Montreal Tea Festival – Tea #1

Worth noting that I’m not writing these festival notes in the order of what we tried – just the order of when I remembered to write them down. Sometimes my brain is a chaotic mess.

As I mentioned, there were a lot of Kombucha companies at the festival – but this was the only one present that I’d actually not heard of before. Their booth was a bit smaller, and they had about four or five different flavours of bottled kombucha with different designs they were sampling, and then a menu board with another five or so kinds of kombucha that they had “on tap”. I’m not sure if that means they were brewed specially for the festival and aren’t things they normally carry, or if it just means they didn’t bring any premade bottles of those flavours.

This flavour combination was from the “on top” menu, and to me it seemed like the most interesting and unique flavour available – which is why I had to try it. I do have a very clear “favourite” kombucha from the festival and it’s not this one, but I think this might be a close second for me! It was very smooth and juicy tasting, with bright and crisp citrus notes. I’ve never had a straight kumquat before so I don’t know that I can totally identify the flavour of it – but I’ve tried a handful of kumquat flavoured foods/drinks now and they all seem to have this similar tangy note to them that was present here as well. It’s like a tangy, sweeter lime almost? With like an apple-y undertone. At least to me, anyway.

As for the pu’erh component of this kombucha – I didn’t quite get it!? I supposed I anticipated that it would be like an earthier shou type of pu’erh but I suspect this might have been made with sheng and not shou because the colour of the kombucha was a really pale yellow/green and the taste had just a hint of a greener edge to it that I don’t think would have come from a shou. It wasn’t really present overall though – much more that citrusy- element.

But overall this was very nice!

derk 6 years ago

Kumquat to me is like a sweet, full-flavored tangerine mixed with some tangy and deep floral lime. But really quite bitter because you pop the whole fruit in your mouth, rind and pith included.

derk 6 years ago

Supposedly the rind is sweet but I’ve never experienced that.

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derk 6 years ago

Kumquat to me is like a sweet, full-flavored tangerine mixed with some tangy and deep floral lime. But really quite bitter because you pop the whole fruit in your mouth, rind and pith included.

derk 6 years ago

Supposedly the rind is sweet but I’ve never experienced that.

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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.

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Montreal, QC, CA

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

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