Raspberry Mojito

Apologies for my absence. I was recovering from some minor surgery, spending the last two weeks sleeping and recovering. Thank you for your patience.


Ingredients: Apples, raisins, hibiscus blossoms, carrot, beetroot, peppermint, lime, raspberries, rose petals, natural and artificial strawberry flavouring. 


I looooove mojitos.
And raspberries.

I was very excited to hear about this tea, and I am not disappointed.
I am having it iced.
But, if you like hot fruit teas, this would probably make for a nice twist to a hot peppermint tea.

Peppermint is definitely the most stand-out flavour in this tea, so you might want to have something to sweeten in up a bit if that isn't your thing. I tried adding some raspberry agave, which was excellent! But I like it on it's own as well.
But, while the mint flavour is strong, you can still taste the raspberry (and a little bit of that strawberry flavouring), plus the tiniest hint of lime. It could do with some more lime. ALWAYS MORE LIME

Today I am trying it made at DavidsTea, so the next time I make it I will be trying it a bit stronger.
Because I definitely bought myself some of this stuff, and will more than likely be going back for more.

Chris bought me a SodaStream as an early birthday present, so I can not wait to try this one as a pop.


I recommend that everyone at least pop in to their local DT when they are sampling it.
I am really enjoying it.


Happy Steeping,

~K

Sleigh Ride

Ingredients:Apple, hibiscus blossoms, pineapple, papaya, beetroot, cinnamon, raisins, coconut, roasted almonds, popped rice, artificial flavouring


In the Christmas season, time to break out the festive teas!

Sleigh ride is a tea that has made a come-back for at least the last three years. So, it's reasurring that you don't have to worry about falling in love with this one -if you like it- and never being able to get your hot little hands on it ever again - as seems to be the way of DavidsTea.

I was expecting a sort of watered-down cider flavour, but with a six minute steep, I was pleasantly surprised.
While cider-like, it is incredibly full of flavour.

Apple is the most outstanding flavour of them all, the next being cinnamon. I would liken it very strongly to a hot apple cider - more so than DavidsTea's actually "apple cider" named tea!

Definitely the best (besides White Chocolate Frost) Christmas tea that I have tried from DavidsTea.


I recommend everyone have some of this tea in their home for the holidays.


Happy Steeping,

~K

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

Pom Springs

Ingredients: Apple, apple pomace, beet root, rosehip shells, green tea, hibiscus, sweet blackberry leaves, rhubarb, pomegranate pits, natural flavouring.


On my brother's advice, I decided to try this iced, as he informed me that it is way better this way. And that I should make it pretty strong. So I have done both.

I used two spoons in 20 oz of water and steeped for about 4 minutes. It has same incredible colour, and kind of looks like Koolaid.

I am not sure what I was expecting to taste, but I was pretty confused on my first few gulps. I couldn't put my finger on what it was supposed to taste like... Then I got it. Bubblegum. No joke, it tastes like Chiclets! Those little colourful Halloween gums in packs of two that you chew for two minutes before all the flavour is gone? Yeah, this is the tea form of that amazing childhood flavour.
If you really sit on it, you can really taste the pomegranate and apple, but my mind always falls back on Chiclets

Kids would go NUTS over this one! And you very well could, too! I think I would prefer it mixed with gingerale to make it a tea-pop, but it is still pretty interesting.


I definitely recommend giving this a try, even if you just order one iced from a DavidsTea store. It is an incredibly interesting flavour.


Happy Steeping,

~K

Sweet Apple Cider

Sweet Apple Cider from DT

Ingredients: Apple, apple pomace, sweet blackberry leaves, apple flavouring, artificial vanilla and cream flavouring.


My awesome brother bought this for me and brought it over because I was having a super shitty day. He insisted that I try it, so I am trying it. Even though it smells amazing, I was still apprehensive. 

Expecting something water-y that tastes mildly of dehydrated apples, was I surprised.

This stuff has some full-bodied flavour. Sweet, tangy, a hit of spice... It tastes like cider! And my favourite part about it is that it tastes like cider that isn't murdered with spice, like they usually are. The spice is so mild that I may just be making up the flavour in my head!
Thick apple base with lots of sweet creaminess.

I am so impressed.
This is a MUST for the autumn. Wow!!!
This blew my mind way more than the all-time DT crowd favourite, Pumpkin Chai.

Everyone who has any kind of spot in their heart for cider, or just apples! You must try this!


 A word of caution... Do not steep this longer than four minutes or it will taste like a candle.



Happy Steepping,

~K
 

The Sweetheart Collection: Movie Night

Movie Night, by DavidsTea~!

