17506 Tasting Notes
Cold Brew!
This was so smooth and jammy with the perfect juicy, ripe blackberry flavour swiftly followed up by lush, floral jasmine. Usually I find the blackberry dominates the profile of this tea a fair bit, but the jasmine seemed especially strong in this brew and it was kind of nice seeing those florals go toe-to-toe with the tart, sweet berry. Very yum!
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.
I probably should have let it rest since this tea mail arrived just a few days ago, but I got too excited and couldn’t wait to dig into this raw pu’erh. It was so bright and fruity tasting, though, like the sweet and sometimes honeyed taste of biting into a fresh, juicy nectarine or peach. It’s such a pleasant reminder of some of my other favourites from the zodiac series – like YOT Rooster!
And, as you can see, this is the ninth year I’m adding to my BLT zodiac cakes. Does it absolutely kill me that I’m missing the Year of The Monkey cake from Bitterleaf’s first year? Yes, it does. Very much. That smoking monkey wrapper artwork consistently lives rent-free in my head, and I blame my childhood of obsessively playing and collecting Pokémon for my “Gotta Cake ’em All” approach. Unfortunately, I can’t turn back time and make myself become a pu’erh drinker one year earlier than when I first discovered and fell in love with Yiwu production sheng… as much as I may want to…
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNxHYQSdqh/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXQJFPzHx_M&ab_channel=TheStupendium
Gongfu!
Yesterday, I steeped up BLT’s Year of The Snake sheng pu’erh, and today I’m brewing up its black tea counterpart with a session of their 2025 “Black Snake” Yiwu sun dried black paired with some juicy, ripe strawberries because it is berry season here in Quebec. This was a pleasantly medium to full-bodied tea with an almost syrupy, sweet tasting liquor – but I’ve not surprised because it’s made of the same material as the YOT Snake zodiac pressing, and that was a rather sweet tasting tea too. Definitely very honeyed in flavour, with soft floral undertones and a bit of a spun sugar sweetness to the backend of the sip. Pushing the steeps brought out a bit of a red fruit note, sort of a maple-y pecan kind of note, and a subtle creaminess. I’m sure I was influenced by my strawberry pairing, but I kept thinking of Eton Mess. Though maybe not QUITE that creamy.
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLP_zOHRQUB/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QFIHPJKWU8&ab_channel=MamaDuke-Topic
Iced Latte!
I think one of the best things to come out of the crazy social media matcha boom and subsequent shortage is the acceleration of hojicha as a mass-adopted flavour/drink. It was already trending upwards, but that growth curve just got a whoooollleeee lot more aggresive. Fantastic news for people like me who adore hojicha and want to have more options readily available…
Now, that said, I did find myself a little bit “whelmed” by this particular hojicha powder. Don’t get me wrong, it was very smooth and nutty and though the roast level was a bit greener than I would have liked/expected it still made for a very pleasant and easy drinking hojicha latte. Was it a cookie flavoured hojicha latte? Eh, that seems like a bit of a stretch. I tasted a little bit of chocolate, but for the most part this seemed more like a lightly sweetened version of a standard hojicha latte. Still delicious, but not quite as fun or innovative tasting as it maybe could have been.
I do very much hope that B&B continued to release more hojicha powders though with different flavours – there’s soooooo much left on the table with hojicha waiting to be explored in the same way matcha has been.
Iced Latte!
I almost skipped this one over because it’s definitely less unique feeling to me, and the B&B matchas are fairly expensive when you factor in dollar conversion, shipping fees, and duties. However, I quite like B&B’s Buttermint Matcha and I thought maybe this would taste similar to that just without the mint. So, ultimately I bit the bullet and added it in.
While I wouldn’t say this was swoon-worthy, it was pretty good and there was that lovely buttery and toffee-like flavour that I do enjoy in Buttermint Matcha quite a bit. Just a little milder than I would have expected. I will try seeing what increasing the amount of matcha powder or adding a sweetener does, but based on this impression I was call this solid and safely enjoyable, but just lacking some of the “spark” and richness I would normally expect from a butterscotch flavoured tea.
Iced Latte!
I tried this as an iced latte because, well, I tried all the new matchas from B&B as iced lattes made in the same way. It was definitely pleasant tasting with a moderately sweet mixed fruit flavour that did feel aligned with other tutti frutti flavoured things I’ve had in the paste. If anything I would say notes of banana and pineapple kind of popped out to me? It was maybe just a little strange with the creaminess of the milk.
I feel like it would be a fantastic tea pop though, so I’m excited to try it that way next.
Iced Latte!
I recently placed an order with B&B to pick up a bunch of their new seasonal matchas and the hojicha powder they just released. I’m a little bummed I missed out on the Maple Pecan Matcha, but it had already sold out by the time I was ready to place my order.
This one was very delicious, though! I am always extremely skeptical of matchas that claim to taste like chocolate since I know first hand how challenging that taste is to convey using just flavouring (it’s never rich/distinct enough), but I think this blend gets it much more correct because it also has cocoa powder in it. Just chocolatey enough. The mint is also very fresh and mirrors the sweetness and creaminess of mint chocolate ice cream very well.
I can see this being a summer iced matcha latte go to for sure! It’s very nicely balanced and just a good break up from some of the fruitier flavours that seem to dominate summer.
I know I drank this tea earlier this week, but if I’m being honest I don’t know if I fully registered it as I was drinking it. Smooth and palatable enough, I suppose. But truthfully I think I’ve just felt a little unexcited by some of Deb’s teas for a little while now? I feel bad, because she’s such a sweetheart. But they just sort of start to feel same-y after a while. Y’know?
Pistachio is such a hot flavour right now, but I feel like it’s usually plain pistachio or pistachio with chocolate. So, it was kind of nice to have this more bright and citrusy blend as an option to pull out when I wanted pistachio but wasn’t feeling the heavier chocolate profile so much. It’s still got a sweetness to it, and the nutty and creamy flavours are really distinct – just balanced out by that almost limoncello-like lively note. Really scrumptious!
Iced!
This was nice and very quickly slurped back, but I did find myself a little frustrated because the sweet, lush and floral profile between the juicy lychee and rose is so nice that I find myself really, really wanting it outside of this instant format. Like, it’s kind of too sweet to drink regularly but the balance and those flavourings are soooo good that I would drink it more regularly were it not for the sweetness.
Kinda a bummer in that way.
