DAVIDsTEA

DAVIDsTEA’s newest tea is here, and the flavour… a total mystery!

I usually tea to do a bit of a deep dive into the background and flavour of each new teas and all the different ingredients and why they’ve been added but, well, doing that with this tea would almost defeat the point. Maybe I’ll do it eventually, but for now I think this one needs to stay a mystery to keep things fun.

I think I first had the idea for this ta in late 2021?? I was seeing this resurgance of “mystery flavoured” food and beverage products from companies like Oreo, Milk2Go, Sour Patch Kids, Fanta, and Mountain Dew (among a whole bunch of others) that made me really nostalgic for those types of campaigns in the late 90s/early 2000s. I know mystery flavoured things are definitely not for everyone, but I’ve always LOVED them. I think there’s something so fun and challenging and, ultimately, communal as well about guessing the flavours. I love a good taste test, and it’s just really fun to do it with a group of friends and see if you agree or disagree.

I’ve never seen it down with tea before – I’m almost positive we’re the first. The secret to pulling it off is the flavouring in the blend. Instead of listing out all the flavourings like we usually do (ex. blueberry flavouring, chocolate flavouring, etc) we’ve grouped the two flavours of this tea under “natural flavouring” so it’s a secret. The rest of the blend is really simple – full bodied black tea, some apple for natural sweetness and as a flavour carrier, and then the purple sweet potato as a fun visual cue and nod to the cryptic colours often associated with this food/bev trend. I really, really wanted the visual of the loose leaf tea to be colourful but simple – nothing that would give away the flavour of the tea.

And, without giving away the flavour, I will say that I think this tea is REALLY good steeped a whole bunch of different ways. I’ve personally been mostly drinking it hot or cold brewed, but it’s nice iced too and as a latte (hot or iced). It’s kind of fun experimenting with the steeping and seeing the different ways that effects the flavour. Some of the methods bring out some of the tasting notes more than others.

I will say that the only downside of working on this tea has been that, from day one, I’m the only person who hasn’t gotten to play along with the guessing element of the blend. I’ve always known what it is. I need someone to make me my own personal mystery tea at this point so that I can have my own turn!!

PS. As part of the campaign for this tea, if you live in the US or CA you can try to guess the flavours of the tea at the link below to enter to win a $1000 tea shopping spree. No purchase of the tea necessary, but obviously it’s much easier to guess the flavours if you’ve had a taste ;)

https://davids-tea.wishpond.com/mysterytea/

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.

Found a tiny bit of this one in my work bag. I honestly don’t remember trying it but it looks like the old subscription packaging (I really miss it). I really liked this blend, the fennel is really nice. It’s best with a splash of milk in my humble opinion but I also liked it plain. Wish I had more than just one cups worth… will be looking for more.

This is such a good matcha with the most perfect sweetness to give it the sugar cookie flavor

I haven’t been drinking caffeine, especially coffee (too acidic) but I wavered today and had a mug of this.
Wasn’t a huge fan. It’s really artificial tasting and too sweet with a musty undertone (coconut?) Other than that, it’s just fruity, not much of the green tea flavour is seeping through. Was left feeling unfulfilled and disappointed. Definitely not worth breaking my no caffeine rule.
Going to pass the rest of this on to my Mom who will drink any green tea, even if it’s not her favourite.

I wasn’t sure at first if i was going to like this but the coconut and pineapple seem to compliment the matcha very well

Well, I don’t usually like turmeric in teas, but I try almost every herbal DavidsTEA blend, so here we are. I find it too bitter and tangy. It’s not smooth or enjoyable. I really just taste that weird turmeric twang. I don’t notice other spices. I feel like this could have worked if it were balanced better. Milk and sugar make it drinkable, but not good.

I was ok. Just never seemed to know what flavor it was. One sip nutty and the next cinnamony etc

Sip Down & Backlog -8/22

I made this after work on Monday, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on me…I was up until 00:30 reading. Ha-ha. However, I don’t think this cup was to blame for my late-night adventure; rather, it was the desire to read Don Quixote to 100 pages.

Notes: Floral and a touch of vanilla.

I was in the mood for a honeydew blend today! I do think that this one evokes honeydew milk tea. The honeydew is pretty candy-like; I agree with Roswell that there’s a bubblegum-y element to it. On its own I would probably find that unpleasant. The creaminess rounds it out though, making for a nice balance.

