Sugar and Spice

Name:  Sugar and Spice

Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Black


Dry Scent:  This smells of baking or mulling spices; hot, sweet cinnamon, sharp, bright cloves, and dusty, warm ginger with a hint of apple.  It smells like the kitchen in Old Town, for anyone who's ever been to the Royal BC Museum.  Super comforting on a miserable, wet day.


Steeping Time: 6-7 min


Steeped Flavour:  This tastes like gingersnap cookies, gingerbread or spice cake, but most strongly it reminds me of gingersnap cookies.  The ginger and cinnamon are front and center, and then there are hints of molasses and a sortof doughy flavour left in the mouth, a little like the flavour you get when you sneak a bite of the Christmas baking before it goes in the oven.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This would be nice with any cream liqueur, although I MUST try it with my eggnog cream...  It would probably also make a very sophisticated cocktail iced with goldschläger and some ginger liqueur.  Maybe rim the glass with demarara sugar...  As far as food pairings, this is PERFECT for cookie-dipping, and would also be nice with spice cake or apple pie.  Probably pumpkin pie too.


Rating out of Six Tails:

5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Note that this is one of DT's fall teas, and as such, it won't be around forever.  Get it while you can!

Gold Rush

Name:  Gold Rush


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  White


Dry Scent:  Rich, sweet and almost boozy, this has an intoxicating, creamy, caramel-like scent that speaks of secrets hidden and sweet, seductive fruits.  Honestly the scent of this is hard to describe but absolutely incredible.


Steeping Time:  6-7 min


Steeped Flavour:  Sweet, caramel and creamy.  The mulberries impart their sweetness and the rich, butteriness of the coconut adds body and smoothness to the tea.  Overtop of these, the light floral and faintly green tones of the white tea sing out.  This is one of the few teas I always double-steep, and the second steep is, if anything even sweeter and richer than the first, although I tend to find that it won't manage a third steeping.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is a dessert tea, or something to be served alongside the finest pattisseries and bonbons.  It's definitely a "high-class" sort of drink.  I've never tried pairing it with alcohol, but if I did, it would have to be just a titch of Patrón or some other high-quality tequila.


Rating out of Six Tails:

6/6

Buy/Don't Buy

Yes, I know, double-posting, but I had to put this one up tonight in honour of the season premier of Once Upon a Time.  This tea always makes me think of RumBelle

Jungle Juju

Name:  Jungle Juju


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Maté (well, actually Guayasa)


Dry Scent:  Sharp and very green, with a green sort of sweetness from the guayasa.  I find Guayasa much brighter in scent and flavour than is maté, and this tea is no exception.  Under the brightness of the green, there is a juicy fruit scent of papaya and peaches, enough to make your mouth water.  It smells like a fruit stand in the middle of summer.


Steeping Time: 6-7 min


Steeped Flavour:  The flavour of this is just as bright and green as the scent.  Guayasa has a natural green sweetness that is wonderful on the tongue...truly a beautiful drink.  The fruit flavours in this are immensely satisfying, and don't overpower the guayasa at all, blending with it quite well.  It's like drinking a warm, summer's day, even in the middle of winter.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This goes well with a light lunch, and would pair nicely with any sort of fruity booze or liqueur.


Rating out of Six Tails:

5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Cherry Rose Rooibos

Name:  Cherry Rose Rooibos


Brand:  Naturally for You


Primary Type:  Rooibos


Dry Scent:  This is delicately scented tea.  At first, the rooibos is strongest with its warm, honey-like sun-baked earthy scent, then, dancing overtop are the scents of rosepetals and cherry, but neither is of the overpoweringly strong variety.  The rose is delicate, not heavy tea-rose, and the cherry is sweet and berry-like, not kirsch-strong and reeking of amaretto.


Steeping Time: 6-8 min (or more)


Steeped Flavour:  Warm, sunny from the rooibos, but with the floral notes hiding until later in the sip.  This always makes me think of a warm late spring day when the cherry blossoms are blooming all over, as they do here, and the first of the roses are just beginning to open as well.  Wonderful and also nostalgic, as this was the very first rooibos tea I ever tried.  This is a very calming tea, and might be best saved for evening or bedtime.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This tea is wonderful on its own, but as for pairing, it goes best with light desserts that won't overpower it.  The subtlety here is such that it's best to make sure to pair it with simple fare.  It would go beautifully with strawberry shortcake or some nice sugar cookies.


Rating out of Six Tails:

5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Okay folks, again you will notice there is no link to this one.  Unfortunately unless you live in Victoria, you might not be able to find this.  Naturally for You is a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall tea shop in the Oak Bay village down in the Monterey Mews.  So well-hidden that unless you know to look for it you won't find it.  They do, however, have a website http://oakbaysteas.com/ although how often it is updated I'm not sure.  All the information on it seems accurate, although the teas listed may change depending on what he happens to get in stock.  This one isn't on the list right now, but who knows, he might have some in stock.  If you do get the chance though, go down and check out their stock.  Dennis, the owner, is an endless font of tea information, and of course, they also have delicious belgian chocolates!

Genmaicha

Name:  Genmaicha


Brand: Panacea (The Bubble Tea Place)


Primary Type:  Green


Dry Scent:  This smells like fine green tea, grassy, and with a hint of the sea from a dried seaweed scent as well.  A little salty, a little roasty.


