DAVIDsTEA

It’s finally here!!

This is one of my all time favourite teas that I’ve gotten to develop and I’ve been so antsy the last year and a bit waiting for it to launch because I’ve just been so excited about it. I think I’ve also personally gone through almost 500g of it in the last year which, if you know how rarely I revisit the same teas in short time spans, is a lot.

Where to even start!? I guess with the taste which is this lively but smooth mix of bright, sweet lemon curd with really creamy meringue. We tried so many different versions of this blend in order to get that balance correct. I love what we landed on because both of those key flavours are so well represented but the overall cup still retains this lightness to it where you get to live in those really fresh and bouncy top notes and the airiness of the creamy finish. It’s not too sweet or heavy or acidic. The white tea base is awesome because it adds some body and gentle floral and fruit notes to support the overall profile. Honestly, I think this particular style of lemon would feel really thin without it as well.

Another big focus was making sure this was something you could add milk to. In general I believe that there’s room more more latte-able fruit blends in on the tea wall, and the moment I started working on this tea I knew it was something that people were going to make as a latte. There’s definitely still some acid in the blend, but we did a lot of testing and I can confidently say that 9/10 cups don’t contain enough to cause any curdling. It’s a bit like the now retired blend Raspberry Cream Pie in that way. Raspberry Cream Pie had hibiscus, but such as a small amount that it usually didn’t curdle. You’d have to get a super hibiscus heavy scoop or steep the tea for a LONG time to cause that reaction. Same thing here.

With that said, I still personally almost always drink this hot and plain but I’ve definitely indulged in the odd latte this past year. I also want to say that I would highly recommend this blend to fans of either Lemon Pound Cake or Lime Gelato. Though different, I think there’s enough commonality for this tea to help fill in some of the hole that those retired blends have left. Fans of Jelly Donut too. Even though the bases and fruits are different, there’s an overall “blending style” that I think is really similar – though no stevia in this blend. Anyway – that’s Lemon Meringue! Clearly I’m hyped about it, I just hope other people are too…

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.

One of the new teas that just launched as part of our most recent citrus themed collection! In some ways I’ve extra excited for this matcha purely because so much time and effort was spent on converting the existing matchas to organic that we haven’t had a new flavoured matcha in quite some time. Also, in some ways it’s just wild that it’s taken DT so long to reduce a lemon or lemonade flavoured matcha!

Honestly there’s not a ton of back story here – it just felt like a miss this wasn’t something we were carrying. It’s similar in some ways to the previously carried Yuzu Matcha, though this is a more “true” lemon type flavour. The biggest overlap is the fact both of these matchas are acidified for that extra sour kick that really emphasis the zesty pucker inducing taste.

Though you might assume the citric acid takes over the flavour, this is actually one of the most grassy and matcha forward flavoured matchas we have in our collection. It’s also not quite as sweet. Personally, I think the combination of the grassier elements with that bright lemon makes me think of childhood summer vacations where you’d quite literally roll around in the grass playing with friends and come home with heavily grass stained jeans to that ice cold pitcher of tangy lemonade. It’s weirdly nostalgic to me. To that effect, though I’ve had this hot a handful of times, I think this is a flavour that really sings when served iced. It’s just better that way. In my opinion, anyway.

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.

Day 12 Davids Tea Advent Calendar 2023

I picked this one out of the calendar because I could use some caffeine and the only samples left in the calendar didn’t seem appropriate. What a pretty tea! I knew I needed to break out my glass tea cup to see all the sparkle and shine. Today is the first day of school break and while I’m not off of work, I’m hoping to cram in all the fun on my days off. The rest of the fam, is rather slow to catch on to this, so I’m sipping this one while plotting out their staycation.

It’s a sweet, cinnamon flavor that reminds me of the cinnamon candies my grandmother used on her gingerbread man cookies. It’s interesting to me that I confuse the clove vs cinnamon taste. Possibly because they are usually mixed together in baked goods. It has a good lemony taste to it as well. While it is pretty, I wanted a stronger clove/cinnamon taste.

The jasmine was too pungent for me. The rooibos base was decent, but the jasmine was too strong. I just wish it were balanced differently. Thanks for sharing, Cameron B!

Day 20 Davids Tea Advent Calendar

I loved how this smelled when I opened the tin. The spices were so fragrant and lovely. I do wonder if I should have steeped this longer as my cup just seems rather weak. Or perhaps it is the hibiscus that is off putting. There’s cinnamon and apple and a nutty flavor with this mug that I definitely enjoy.

This is a little one dimensional. It’s mostly rooibos with a bit of cinnamon. I would have liked something more! Thanks Cameron B for the sample!

Advent Backlog/Sipdown

This is very herbaceous. I also taste too much licorice. Cold, I find the flavor a bit interesting, but I really wish the licorice were toned down more. The second time I had this, it was less herbaceous, maybe edging toward fruit or mint, but it was a little boring. I really wanted to like this one, but it sadly wasn’t for me.

Day 17 DAVIDs Tea Advent Calendar

It certainly smells like s’mores while steeping. The flavor it light but it does give off a s’mores taste. Definitely sweet with marshmallow and the hazelnut reminds me of graham crackers. Other’s noted that there’s a spiciness to it but I don’t sense that at all.

About a year ago I got a bunch of this tea through a glitch….have given a few bags to my gals at work, but still have plenty of it.

Had a nice cold brew 20 oz DT tumbler of this today at work (cold brew for two days since was drinking other things yesterday so didn’t have time for it) — love the flavors working together the lemon, clove, and black tea and now will have to remember this as I work to sip down the stash I have of this!

