New Tasting Notes
Steepster seems to be getting worse. Is anyone else having major issues?
They say this is honey-scented, but I am blasted away with chocolate notes. Ghirardelli milk and dark chocolate. Chocolate shavings. Cacao. At the end, there are some savory honey notes. After smelling my 3 honeys (Manuka, wildflower, and raw beekeeper honey), I think it’s more like a chocolate-infused honey I had once.
The flavor is sweet. Lots of chocolate notes with a honey after note. The mouth feel is silky smooth.
I received these as a gift from one of the ladies who comes to the MN Tea Society meetings.
Kaylee Advent Day 7!
It’s been a few years since I’ve had this tea, and it looks like I rated it 60 last time. I think that was too harsh. This has a nice honeyish quality, and I also taste a bit of vanilla. It was pretty refreshing cold! Only the first sip was too woody, then it smoothed out.
I haven’t had a Sri Lankan tea in a while, let alone one from a semi-wild garden. The vendor recommended steeping 3-4 g of leaf in 100 ml of boiling water, so to use up the sample, I steeped 5 g of leaf in 150 ml of boiling water for 4, 5, and 7 minutes.
The dry aroma of these big leaves is of malt, honey, earth, and wood. Oof! This tea has a kick! The first thing I notice is briskness, followed by raisins, dates, malt, wood, honey, copper, earth, spices, and ugh, tannins upon tannins. This tea dries my mouth out like it’s its job. The second steep adds minerality, smoke, and yep, more tannins. I reluctantly undertook a third steep, which had notes of raisins, earth, grass, malt, wood, and tannins. This tea isn’t finished, but I think I’m finished with it.
I try to give every tea a fair chance, especially if it’s from a sustainable garden, but I didn’t enjoy this tea at all. The vendor usually gives great steeping recommendations, but using boiling water brought out all the flaws in this tea. I don’t know whether using less leaf at a lower temperature would have made an improvement. As it is, this tea was harsh, tannic, and metallic. Maybe people who like breakfast teas would have a better experience. I rarely throw out unspent leaves, but I don’t think I can handle any more of this.
Flavors: Brisk, Copper, Dates, Drying, Earth, Grass, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Raisins, Smoke, Spices, Tannin, Wood
Preparation
2025 Steepster Advent Swap: Day 9
I love that the dry leaves look like spindly spider legs! Tastewise, this is very pleasant. There’s no bitterness or astringency at all; it’s quite light and smooth. It’s almost salty, like heavily diluted seawater — but again, in a pleasant way. I do get an edge of smokiness, too, which adds a little depth.
The smokiness disappeared on my second steep, and now it’s almost sweet, like the ghost of salted caramel.
Another highly drinkable tea!
Flavors: Caramel, Light, Mineral, Salt, Smoke, Smooth
Day 9 of the Mariage Freres Advent 2025.
Earl Grey Rhapsody is at first glance an intriguing one – an earl grey with a white tea base. It brews up a beautiful pink colour, although the ingredients list doesn’t give away why. Hibiscus or beetroot, perhaps, although I don’t taste either. Instead this is just pure bergamot from start to finish, which is fine as far as it goes but ultimately not as interesting as I’d hoped.
Day 9 of the Dammann Freres Advent 2025.
The Noir Aux Epices is a black tea-based chai. Closer inspection of the bag reveals that the base is CTC, which is fine with me just slightly unexpected from DF. It’s robust enough to take milk and is deliciously sweet and malty, which is great. The spices, though, are so subtle they are barely there, even after the recommended 5 minute infusion time. I get a little cardamom and clove if I really slurp in an effort to taste, but none of the promised ginger, cinnamon, or pink pepper at all. On that basis, a bit of a disappointment.
Last but certainly not least of the night…
Something I’m noticing with all of these “infused” tea resins is that they have an overall milder and more gentle flavour than the straight ripe or raw resin I’ve tried. With the Prickly Pear it was too mild, but here it felt just right. The infusion was really smooth and silky with that perfect sticky rice note that I adore when combined with the earthiness of a good shou. There’s not a ton of complexity to this tea and you could argue it’s maybe a bit flat, but for something that you literally just stir in hot water I think it’s pretty dang cozy and comforting.
(And I could see it making an AWESOME milk tea.)
Tea Thoughts Winter Countdown 2025 – Day 8
Day 6 was a cute teapot/snowglobe sticker and day 7 was another pu’erh. I’ve decided to just stop subjecting myself to pu’erhs for the rest of this calendar. I’ll put them aside for the next TTB or a swap. Let someone whose palate can actually enjoy and appreciate them get a try.
I brewed this up gong fu, losing track of exactly how many steeps I got but I think it was six or seven? This feels like a classic sort of Chinese black tea – spicy, sweet, malty, and full-bodied. The description describes this as having a “candied yam sweetness” and I can totally see that.
Two black teas and no stomach aches today, yay!
Is this a Peach Soda? No, but boy do I enjoy this tea every time I drink it. It’s juicy but not really tart or tangy. In fact, the peach flavour has such a round depth to it and almost this “red note” that’s so hard to put into words. But it’s really rich and ripe and bounces so perfectly off the subtle spice and aromatics of the cardamom. I think I’m always in a better mood after I’ve finished a mug of this tea.
