New Tasting Notes

Another blend from CameronB!

I like the dark cocoa from the tea base because it was also quite fruity. The apple flavouring was a nice addition. I added a splash of vanilla soy milk and it really brought out the apple fruity flavours.

This blend was sent to be my CameronB and I’m very happy to try it.

I think I may have oversteeped it because despite the lovely fresh pineapple flavour, the barley base is quite bitter and lacks sweetness. It reminds me of the after taste of black coffee with the roasted dark bitter flavour. It isn’t bad, but I will have to try it another way next time. The pineapple flavouring is excellent – just like pineapple fanta!

I liked this, but I also wanted to like it a lot more. The top notes were bright, lively and more fruity with a slight tangy and apple-like note of the kombucha vinegar. Then the ginger kicked in, and something about the fresh taste of the pressed ginger combined with that acidity really made think of ginger beer in a positive way. My big gripe is that I wish that wasn’t just “fruity” but had a lot more clarity to the pear flavour itself. Instead I think it gets swallowed up a bit by everything else.

A solid balance of fresh, zesty lemon and more floral, heady lavender with the gentle twang of the kombucha vinegar. It’s a combo of flavours I’ve tried quite a bit in kombucha, just from other brands. I really have no complaints, and yet this just didn’t really do it for me. Kind of a boring blend compared to others I tried.

This was my second favourite from this batch, and I think the only one I bought that I’d tried previously!? I couldn’t resist the Saskatoon berry revisit. They’re so hard to find in Quebec, so I really indulge on as much Saskatoon berry stuff as possible whenever I visit. It was bright and a little tart on the top notes, but then much thicker and jammier with a sweet, lingering finish. Really, really good representation of the flavour of ripe Saskatoon berries.

This one as very pretty with a gorgeous purple liquor colour that almost felt like a shame to be stuck inside a can instead of highlighted in a glass bottle or growler. However, the taste was a bit forgettable. Citrusy more than anything else, but not super acidic or bright. Some floral undertones, perhaps. Almost felt thai-influenced. Kind of cool, but not something I’d buy again just for the colour…

This wasn’t bad, but maybe a little underwhelming? I felt like it didn’t quite know what direction it wanted to lean into. The peach was present but not very distinct. Like, it could have been super juicy or floral or candy-like but it really wasn’t any of those things. Just, like, flat peach. The hibiscus had the same problem were it was noticable but not really bold or tart. It made for a muddle drink where the most noteworthy flavour was actually more of an apple note that read as apple cider vinegar thanks to the kombucha base.

This was the best kombucha I had over the whole trip. The cucumber could have been stronger as it really only poked through in the aftertaste ever so slightly, but that apple flavour was everything. Sweet, sour, juicy, tart, and crisp. It was a really well balanced mix between fresh green apples and more of a Jolly Rancher flavour – with that slight kombucha funk to the undertones to tie it all together.

This was a let down. The orange notes were nice, but definitely closer to a “sparkling orange juice” than a kombucha in a way that really made me think of Orangina. Orangina is a very tasty drink, but when you’re hoping for something Creamsicle-like in flavour it doesn’t really do the trick. There was no vanilla/cream element to this at all, in my opinion.

I tried two different passionfruit kombuchas on this trip and this was the better of the two. Also one of the nicer flavours from Good Spirit Kombucha, as well. It was bright, tangy and a touch acidic in a way that reflected both the passionfruit itself and the kombucha it was mixed with. Still, those tangy tropical notes were balanced by a juicy sweetness that made this feel fresh and inviting.

Probably one of the better hot weather shu puerhs I’ve had. A limited production run by Mei Leaf back in like 2021 or 2022 that sold out quickly. While its two sequels have had larger production runs, this one has been largely forgotten (especially in my cupboard). Not much to write home about besides the fact Don was smart pairing a largely mineral and smooth shu with the chen pi. He tried to replicate it with the sequel but it was a bit soupier if I recall correctly.

I tried two passionfruit kombuchas during this trip, and this was the worst of the two. Still totally fine and drinkable, but really sour in a way that made me think of lemon juice. Though there were tropical notes, the overall drink felt unbalanced and at times also almost yeasty.

I drank so much kombucha while on vacation, so I’m going to try and speed run the tasting notes for it all. Like, it was so much that giant tasting notes for each is just unruly. But the prairies honestly have such a prolific amount of nice local distilleries/breweries that it felt like a shame to not try and cram in as many as possible…

This was middle of the pack. I felt like it was missing some of that kombucha vinegar twang/acidity that I like, but the cherry flavour was really fresh and juicy – like eating handfuls of super ripe cherries from the sides of the fruit stalls that pop up all over the roads in British Columbia. So, I did like that quality a lot!

