This is the other brand new tea introduced in the subscription box!
If you get the subscription box then the tasting menu in the box has info pages for each tea with little QR codes that link you videos with the tea team talking about the teas. For this tea, I’m in the little QR code video discussing it my coworker and friend Celia, who conceptualized the original tea that became this blend!
To simplify… it went through A LOT of changes!
My favourite thing about this blend is honestly that it’s on a pu’erh base – it’s been such an incredibly long time since DT has done a new fruity pu’erh blend and I just felt like it was about time! We have so many sweet and indulgent pu’erh blends, and that makes sense because the rich full body of shou pu’erh compliments flavours like chocolate or caramel really well – but they aren’t the only thing that they go well with! Darker forest berries – like blueberry, blackberry, and elderberry among others – honestly go SO WELL with earthy, robust pu’erh and they bring out a different kind of richness – more like dense and juicy/syrupy berries just bursting at the seams with flavour. Well, if berries had seams, that is.
So, what is a bumbleberry!? Well, it’s not really one specific type of berry but more of a word for mixed berries – typically three or more – that is used here in Canada. It has origins in the maritimes and you’ll most commonly see it used as the flavour of pies or jams! Bumbleberry also usually has apple in it, and sometimes the pies will have spices too. Since this blend originally started as something that was inspired by Prairie berries, but then changed concept gradually over time, I thought the name Bumbleberry was a really beautiful homage to another part of Canada – and accurate for the blend too since this tastes like a juicy, sweet and tart mix of blueberry, raspberry, elderberry and hibiscus with hints of apple and warming spice note undertones from the ginger and nutmeg. I love the natural earthy shou notes that come through alongside those punchy berry flavours as well!
While this is obviously delicious iced, I personally actually like it better hot! Either way, I hope other people find this blend as fun as I do!
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.