Also, I don’t think we talk enough about how much all of B&B’s different peach flavoured teas are. Whether it’s pastry, or bright and fruity, or a creamy peach in a matcha…
They just know what they’re doing and they do it well.
I was inspired by a recent matcha latte that I made that was basically Banoffee inspired, so I decided to whisk up this hojicha powder into some milk and then add it to a bunch of melted down Werther’s chewy caramel to make a “Banoffee Hojicha” caramel dipping sauce for some sliced apples. I’ve done similar in the past with straight hojicha and that was very good. This, however, I wasn’t as crazy for? I mean, it certainly wasn’t bad and it was kind of giving Banoffee vibes. However, I think there was just too much flavour happening and it would have been better if it was just caramel x banana or caramel x hojicha. Not both, though. Lots and lots happening and it was a touch cacophonous.
knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2025 – Day 8
Theme: Angels We Have Heard on High
Song: Angels We Have Heard on High by Cambridge Singers
Two Forever Nuts type blends on the same day! This one is closer to the original – sweet and nutty with a light butteriness and a sprinkling of cinnamon. The acidity of the apple helps keep it from being overly rich. This flavor profile just isn’t a favorite of mine, but nice to have every once in a while!
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7dxq6mmKKc4&si=eBeIbnRV6QdtOT0Q
Flavors: Apple, Buttery, Cinnamon, Nuts, Sweet
Preparation
Homemade Advent Calendar from AJRimmer – Day 8
I actually audibly said “mmm” to an empty room upon first sip. This one’s good. It’s creamy and strawberry jammy sweet. The hearty base holds up those elements well. This doesn’t taste exactly like scones, but it definitely evokes a classic scone/cream/jam situation.
I was Christmas shopping this weekend and found myself at Chapters/Indigo. Of course I had to go and check out their little tea section to see if there was anything interesting, and I noticed that in addition to the usual H&S blends they had some seasonal flavours too.
I adore the creamy/milky almond notes in Boston so when I saw this advertised as a vanilla and almond white tea I was really interested in if this would be similar. I made a mug when I got home and it was pleasant, but the almond was almost more roasted tasting versus the flavour I’m used to in Boston and it really just didn’t hold a candle. So, that was a bit sad in the moment. However, I’m hopeful that if I retaste this again with more knowledge of what it does taste like then I’ll probably enjoy the profile a lot more.
Cold Brew!
I made a large pitcher of this that I’ve been drinking over the last couple of days, and it’s fine tasting but it’s definitely not the sweet and punchy rhubarb and bordering on candy-style cherry flavour I was hoping for. That’s largely on me though, because this is usually very sweet tasting. I’ve clearly just underleafed it.
Interestingly, though, this has really brought out the cinnamon notes to the point where I would swear this is a cinnamon tea with a HINT of red fruit and not normally a really sweet and fruity blend with just a bit of warming spices. Such a total role reversal. It’s not unpleasant, though. I’m just mentally struggling a bit to get through the pitcher since it’s so different from what I was looking forward to when I brewed it.
Sipdown (3099)!
I know that Hiver means Winter, but I’m not actually sure what Austral is in this context. Nice to see that after seven years of living in Montreal I’ve picked up the tiniest sliver of French language…
Taste wise, this is simple and pleasant. It’s an orange flavoured rooibos with what looks to be like a bit of jasmine blossoms in it? Definitely on the more mild and mellow side, with a citrus flavour that makes me think of the mandarin slices in the fruit cocktail cups you’d give a kid. Maybe less sweet, though? Not a ton in the way of florals, but I still enjoyed the delicate, almost dewy notes of the orange. It’s always funny to me how orange is so wintery feeling, but also can channel the vibes of Spring/Summer REALLY easily as well. There aren’t a lot of fruits that have such deep, intense seasonal associations across that many seasons…
I spend yesterday at a “playdate” with my friend Helen and her son. I’m really working hard at being the cool, favourite fun Aunt. I always bring a new tea to try when I see her, and this time around I brought this EG that I snagged in person at the Twinings shop in London earlier this year. I’ve literally only ever seen it at the Twinings store, so I needed to try it even if I’m not a hugggeeeee EG person.
Honestly? I think it gets a check yes from me. The bergamot is surprisingly pretty mild and while I think that would probably be a turn off for most people, for me it’s actually a selling point. The “plum” could be stronger, but there’s definitely a bit of a deeper and more dense/jammy fruit note that comes across that I quite like with this rich and more brisk and citrusy black tea base. It’s pretty decent, and with a spot of milk and sugar I could see it being really good.
Iced Latte!
Made this one as an iced latte using oat milk and a pretty generous amount of caramel syrup. If I’m honest, this was less about the matcha itself (though the caffeine was appreciated) and more about trying to recreate a Banoffee flavour profile since that was something I was really craving. I think it was an excellent albeit highly sweet drink, and definitely gave off that nostalgic sweet British-inspired taste I was going for.
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.
Cold Brew!
This tea quietly restocked online and in store a few weeks ago in advance of this year’s Spring Wellness collection. So, I decided to pull out my own stash since I don’t need to hoard it anymore. Hooray for getting a stash top up! It’s just so dang juicy too, with such lush and floral notes of sweet cocktail lychees. The jasmine was coming through really well too, and it was just so refreshing and complimentary. Man, I love a good lychee tea.
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.
