I had to break isolation and go all the way into the city because the damn library wouldn’t let me renew my book anymore, so I decided to swing around to the only DAVIDsTEA still open in my region and pick up a few things I’d been eyeing.
I noticed they were bringing back a few old blends online-only as well. Hmmm. Maybe.
Overshot the steeping time on this one, but it didn’t turn out bitter, although the roast of the oolong may have gotten a bit sour. I mistook the giant sugar crystals in the mix for salt and kind of made a face at the dry tea, but it’s definitely not salty. Perhaps just enough to enhance the caramel, but nothing more. The pineapple adds to the acidic apple taste, definitely settling this more in the ‘fruit tea feel’ for me. ‘Kind of drying, a bit watery, steeped fruit pieces’ slightly lacking that body I like with more ‘tea’. I would have liked to taste this blend without the addition of the pineapple, to see how it stands.
Otherwise, the caramel is present, creamy, enhanced and lingers into the aftertaste. The roast of the oolong adds to the ‘sea salt’, but otherwise doesn’t overwhelm or interact badly with the added flavours. The oolong they use is… very small. Definitely not whole leaves, confirmed once they expanded in my strainer… Basically tattered shreds. It doesn’t take away from the tea (smaller tea fragments probably held the flavouring better), although definitely results in a darker brew (medium-deep amber).
In the end, it’s not a love or a hate—it sits in the same park as the Maple Syrup Oolong for me. Most of DAVIDsTEA’s flavoured oolongs kind of occupy that zone… The fruit bits detract a bit from the taste. But this definitely tastes like caramel, helped along by the dissolved sugar and caramel bits, I’m sure, heh.
Flavors: Apple, Caramel, Pineapple, Pleasantly Sour, Toast