So today I had some time alone (and it's dreary and raining and chilly out), so I decided to run myself a nice hot bath (with bubbles and essential oils, hair and face masks. And a mini-pedicure). I hella pampered myself.
With such pampering, means tea MUST be involved. It's basically a law.

Now, why did I pick Movie Night? Because I'm watching Five Nights at Freddy's by Markiplier. While in the bath. What can I say, I enjoy multitasking!


When I first opened my sampler (from the Sweetheart Collection), I smelled a mix of coconut oil, popcorn, and caramel. It made me think of a movie theater minus the stale sweat smell they get in the summer. Which is what I'm hoping was the reaction they wanted!

I steeped it for about 3-5 minutes while I got my bath all ready. I used the entire sampler for one pot (my 4 cup pot).

The downside was this tea doesn't taste like there is any tea. It tastes like plain popcorn water. On one hand, I'm happy it didn't taste exactly how it smelled because that would have been kinda gross, but on the other, at least that would have had more depth than if I had made some plain popcorn and steeped that.
Where was the sencha flavor?! WHERE????

It wasn't horrible or disgusting, I had two cups. It was just boring with a really overpowering scent. And I had peppermint oil in the bath water; so the pure fact that this scent cut through that is impressive.

Buy it, you may like it. But I really didn't.

-L


I've discovered that doing these blog posts does help with my mental health a fair bit. It's actually pretty awesome. So that means that I'll keep doing them as long as I have tea.

Caramel Corn

Caramel Corn from DavidsTea

Ingredients: apple, pineapple, caramel (milk, sugar, glucose syrup, butterfat, sorbitol, tara powder), currants (currants, vegetable oil), almonds, beetroot, coconut, popcorn, natural and artificial flavouring.
Warning: contains nuts, dairy, and coconut.


In lieu of recent sad events, I figured I could use a cheerful, crazy tea; it seems only fitting.

The ingredients in this tea are complete madness! Madness that smells like complete deliciousness!! Wow.
It does make me think of caramel-assaulted popcorn. Even if I did not get any pieces of popcorn
inside of my sample. Actually, considering the lengthy list of ingredients, I have a feeling that I may not be getting the real nature of this tea considering how plain everything looks.

I steeped for the full seven minutes suggested, and I was a little bit disappointed by the colour. It looks very pale, I was expecting to taste water that someone dropped a Wherthers in to. I wasn't completely wrong, it is very weak. You just don't get enough in a sample.

But, if you actually got a full perfect spoonful, I think this would be a really delightful, sugar-y tea.
You get a lot of apple flavour, so maybe it would have been more apt to call it Caramel Apple. It really does taste similar to the way that it smells.

Wrapping this up; it is definitely worth giving a try if you are a fan of caramel. I think I might actually buy some. I really enjoy the combination of apple and caramel.


Happy Steeping,
~K

Lime Gelato

Lime Gelato from DT

Ingredients: Apple, sencha green tea, pineapple (candied), lemongrass, and artificial creamy lime yogurt flavouring.

I am a sucker for anything lime. I'm a little bit psycho over limes. Yet, I avoided trying this tea for so long because a good friend of mine told me that she thought it was disgusting, and "creamy lime yogurt flavouring" sounds kind of... awful. But, I finally got it as a sample in one of my online orders, and after a sales girl insisted it was good when chilled, that's what I decided to try today.

Well, I'll be damned! SUNSHINE!

My first sip instantly made me think of lime greek yogurt - something I am a pretty  big fan of. But the more I drink, the more I just taste the lemongrass.
My imagination was deceiving my taste buds. THE FIEND!
It has s smooth, almost creamy lemongrass flavour, but it is NOT lime. Where da lime at, davidstea?! WHERE?! Even the coconut lime (haven't tried that yet) from Tea Desire has ACTUAL LIME PIICES IN IT. Get with the program. You say lime, give us LIME. Please note: lemon is not lime. LemonGRASS is most definitely NOT LIME.

Well, I do believe that I have abused my caps lock enough for today, the poor bugger.

It's not absolutely disgusting, but it reminds me far too much of something you drink when you are sick with the flu or some other nasty bug thing that always seems to assault my system in the winter months. It is not the delicious, limey Italian desert they promised... not at all....


My friend was right, and I am glad that I listened to her.
Until DavidsTea learns what a lime is, I recommend not wasting your time -or money- on this one.
 This tea is not for me!
 

Happy Steeping,
~K

Kiwi's Big Adventure

Kiwi's Big Adventure
From DavidsTea

Ingredients: Green tea, apple, kiwi, lemongrass, lemon peel, artificial flavouring


Laura made me want to try this tea forever ago, but since I was in the midst of penny pinching... it took me a while to finally order this tea.