Very pleasant rooibos. Just the right amount of lavender and coconut to make for a sweet floral flavor with a slightly nutty aftertaste

Starting the morning with a cold whisked matcha latté! I’m very, very partial to drinking this one as a either a hot or iced latté as I think it really highlights the slightly golden caramelized sugar note and the gooey Marshmallow fluff profile. To me, it tastes a lot like the Toasted Marshmallow flavoured Jelly Belly beans – and that’s especially true with this highly frothy and thick cold whisk method of latté preparation. It’s a lovely little sweet treat to jumpstart the day!

Side note, the fact that there’s no marshmallow on a stick or even s’more emoji feels absolutely criminal!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_qM-UYuFDd/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GKOi6nNTQ4

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.

Oh hello, new tea friend!

DT just brought back a handful of teas for the fall season, including some of my favourite fall-inspired blends that I’ve gotten to develop like Pumpkin Earl Grey and Horchata Chai. Along with those returning teas, we’ve gone this new matcha!

I’m gonna be so honest y’all when I say that I was maybe the biggest critic of this matcha when it came to the development. I was just really, really skeptical we were going to be able to achieve a flavour that was distinctly marshmallow tasting while keeping this an organic blend. The bottom line is that the organic flavouring industry is just much more challenging to work with than natural/artificial and when it comes to decadent flavourings like this they just aren’t really playing on the same field.

But, well, we did it! Took a long time, but we got there. It’s maybe not as intense a flavour as some of our other sweeter matchas (I’m thinking of you, maple!) and I think the more fresh and umami flavours of the matcha come through fairly strongly compared to other sweetened and flavoured matchas from DT – but it’s there. Creamy and a little caramelized, with a marshmallow note that I personally find very similar to the Toasted Marshmallow flavoured Jelly Belly branded jellybeans.

I think it’s most evident flavour wise when you add milk (or alt milk) to this and make it a matcha latte. I’ve been enjoying it as both a hot and iced latte, but iced is really my own personal preference. And I know it’s technically part of our fall drop, but I just really love the late summer/early fall timing because this is exactly the time of year I’m personally craving things like s’mores with that gooey toasted marshmallow flavour. I’ll need to make this with a bit of chocolate milk or syrup at some point and see if I can make a S’mores Matcha sorta vibe!!

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.

Did NOT like the licorice flavors in this tea. Not for me

Wasn’t a bad tea but just didn’t taste great to me. Definitely tasted the citrus notes but there was an after-taste to it that put me off the taste of this.

Sip Down and Backlog

We had some friends over for board games last Saturday and one of them requested a caffeinated hot tea. I knew that I had some Espresso Yourself sitting in a tin by the sip down pile, so I figured that this would be something unique to offer and discuss. We liked it very much and topped the pot off within an hour or less.

Notes: Vanilla, chocolate coffee, cinnamon aroma (not in the taste), no acidity as with a cup of coffee, and cappuccino (vanilla, creamy, & coffee).

Sip Down & Backlog

G&G had a nice touch of brown sugar, vanilla, allspice, & caramel-esq flavors. I had a very small
amount leftover for this cuppa tea, which gave me enough inspiration to bring out a few VHSs
for the Halloween/Fall vibes I’m getting after sipping this down.

A fantastic creamy matcha with a mild nutty flavor. Can’t wait to get more.

Wasn’t sure if I would even like this one as I don’t tend to love a lot of coconut teas but I was pleasantly surprised. The coconut mixed with the green tea gives a light almost minty taste. Kinda made me think of spring while drinking it

Sipdown! This mostly got drunk as a work tea. It’s a solid floral. No weird edge or aftertaste, but also not the greatest jasmine I’ve ever had. Which is really the sweet spot for a work tea – good enough to be enjoyable but not so phenomenal that I want to pay more attention to the tea than the work.

You know, I’m never going to be a hojicha person, but I keep trying! I drink this with almond milk to try to help bring out the nuttiness, and mostly, I just taste toasty hojicha. The flavoring I’m sure is helping it be less aggressive than usual, but I wish I could taste more chocolate and especially more peanut butter! I do taste a bit. I think I like this more than any hojicha I’ve had before at least! I’ve had it a few times now, and I like it with whipped cream on top.

This was a bit too subtle for my tastes. I wasn’t tasting anything honestly

Sipdown! (3 | 109)

This was a pleasant enough blend, but mostly just tasted like a mild cinnamon and apple rooibos to me? Nothing really said latke specifically, and even the apple was a bit faint. So almost more like a cinnamon sugar pastry?

Still nice and cozy for the evening, but not something I would personally reorder, as I like my cinnamon apple teas to be more apple-y.