Nepal Black Tea : Organic

Organic Black Tea from Nepal
DavidsTea

This is going to be a pretty short review.

This tea is an incredibly delicious black. I steeped it for four minutes, and it is the perfect amount of time.
Very similar to an English breakfast tea... it's rich in flavour, but not over-bearing, and really smooth.
This is a black that should be in everyone's cupboard.


DavidsTea is donating all profits from their Nepal Black to the Red Cross until May 4th.
So pleases hurry.

I have a co-worker who is currently trapped in Nepal after visiting with some family. They are all currently living in a tent,, as their home is no longer structurally sound. Her family is without a home, and she has no way of getting home to Canada.

There are hundreds of stories like this, and worse.


To Donate

Red Cross:
ALL ELIGIBLE DONATIONS MADE BY MAY 25 TOWARDS RELIEF EFFORTS IN NEPAL WILL BE MATCHED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA.

Cranberry Pear

 

Ingredients: Cranberry, black tea, pear, apple, artificial flavouring.


Lets just say, if you love cranberries or pears, you will love this tea.
It's really nice.

While you get a lot of the apple, it pairs so well with the cranberry and makes a great flavour.
I was skeptical about this one, but I can see why my mum (a huge cranberry fan) went absolutely crazy for this.


Happy Steeping,

~K

Orzammar: Buttered Rum

From the era (which may still be continuing) of DAVIDSTEA IS OBSESSED WITH COCONUT, I bring you Buttered Rum!

The first in my Dragon Age: Origins themed reviews! In tribute to them, I have started the reviews 5 years and a day to the North American release date of DA: Origins.

Because in my playthrough I am a dwarf, it is fitting I start with Orzammar! Buttered Rum because rum is alcohol, and alcohol is very dwarven! With our drinking and hunger for power...save for my character, who is only hungry for one character...



Now onto the actual tea review.
This tea isn't BAD, I just wouldn't buy it again. Which is sad, because I'M A DWARF.

Alistair. Hungry for Alistair

It doesn't smell like buttered rum, first of all. It smell like a very tropical tea, which can be attributed to the coconut. Honestly, it's OVERWHELMING how much this tea smells like coconut before it's steeped, and even after it's steeped it smells a little overbearing. (Like bro, since when does plain rum make you think of sun tan oil?)
Some milk or cream helps tone it down, but it just makes it well, creamier. Which, thanks to the coconut, isn't the best option for everyone.

It basically tastes like black tea and coconut. Which, isn't BAD, it's kinda good. But, IT DOESN'T TASTE LIKE THE NAME AND THAT IS FRUSTRATING.

Forever kinda sick of coconut and in love with DA:Origins,

L

PS.
*This game came out 5 years ago, no spoiler warnings will be uttered

Blueberry Tea

Blueberry Tea! It's a tea that hails from Newfoundland. My brother got it for me when he went on a work trip there, how sweet!

This tea smells delectable, and tastes like a mix of Yorkshire Tea and blueberries. In other words, it's great! It's also what I needed to breathe some energy into me this morning.
I steeped it as you would a herbal tea, because of the strawberries.

This is a good tea, and if you're ever able to grab it, or a tea like it, do so.

Laura - Lover of blueberries

Yorkshire Tea

Laura gave me some of this tea and I have to admit that I really like it.
It is the perfect Saturday morning tea.

I add a teaspoon of sugar in the raw and about a tablespoon of cream. Tiffy all the way.
This gives me amazing flashbacks to when I would spend hours after school at my English friend's house after school, way back in Jr High.

Very simple black tea, but by far superior to Red Rose or Tetley's orange pekoe (ew).


I am very impressed with this and I really hope that I can find some here, in Canada. Otherwise, my old friend (now back in England) may be getting a request for a package exchange.



Happy Steeping,

~K

Tea at Sea Samples II

I'm excited for this post.

I've been waiting to try the samples until it (their samples are fantastic and you get a lot, so I COULD have tried them before, but I DIDN'T).

Tea at Sea tea just...oooo I'm always excited for it! BECAUSE IT IS GOOD.

First to go is Mountain Organic Indonesian Black Tea

oops, it's upside down. 

Reading the description makes me excited. So I steeped it to the directions.

For a black tea, it is not such an opaque-ish sort of black.The color is dark, but more like how...Crown Royal looks.

So for the flavor...I do get that cedar. It has a nice, mellow (not harsh or bitter), sweet-ish, cedar-y flavor. And I quite like it. Honestly, it seems like one that may be nice to use to make a chai-style tea.

