S’mores Chai

Additional notes: Sipdown of this one! I’ll miss it but it was never really what I wanted it to be. It tastes more sweet than anything… not really s’mores or chai or even puerh or black tea. Maybe a tiny hint of the sweetest toasted marshmallow… I really appreciated the chance to try it though!
2020 Sipdowns: 1

Another from Cameron B.! Thank you! I’ve been wanting to try this one for ages!

The loose leaf smells of gingerbread and chocolate. Christmas-y in a way. I’m delighted at the sight of little marshmallows and hazelnut brittle mixed in, but very unimpressed by the ingredients list. Artificial flavors, gelatin, artificial color, and sodium hexametaphosphate? Maybe other tea companies aren’t as honest about this and I’ve been drinking this stuff a lot, but I am a little put off. I just want leaf water and spices. You don’t have to make it weird.

After a splash of 2%, it looks like coffee with cream. To my slight disappointment, the marshmallows did not melt. The flavor is malty and chocolatey. The spices are a little weak for my taste, with hardly any showing through besides cinnamon. However, vanilla is very strong in the aftertaste. Creamy French vanilla. I do like that. But all around, I am not feeling it, like many of you weren’t.

It tastes like a Yankee Candle smells.

I can’t really decide if I like this one or not. It isn’t overly sweet to me, nor do I get any chocolate flavor – so it’s not “s’mores” to me. (I do get a chocolate scent, just very, very little flavor.) There is definitely a toastiness from a graham cracker note, and I do get marshmallow. I really find I have to overleaf this one pretty dramatically, so I haven’t tried it with milk yet as that requires it to be that much stronger. It would probably be good if you just flat out brewed it in hot milk, though. I like it at the level of sweetness it has, but if I wanted to truly emulate a s’mores flavor, I’d add a bit more sugar and definitely more chocolate. It’s still warm and comfy and dessert-y, just not s’mores. Given how much tea I have to use to make it, it’s pretty expensive for a tea that is just OK.

Generally, I love anything that tastes like s’mores. This tea was just OK. Definitely better hot. I didn’t really get a lot of the chocolate flavor, I mostly taste cinnamon first, with marshmallow & a little graham cracker. The pu’erh flavor is there, but it’s faint… you can discern it in the teas aroma, as well as a little… musty-ness, for lack of a better descriptor.
I like this best as a latte! I brewed up one perfect spoonful in about 10oz of water (it’s really hard to oversteep this tea, in my opinion…) and add a teensy splash of vanilla while it’s brewing up. I’ll add some frothed (or not frothed, depending on how lazy I’m feeling) half & half and it’s pretty tasty.
I have a couple of gripes about this tea… #1, The David’s Tea website doesn’t mention anywhere about the type of pu’erh in this blend; not how long it’s aged, or where it’s from… nothing to clue you in on the pungency of this tea that is traditionally a strong & acquired taste… all pretty important things for someone who is familiar (or unfamiliar) with an aged/fermented product. #2, this is not a chai to me. The cinnamon flavor is there, but it’s not spicy enough for me to place the flavor profile of this tea alongside others that I reach for when I’m craving a chai…
I don’t know if I will repurchase this one, but I will definitely finish what I have. If you like s’mores flavors, this could be a good way to ease into the world of pu’erh. A beginners pu’erh, if you will.

This smelled pretty good in the store, like a nice blend of spices. The scent when brewed is mildly cinnamon and a little chocolate. There is a spice flavour, but I don’t really get anything s’mores. Not bad, but a little disappointing.

Latte Sipdown (348)

I finally drank one of two (I think) pu’erh teas in my cupboard. I bought this because I love s’mores. I haven’t drank this for over a year because I hate pu’erh. I decided to make it tonight because I did a whole lot of cooking and wanted to treat myself with a latte topped with a whole bunch of whipped cream. Yay for groceries and for breakfast (veggie breakfast sandwiches) and dinner (sweet potato green curry quinoa casserole) already made for the week!

Drinking it now…I don’t hate it. I don’t really like it either. It’s an okay latte that tastes a bit like carmalized sugar by a campfire…so sort of s’mores but not s’mores.

I actually don’t really like s’mores (?!) but this smelt delectable and I was craving something dessert-y so I grabbed some.

DAVIDsTEA had a little card on the counter with instructions on how to make a latte, so I made mine exactly as described: 1 cup water with 4 PS steeped for 5 minutes + 1 cup of boiled milk (almond milk for me). No sweetener added. Yum! It was really good and I would definitely have again sometime as a treat, but goddamn, 4 PS per cup would tear through my stock in no time. I’ll try just plain next time for sure. I don’t know if I’d say it’s a dead ringer for a s’more, but you definitely get the taste of graham crackers, a hint of chocolate, and a creaminess that captures the essence of a s’more. I like this, sweet enough to scratch that itch, but not a cup full of sugar. I’m definitely considering stocking up a bit of this for when my (slightly) sweet tooth strikes though!

I don’t normally like teas like this. I prefer greens and herbals. This smelled amazing when I opened the pouch, and it tasted just as good! This is definitely going on my list of go-to summer/autumn teas. I feel like this would be perfect sitting at a campfire, just enjoying life.

It’s s’mores in a cup. This is quite delicious. I didn’t find this tea to be too sweet or too spicy. I definitely wouldn’t add any extra sugar, but a splash of milk or cream doesn’t do any harm.

I had a full tin of this from when the Chai Collection was out that I forgot about. Once I tasted this again, I was in love. It’s so so so good. I wish I had bought more. It has a rich chocolatey taste with background notes of graham cracker. I found myself reaching for this one constantly. I hope it comes back because I will be buying more to fill my now empty tin.