then either. To be fair, the element I liked a lot about this one when I made it this week wasn’t the lavender though; it was the really juicy, sweet and ripe strawberry notes that came through so clearly.

I think this will work perfectly, though! It’s really refreshing, what with the cool spearmint finishing notes. Plus the sweet strawberry and apple-y quince flavours aren’t too sweet or tart to be really jarring for her. And of course, it does taste a lot like lavender so I think she’ll really appreciate it. I just have to remember to let her know this is a milk free tea because of the hibiscus…

So one more Christmas present figured out! I just have to go out and acquire it now…

Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally 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.

Advent Calendar Day Three

Ooh, a tisane!? I don’t think I’ve actually had a Dammann Freres tisane before, so part of me was really excited to pop that cherry. The other part of me was all “Darn, caffeine free for my commute tea…” and somewhat bummed out. I’ve been F/T at both jobs this week, so I’m essentially running on fumes. Caffeine is pretty well my best friend in the whole world right now.

But this was SO good! The range of fruit flavours was just perfect because it featured several clear and distinct notes, but was harmonious and didn’t feel bogged down with ingredients either. I’d definitely have to agree with DF that rhubarb was the key note here; and what a note! I love rhubarb so much, so any chance to try a new tea with that lovely sweet and slightly tangy profile is bound to be a winner in my opinion. The linden in the blend was also quite strong. I think because I drink a lot of Bluebird Tea Company’s Lime + Cola guayusa blend I associate the flavour of linden with lime now because linden makes up such a large part of that blend. So mentally I kept flipping between tasting linden leaf and rhubarb and tasting rhubarb and lime. Funny how the brain works like that. Other fruity notes present were orange/fresh citrus, and a strawberry-esque note. I say “esque” because it wasn’t quite strawberry OR raspberry, but leaned a little more towards the former than the latter.

Medium bodied overall, and really fresh! Perhaps a little weird for a winter/holiday tea given the summery fruit notes – but delicious regardless. Only thing it’s missing, in my opinion, is the caffeine content.

#ProjectTeaWall

This is a queued tasting note.

Had this one iced, almost a week ago, with a lot of added milk – and I mean A LOT. Obviously I’ve had Orange Pekoe before; just not the one that’s sold at DAVIDsTEA. So, had to cross it off the list but I made sure to have some fun with it/try it a new way too.

I mean, for Orange Pekoe this is pretty nice. It’s quite malty, and it has a sort of underlying nutty sweetness to it as well. I personally feel like it tastes a wee bit like walnut? The added milk really exaggerated the creaminess/malt notes of the tea, and it made for a surprisingly refreshing cup of tea. It also had hints of a sort of maple-y flavour, though perhaps that’s sort of me expanding on the sweetness of the walnut notes since maple/walnut is a bit of a given pair.

Honestly, if I’m going to drink a straight black I’d usually pick something better that plain Orange Pekoe, but this was enjoyable! It’s not something I’ll be clearing out tin space for or anything, but I wouldn’t feel bad recommending this to a customer for a basic black either.

Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally 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 (146)!

This is a queued tasting note.

Drank this one as a commute tea earlier in the week; I’ve been working so much at both jobs this week that I’ve gotten so behind on my tasting notes so I’m trying to sneak in a handful tonight. Gotta keep things short and to the point though…

On that note; I liked this one well enough but it’s definitely not something I’d order again. In fact, it’s not even something I picked out for myself in the first place: it was my free sample from my order that was selected for me. But it wasn’t bad; it was just really chocolate without a lot of other flavour to give it any sort of depth or nuance. Yeah, smooth, rich and creamy chocolate – but just chocolate. I’m not too big into chocolate teas, so it didn’t thrill me. I appreciate it for what it was though.

This is a queued tasting note.

- Made a pot of this for myself!
- Definitely a spiced carrot cake/spice cake feel
- Heavier on the clove/cinnamon/ginger than other spices
- Coconut is a nice touch; brings out some sweetness
- The carrot notes definitely come through pleasantly
- Would like to see some “Cream Cheese” component
- But it DOES taste good/get the flavour across

Advent Calendar Day Two

So, I was pretty rushed this morning getting ready for work which meant no morning commute tea, which is definitely how I plan to drink most of the teas from the advent calendar this year…

However, I do work at a tea shop in the evenings so I just brought the little sachet/bag with me to work and I drank it there – it meant crossing off one less thing from the Project Tea Wall list, but I didn’t get behind on my advent and so early into the month too! so I’ll take it…

This was pretty lovely, I’ve gotta say. It basically tasted like gingerbread cookies without a super strong molasses-y note. For someone who doesn’t like ginger, I sure do like gingerbread. It’s gotta be the added sweetness, I think. And then of course that warming, sweet gingerbread flavour was supported by light, fresh orange/citrus undertones. I’m at the point in my “tea drinking career” where I’ve tried my fair share of gingerbread teas, but I’ve gotta say this is definitely one of the better ones! Plus, totally in line with the season/appropriately Christmas-y!

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s tea is!