Winter Earl Grey

This was a super cute end to the advent calendar. I was really trying to go into this without spoiling much for myself, so I didn’t know there was a “North Pole” inspired blend until the 24th, and I love the concept.

The tea itself… well, it didn’t work for me. The bergamot oil was a particularly potent scent, and there was something in the flavor that was so reminiscent of aniseed that when I read the ingredients to my partner he accused me of lying! The second cup we didn’t get so much of that, so I really couldn’t tell you what was going on. Still, I prefer other earl greys that lean toward the cream side.

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 24

This advent surprised me! It actually had the highest count of teas I truly enjoyed, which was not what I expected when I purchased it. I was really stretching my comfort zone to go with so much straight tea, and I wound up being very glad I did.

The biggest disappointment here was that of the 4 teas I was ready to purchase, only 1 was still listed on the website. I used a workaround to put them all on my wishlist, which keeps telling me to remove them because they are no longer available, but I’m really hoping that will change. I suppose the one benefit here is that I’ve learned some general preferences that would help me make purchases with other brands if they don’t come back.

The Look of the tea actually drew me in, and I’m a sucker for a nice twist on an Earl Grey.

I think I got the bottom of the tin (I wasn’t scrutinizing them while they weighed), because the leaf is a little extra crumbly, but that didn’t impact the flavour negatively for me.

I didn’t actually pinpoint the orange flavour at first, I was actually too preoccupied with how ‘familiarly different’ the vanilla in this felt. And then it hit me—

this tastes like an orange creamsicle with bergamot. That’s exactly what it tastes like to me, and it’s honestly pretty delicious. Orange soda float with vanilla icecream, because I was a picky kid who didn’t like pop (so rootbeer was a no-go) but could stomach orange crush, and loved vanilla icecream.

Damn, now that it’s hit me I can’t un-think it, but I do really quite like this tea. The yin zhen really does nothing to the flavour, but the black tea has a nice, strong body that compliments the vanilla. I feel like this’d make an interesting latte.

The Canadian website doesn’t have this listed anymore, which makes me think that my shop just had some left over from last year. Extra disappointing, because I’d probably buy this again.

Another DT blend that I had a sample of laying around… It was surprisingly really good! That’s nothing against DT I’m just super picky about Earl Grey blends. I loved the sweet vanilla and pop of peppercorn, a definite rebuy!

This is a nice EG creme. The creamy flavor is a tiny bit artificial, but I really don’t mind. There’s also a fair amount of floral flavors. The base isn’t very bold, but this tea is interesting and does its own thing. It’s tasty with milk. As it cools, I taste mostly fruit and bergamot. The resteep was decently bold. I wouldn’t go out of my way to order this, but I wouldn’t mind another cup or two.

This tea is a nice addition of taste to the classic Earl Grey tea. It is a smooth tea it does not go bitter quickly.

(DavidsTea 5)

Picked this up because it sounded delicious, but for some reason, was really disappointed in the first cup. I can’t recall why. However, because of this inability to remember why I didn’t like it, I dug it out again for another cup this past week as I was craving earl grey, and round two was significantly more successful – although there is indeed something in the mix that is not my favourite. Perhaps the peppercorns? I might try a cup without any next time, although I don’t recall being bothered by then before. (That said, I just realized what tea this was reminding me of – and it also has pink peppercorns. Coincidence? I would enlighten everyone as to this tea I’m thinking of, but the name is completely eluding me.) It could also simply be that for some reason, DT’s cream earl grey hasn’t quite been hitting the spot that it used to, and the same is happening with this tea. Hard to say.

The smell was wonderful but… no flavor at all and that was with 2 perfect scoops and steeping 15 min. Tastes like hot water

Day 4 of my DIY 24 Days of DAVIDsTea!

I was first hesitant to try this tea, because I’ve never been a fan of DT’s Cream of Earl Grey, but I knew I had to try Winter Earl Grey at least once to satisfy my curiosity.

I have to say, thankfully this blend has a palatable difference from CoEG. I’m enjoying the smooth, softer flavour. It has a strong enough citrus flavour to stand up against and not get drowned out by the creaminess of the vanilla & cream flavouring. It’s a good enough cup of Earl Grey that I don’t need to add any additional milk/cream, which is great.

New tea! My enjoyment of earl greys comes and god, but I’ve been going through an enjoyment phase recently. However, as soon as I smelled this I knew I wouldn’t like it…and I was right. It tastes pretty close to my memory of Cream of Earl Grey, which I really don’t like. This has a similar ‘not really vanilla, but a weird buttery synthetic cream’ flavoring that I don’t care for. Glad I didn’t buy 2oz.

Just finishing off a mug of this tea – my first cuppa of the day!

I was snowing fairly heavily this morning and it looked like it might be the first snowfall of the winter to properly stick around for a while. We had one earlier in the week but it all melted on contact so it was more of a tease of what’s to come. Anyway, I steeped this in honor of that ‘proper’ snowfall. However, it’s now been about two hours since it started snowing annnddddd all the snow has melted away again. I’m not complaining though. There’s plenty of time left in the year for heavy snowfall.

The tea is nice and smooth. Just consistent notes of bergamot on full bodied black tea with a hint of some vanilla. It fit the moment and my mood, but now that I can’t see the snow anymore I’m vibing with it just a little bit less.

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.