Would buy again! 

Secondly is Ceylon Pekoe. I'm a bit biased, because really Pekoe is one of my least favorite black teas. So...take none of what I say to heart, unless positive.

It's a little darker than the previous tea, and definitely more of that pekoe scent.

It tastes very similar to a regular pekoe.  So...I'm gonna leave it there. If you like Pekoe, you'll really, really, like this tea. If not, then you won't.

It's not a bad tea by any means, just not for me.

Again, Tea at Sea does not disappoint.

-L

Banana Dream Pie

Let me start off with this will probably turn into hate speech against this tea. You all have been warned.

I really, REALLY don't recommend steeping this in water THEN adding milk. It just tastes...wrong. Too strong. Too bitter. So, if you are going to steep it, just steep it straight in milk. Trust me. It tastes better.

For one, not enough banana. Like, they fucking skimped out! I have gone to the store to see how expensive huge amounts of large bulk slices of banana are...and it is really cheap. I mean, c'mon! DT, you are just being cheap as fuck.
Number two, the cocoa nibs just really fucking kill the white chocolate. Why not, instead of cocoa nibs (I've never had a banana cream pie with those in it!), put in say, white chocolate and some vanilla yogurt stuff? Or white chocolate and some vanilla bean? You know, shit that makes some fucking sense with bananas. Or a tea trying to mimic banana cream pie.

BUT, it did taste better than their Pure Chai (I can only speak for Pure Chai, not any of the other Chai from DT)

When steeped in straight milk, it taste very creamy, and very rich, and quite chocolatey. I literally got through maybe, MAYBE 1 cup of it. I actually felt a little gross after, so I made some Organic Detox tea to feel better. Like it doesn't taste BAD...but it doesn't really taste good either.

3/10. Would not buy. I regret my choice to pay for 50g of it.

-Laura

PS. If you own it and haven't tried it, follow these steps. I just asked DT about it being available, and it's apparently part of the Winter 2012 collection and no longer able to be bought. Which is weird...since I bought way, way after.

See, I found my invoice. Notice the fact it was purchased
JUNE 15TH 2013. So either people really hated it and there was some left over for months, or I just have to give DT major a major sideeyeing. WHO WOULD THINK ABOUT BANANAS FOR WINTER?????

Pom Tango

Another one of the Spring Teas from DavidsTea. This time, it's Pom Tango.

If I'm going by the website description, I'm either going to jump for joy, or be thinking about my favorite breakfast tea mixed with fruit juice. If I go by the name...I'll be wanting to tango like the suave donkey's ass I am.

First things first, this smells amazing. Like I'm swimming in candied mango. 

Using my David's Perfect Spoon I used one scoop of tea and plopped it into my handy stainless steel filter thing.  Boiled my water to a balmy 100 F, and let it steep for about 5 minutes while I did the dishes.

Oh my GODS. DavidsTea...your description is...is...SPOT ON. This is actually a REALLY good tea, but it also tastes A LOT like Three Wishes. A little different, in that it's missing the green tea hints, but still very, VERY good.

But, it being good AND so similar to Three Wishes is what means I probably won't buy any more. Since I still have three wishes, and it's not limited edition.

Try this tea, you won't regret it!

-L

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot

In the spirit of the Calgary Comic Expo starting this Thursday...
I'm NERDING IT UP with a classic.

CLICK TO PAUSE
or it won't. stop.

I also suck at vine

Earl Grey from Davids Tea!

Ingredients: Black tea, cornflower petals, Bergamot oil

 (Duh! It's Earl grey. What did you expect?!)

I steeped for 4 minutes because when you take a sniff of the leaves, WOW - Bergamot!

And after you steep it, it's still WOW - Bergamot!

This is your classic Earl Grey... with a punch! The bergamot is incredibly powerful. But it's kind of rekindling my old love of earl grey tea. It could do with some lemon, perhaps... Or a little cream. It's not common for me to drink this without something in it, and the bergamot is just so strong in this one that a little bit of cream would do it some good. But ALWAYS TRY FIRST!

I bought some super powerful vanilla flavoured rooibos to see if I can make my own cream of earl grey with the plain one I have. We shall have to see how that goes.

But for now...

Live long and prosper,

~K

Bergamot - warp TWELVE!

Cool Cucumber

I'm doing 3 DavidsTea spring collection reviews. Mostly because none of the others made me particularly want to spend money on them. And this is the first; Cool Cucumber by DavidsTea.

