Day 6 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Day 6's tea is Apple Cider. Right off the bat - THIS SMELLS AMAZING!!!!!! I seriously can't stop smelling it! This is an herbal tea, so no caffeine (will have to make some double Chai when I get to work). I'm wondering if maybe a splash of rum would make this a good nighttime drink, perfect for a winter's evening? I'll try it with the remainder of this sample.

From the website:

A winter classic

As soon as the snowflakes start to fall, all we can think about is curling up with a hot cup of old-fashioned apple cider – the fresh, unfiltered apple juice you can only seem to find when the cold weather sets in. And we captured the taste of our favourite seasonal drink in this apple-packed blend. With a sweet, clean apple taste and a hint of creaminess, it’s like a warm and comforting hug in a cup. The only thing missing is the cinnamon stick.

Ingredients

Apple, apple pomace (pomace, citric acid), sweet blackberry leaves, apple flavouring (artificial apple flavouring, concentrated apple juice), artificial vanilla and cream flavouring.

Overall impression:  This is pretty tart, but I love it! I hate anything that's too sweet, so this is perfect for me...almost like the flavour of a tart green apple candy. I'll report back on how it tastes with rum!

Day 5 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Day 5 is Coffee Cake and it smells divine! It's a black tea (black tea = caffeine, yay!) that smells like caramel! There was also a bonus gift for today - a coupon for $5 off my next purchase of $20 or more. Thank you, DavidsTea!

From the website:

Take the cake

There’s nothing more nostalgic than a classic coffee cake. Just picture it. That dense, yellow cake, dotted with fruit and topped with crumbled brown sugar. And this sweet, fragrant black tea blend is every bit as satisfying. It has all the aroma of a fresh baked coffee cake, plus an energy boost from rich black tea and a fruity hint of cherry and pineapple. Now getting that fresh-from-the-bakery taste is so simple, it’s a piece of cake.

Ingredients

Black tea, candied fruit (cranberries, sugar, cherry juice, citric acid, natural cherry flavour, elderberry juice, sunflower oil), pineapple (sugar cane, pineapples, citric acid), natural and artificial flavouring.


Overall impression: 
This has a very nice, smooth flavour. I don't add milk or sweetener to my black teas any more, but I think this would be fantastic with a bit of milk and sugar to bring out the flavour. I might have to do that the next time I go to my parents' house! I would definitely buy this tea again.

 

Day 4 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Day 4's tea is Serenity Now

Today is another herbal tea, one which I haven't tried before. Normally, I don't like hibiscus in my teas because it's so strong and tart, and I also don't like rosehips because of the smell/taste. Luckily for this tea, the hibiscus isn't overpowering...I think because of the spearmint and lavender. The lavender though...not my favourite flavour either (anything that has a flowery scent does not translate well to my taste buds).


From the website:

Zen and sensibility

So maybe you burned dinner. Maybe the dishwasher broke. Again. Maybe you just forgot to hit “save.” Life is full of stressful surprises. But lucky for us, life is also full of tea. And this oh-so-soothing blend is a guaranteed one-way ticket to your happy place. It’s got serene strawberries, harmonious hibiscus and restful rosehips, all in a base of low-key lavender. So get that kettle started and brace yourself for the rush of calm. Bring it on, life. We got this.

Best served: Hot Tea / Iced Tea

Organic

Ingredients

Organic: Currants, rosehips, apple, lavender, spearmint, hibiscus


Overall Impression: The flavour is *interesting* but it seems like a bunch of different ingredients are competing with each other to be tasted first. The more I sip it, the weirder it gets. I definitely won't be buying this one for the tea cupboard.

Day 3 - DavidsTea Advent Calendar

Day 3 today, and my tea is  Genmaicha!!!! I love this tea! It's been a favourite of mine for a long time now. It consists of a Japanese green tea with toasted and popped rice (looks like tiny pieces of popcorn). I love the smell of it (that nutty rice smell) and I love the flavour too - no sweetness, and a hint of toastiness. 

From the DavidsTea website:

Watch out, it's addictive

 

Some people call Genmaicha “popcorn tea” because it contains whole roasted grains of brown rice, some of which have popped. Others call it the Rice Krispie of green teas. Either way, genmaicha was originally drunk by poor Japanese who used the rice as a filler because they couldn’t afford enough tea leaves. It soon became all the rage. Today, everyone is addicted to its sweet, roasted rice flavour. (MK Kosher).

