761 Tasting Notes
For some reason I thought this was new to the Winter Collection and picked it up anyway, but said to get the least of this one because I have not had luck with the cake teas…something really artificial in them. I love the smell. By god, I really love it, and I want to like it, but I can’t. I am just finishing the last of the bag now, as a latte. It’s not throw in the sink horrible, but it all came back to me when I tried it and when I added it to my cupboard and realized I had already had it before.
Sigh…
I picked this up with the rest of the Winter Collection, even though I had already had Snow Day and Sweet Almond Green from last year (wanted to try them again). I loved the smell of this one….warming and spicy, though I could not pick up any nutty smells. I was worried about the rose petals but had hoped the spice would overpower them (it does).
Sadly, I don’t like this as much, due to the hot cinnamon taste, which becomes more prominent as the tea cools for me. I’m not sure if adding milk will change the flavour enough for me to tolerate the rest, or if it should just go in the box of my tea rejects that someone will eventually get, and maybe they will like.
I had higher hopes for this one.
It was one of those weird afternoons here where it is warm in the sun, but there is also quite a cool breeze, so you can be in shorts and warm, and then brrr with the breeze because the contrast of warm and cold is that great. So I stuck to it and wore my jean shorts and a 3/4 sleeve summer weight pullover (sweater) and sandals. I’d be ok in the sun, but cold in the shade. So anyways, after I ran my errands downtown, I popped into Davids for a tea to go. I technically still had some Summer Shangrila from Silk Road from earlier, but I had wanted something warm and comforting for my walk home, so I picked this partly because it’s caffeine free, and partly because it is amazing as a latte. I’d buy a bunch of this to make as lattes, but the tea is so heavy that it is expensive, especially when using multiple teaspoons for a single serving. Maybe I will make this my next frequent steeper redemption (I just got the ceremonial matcha).
Anyway, this was perfect and delicious as always. Latte style is my favourite way to have this tea now…any other way seems weak and thin. If you have not given this tea the latte treatment, I highly recommend you do so, and indulge.
I haven’t had this in a long time….probably since last summer or early fall. It was a staple back then. As the weather is warmer now, with some cooler days still, I felt now was the time to get a little more of this. I decided to make a cold brew of this while I had the Summer Shangrila earlier, and some matcha. Either I used too much leaf for the cold brew (as I am learning how much to use with my new travel mug), or I simply prefer this hot, but it was just ok. Or maybe it was because I made it unsweetened? It does look fantastic in my new sloth mug though. :D I will be doing a hot steep of this once the cold one is done.
Had this the same way I did last time, with about a 2 minute steep, and unsweetened. It’s really good. I chose it because I woke up not feeling great and with a headache, so I gravitated to this. It really is nice and I am gonna have to buy a tin when my sample runs out.
Preparation
Somehow I missed that this has blackberry leaves in it. They give the tea (and all teas with it) a weird taste on my tongue, which is more prominent when the tea cools down, and it is somewhat artificial tasting. Blech, It was a free tea though, as I got a new travel mug, since my beloved kids mug recently cracked internally, rendering it unusable now. So I will drink it, but it is not my fave…would likely love it more had it not had blackberry leaves in it.
Backlog…
I had this a few weeks ago with my breakfast, and it was nice. I only steeped for about two minutes and I didn’t add anything to it, and it was lovely! I think a smidge of sugar or honey would have brought out some of the berries more, but I was ok with it as is, which is great…Ihave been reducing my sugar intake more and loving when I find teas I am ok with unsweetened now. I look forward to cold steeping this one soon!
Yeah, between the artificial and the sweetness and the cinnamon of so many of their latest offerings, there’s not much left to like.
Oh, and my biggest gripes with the new stuff having sweet blackberry leaves and stevia. I’m totally ok with a little coconut sugar, though I prefer to sweeten my own teas, thank you. I don’t like the shift in attitude and marketing Davids has taken in the las few years. More and more teas are undrinkable for me, because of the blackberry leaves and stevia, and the artificial notes. I hate that they are trying to sweeten the blends to bring new people in, and the dumbing down of the instructions. They could at least have the temperature in parentheses so that the non newbies know what temps to use. And for god’s sake, just say teaspoon or tsp instead of your PS perfect spoon which is the same damn thing. Grr..