This tea smells almost exactly like those cucumber melon scented lotions, just with a sorta minty undertone. And I honestly don't know what to make of that. My entire room reeks of the stuff with just one pot!
I honestly think if they made this tea for an iced tea, it may sound/smell more appealing? I'm going to try some iced and review it in here.



This is my first time tasting it, so I'm tasting as I review. And reviewing before I go to the accountant!

Honestly there is nothing remarkable about this tea. You get a SLIGHT aftertaste of its scent, but mostly you can smell it after you've swallowed. It's a pretty boring tea to be honest. Also, a little confusing. A black tea, with cucumber and honeydew melon? Black teas, as we all know, are fairly strong in flavor. A nice black tea lets you know what it is in a bold and pleasant way. Adding flavors to black tea means you want really complimentary additions. Not two very mild flavors. Cucumber is yummy, but mild and watery. A fresh flavor. Same goes for honeydew melon.

They had to add artificial flavors to it, which doesn't bug me in principle, but in practice, this could have been avoided by someone thinking it through a bit more.

It's why Buttered Rum (the review to come later) works. All strong flavors added that help round out and mellow out the black tea.

When it's iced, I'd say it tastes about the same...maybe a little bit better? I dunno. I'm just very underwhelmed.

I didn't finish my pot. I'm not buying any more.

Not a favorite.

-Laura

Green Seduction

Green Seduction from DavidsTea

Inredients: Organic: green tea, black tea, green rooibos, rosehips, pomegranate arils. With natural flavouring 


This tea smells so lovely, like sweet pomegranates and fresh green tea leaves. I am a big fan of everything rosehip (it is SO good for you, especially your skin) and pomegranates are pretty awesome. Seductive...? We shall see.

Steeped between 3-4 minutes. I got excited and poured my water before waiting for the minute to change to start new. (I should just used a timer, honestly, Kayla... get your shit together). It smells so good!

Even though it smells super sweet, I was a bit shocked (mostly due to DT's slight obsession with everything being sweet) to find that it was perfectly balanced. I feel like I can actually taste everything; the green, the black, the pomegranate, even the rosehip (though that is the hardest to detect). 

It isn't sweet, it isn't bitter and will stay that way so long as you keep around the three minute mark... It's kind of perfect. Pomegranate and green tea are just a great match, and I'm really impressed.




Well, I keep getting distracted by watching/listening to Let it Go over and over and ovvveerr again on youtubes.... so, that's all!
This tea is super delicious!


Happy Steeping,
~K

Pure Chai

So I love Chai teas and tea lattes. If it has "chai" in the title, I'll probably have some.

So when I got the DavidsTea Pure Chai, I was really excited! I was excited to be brewing it in milk on the stove, to be brewing it and adding eggnog and basically never having to leave my house for a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte with Eggnog  chai based beverages.



But DavidsTea, although your pure chai SMELLS amazing, it's game is WEAK.

I'm not going to post every single time and way I tried this to make it work, I honestly didn't take that many pictures.

I tried going straight in milk (skim milk), two cups of milk, 2 tbsp of chai. Not strong enough.
I tried going straight into light eggnog. Not strong enough.
I tried 3 tbsp of chai, steeped in about 1 cup of boiling water, with some eggnog added...it was CLOSE to being strong enough, but it had a weird aftertaste, almost dusty.

Will I buy it again? No. It's far, far too weak.
It tastes good when brewed directly in milk, but it is so pathetically weak.



If you haven't noticed this was made when eggnog was available. In December. This is posting in March. Shhhhh

Ignore my lies

Laura

Salted Caramel

Salted Caramel had me super excited.

Super. Super excited.

ALLERGY WARNING: ALMONDS

I love caramel. I mean love it. I'd eat it alone if I had the chance not that I've done that before.

I steeped the 1.25 tsp to 1 cup of boiling water for 6 minutes per directions. I JUST WANTED IT TO BE PERFECT CARAMELLY

It smelled exactly like caramel when I opened it up, with a slight hint of black tea behind it. I was very excited! Can you tell how much I love caramel yet?

But when I tasted it, it was bitter. Let me know if you guys have had the same experience? So, to offset the bitter, I added milk. A quick fix!
Once I added milk, it had a light caramel flavor, and was a little creamy, and you could still taste some of the black tea! Overall, the balance wasn't bad at all, nor was the flavor...but it just wasn't caramelly enough for me!



If I am drinking something called Salted Caramel, I want to drink it and think "this reminds me of salted caramel!" not "Well, I guess this kinda sorta might make me think a little bit about caramel..."

