DavidsTea semi-annual sale

For all the DavidsTea fans out there:

Semi-Annual Sale - 50% off

Go nuts, spend your Christmas money! 

Day 24 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Day 24 and the last day of the Advent calendar! Today's tea is Santa's Secret - a black tea! (if it had been something herbal I would have lost it, ha ha!!).

From the website:

Need a little helper?

Ever wonder how Santa manages to deliver all those presents in just one night? Well here’s the hush-hush formula. He uses a special combination of Chinese black tea, peppermint leaves and spices – all sprinkled with real little candy canes. It’s both energizing and remarkably soothing. All Santa needs is one cup and his motto changes from “ho ho ho” to “go go go”.”

Best served: Hot Tea / Tea Latte / Tea Pop

Ingredients

Black tea, peppermint, sprinkles (sugar, rice flour, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil, corn starch, natural and artificial flavours, cellulose gum, red 40 Lake, mono and diglycerides, carrageenan, titanium dioxide (colour), polysorbate 60

Overall Impression: Now...let's take a look at all of those ingredients in the sprinkles - YIKES!! Aside from that, this was a really nice tea! The smell was great, the flavour was great...I'm actually just about to make myself another cup of it, and use up the rest of the tin. Way to go, DavidsTea, you ended on a high note (other than those sprinkles, aiee)!

Day 23 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Day 23 is a green tea - Kashmiri Chai. I love green teas, and I love chai, so I'm hoping this will be a good one.

From the website:

Kashmiri millionaires

If you’re looking for a lighter take on a traditional chai tea, this exotic green tea is for you. It’s inspired by the spiced teas of India’s Kashmir region, which often use a green tea base and lots of cardamom pods. Our version adds cinnamon, ginger and pretty marigold flowers to the mix, for a light and delicate chai you can sip on all day long. For an authentic touch, try brewing it with sugar and ground pistachios. Chai carumba!

Best served: Hot Tea

Kosher Organic

Ingredients

Organic : Green tea, cinnamon, cardamom seeds, ginger, cardamom husk, clove buds, marigold flowers.

Overall Impression: Finally a tea I can get behind for its lack of yucky ingredients! Smells very "chai" to me (yay!), but there's something bitter about the taste...I know I steeped it for too long, so that's the problem (got wrapped up in cleaning while it steeped, ha ha!). I've got enough left for another 16oz cup, so I'll make sure to steep it properly next time! This is a good one!

Day 22 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Today's tea is a pu'erh,  English Toffee. Pu'erh isn't quite a black tea, because it has undergone secondary oxidization and fermentation, but it is still caffeinated (yay!). It has been drunk in China for centuries to help with digestion, which is why I always like to have some hanging out in my tea cupboard.

From the website:

How sweet it is

Need a toffee break? This rich and decadent, all-natural blend of pu’erh, cocoa beans and caramel is the perfect sweet treat. With its mouth-watering aromas of caramel and browned butter, even steeping it feels like a luxury. But with all the benefits of pu’erh – and next to no calories – this is one little indulgence you can feel great about drinking. Try it with hot frothed milk and a shot of coffee liqueur. It just doesn’t get sweeter than that.

Best served: Hot Tea / Tea Latte

Ingredients

Pu'erh tea, cocoa beans, cocoa husk, caramel (condensed milk , sugar, glucose syrup, butterfat, sorbitol, mono and diglycerides), natural flavouring.

Overall Impression: This has a really smooth, velvety smell. The ingredients in the caramel pieces have me concerned (sugar AND glucose syrup...sorbitol, mono- and diglycerides, eek). The flavour isn't strong at all, and I can't even really taste the tea itself (which is one of the reasons why I like drinking tea). I don't dislike it, and I would drink it if someone gave it to me, but I wouldn't go out and buy it myself.
 

Day 21 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Day 21 is yet another fruit infusion *sob*. Spiced Apple is the "tea" of the day. From the website:

The apple of our eye

What does comfort mean to you? It might be a favourite sweater, an old family recipe or a perfect cup of tea. For us, it’s all about capturing warm and cozy flavours – like this sweet and spicy blend of apple, figs and chai spices. Laced with cinnamon and star anise, it brings back memories of apple picking, piping hot cider and fresh-from-the-oven pies. Basically, it’s like a hug in a cup. And whether you pair it with a good book or some great company, we guarantee it’s as comforting as it gets.

Best served: Hot Tea

Ingredients

Apple (apple, citric acid), figs, cinnamon, star anise, chicory, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, natural apple and spice flavouring.

Overall Impression:  I really wanted to like this, because it's apple (and I love apple), but I really can't taste anything other than a bit of tart apple and a hint of black pepper. Maybe a splash of rum would help...

Day 20 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Day 20 is a black tea! Yay! Cardamom French Toast might be exactly what I need, as I sit here listening to a hail storm beat against my windows (eek!). This has a nice cinnamon smell to it, so let's look at what the website has to say:

Toastess with the mostess

Something about cardamom just puts us in a festive frame of mind. We love its rich, fragrant taste any way we can get it. One of our faves? The buttery, cardamom-scented Christmas breads popular in Sweden and Finland. And since cardamom toast is so great, it only stands to reason that cardamom French toast would be out of this world. With black tea, cardamom, cane sugar and cinnamon, this rich, sweet blend tastes just like the decadent breakfast of our dreams. Only this is one brunch item you’ll be wanting all day long.

Best served: Hot Tea

Ingredients

Black tea, cinnamon, lemon peel, coriander seeds, cardamom, coconut sugar, cane sugar, natural and artificial flavouring.

Overall Impression: Very nice, mild flavour, nothing overpowering, nothing sickly sweet. This one is good!

Day 19 - DavidsTea Advent calendar

Day 19, and we have a green tea, Sweet Almond Green. Confession time - I cannot STAND the smell of sweet almond (like sweet almond oil makes me want to jump out of my skin). I don't know where this aversion came from, or how long I've had it...all I know is that when I get a whiff of sweet almond, I want to hurl. Blech. But despite that, I'm still going to drink this and give you my honest opinion...

From the website:

Nutty and nice

Our favourite part of the holiday season? The treats, of course. And those little almond-scented cookies have an extra-special place in our hearts. Buttery and sweet, with the nutty crunch of an almond on top, they’re a dangerously delicious part of any festive cookie spread. But with a nutty kiss of almond and an organic base of green tea, this sweet and subtle tea is our guilt-free version of the classic treat. Because indulging yourself should have no strings attached.

Best served: Hot Tea

Kosher Organic

Ingredients

Organic: Green tea, almonds, marigold flowers, cornflower petals. With natural almond flavouring.

Overall Impression: Thumbs up on the ingredient list, nothing chemical or bad-for-you stands out (although, who knows what exactly is in "natural almond flavouring"). The flavour is pretty mild, not strongly almond-y, but the smell overwhelms me when I have the mug up to my mouth so I'm smelling it as I'm drinking it. Ugh. I will finish this 16-oz mug though, because it's caffeinated, ha ha!