Ok, so I live literally less than a minute away by foot from a bubble tea place and until last weekend I had never gone to check it out. Which seems like a travesty since it’s literally so fucking close to my house. So, I finally went and grabbed a bubble tea!

There was a slight hiccup; their menu is only in Mandarin and French and I don’t speak either of those languages. Usually I’d just ask the barista to translate for me – I’ve gotten pretty used to doing that here in Montreal. His English was really broken though and it because clear pretty quickly that neither of us were understanding the other all that well. So I just blind picked something off the menu by pointing to it. I chose something where I recognized most of the words, and then later Google Translated the menu description when I got home.

What I ordered was a “Black Bubble Tea w/ Rose Salted Milk Cap”.

It was actually amazing and maybe one of the best bubble teas that I’ve ever had!? Like, for starters it actually tasted distinctly like black tea with roses which was pretty impressive. The “Salted Milk Cap” was also pretty incredible though; more tangy and savory than actually salty, like cream cheese or cheesecake? And very thick. More than any other milk cap bubble tea I’ve ever had…

I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe I had actually inadvertently ordered a cheese tea? I know cheese tea is a trend and from what I’m aware of it’s basically a milk tea with cream cheese blended into it and topped with sea salt? I’ve never (definitively) had one so I don’t really have anything to directly compare my experience of this bubble tea with. I did talk to several people on the Tea Friends Slack Group about it though, and all said that I was basically describing cheese tea…

It get even more confusing when you try to Google it from clarification because I could clearly find records that Milk Caps/Tops are a thing on bubble tea and Cheese Caps/Tops are also a thing but I couldn’t really find much information on “Salted Milk Caps/Tops” apart from someone’s blog/pinterest recipe for sea salted caramel milk caps from a few years ago. Plus, a lot of what pops up when you try to search salted milk caps are actually recipes and news articles about cheese tea. So maybe the two terms are synonyms? I’m not really sure.

Regardless of what this was exactly, it was frankly still incredible.

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Hello! My name is Kelly, though many people in the tea community call me Ros or Roswell.

I am a mid-twenties tea addict, blogger, and all around nerd. I grew up in the Prairies, but a few years ago I relocated to Quebec to pursue a career with DAVIDsTEA in the tea industry! I’m still working on getting my French language skills down…

My first introduction to tea, in any form outside of instant and bottled iced tea, was about seven years ago when I happened to stumble upon DAVIDsTEA while looking for a birthday present for a friend! I tried their Birthday Cake rooibos blend, and I’ve been hooked on tea ever since! In those seven years; I was introduced to the online tea community, expanded my interest in flavoured teas to include a deep love and appreciation for straight teas and traditional brewing methods, got a tea themed tattoo, started reviewing teas, amassed a sizable tea and teaware collection, became a TAC certified Tea Sommelier, & even came full circle by beginning a career in the tea industry with DAVIDsTEA!

I consider myself a Jack of all Teas, and strive to have a knowledge and appreciation of all tea types, formats, and styles of drinking. I don’t like to feel boxed in to just being a “flavoured tea” or “straight tea” drinker – my expectations may vary depending on the type of tea or how it’s been processed/prepared but if it’s good tea, it’s good tea no matter how it’s been made!

You name it, I probably drink it- and I’ll absolutely try anything at least once.

My default method of preparation is hot, Western style, and straight – but I’m not opposed to additions if I’m in the right mood. If I ever add something to a tea or use a different method of preparation I will ALWAYS call it out in the tasting note though.

I like to listen to music when drinking tea, especially when I’m brewing a large pot at a time or steeping Gongfu. Often I curate very intentional tea and music pairings, and sometimes I share them here in my tasting reviews. Music is something that I find can deeply affect the experience of having tea.

I’m also one half of the “tea and fandom” podcast GeekSteep where, weekly, we discuss newly explored fandoms over tea as well as try to figure out the perfect tea to pair with each fandom. You can find us on Spotify and Apple & Google podcasts.

Favourite flavour notes/ingredients: Pear, lychee, cranberry, cream, melon, pineapple, malt, roasty, petrichor, sweet potato, heady florals like rose, hazelnut or walnut, sesame, honey (in moderation), and very woody shou.

Least favourite flavour notes/ingredients:
Lemongrass, ginger, strongly spiced profiles (and most Chai in general), mushrooms, seaweed, chamomile, stevia, saltiness or anything that reminds me too much of meat that isn’t supposed to taste like meat…

Currently exploring/obsessed with: Sheng from Yiwu, Yancha (Qilan in particular), anything with a strong sweet potato note. Also, I need to try ALL the root beer teas! Searching for a really good caramel flavoured blend, ideally with a black tea base.

Please contact me at the instagram account listed below if you would like me to review your teas.

Currently I’m employed in the tea department of the DAVIDsTEA head office. While I’m still sharing my own personal thoughts on new & existing DAVIDsTEA blends, I am no longer numerically rating them due to the obvious conflict of interest. Any comments expressed are a reflection of my own thoughts and opinions, and do not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the company. Any DAVIDsTEA blends you currently see with a numeric score were reviewed prior to my being hired there and have not been adjusted since becoming a DAVIDsTEA employee.

Location

Montreal, QC, CA

Website

https://www.instagram.com/ros...

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