Good, but not the best. So, I'm not getting it again. I'll stick to my caramel apples!

Enjoy your teas, everyone!

-Laura

La La Lemon (organic)

LaLa Lemon from DavidsTea

 Ingredients: Organic FairTrade black tea from China, orange peel, natural lemon and orange flavouring.

Orange? Orange?? There isn't any lemon peel in a LEMON tea?!?! Off to a great start here, DT.

This tea literally just tastes like citrus peel and black tea. The peel part really stands out, by which I mean, it's quite bitter. I would definitely recommend a lower steeping time. I struggle to taste the lemon over the orange, which is disappointing because I love lemon in straight black tea.

BUT! This tea is great for a lemon-y ICED tea. I made a jug of this during the summer (OH, GODS! SUMMER, PLEASE COME BACK!!!!) and added half a lemon, sliced. It was lovely. A very typical American iced tea. (I say American because in Canada, we like our iced tea to be comprised of sugar, sugar and moooore sugar -- what a twist!)

This would have been much better if I had actually had a lemon slice to plop in to my cup, but ALAS, I did not. So it was orange-peel-y.
In closing, I need more lemon in my lemon tea. LEMON, not orange. Lemon.... The yellow one. 
To the store, for some fresh lemon!!



Happy Steeping,

~K



PS

LEMON Because I didn't say it enough.

THIS is a lemon

This is NOT a lemon

Brazillionair

My next few reviews are all going to be from my collection of free samples! Wooohooo!
Today's tea is Brazillionair!

ALLERGY WARNING: TREE NUTS

When brewing it, it smelled almost chocolatey, almost creamy. It is yummy, but it is also overbearing, and a little musty. So I was fairly undecided at this point. I honestly couldn't even tell if I liked how it smelled.

The sample was 1.5 tsp, for 1 cup, and steeped for 6 minutes. Because I'm a square who follows directions! 

It basically tasted how it smelled. Creamy, chocolatey, musty, a little nutty, the faintest of tea note in the background. It had a more complex flavor than I thought it would, yet I honestly can't say it was my favorite tea at all. The fact that everything was so BAM IN YOUR FACE was more of a turn off than I thought it would be.

To me, this tea seemed to be lacking balance. It could have been the fact that this was just a sample, and I just got a poor blend up of everything (if so, then that is really unfortunate, since a sample is supposed to get you hooked), but either way, it just wasn't quite right.

Tone down some of the coconut and maybe less tree nut, bring out some of the black tea more, and add more raisins, then it would probably taste a lot better. But as it was in the sample? It is absolutely a no-go for me.

Toodles poodles!

-L

Mystery Tea AKA "Mint to Be"

While I find it amazing and awesome that fans are getting to name this tea (I submitted Cream of Mint Grey as a name), this is by far the strangest tasting tea I've ever drank. Strange is basically the only word I have to describe it.

I steeped the 1.25 tsp for 5 minutes for a cup, per directions. 

The loose leaf itself was quite pretty. Lots of color (I am a big fan of the blue).

It smelled kind of fruity, kind of minty. But it tasted like someone mixed peppermint, with Cream of Earl Grey!

It wasn't bad, or gross. But it certainly wasn't what I'd call good. It just didn't taste right, or sit right, with my taste-buds. 

I had the one cup, and that is all I'll ever have of this tea.

So weird.

Sorry this review is so short, but there is nothing to elaborate on! Minty Cream of Earl Grey!
If you like it, take this as the ignorant dislike speech that it is. (Hate is a strong word)

I wish I could make this a longer post...but I just can't think of anything else to say!

Sorry, DavidsTea! I'm just not with you on this innovation.

-Laura

Yorkshire Tea

I got this tea from a friend who is from England. She swears by it and wanted me to try it (and review it) once I told her about this blog!

The packets said to steep for 4-5 minutes, since my friend said stronger is better, I left it in for about 5 minutes. I actually followed their brewing instructions! It was really fun to experiment! And yes, we did it 'Tiffy'!

My friend recommended to add enough milk (also, she said no less than 2% milk!) so that it is a caramel color, so I did. In the end it was about 1.5 teaspoons. Funnily enough, I actually had some homemade caramel sauce (which was used as a topper for a homemade steamed carrot pudding! Yum yum!) to use as a comparison, which helped immensely.

