Tea The North

Sipdown! 63/365 (not technically, since I’m actually dumping the last cup or two out, but it counts!)

My recollection of this tea is that the first time I tried it (within a week of purchase), I felt like the coconut had already gone off. I probably should have returned it and gotten my $5 back. I figured I’d give it another shot before tossing it, but yeah, this tea is gross. I actually now think that it’s the combination of hibiscus and coconut that’s causing the problem, although I’m not convinced that the coconut isn’t also a little funky. The first sips of this, while hot, were sour and gross; now that it’s cooled, it tastes tropical but soapy. Looks like I wasn’t the only one with less than positive opinions about this tea, either.

Anyhow, I would not recommend this tea. The ingredients are ridiculous for a tea “representing the great white north” (melon, pineapple, coconut… really?!), and the mashup of flavours is not working. Or maybe the coconut wasn’t fresh, and it’s ruining everything. I think it’s been gone for a while now, so little danger of people going out and purchasing it, but, ew.

I picked up a cup of this iced, but found is very sour. With sweetener it was a little better, but still too sour for me.

Flavourwise, it wasn’t very Canadian. I found it rather tropical, actually. The coconut was a bit toasty, creamy. The rhubarb came through strong and tart. Lots of hibiscus, some pineapple. I didn’t taste the white tea, but it probably evened out the flavour a bit.As much as I liked the rhubarb/coconut combination, I dislike how sour this blend is.

This one was alright for the most part. I’ve only tried it iced and it was more quintessentially “tropical” than what I anticipated, especially considering that this contains melon and rhubarb. Watermelon is in the spotlight with each initial sip, and then the pineapple and coconut follow afterwards. The rhubarb is buried underneath, unfortunately. Was hoping for more of that awesomeness. Finally, it’s the coconut that lingers in the mouth. The type of coconut is more like an artificial coconut water than the pulp. And of course, this is one of those white teas that has so much other stuff going on that you can’t even taste the actual white tea base.

I can see why people would enjoy this on a hot day but I don’t feel compelled enough to have it again.

I am very conflicted when it comes to Tea the North.

I want to like it, I really do. For the most part, I really enjoyed the scent of the store canister and the sample drink I had there. I bought the decorative tin (mostly because I thought it looked cool) and made my way home happy with my purchase.

I did not open it right away, but waited a few days before preparing an iced brew to take to work with me. The scent coming from the pre-sealed bag was overpowering and very strong. I wasn’t even sure if I would continue with the tea as planned. I let my thirst take over and prepared the tea and was on my way. It has a very strong coconut flavour, which is alright but I was hoping for a more rhubarb flavour, or something more complementary in flavour.

When I returned home, I took out the container to see if the scent that was coming from the tea was due to the packaging, since the tea had not smelt that way in store. To my disappointment though it was still overpoweringly strong. I had my oldest smell the tea to see if it was just me and then my husband smelt it as well. I told him it reminded me of nail polish remover, which he commented that it was very acetone like.

I had another ice brew of the tea, with the same over power coconut taste. I had thought about trying it just hot, but the smell throws me off course every time I open the container.

This tea is so weird and my review will probably equals its weirdness… I really wanted to like this tea and was conflicted for a little bit and kept taking sips trying to decide…and halfway into drinking my free cup of tea, realized that I just don’t like it. It tastes like raspberries and coconut but with a weird artificial taste. Took me awhile to put my finger on it, but to me, it tastes like what a tropical sunscreen smells like. I always thought that would be a good thing, but it is not.

I was hesitant to try this tea because of the coconut, but the rest of the ingredients sounded good so I got an iced cup to go anyway. I definitely taste the coconut… Which I don’t like too much but there are other fruity flavours there too, which makes it better for me. I really don’t know why they would put coconut in this, it has nothing to do with Canada… I added agave to make it good enough but overall I am not too sure whether I’d buy any. It’s not bad, but it’s not the best either…

New tea alert!

This one is sort of DAVIDsTEA’s Canada Day shout out for the year! Plus, this year is extra special as well because it’s the 150th year Canada has been around. We’re doing several neat things in store to celebrate, and this is part of that. In fact, the whole blend is inspired by things that are red and white to sort of show that Canadian pride: coconut, watermelon, rhubarb, rose, white tea – you get the picture.

Our whole staff was pretty excited for this tea prior to its launch, but I’ll admit I’ve been putting off my review of it here on Steepster because, well, I just don’t like anything about it…

I wanted to! So badly! However, there’s something seriously off about it to me. When I smell the tea leaf in the tin itself, it actually physically makes my nose burn. I’ve also had it both hot and iced now and no matter how I seem to steep it all I get out of the brew is lots and lots of coconut and this super aritificial/chemical taste that I only seem to be able to associate with the smell/taste of nail polish remover and nail polish itself. I mean, anyone who’s ever painted their nails will know the almost burning sensation of acetone and that’s just entirely what this reminds me of!?

And one you mentally make the nail polish associate you just don’t come back from that.

Seriously though! I’m so disappointed because I wanted to love this one A LOT! I mean, coconut AND rhubarb! That just sounds like the best combination to me. Plus, honestly, it’s actually been surprisingly popular in stores! The day we launched it it was a TOTD and we actually cleared three brews of it which is A LOT for our store to do in one day. So, people are into it.

I’m just not one of those people.

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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.