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This is one of those sort of generic “Superstore” type teas that I keep stocked up on for when I have family or friends over who don’t really drink tea too often or who aren’t familiar with loose leaf teas (especially some of my more “odd” flavoured ones) and would prefer a more ‘basic’ type of tea. I hardly ever drink these teas (the exception being my Stash Moroccan Mint and Riverblend Plantation Saskatoon Berry Black Tea), so it’s been a long time since I had this one; long enough for me to apparently forget just how awful it is.

I decided on this one for my “bedtime tea” tonight because: A) it’s caffeine free, and B) for whatever reason I was craving lemon, which was unusual since I don’t really like lemon as a flavour unless it’s in baked goods, and I don’t actually own any loose leaf teas with a prominent lemon flavour.

The bagged dry leaf doesn’t actually smell that bad, but as soon as it had started steeping the whole kitchen just stank of this sort of medicinal lemon scent – it kind of reminded me of Neo Citron. I took a small sip, and immediately knew that if I was going to be able to finish the cup I had to load it up with sugar.

I added about five teaspoons of sugar to the cup, which just BARELY makes the tea palatable. I find I’m drinking the cup in large gulps with the goal of just pushing through and finishing it off. The aftertaste of this is just horrid – even after adding all of that sugar it’s still pretty tart and awfully bitter. And there’s still that nasty sort of medicinal quality to it.

To think that this is my Grandma’s absolute favourite tea! Bleck. Oh well, I guess I’ll just hold on to the rest and, as she comes to visit, she can drink it all up. I don’t think I’ll be having any more for quite some time.

Another tea that I didn’t intend to buy – but the lovely sales lady convinced me otherwise by promising it would taste as good as the dry leaf smells. The dry leaf is intoxicating; simply put it smells like really good rum, but you can definitely pick apart the individual ingredients as well such as the coconut. It’s rich and buttery and each time I smell it just makes me want to have a nice big mug while cozied up on the couch watching a good movie or TV show. The dry leaf also reminds me of those hard, Lifesavers butterscotch flavoured candies. YUM.

I’ve literally just started steeping it and already the liquor is a rich brown and my apartment is filled with the intoxicating scent coming off the cup. The smell is definitely reminding me of butterscotch.

All steeped now, and it just smells absolutely delicious. There is an oily sheen on the surface of the liquor, but if it tastes anything like it smells then I don’t really care. First sip and I’m not disappointed in the slightest. I can taste the coconut really strongly, but it’s not over powering. The black tea base is still coming through nicely as well, and I swear I really do taste those butterscotch Lifesavers as well. And it’s amazing, because even though there’s no actual rum in it all of these flavours are coming together in a way that really truly DOES remind me of rum. Mmmm.

This is probably one of the best black teas that I’ve bought from DT. I’m excited to resteep the leaves and see if I still get this full range of flavours. Not something I’d add sugar, honey or agave to, but I can see it being really good as a latte. Yum.

Decided to try the Red Velvet Cake I got from DT today. First tea of the day, and I was definitely in a dessert tea sort of mood. Unrelated note, when I bought this one it ended up sitting in Kevin’s car for a couple of hours while we went shopping at Comic Reader’s, Tramps, and then out for Thai food at Tre’s restaurant – basically all of my chocolate chips melted. Hopefully that won’t affect the taste at all.

The dry leaf is really decadent and sweet smelling – perfect for what I’m craving. It reminds me of Birthday Cake, but with the obvious difference in the tea base, and the addition of chocolate. As it’s steeping it still smells really rich. Unfortunately while I was focused on brewing the perfect cup I forgot about the bagel I had in the toaster; by the time I noticed it my poor cheesy bagel had been burnt to a crisp. I slathered it with some strawberry cream cheese, but I think it’s a lost cause at this point.

First sip, and I’m trying it without anything added. The liquor isn’t really red at all, but more of a light/muddy brown. Perhaps it’s the taste of burnt bagel in my mouth, but I don’t really taste the chocolate at all. It’s not nearly as decadent as the dry leaf smells, which is kinda disappointing.

About half the cup has been consumed now, and I’m adding just a bit of milk and sugar; hopefully that’ll bring out the flavour some more. Few more sips; it’s better with the milk and sugar but still just sort of has a generic sweetness to it. Maybe that’s the artificial flavouring in the tea.

Overall, I’m pretty disappointed. Definitely not what I was expecting, and while it certainly wasn’t a bad cup of tea it was nothing phenomenal either. I’ll give it another chance though – I’ll have to remember to fiddle around with the steeping time (maybe it should have been steeped longer), and I’ll make a cup for Tre later tonight with the leaves from my cup – maybe it’ll taste better re-steeped?

Last time I was in DAVIDsTEA was with Kevin during my last day in the city before ‘the big move’ to S’toon, and I stalked up on 10 different teas because I knew I wasn’t gonna get a chance to go to another store in a while. This was one of the teas that I bought; I was kinda wavering on getting it but the really kind salesperson sold me on it.

I ended up getting 100 g, which was a completely full tin (damn, I hope I like it, because I sure got a lot if it)! The dry leaf smells quite strongly of peppermint, chamomile, and licorice root in my opinion – I’m not really getting the goji berries at all. Steeped, the liquor is a kind of yellow colour. The scent it gives off is pretty unremarkable; it smells… good. Just, a generic sort of good. And I’m definitely not smelling the licorice that I’m craving.

I started with a big gulp and my first impression was just… meh. Really, it was nothing special at all, and I was sorta disappointed in my purchase. But after swallowing and waiting a few seconds I was hit with a wave of licorice. There; THAT’S the licorice that I was promised. Seriously, the after taste here is just AMAZING. I ended up savoring the whole cup, taking small sips and waiting long amounts of time in between sips for that punch of licorice to go away. Whether the liquor was hot from just finishing steeping or cold from my taking my time to drink the cup the aftertaste was still one of the best ones I’ve probably ever had. I definitely have to say I’m pleasantly surprised.

Adding in that I tried re-steeping the leaves; second cup was really weak, and the licorice punch that made this tea worthwhile just wasn’t there. How disheartening. Still, it’s something I’ll buy again when my 100 g are all used up, though likely in a smaller quantity.

One of the first DAVIDsTEA’s that I purchased. I was hesitant to get it because I’m not really a fan of most green teas, but this one smelled really good and I loved the “novelty” of it (buttered popcorn, eh?) because I worked at a movie theatre for over a year. I must say, I wasn’t disappointed.

I steeped this a little bit longer than the max. recommended steeping time. The smell was exactly like buttered popcorn – not the theatre kind that I’m used to working with (that kind is really overloaded with salt), but the good, home-popped stuff. Tasting it, I definitely tasted the apple a bit more than I thought I would, but it didn’t taste bad at all and there was still a really strong buttery note to it.

The tea tasted better hot than cold – I’ll have to remember next time to either put it in a thermal mug so it doesn’t cool down as fast or drink it a bit faster.

ADDING IN: My mom tried some without reading the ingredients list before hand, she said it tasted like “something butter, popcorn perhaps?” Didn’t taste any apple in it.

Also, I took the “challenge” on the tin maybe a bit too seriously, and I brought some with me into the theatre when I went to watch Mortal Instruments, this time in a thermal mug. Tea was phenomenal. Movie was mediocre.