Last of the “new” teas that came out today – though of course a bunch of teas came back to stores that were removed in the Spring as part of the seasonal wall flip at the start of the year. I wont list them all – but suffice to say that all the teas removed as part of the Seasonal Wall Flip (different than retired teas) have returned EXCEPT for these three:
Glitter & Gold
Chocolate Chili Chai
Coco Chai Rooibos
Those three were sadly retired – and both Banana Grapefruit and Juicy Orange were removed from the tea wall during this season’s core flip and they wont be returning next Spring/Summer. The other change, though minor comparatively, is that Spiced Apple was renamed to Baked Apple Chai – however the blend has not changed at all. Countess of Seville was also brought back, but only as a Web Exclusive.
This is also web exclusive, and like the revamped Oh Canada I struggle to call this a “new” tea because DT has carried a rooibos based Earl Grey in the past. However, this is a heavily modified version of that, meant to improve on the weak parts of the OG blend. I debated whether I wanted to update the existing Steepster page for the original or create a new one, and I opted to make a new one because they’re so drastically different from one another. I’m still not sure if that was the best choice, but it’s the one that felt right…
I was never a big drinker of the last Earl Grey Rooibos and my memory of it is a bit fuzzy – from what I can recall this is pretty similar to the original in terms of taste. I feel like this is more citrus-y – which is a weird statement to make because bergamot is a citrus, but I’m thinking more of a light/bright and fresh citrus rather than the very intense and somewhat floral citrus notes of bergamot. It’s close though – really close, I think fans of the OG will still like this one a lot. The visual is quite different though; this is a lot less plain, and rather than the blue cornflower is has more of a rose petal aesthetic. I kind of like the more plainOG visual a bit better, seems more fitting for such a classic profile – but this looks very “DT” and it definitely more eye catching – and since, with it being online only, the visual is so important in selling people on the tea I guess it makes sense to change things up to have more of a “pop”.
I was working in stores when we were still carrying it and I remember that a lot of people really appreciated having that more traditional profile in a caffeine free option. Yes, largely older people (who make up the biggest fraction of the “straight tea drinkers” in DTs customer base) but not only older people – and it was a tea that, when it was retired, we heard a LOT of pushback from customers about. I kind of wish that, for those reasons, we did bring it back in store too and not just online – especially because the rooibos tea category is so dominated by sweet and indulgent profiles right now; it could have really used that injection of something a bit more traditional…
I’ve had this a few times while waiting for it to officially launch – it’s not my favourite, but EG isn’t my favourite either. Overall, I feel pretty neutral towards this one I think.
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.
Rooibos with bergamot sounds bit weird, but why not actually. Depends on base I guess.
I am still mad about Glitter & Gold. :(
Coco chai rooibos was promised to come back at the beginning of this season. I’m so angry.