Yorkshire Tea is quite similar to an Orange Pekoe in taste. I find it tastes a little different, a little milder. I enjoy it a lot more than DavidsTea Orange Pekoe. My mum said she noticed no difference in taste, but I think she's cray-cray.
The fact it was slightly milder, and slightly sweeter, really made it enjoyable.



I actually found some at our local Christmas market! So excited!

AND IT IS FOR CERTAIN IN CANADA. CHECK OUT SOBEYS! WOOOO

It truly is a proper brew!

-Laura

Ceylon Star

I'm going to preface this review by saying I hate licorice flavored things.
Star anise is licorice flavored.
Star anise is the main flavor in this black tea.

I'm sure you guys can see where this is going.



I steeped the 1.25 tsp to 1 cup boiling water for 5 minutes. Just as the directions told me to do. Because I AIN'T GOT TIME TO BE WILD.

It smelled exactly like star anise. No surprise there! I mean, that is it's main feature. It tasted okay; much better than I expected, but too much like licorice for me to even really enjoy it. Even though I could taste the black tea, it wasn't enough to overpower or cover up the star anise at all. And I wouldn't WANT it to. My personal tastes should not dictate every single tea that has ever been made.



I don't like licorice flavored things. But some people do. And for those people who do, you will love this tea. In fact, you would probably sell your soul, or the soul of your children, for this tea if you like licorice flavored things.

So carry on my licorice loving readers, enjoy Ceylon Star for the licorice-y tea that it is.

This tea, as pretty as it is, is just not my cup of tea!  Haha. Ha. Get it? IT'S A SAYING AND I WANTED TO USE IT SHUT UP DON'T JUDGE ME.

TTFN

-L

Coffee Cake

 

Coffee Cake

Ingredients: Black tea, cherries, pineapple, natural and artificial cake flavoring  (DT, NO! You are a CANADIAN company. Use PROPER spelling! Flavouring*... Yes, I copy and paste the ingredients from their site.)


Coffee Cake smells amazing. Even Chris  told me that he thinks it smells really good, and he never comments anything about my teas. So I was excited to give this one a try.

I steeped it for five minutes, as suggested (it could use a little longer, in my opinion) and it does smell a little like a coffee cake. All I could think was that it tastes like a toasted caramel rooibos, even though there is no rooibos tea in this one. I wish I could taste more of the fruit and less of the cake flavouring... but that is not to say that it isn't yummy; it is!

It tastes like caramel and rooibos, but you still get the rich flavour of the black tea. That's about all I can say about it... It's good!

I'm going to go back to making chocolates now!
(Perhaps MATCHA chocolates?????)

I will try and make a post before Christmas with some recipes that I have come up with. if not, Merry Christmas!

Happy Steeping!

~K

Santa's Secret

The weather today

So I'm going to start with how I like to make this tea, because it's my review, and I'm an adult who can do what I want!

Today's tea is Santa's Secret.

I steeped the tea with 2 tablespoons PER FOUR CUP POT, and steep it 5 minutes. So it's pretty strong. I also stir the leaves while it steeps so all of the candy cane sprinkles dissolve.



Then I add 1/3 cup skim milk (use whatever milk you have), heat that fucker up. I microwaved it on high I think for 54 seconds. Specifically 54 because I stopped it when it started to bubble.

To that, I add 2 teaspoons of vanilla agave, stirred it around.


Then  poured that awesome hot milk and agave mixture directly into my pot of hot freshly brewed tea, gave it a quick stir.






Then I drank it. All of it. Because it was yummy and I put effort into making it  however little effort is actually was I don't know because I am lazy today

It tasted creamy, vanilla-y, with tiny peppermint afternote. If I had plain peppermint tea, I'd add just a sprinkle more. Like a literal pinch. Just so the afternote becomes a bit stronger.
It inspired me to try this with a bunch of my other black teas, but switch to my maple agave when appropriate.

SO IT WAS DELIGHTFUL. Which actually made it taste a lot like White Chocolate Frost shhhhhhhhhh

But, having it plain...it didn't really make me go "this is a delight yum yum" it made me more think of "did someone add Pure Vanilla to Orange Pekoe?

Kayla's post describes it pretty good actually. So...read that, and take this as evidence that this tea needs extra to taste special so you may as well just get White Chocolate Frost

I can't go to the gym today like I wanted to because of the first blizzard of the year and all the lights need to be on otherwise it's dark inside, so I ARE GRUMP.


Keep on drinking* and stay warm,
Love your grump,

L

*Whether or not you turn it into a Hot Toddy is up to you. Wiki defines it not how I was taught; tea with booze. Not this. Ignore wiki.