Best served: Hot Tea

Kosher

Ingredients

Steamed green tea from Japan, roasted and popped rice.

Tasting notes: Roasted, Sweet, Vegetal

Overall impression: LOVE IT!!! I should really have this in my cupboard as a staple, I love it that much!

 

Day 2 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Getting closer to Christmas! Today's tea is Jumpy Monkey which is a mate blend (caffeine, yes!!). No problems today opening the tin, but I'm sure that I'll come across more. I *think* I've tried this one before, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm definitely needing some caffeine this morning, as it's Friday and a 5-day work week - I'm tired! The dry tea looks nice with the coffee beans and smells great too. The steeped tea smells amazing - a hint of coffee, with some sweetness too. Note: I can't drink coffee. Sometimes I can handle a shot of espresso in a latte, but a regular cup of coffee I can't do - upset stomach and jitters, yuck. Tea is my caffeine go-to, but I still love the smell of coffee...

From the DavidsTea website:

Sweet energy

This brew gives you a tasty boost with a unique combination of exotic ingredients. It combines freshly roasted peaberry coffee beans with Argentine maté, and laces them with almonds, white chocolate and other roasted barks and roots. The result is sweet, rich and deliciously satisfying. Plus it’s a sweet treat you can enjoy guilt-free, as this blend has virtually no calories. No wonder they say maté makes you efficient.

Best served: Tea Latte

Ingredients

Roasted yerba mate, green yerba mate, white chocolate (sugar , cocoa butter, milk powder, butter oil, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), carob, baba budan coffee, green peaberry coffee, Brazil green coffee, Kenya green coffee, chicory, olive leaf, almonds, ar (somehow all of the pages get cut off in the midst of the ingredient list)

View Nutrition Facts

Allergens: almonds, milk, soy

 Overall impression: very smooth, a little sweet...but I would buy this!

Day 1 - DavidsTea Advent Calendar

December 1st!!!! That means Day 1 of my advent calendar from DavidsTea. I haven't bought much from Davids in the last couple of years because more and more of their teas have added ingredients that I'm not a fan of, or that I don't think belong in tea (stevia added to green tea?!?! Why???). Having said that though, I'm a sucker for advertising and slick packaging, and I splurged and bought the advent calendar this year!

Day 1's tea is Snow Day

Baby, it’s cold outside

Got a blizzard on the way? Score! There’s no better excuse to cozy up inside with a great cup of tea. And this all natural chocolate-mint tisane is the perfect way to warm up on a chilly winter day. With peppermint, cacao nibs and dark chocolate drops, it’s sweet, creamy and oh-so comforting. The best part? Cute little snowflake-shaped sprinkles that add a touch of sweetness. Bring it on, winter!

Best served: Hot Tea

Ingredients

Peppermint leaves, cocoa beans, cocoa husk, chocolate drops (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, sunflower lecithin), white chocolate pieces (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, sunflower lecithin), sugar sprinkles (sugar, rice flour, canol

My only issue was the tin...I couldn't get the lid off! This happened the last time I had the tea advent calendar, half of the tins I wasn't able to open. This time I tried using my handy lid opener (which still didn't work), so I resorted to my box cutter to cut out the plastic from the lid. Boo!

 Overall impression: this is really sweet, which isn't my thing any more. It leaves a nice minty aftertaste though, which reminds me of After 8 mints. It smells festive, and I like the look of the snowflakes in the dry tea, but it's not a tea that I will go out to buy.

Happy New Year!

I decided that one of my new year's resolutions would be to get back to blogging about tea (as you can see, this page has been sadly neglected!).

Yesterday my friend Ina and I went shopping in Nanaimo, and found a tea store called Tea Desire. We were offered two samples of tea, and I loved the first one we tried. It's a flavoured green called "Morning Spirit" and it is delicious!! The smell is fantastically fruity and it tastes so good. This is one of my new favourites.

I'm drinking more greens, whites, and oolongs now than black, herbal, and rooibos teas, so I'm looking forward to trying more teas from Tea Desire - I just wish they had a store here in Victoria (but they do ship within Canada and to the US!).

Ingredients: Sencha green tea, rose flower and sunflower blossoms, natural flavour.