It smells SO good. As soon as I took a whiff I was glad that I was giving this tea a go.
Only one problem....

HOT OR COLD?!?

Why not both?
Hot: maybe it's just the warm weather, but I was just not feeling this hot today. It still tastes amazing, but I definitely needed to ice it.
Cold: so good. So much kiwi and apple goodness. This is something I think kids would really love. (And bonus for parents: it's actually HEALTHY - yay!)

This is a pretty awesome tea and I can definitely see why it has stuck around so long.
The apple, kiwi, and green tea are just so perfectly balanced here. I love it!!


Give it a try both ways. It doesn't matter the mood you're in; Kiwi's Big Adventure will bring a smile to the hearts of the lovers of sweet green teas.


Happy Steeping,

~K

 

Just Peachy

no picture right now
sorry

Ingredients: Apple, sweet blackberry leaves, peach, natural and artificial flavouring.

I tried this for the first time this Saturday while waiting for Chris to get a hair and beard trim. The barber shop was only two stores down from DavidsTea and I could not resist popping over for a nice cold drink. I also wanted to try something different and new, so I went with Just Peachy.

Wow.

The biggest wow. I was SO surprised by this tea. So surprised, in fact, that I went back and bought some less than five minutes later, literally.
THIS is a peach tea!

It tastes almost exactly the way that it smells. So peachy and delicious. It's not sweet, but you don't need any sugar added. Nothing needs to be added. Peachy heaven. I was afraid that the apple would over power the peach, but it definitely does not. It tastes like apple and peach juice, without a bunch of sugar-y junk in it.

I made myself some at home the very same day! Does this tell you how in love with the amazing iced tea I am? It should. Especially since I have a whole jug of a "cluster fruit" (as Laura so awesomely called it) of iced teas.

I have yet to perfect the making of on the spot iced tea, like they do in store... but soon. Soon...


Bravo, DT. You made an iced tea that I am just crazy about.

Peaches and Cream

Peaches&Cream from DT

 Ingredients: peach, apple, vanilla pieces, peach crunchy (peach puree, tangerines, strawberry juice, black carrot juice), safflower, sunflowers, natural flavouring.


This tea smells like booze. Dead serious. This tea (which you can not buy save for a limited time as part of the entire spring collection - no tins of this baby for you) smells like peach and strawberry schnapps.
It's surprising, but also very enticing and delicious. It gives you high hopes.
After a strong seven minutes (I wasn't confident in the amount they provided in the little sample pouch) of steeping, I made our entire basement smell of some kind of over-priced cocktail on steroids. The aroma is... well, pungent. Which really intensifies the underwhelming flavour of the tea.

It tastes (barely) of peach flavour and strawberries with a nice creamy punch of vanilla. If this were, say... at least five times stronger, I would most likely really really like this tea. But I would need more of it, which I can't actually purchase without getting four other teas you possibly have zero interest in. And you won't get a lot of it.

This was so close to being something fantastic. So close.
I am really on the fence about this one. I want more, but I don't want to fork out $25 for the entire spring collection just so I can get 25 grams of it.
Unimpressed.


Happy Steeping,
~K

Big Apple

Big Apple from DT

Ingredients: White tea (Mao Feng), green tea (Wu Lu and Guangxi), apple, artificial flavouring


Continuing with the purging of my massive collection of samples I let pile up from orders... Big Apple from DavidsTea.

This tea smells super sweet and apple-y when you open the pack. Yoshi went completely nuts and got a little nasty and loud until I gave him a piece of tea leaf to munch on (yes, he loves tea in all it's forms).
 It smells just as amazing once you steep it, too. I did it for 4 minutes of the 3-4 suggested.
You may expect something like a cider, but no. It isn't cider, but it isn't apple juice either. I can't put my finger on what style of apple it reminds me of, but I really don't care. The smell!

Apple juice and green tea. That is honestly what it tastes like. Simple and sweet - but not too sweet, like I expected it to be.

I'm not a huge apple person. But this is pretty nice, refreshing and light.  Would be better on a day that it isn't snowing like crazy. (Isn't it almost MAY?!) 

Oh yeah. And DavidsTEa IS still selling it! 

Happy Steeping,
~K

Peaches and Cream

Peaches and Cream! By DavidsTea The last of my the Spring Collection tea

Pre boiling water, the tea smells like there is alcohol in it. No jokes, I did a triple take with my sniffer. After boiling water, it just smells fruity and creamy. So, we're off to an interesting start.

I started with one scoop of tea, using my David's Perfect Spoon and steeped it for about 5 minutes.

