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Gongfu!

At one point last week I woke up with a bit of sore throat, so I’m brewed up a session of this ripe pu’erh during the afternoon. I probably would have picked out a shou for the afternoon’s tea session regardless since I’ve been craving one for a while – I never drink enough pu’erh during advent season, though at least this year had an assortment of sheng mixed in. This one is so slick and oily though, with a straightforward but rich tasting mix of rain-soaked soil and molasses notes. Full-bodied, reliable, and like a soothing salve. Even outside of the winter, I find this a total comfort tea.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEF3R3KSUfH/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6Lee2807Y&ab_channel=ctrl%2Bme

Sipping on this little tea friend as I continue to make my way through my last sample order! I’ve been really enjoying this unique tea brewed grandpa style; even after a significantly long period of steeping it remains soft and fresh tasting with the most intriguing balance of pine-y herbaceous notes like rosemary, timothy hay, thyme, juniper and tree sap balanced by an almost fruity, cooling note – cucumber pulp, whispers of ripe summer melons, dew, and creamed honey. One of those teas that really feels like a truly unique experience, even when you’ve tried it many times before!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEIt1iIyyGJ/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f4uubvS7ks&ab_channel=DellaXOZ-Topic

Gongfu!

Enjoyed this session paired with some sweet and tangy apricots. It’s a beautifully soft and smooth sheng pu’erh with delicate notes of fresh white flowers, peach skins, pear puree, a touch of sweet sake, and a little bit of a greener and herbaceous backend that reminds me ever so slightly of Greek Mountain Tea. Not only was this really complimentary to the apricots, but the huigan is fantastic as well. Though you do have to be careful with the pairing as the fruit can easily take over the tea with its intensity, so tiny nibbles in between steeps is the way to go!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEK3ouxOw0Y/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDowe8U7f5w&ab_channel=22%C2%BAHalo

Gongfu!

Enjoyed this morning session while listening to the gentle pitter-patter of the rain outdoors. The last two days have been almost freakishly foggy with off and on rain, which, while definitely a little odd for late December, has been quite beautiful and atmospheric. This is one of my favourite of W2T’s more experimental smoked teas, and in large part it’s because the balance of cool, crisp and sweet white tea with the soft, sultry whisps of smoke remind me so heavily of rain – but specifically the petrichor and lingering smells of campfire smoke that hang in the air after a summer thunderstorm. It’s the cleanest, smoothest and freshest sort of smoke note that rolls across the palate much like a dense blanket of fog – so obviously it’s such a perfect tea to be brewing up given the current weather…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DENQ80NO4Kq/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucTkz3UsoSc&ab_channel=MOSES-Topic

Cold Brew!

I started this one as a cold brew because I was craving soda, but then I lost that craving and so I just let this go in my fridge for a couple days (two or three) because I just never felt like I was quite in the mood to strain and drink it. But then I got worried about leaving it for too long and just strained it to drink it anyway…

It’s fine tasting, even after steeping so long. Definitely tastes like root beer, but a more bright and slightly tangy/acidic version of it instead of the deeper/richer flavour. More like a root beer or cola gummy candy over the actual soda. It was pretty good, but I have to admit that I now have a pretty heavy bias having now developed my own root beer inspired tea for DT. I kept mentally comparing the two, and I just found myself wishing for more body and depth from this drink which I know isn’t fair since it’s a mostly white tea base which is just stylistically not going to be able to deliver in the same way as the shou pu’erh used in Radical Root Beer. It’s not a fault of this tea – they’re just doing different things, and I ultimately probably should have brewed up Radical Root Beer since that was closer to what I was craving…

Steeped this one up Western style and because I was curious to see what would happen I decided to leave the drawstring teabag in the mug the whole time. It starts off pretty black tea-like, which is what it’s supposed to taste like. Maybe a little bit duller/flatter tasting that a typical black tea but still pretty full bodied and with some of the mineral notes I’d expect to taste in a black tea. What I was curious about with the extended brewing was if it would get bitter or astringent given that this is technically just herbs and not tea (despite being processed as if it were). Interestingly it got more tangy and acidic with time. Further from feeling like black tea, but also less flat feeling.

I was out boxing day shopping a few days ago, as one does, and I decided to stop into a bookstore I like. Now, I should clarify that the reason I like this bookstore is, in fact, not because of the books. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with the books – but it’s just a French bookstore so, like, 95% of them are sold exclusively in French so I can’t personally read them at all. The reason I like this bookstore is because they have a GIANT section dedicated to mugs, and the mugs are frequently just totally unhinged…

I never need more mugs, but I saw the most beautifully cursed and creepy looking Furby mug that I just HAD to have. And, lucky me, it was on sale! This thing is huge, and it’s got this wonderfully “dead in the eyes” sort of expression that’s just haunting. It’s so ugly and a love it. When I got home I had to brew something in it immediately, and I couldn’t even start to tell you why but when I was deciding on a tea I just felt like THIS was the tea that went with this monstrosity. Nutty. Nostalgic. Yeah, it was a match made in heaven.

