New Tasting Notes

2024 sipdown no. 33

I’ve been meaning to write a note for this tea since my first cup. Since I’ve just steeped my last cup, procrastination is no longer an option!

This is slightly vegetal at the front, though quite a mellow vegetal taste. There is a subtle unripe peach flavour starting in the middle and becoming more prominent towards the end of the sip. I have really enjoyed this tea and would re-order.

1st steep 1 min
2nd steep 2 minutes, 30 seconds

This is quite a decent EG. The strongest flavor I get is a banana, then I taste a bit of the bergamot. It could all be heartier, but I like it! With sugar and milk, I find this to be very fun and tropical – I’ve enjoyed my 1 oz bag!

I found this tea on a trip to Oshino Hakkai. It is an instant Matcha sweetened with Peach. It is very tasty and refreshing on ice or hot and very easy to prepare. Just add water and stir. The matcha taste is not very strong, but in this case, i think that it a plus. The Peach is so natural tasting and I like it pre-sweetened.
I only have a few packets left, so I am rationing it and hoping to be able to order some more now that I am back in the US.

Not a bad milk oolong! The oolong itself is a little floral. There’s some butteriness, though I would have enjoyed even more. It lasted for two quick cold resteeps as well. It was my favorite tea from our afternoon tea.

I am locked in battle with this tea.

I have braved the trials and illness of days 4 and 5 in caffeine purgatory, only to reward myself with a troubling blend indeed. Zealot that I am for basically everything in this ingredient list and for artificial grape flavor, this tea seemed destined to be my soulblend. I stuck my nose into the bag eagerly and was met with an aroma that could be said to be grape in the same way as the aged, grape-scented eraser that fit snugly in the miniature juice carton for the family dollhouse growing up – sort of faded and elusive, but yes, maybe grape? The smell is sweet and marshmallowy but the grape is difficult to pin down without pulling the bag on over your head.

Moving on, I followed the recommended steeping directions and the result was, I think, concerningly pale in color and in palate. In trying to magnify the flavors enough to get a detailed read on them, I have gone ballistic. I made a second cup with an increased steep time and water temperature; I have sniffed the leaves and the cup until I have gotten lightheaded; I’ve sipped, I’ve swished, I have LITERALLY gargled with this tea, but I am having the most devilish time unlocking the flavors sufficiently to really enjoy and analyze this cup. I will file this one away to be reassessed when one or both of us are better disposed to cooperate.

This is from Cameron B!  Thanks very much!  I wasn’t expecting much with this tea, as I knew this was probably full of rosehips and strawberry teas are usually a let down.  The hardest flavor to get right, I think, is authentic strawberry.  Surprisingly, both steeps at least had a bit of strawberry candy flavor.  Surprising because it looked like half the blend was rose hips!  So really it tasted like strawberry flavored rosehips, as I couldn’t really taste any white tea.  So this was better than I expected?  But the bar was very very low here. 
Steep #1   // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  20 minutes after boiling // 3 min

Last brew, another tea out of my shelf!
Brought it to work in a jar, as my usual drinking vessels are in the washing machine; my mom was shocked when she saw me leave with it
But it’s super practical! Easier to wash than most bottles, and if you forget it somewhere, it’s not like you’ve paid for it (this was a jam jar :D )

We’re in that time of year where it’s still cold outside but it’s really sunny, so an herbal tea really hits the spot — light taste for the coming spring, but warm so we can warm up as well :)

An alright daily drinker. Some fruit in the aroma, but the taste is more vegetal and slightly creamy. Decent upfront sweetness, some minerality, leaves a slight vegetal bitterness. Not particularly complex or interesting, but it does deliver a clean modern raw pu-erh with a decent caffeine punch at a good price. Just don’t expect it to taste like a 40$ cake!

I had afternoon tea at a restaurant in Toronto, and we got this tea with our first course. I taste a sweet cinnamon, but not much else. It’s almost a little fruity and a bit thin. It’s not bad with milk and sugar, but not something I’d want again.

When I first saw this tea I incorrectly assumed it was referencing the more British “Banoffee Pie” which is also toffee and banana flavoured. Because of that I was very confused about the inclusion of sesame seeds, which smell pretty distinct in the dry leaf alongside the sweet banana notes. I understand now that the inspiration was different from that. I still thought the subtle undertones of nutty sesame were a little bit strange with the otherwise very rich notes of banana and caramel/toffee, but I’m trying to keep a more open mind since I’ve not tried the Chinese toffee bananas this is actually meant to replicate.

Also worth pointing out that strange doesn’t mean bad. All the flavour notes were really pleasant and well executed and, based on the reading I’ve now done, I feel like this must be very close to hitting all the hallmarks of what Anne was going for. It was just a combo I’d never had before, and I think it’ll probably take a cup or two for it to sort of “settle” into something less novel to my palate.