My mom has a set of bowls that have a very Polish Ceramics look/vibe to them despite the fact they’re definitely from like a Homesense or Ikea. They’re very, very well sized and shaped for use as matcha bowls though, so at some point while staying over I did use one to make this morning matcha – I was kind of getting sick of using the same two matcha bowls over the coarse of the rest of the trip.

This was lovely though! Always such a great balance of bright and sweet but also floral and aromatic. Really tastes like cherry marzipan cookies, but in the most splendid way.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOg-WXJkmjZ/?img_index=1 (Seventh Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GokUa3h2-cI

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.

While I was visiting home my mom wanted to take me to a new coffee house that she likes because she thought their menu was really interesting/trendy – and honestly it was!

This jumped out to me, and I’m glad I ordered it because it was VERY good. Honestly probably one of the best and more interesting cafe matchas I’ve had. The drink was topped with a THICK layer of cookie butter flavoured foam with crushed up biscoff on top, and it just added such a creamy, cozy richness to the drink. You’d think it would be very sweet or that it would mask the matcha, but once you got past the layer of foam the matcha itself was actually very strongly made and didn’t have any sweetener so those two primarily components balanced each other our really nicely.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOg-WXJkmjZ/?img_index=1 (Sixth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv-IAPugSP0

Iced Latte!

Whisked this up and then added in a bunch of Saskatoon berry syrup for a super rich and sweet medley of jammy, intense berry notes. The strawberry did a damn good job holding its own against the strength of the syrup, as well!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOg-WXJkmjZ/?img_index=1 (Fifth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boPkzhd6rk8

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.

Whisked up a little yunomi cup of this and then topped it with some KitKat flavoured creamer, which dropped it to the perfect temperate while also giving the darker, roasty notes of this matcha and almost mocha-like quality, but with some added vanilla wafer tastiness!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOg-WXJkmjZ/?img_index=1 (Fourth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KXfr8UIUe4

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.

I see Lake & Oak on instagram all the time, so when I saw their matcha “out in the wild” while back home in Saskatchewan I decided to pick it up to try. To start I just had it hot and plain, and it was alright. Definitely a more umami and grassy profile. I thought that compared to some of the other matcha I’ve been having lately this has less natural sweetness and more bitterness/astringency. I could see it being bold enough for matcha lattes, but I wasn’t super impressed with it on its own.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOg-WXJkmjZ/?img_index=1 (Third Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNfhrGtZxBA

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – September 2025 Tea #2 - Sipdown a sample!

I’d consider this a sample, as it was a small amount from Kawaii433 a while ago.  It was quite tasty on the sendoff! Hojicha and popped rice. Yum.
2025 Sipdown total: 55
2025 unique tea sipdowns: 42

Iced Latte!

Even though I wasn’t super crazy about this the first time I tried it as an iced latte, I decided to try it again but with the addition of some Saskatoon Berry syrup. It looked very pretty. Kind of like the blue and purple design on a Wildberry Pop Tart. Honestly, it kind of tasted like wildberry too, what with the two different types of berries at play. It was still very sweet, but I liked it more this way. I felt like the Saskatoon Berry added a needed thickness and heaviness that balanced it out from being so shockingly candy-like.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOg-WXJkmjZ/?img_index=1 (Second Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZBHR9MoJbs

Whisked this one up again while I was in SK since it was the only straight matcha I’d brought with me. I still liked it the second time around, but really all I can remember about it was how creamy and soft feeling the mouthfeel was. The flavour didn’t stick at all in my head. Of course, I wish I could remember the tasting notes but I think a sublime mouthfeel is maybe just as important when it comes to makes and I recall enjoying this a lot for that reason.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOg-WXJkmjZ/?img_index=1 (First Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucvP8WbNGfM

Iced!

Since I was bring a few sticks of the Acai Pomegranate to the office, I decided to brew a small handful of this flavour as well. I made this today as a “tea pop” (ie. using sparkling water) during the morning and I really liked it in that format. It was so tropical and juicy with really, really ripe mango notes and just enough acidity to lean into the twang of the passionfruit. Of the SuperBelly flavours, I definitely think this has the least noticeable ACV taste to it and sometimes I miss not having a little more of that funk. However, with the fizz of the sparkling water this was pretty perfectly balanced!

Iced!

I didn’t totally finish the box of this that I picked up while on vacation, and I already had a pretty full pouch of this at home so I took that as an excuse to bring some stick packs into the office for quick, thirst quenching iced tea there. This was very tangy and tart, but also so juicy and satisfying with those dark, exotic berry and pomegranate juice notes I adore so much.

Chugged a big glass of this down when I got home from the airport because I had no groceries in the house, and the one cold drink I’d left myself in the fridge wasn’t really enough. Unfortunately I did whisk this with cold water, so the sugar crystals didn’t fully dissolve even though the fresh and lush notes of rosy lychees were pleasant still. My last sip ended up being pretty gritty and overwhelmingly sweet.