So, that’s the circumstance that led to me sipping on this tea. So much of this tea. I cannot clarify enough how big this stupid Furby mug is. I think it’s probably 20oz if not more. Which is just so large for a novelty shaped mug.

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.

Picked this one up from Dammann Freres when I got my advent because, I mean, how could I miss the opportunity to taste DF’s interpretation of a blend inspired by the city I live in. Plus, I usually adore their “Christmas In…” tea series.

I put a sample of this in the handmade tea advent I gifted my coworker this year because even though I hadn’t tried it yet I knew she would love the name and stylistically it’s very much the type of teas she goes for. I think in her advent it was the tea for the 23rd? Anyway, she made a point to message me when she drank it even though we were both on vacation at this point just to let me know how much she adored it – so I was stoked to try it myself.

I am… unsure how I feel about it, which is a little bit of a let down in and of itself. I think the flavours they chose to represent Montreal feel pretty solid: chestnut, maple, apple, chocolate, and then a bit of anise and orange. In particular I think the chestnut is really strong as an option and maple is, of course, the low hanging choice. But, it’s just A LOT of flavours happening on the palate and I found it a little cacophonous. Sure, it’s mostly the chocolate, chestnut, and apple notes that come through over all the other ones but it’s still too busy tasting for me.

Now, that said, I have that sort of Spidey Sense that this might be the type of blend that grows on you the more you drink it and I think it probably also would have benefited me to drink it the way she had (ie. without an ingredient list) so that I wasn’t “looking” for the flavours and could have better allowed them to bleed over into one another to create a more ethereal profile. I’ll probably try to drink it that way next time, as much as I mentally can let go of that inherent feeling of needing to solve/pick apart the notes.

Anyway, all that to say it’s not unpleasant and I feel like I kind of see the vision. I just want it to be a bit more stripped down. I think just apple and chestnut would have been really lovely tasting – maybe with a hint of the maple. Chestnut feels very Canadiana to me and makes me think of the buckwheat and chestnut crepes so commonly served in the opens markets during the summers here, but is also kind of festive and wintery. So that’s the flavour I’d probably have doubled down on.

After our lunch, my friend and I decided that since we weren’t very far away we’d grab a bubble tea at The Alley since that’s a pretty nice bubble tea chain that we both like and they usually have a strong seasonal menu. I

Basically the drink was a peach flavoured matcha latte topped with cheese/snow foam and a sprinkling of crunchy dalgona-like cookies. I got mine half sweet, and was pleasantly surprised that even with it being half sweet it wasn’t all that sugary at all aside from the expectedly rich and cheesecake-like snow foam topping. Very, very creamy and matcha forward with a lot of more grassy, buttery and unctuous notes. The peach was nice, but I thought could have been a little strong. As it was white peach it was fairly floral, but I thought that was nice – especially as we walked back to the metro on this unseasonably warm day. It was like 11 degrees Celsius today – almost all the snow melted away and it felt more like a lightly brisk late Spring afternoon.

This was my first time trying a drink from The Alley with the crunchy topping, and it was the only element I didn’t enjoy. Most of it just sunk to the bottom of the bubble tea and then it got more soggy than anything else – like cornflakes that have been in the cereal milk for too long? It was also so sweet in contrast to the rest of my drink, and that felt a little at odds…

Anyway, it was an overall positive drink! I’d order it again, but probably ask them to skip on the crunchy topping. Maybe in 2025 they’ll continue the anime series but with an anime I actually watch. That’d be pretty cool.

Gonna once again co-opt this entry to log a matcha based cocktail that I had while out for lunch with a friend today! The restaurant we were at is called Sesame, and though I don’t particularly drink I do sometimes order something off the cocktail menu if it’s more unique sounding/there’s some cool mixology involved. And, of course, I have a weakness for tea based cocktails…

This one was a Matcha Limoncello, and it was honestly REALLY good. It was a lot more matcha forward than I’d assumed it might be but the more grassy/vegetal notes were so good with the bright pops of citrus that is just made for a really bright and refreshing feeling drink that balanced out the meal quite well. Even though the tofu-based General Tao dish I was eating used deep fried tofu and was slathered with a pineapple, ginger, and tamarind sauce the combo never really felt heavy at all.