Cold Brew!

I think this is such a fun tea concept and the dry leaf both smells great and looks stunning with the high contrast red berries against the green tea leaf. Brewed up it’s fairly green tea forward, but really smooth in a way that didn’t bother me nearly as much as most green teas do. The strawberry comes through very clearly and has a fresh, bright tartness to it – not too tart, though. The finish is mostly where I noticed that cream note, but it was a little milder than expected. The whole thing has this nostalgic kind of undertone to it like it’s referencing a Campino/Cream Saver but in a much more natural way.

It’s heeeeerrreee!

This past year I purchased one of Anne’s “Create a Blend” fundraiser perks and I pretty promptly sent her what felt like a million different flavour ideas. They all had one common thread, though. I really wanted a rhubarb tea. I think rhubarb is such an underrated fruit (technically vegetable), especially when it comes to tea blends. You rarely see it used outside of strawberry rhubarb teas, and even those aren’t exactly all too common…

I gave Anne a ton of ideas ranging everywhere from rhubarb and vanilla ice cream to just a straight up smoked rhubarb. What I didn’t realize at the time was that Anne hadn’t ever worked with rhubarb before – so it ended up being a bit of a longer and more experimental process (not that I minded one bit). She even sourced some candied rhubarb just for the blend, and dang it looks cool! Ultimately I had all the faith in the world and was really just excited to be along for the ride.

I’m really, really happy with the final tea though! It’s got that perfect jammy cooked rhubarb note with a hint of tartness that I was hoping for and the subtle additions of cinnamon and Lapsang Souchong (just a smidge) give it that cozy baked pie sort of vibe that was in a lot of the ideas I’d sent. Like a rhubarb pie if you juuusssttt slightly burnt the crust. I happen to love that smokey edge though. It feels very tailored to my own personal tastes.

I’ve already seen that Anne’s used the rhubarb flavouring it at least one other blend, so I’m happy to have unintentionally snuck this flavouring into the 52Teas repertoire. If I may be so bold as to suggest another rhubarb concept, I’ve always adored the more British influenced “Rhubard & Custard” rooibos blends I’ve tried but I’d really like to see the same concept on a caffeinated tea base.

Anyway – the tldr is that I am a happy customer!

PS. The name for the blend comes from the 1989 Batman movie where it’s said by The Joker. It basically means something along the lines of “Don’t mess with my girl”. I just thought it was a fun, nerdy reference though.

Sipdown (2579)!

I mean, how could I resist grabbing a sample of this while in Vegas for the World Tea Expo?? It’s not the first “Bohemian Raspberry” tea I’ve come across and I doubt it will be the last, but the concept of a Freddie Mercury inspired raspberry blend doesn’t get any less amusing every time I find a new one…

I expected this to be really tart/juicy with probably a lot of hibiscus leading the profile, but despite still having a sweet, fresh raspberry flavour and some top note tartness I found the blend was actually more herbal leaning with distinct notes of the rooibos and an overall soothing kind of quality. It very loosely reminded me of Celestial Seasoning’s Raspberry Zinger, but I do think I preferred this tea.

It was really fun – I’m happy to have tried it!

Steeped this up last night and it was very good while it was fresh and hot. Aromatic but still crisp and vegetal with notes of cinnamon to go alongside a bit of a more spicy leaning herbaceous basil body. As it cooled it definitely got both bitter and astringent though, and I found myself regretting not having drank the last third of the mug quicker.

Cold Brew!

This brew definitely leaned a little bit more noticeably citrus/lemon tasting than it’s been in the past, but I shouldn’t be surprised by that given the age of the tea. The fact the cola flavouring is clinging onto that tea leaf so well at this point is still pretty dang impressive. Kind of like a cola gummy candy in taste, at this point. Still refreshing! And exactly what I was craving after so many very fruity cold brews in a row.

Iced Latte!

Yes, it’s April but I always feel like I don’t have enough time to enjoy these more Wintery matcha blends in December because I’m so pre-occupied with advent calendar season. So, I’m making time to enjoy it now!

I made this iced latte with regular old cow’s milk but I did add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some bourbon vanilla paste, which definitely upped the anti on the richness and the strong vanilla notes. It was still very custard-y though with that signature sweet and eggy undertone and hint of warming spices that pushes this matcha past being just a cream flavour and more into its namesake. It was a nice afternoon pick-me-up!

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 can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this here on Steepster yet, but we recently made the decision to make this a core tea – something that pleases me greatly both personally and professionally because not only do I feel like this is a type of profile missing in our year-round assortment but it’s also one of the teas I’ve gotten to develop that most heavily overlaps with my own flavour preferences. I’ve been drinking it a lot, and I just think that the bright lemon curd note with the super creamy finish is that perfect balance of fresh and lively fruits with that decadent twist. And it just seems to fit so many different moods.

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.