You know what, it doesn't taste bad. I really, really, expected this to taste like shit. It's nice and light and sweet. An overall nice cup of tea.

But it's also so boring tasting. Like, in my head I had pictured it tasting a lot more like a Creamsicle, but it really just tastes kinda fruity. Not even distinctly peachy or distinctly vanilla-y. Just a flat, fruity, note.

Would I say to buy it? No. If you want a peachy tea, try a different tea. Long Life Oolong is a good example. Maybe add some Pure Vanilla if you're feeling frisky. You'll probably get closer to the result you're looking for.

A big meh from me.

-Laura

Alpine Punch

Alpine Punch from DavidsTea

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Ingredients: Rooibos, coconut chips and rasps, apple pieces, cinnamon pieces, ginger bits, cardamom, black pepper, rose blossoms, almond flakes, artificial flavouring


I am quite sure this tea has been a winter special with DT for quite some time because I remember even two years ago hearing people rave about this tea. I gave it a good whiff, but all I could manage was a lazy shrugging of the shoulders and putting it aside for the teas that smell much more appealing.

Oh yeah, and this tea is yet another in the massive ensemble of teas containing - you guessed it- fucking coconut.... 

Jackie disapproves of your coconut-y shenanigans, DT

BUT  it doesn't taste bad. I'm at war with myself trying to decide if it's the almond or the coconut that I can taste more of, but with the over-bearing scent of the coconut, I'm going to say the coconut wins. Damn shame, because this is a SERIOUSLY smoooooth tea. If you hold your breath you can REALLY taste the apple. It's a  cornucopia of flavours.

It is good.

Pick out some of the coconut and add some more rooibos and you have something. But it doesn't have those things...
I wouldn't buy more because I have much better tasting cider-esque teas with more of the punch (where is this "PUNCH" the name suggests, by the way?!) you expect from a winter tea. But it could be your thing, so give it a try!


Now I'm going to go lie down because this holiday madness is murder. 



Happy Steeping, and I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas
~K

Mom's Apple Pie

Mom's Apple Pie by DavidsTea

Ooo the first of my Fall tea reviews!

How exciting! You're getting a review as I drink it for the first time! You lucky ducklings. Mom's Apple Pie...

When you open the bag, it literally smells exactly like an apple pie cooking in the oven. As it steeps, you get an entire room lightly smelling of baking apple pie!
Ingredients wise, it's very simple. green tea, apple pieces, cinnamon, natural and artificial flavoring.


It's a very gentle tea, I put 1 tbsp to a pot, and steeped it for the 3-4 minutes, next time I'll add more leaves, but keep the steeping time the same.

It tastes quite nice. Bright, warm. It tastes a little like apple pie...
Picture you had a bite of apple pie, swallowed, then washed it down with a gulp of green tea. That after flavor of apple pie is essentially what it tastes like.
Letting it cool a bit helped bring out some of the flavors, so I really recommend NOT drinking it piping hot. You end up losing a lot of the flavor that way.
The cooler mine got, the better it tasted. Just above warm was the best. So it was still hot, but just barely. I doubt that makes much sense but...fuck it.

It's dark out, I had to take a picture inside

It is ranked medium caffeine by DavidsTea, so probably not the best to have before bed, especially if you're sensitive to caffeine, but I don't have to wake up early tomorrow, so screw it. In fact, I think I'll make myself some more in the morning!

UPDATE:
I made a stronger pot in the morning, with 2 tbsp of Mom's Apple Pie, and it was not as good as the 1 tbsp. I steeped it for exactly 3 minutes, and it still turned a kinda bitter. It was the right strength just...bitter. Maybe 1.5 tbsp would work?

I'm not really sure if I would restock this one come end of Autumn. It being very finicky makes it less apPEELing. (Get it, a-PEEL-ing, like when peel and apple? >_> shhhh my pun isn't lame at all... ) No, but in all seriousness (tea is srs business), I decided not to restock this tea. It just doesn't do enough for me

Overall I rank it as good when it's quite mild, but when it gets stronger, it isn't so good. Even when steeped for the minimum time it says on the pouch.
If you like teas that are milder, you'll love this one. It shines when it is brewed to be mild; the balance of apple and green tea is great. But, as a person who loves a much stronger tea, it just isn't for me.
Or, if you like teas on the more tart or bitter side AND strong teas, you may like this tea. Still, no guarantees.

I gave the rest of my pouch to my green tea loving co-worker, and her and her husband absolutely love it!

Skål, and happy steeping everyone!

-L

IF YOU HAVE ANY TEA YOU WOULD LIKE REVIEWED, LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE WILL SEE WHAT WE CAN DO.