Sipdown

I had about 5 tsb leftover, so I tossed the remainder into a 64oz pitcher. It’s still cold in Ohio, but the sun is out, so I needed to brew something cold to encourage these feelings of gratitude. This happened to be the next one in the sipdown pile…It’s a great iced tea….I needed to caffeinate for work. Win-win-win.

I realized today that this is VERY sweet. I had to water it down a lot, on top of the ice, to really tame the sweetness. I get very strong cherry notes (which is grand since I’m all about cherry flavoring, whenever it’s done properly). The black tea base gives it an extra something (body/texture?) which reminds me of cherry stems, I guess. shrugs

On the last note, my wife noted it’s like cherry cola; which makes sense. I’ve not had soda in 12+ years, but I can see what she means.

Sipdown

I found this in the sipdown bin and decided to top it off. I’m not really sure if this was the cup for me. I like the idea of a chocolate orange tea, but this was one of those cups that really depended on the day. This last cup was inviting by the smell, but the flavor seemed muted. There was a touch of orange chocolate, and maybe the risk of adding milk may have been worthwhile, however, I never took the chance to try it out.

Day 6 DAVIDs Tea Advent Calendar 2023
My first suprise was the muddy color after steeping. I thought someone had added milk to my tea while I was out of the room. This is a very sugary blend! Not as minty as I expected but sure does remind me of a candy cane crushed topping. I enjoyed this tea. Not sure I would purchase gain but definitely would drink again.

TeaTiff TTB. David’s Tea is the new Teavana. Great for people breaking into the tea world but for others … idk. I just haven’t been too thrilled. Rinsing once because I am not sure of the age of this tea. I really wish tea companies would add the year to their packages. And also because I want to help these leaves open a bit more. Apricot on the wet leaf. Quite nice actually. More apricot notes mixed with compost leaf pile when steeped for about a minute. Soft mouth feel. As you steep longer the compost notes coincide with some bready/toasty notes. The second infusion is less stellar with more astringency.

It’s too sweet for me. I find that when DAVIDs uses stevia, they are usually unnecessarily heavy-handed with it.
I rather like the lavender and buttercream flavour. If they would have just stopped there, I think I would have preferred it but the stevia just takes it too over-the-top and I’m not loving the fruity notes either (apple, pineapple.)
Not bad but not destined to be a favourite.

Sipdown. This one’s so old that I actually bought it in-store as part of a set back when DavidsTea still had stores in the U.S. I only really drink it when I have a sore throat or am sick. Mostly it just tastes like licorice root – at this point that’s all it tastes like, but I don’t remember it ever tasting like more. It does still have a bit of a demulcent effect, which is really all I need from it. And this counts as a tea bought “in-store” for ashmanra’s sipdown challenge.

Pretty strong tea, especially for a fruity one, which can sometimes be weak and watery.
This one has a lot of flavour, even if the taste is fairly one-note.
Straightforward pomegranate, sweet (too sweet at first sip but I got used to it), sour, hibiscus (tart.)
It was fine but I don’t find it special enough to purchase a full pouch.

This is very floral, but cold, it’s all right! It’s also quite fruity. It’s not a bad combination! It can easily get oversteeped and become a bit tart and strange though.

Sipdown

It’s about time to make the hour drive into the office. I really rely on the cuppa during that drive. I’ve been brewing this one every Tuesday for a few Tuesdays, for the tea is warming and inviting. I dig adding foamed oat milk to the tea since it really enhances the nuttiness in the tea. I feel a bit sad that this is gone, since it has been tradition to sip for the drive…Thankfully, like the majority of tea heads, I’ve more tea to choose for the upcoming office days :)

This one is just “alright” for me.
The flavours aren’t very distinguishable, leaving a “swampwater” impression.
In a word – muddled.
It’s a touch too sweet, I can detect a phoney maple note and something fruity/apple-like but the oolong is wasted as it’s completely smothered.
This came in a sampler pack and out of the 6 I’ve sampled so far, this is my least favourite.

yuck. getting into matcha, this has been my least favorite so far. Not a lot of value for the money, and weak weak flavor.

This tea is my daily driver alternating with cream of earl grey. If you have a bit of a sweet tooth and love chocolate, you’ll love this! The steeping has a wide margin for error, so if you’re working with a regular boiler / percolator that doesn’t do specific heat other than “boil” — this is a good option. Keeps good flavor for a long time.

I loved this tea. Very sweet, chocolatey and tastes like a good breakfast tea.

Reading some other reviews, this tea is finnicky! I’ve only ever steeped it in my loose leaf steeper and drained — maybe leaving it in too long or at the wrong temperature makes a big difference. I find that to be true for plenty of rooibos!

Another quickie note just to say this newly organic tea is back up on the website now – and as a core flavour!! I was so bummed when we discontinued this flavour because it’s so good for matcha lattes, and then when we started the giant project of converting all of our matchas to organic I was very worried this was a flavour that wouldn’t work well in matcha. Organic fruit flavourgs are much easier in organic but “sweet browns”, and really decadent flavours in general, are much more challenging…

However, I think this might actually be the best organic version of any of the flavours except for, maybe, vanilla – and really with vanilla it’s more the sugar difference than a flavouring difference. It’s got that perfect rich maple-y goodness that I’ve missed, and I’m just SO THRILLED to have virtually unlimited maple matcha lattes at the office again.

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.