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I’ve been getting so many variations of chai from sipsby that while most of them are fine I had no real expectations for this particular tea. It was a pleasant surprise. This is spice-forward in the best way. I love a heavy hand with spices and rank some other Davidson’s teas among my favorites for this reason. The blending on this is done well in particular; no one spice completely overwhelms the others, and I do still taste the tea both hot and as it cools.
I completely forgot to set the timer for steeping and wonder how much that factored in here! I’ll have to get more and experiment.

Even though bergamot and citrus are not listed anywhere, this reminded me strongly of an earl grey lavender tea and gave me (and my partner!) a bit of citrus flavor.
Unfortunately for me, the lavender dominates; perhaps that’s due to my own sensitivity to lavender or perhaps it really is that strong. I’ll never know, but my partner wound up drinking most of this cup for me.

A smooth green tea with clear presence of jasmine. Despite ingredients, neither cup in my sample gave me much in the way of fruit, apple, or other flavors I’d expect with apple pieces (though I’m not even sure I saw any in my bag). I tend to prefer a much stronger jasmine if I’m going that route, so this one isn’t for me, but it’s not a bad cup.

I have an August tasting box and am excited to go through each of the teas. Trying to remember to make notes so I know which ones to repurchase!

Silencio is interesting. The smell is a strong pineapple; I actually noticed the pineapple smell several rooms over in my house while it was steeping! It didn’t give the same pineapple taste, however. The original sip is fairly bitter, but the cacao smooths it out a bit in the aftertaste. I cannot begin to explain why it reminds me of a coffee cocktail – maybe just the combo of bitter and cacao?
The spice is there, but much more subtle than the packaging implies. I notice the pineapple flavor only really as it cools.

Bold, different, and kind of a warm & cozy tea, but ultimately not one I think I’d seek out for repurchase.

Actual conversation with partner:
“You said you wanted a ginger tea. Try this.”
“Is it good? Wow, it definitely smells like ginger. …oh yeah, that’s SUPER ginger.”

So it lives up to its name.

I was kind of dreading this actually. I like ginger but normally find it too astringent in my tea. This one worked for me in the best way. The spice of both the ginger and the peppercorns is warming, and it’s all well balanced. It also makes me think of honey on the initial sip. I could see this being a lovely tea for a cold (that doesn’t taste medicinal at all).

Bonus, I didn’t realize it was a green rooibos tea, so I’ll be more willing to try those in the future. Sorry red rooibos.

DAVIDsTEA advent, day 13

So here’s the thing. I LOVE cinnamon. Especially cinnamon candies. I buy the sizzling cinnamon Jelly Belly packs on their own, and I use the cinnamon fire Jolly Ranchers to get through busy work days, and I’ve been known to use cinnamon mouthwash and floss.

And I want to love this tea in the same way, because I get that Big Red scent right off the top of it before it’s brewed, but the rooibos! Ugh, the rooibos.

I know this tea is a smash hit with so many people. Or at least, it seems that way, because this tea gets lumped in with a bunch of sampler packs. I love a good sampler pack but I always have to hesitate when I see this tea is in it. I struggle so hard with this tea I don’t buy OTHER tea when they’re packaged together.

Truthfully, this is just a personal problem with rooibos, and I’m sure it would be delicious for others. But also, if you know of a good red hot cinnamon tea that doesn’t use rooibos, or if there’s a way to help overwhelm the wood and dirt taste I get from the rooibos and enjoy this one, I’m all ears.

DAVIDsTEA caffeine free advent, day 13

This has been my favorite tea in the sipsby advent so far, which is hilarious. After all my “should I even buy the DAVIDsTEA advent anymore” and “maybe I’ve just tried all their stuff I want to try at this point” I get one out of left field through sipsby.

Through both cups, I was surprised at how much it lives up to its name. I definitely get the light egg/cream of french toast along with the cardamom and cinnamon. It has a sweet element, but I think the black tea base saves it from being completely overwhelming. While I would probably prefer a french toast tea that was less forward on the cardamom, I really enjoyed this one.

My partner prefers unflavored and bitter things, and he said this felt more like a bread pudding than a french toast because it was so sweet for him, but that it was still pleasant.

sipsby advent, day 13*
(sipsby packages this in no particular order)

A friend of mine said she wasn’t excited about this tea but wound up enjoying it a lot, so I was eager to try it despite not enjoying black licorice. The peppermint was the dominant smell. The mint is also evident while drinking, though the flavor certainly takes a back seat to the licorice. It felt like a lump of black licorice stuck in the back of my throat – and I mean stuck, because it lingered there for hours after I gave up on the cup.

teapigs advent, day 13

I didn’t enjoy this last year, and while I’m bumping my rating up to better match my personal scale, I don’t think my opinion changed much.

I’ve never had an eggnog so I can’t say anything about how close it might be to that flavor. I smell warm winter spices but taste sweetness and cream more than the spice. I would rather have more spice and less sweet, but this is okay for an infrequent cup.

DAVIDsTEA advent, day 12

If you’re not a fan of the artificially sweet blends from DAVIDsTEA, this is one to skip.

It looked like so much fun in the tin. I may have oversteeped mine; while I read 5+ minutes as the recommended time, I think mine went more like 15 thanks to a toddler distraction mid-steep. It came out a murky purple.

We’ve already noted I don’t have a discerning palate, but all I get from this is sweet. Like a rock candy, bubblegum, cotton candy type sweet – except I enjoy those things to some extent and did not enjoy this. It was closer to a frosted cereal than the actual blend frosted cereal, actually, and I think my issue was it was such an artificial flavor.

My partner – “This one is bad, right? That’s why you’re holding it out like that – oh yep. Yeah that’s bad.”

DAVIDsTEA caffeine free advent, day 12