New tea!
This tea released a week or two ago now – but it’s something I’ve been working on for over a year now. Cold 911 and Throat Rescue are two of DT’s best selling blends – especially during cold and flu seasons. However, both of them are more the type of tea you would drink after you’re already sick or starting to feel under the weather. Not before. And, with cold and flu season in particular, you’re not really fully covered unless you have something more preventative.
Enter Immunity SOS.
I feel like this is the long missing third sibling to this trio of teas. Developing it was actually a lot harder than it might seem. We spent a lot of time looking at traditional folk remedies for immunity as well as more “modern” things like Immunity Shots, and that was a huge part of the inspiration for both taste and flavour.
Though there are several ingredients in the blend that contribute to the overall taste and function the key ones are: Orange, ginger, sage, echinacea, and – to a lesser extent – turmeric. Orange and ginger as a combination are very soothing and we thought the brightness of the orange balanced out the warming, earthy heat of the ginger. Sage compliments both of these flavours with its soft herbaceous taste, but it’s also naturally anti-viral. Plus, we loved that it added this sort of aromatherapy component. It’s just so relaxing smelling as it steeps or as you cradle the mug post-infusion. Echinacea, of course, is very well loved for immunity so this was definitely a must have ingredient when balancing everything out in the blend, and the turmeric/ginger combination supports that natural spice note but is also this added layer/duo for inflammation.
In terms of taste I find this most comparable to The Skinny – but caffeine free, obviously. Compared to Sunny C, which is the other citrus-y herbal blend that DT carries year ‘round, this is a lot less sweet and punchy/tart. Though it has bright top notes, it’s overall just more herbaceous and cozy. That was important because a lot of people consume immunity targeted products as part of a routine so we wanted to create an overall experience that was comforting/relaxing instead of in your face – those type of really intense fruity profile teas tend to not as frequently be something that people want to consume every day or over and over during short stretches of time.
Overall, I’m really proud of this one! I think, even if you’re a flavour first kind of tea drnker, the blend is still really delicious and interesting. However, I love the ingredient list as this final accompaniment to what we’ve been playfully calling our “pharma-tea” trio. I hope others love it too!
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 don’t think I’ve ever tried a ginger sage combo, dunno why, they are both in my cupboard. I hope the tea is a hit!