Steeping Time: 2-3 min


Steeped Flavour:  This is, of all "straight" green teas, my favourite.  There is a faint warm grassiness, of course, but it is mitigated by the popcorn flavour of the toasted rice.  This makes me think of my childhood and having puffed wheat for breakfast, and it's surprisingly comforting.  It's lovely in the summer, and lovely in the winter on a cold, snowy or rainy night.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This goes with anything and everything and also works well on its own.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner...anything goes with genmaicha!


Rating out of Six Tails:

6/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Keep in mind, this review is for the genmaicha from Panacea, I've also had David's Tea's genmaicha and would recommend it just as highly.

Chocolate Rocket

Name:  Chocolate Rocket


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Maté


Dry Scent:  Very fine dark chocolate scent, grounded by the musky, slightly musty odour of the maté, followed by the light, bright notes of raspberry and the warmth and richness of the almond.  Very, very appetizing.


Steeping Time: 4-5 min (+ as with most maté)


Steeped Flavour:  The usual slight mustiness of the mate is mellowed by the addition of the chocolate. Sweet, fruity on the tongue from the raspberries, but with the calmed mate as a smokey aftertaste.  Almost as rich and satisfying as hot chocolate, but with a more "grown-up" flavour.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is a great on-its-own tea, but for pairing it, it goes best with dessert.  Just the thought of eating a wonderful tiramisu or a fruit trifle with this is making me drool just thinking about it!  This would also be really good with Bailies (my usual little add-in) or a hazelnut cream liqueur or some Baja Rosa.  Especially the Baja Rosa.


Rating out of Six Tails:

6/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Blood Orange Pu'erh

Name:  Blood Orange Pu'erh


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Pu'erh


Dry Scent:  The first thing you smell with the dry leaves is the dark, musty earthiness and cave-dust smell of the pu'erh tea leaves, then comes a hint of green leafiness from the lemon myrtle. And then the brightness of the citrus shows up.  Smells more lemony than orangey, really, but it has the bitterness of marmalade oranges in there too, or maybe kumquats.  Not a particularly "juicy" smell but definitely all citrus.


Steeping Time:  5-6 min


Steeped Flavour:  The strongest flavours that come out of this are hibiscus and citrus.  And yes, then those are underpinned by the rich, full-bodied pu'erh taste.  And yes, I used words often used to describe coffee.  Pu'erh is, to me, the closest tea comes to having the thick mouthfeel of a cup of coffee.  Much less bitter, of course, though!  Drinking this tea feels almost ancient somehow, like "living in a cave, eating gathered fruits" kind of ancient.  Deeply satisfying flavour, just keep in mind that it's not going to taste exactly like orange juice.  That is for other teas XD.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is great first thing in the morning to kick-start your day.  It would cut well through any heavy meal, but is bright enough from the citrus to pair well with fish, too.  It also, because again of the citrus, goes well with most desserts, and works beautifully as a palate cleanser between courses.  Iced, with a little Grand Marnier or other citrus liqueur, I believe this tea would make an absolutely incredible and very "grown-up" cocktail.


Rating out of Six Tails:

5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

This is an amazingly versatile tea!

Red Velvet Cake

Name: Red Velvet Cake


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Black


Dry Scent:  Rich, sweet, a little like icing and very much of chocoatey cake scent.  This smells like dessert, pure and simple.  The black tea's scent is there if you really search, and its earthiness keeps the rest of the scents from being cloyingly sweet.


Steeping Time: 5-6 min

Steeped Flavour:  Sweet, but not overpoweringly so.  The first taste that crosses the tongue is actually the dark muskiness of the black tea and a hint of beets, followed by the warm chocolateyness and then the lingering white chocolate sweetness almost like cream cheese icing.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is a great stand-alone dessert tea.  I suppose you could start the day with it, if you were feeling a bit wicked, but apart from rich cakes or chocolate, this doesn't pair well with food.  It would, though, do nicely with a little Bailey's added to it, or Godiva.  Any chocolate liqueur would do.


Rating out of Six Tails:
5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Salted Caramel

Name:  Salted Caramel


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Black


Dry Scent:  At first sniff, this smells like walking into an old-fashioned tea shop like Murchie's; rich, dark and earthy black tea. Then the caramel notes perk up, thick and sweet, faintly vanilla and with a sortof burnt-sugar scent. The salt is evident as well, but only if you know what to look/smell for. There is a sort of freshness that brightens the scent and makes it pop and reminds me of the dawn breeze off the ocean first thing on a warm summer morning.


Steeping Time:  5-6 min


Steeped Flavour:  This has a delicate, almost perfumed flavour with notes of vanilla and burnt sugar coming through strongest, the earthiness of the black tea slightly bitter but sweet as well. The tea is not as sweet as might be expected from the caramel, but the caramel does become clear on the tongue once the tea is not steaming hot. Although it says it can steep for up to seven minutes, I don't recommend going much above five and a half on this. It can get a bit tannic, and also I find that a longer steep puts it out of balance, making the black tea earthy flavours too strong for the delicate sweetness of the caramel.


Food/Drink Pairings: One of these days I'm going to try this iced with a shot of butter ripple schnapps. Or maybe a shot of sour apple liqueur… It definitely makes one think of sophisticated yet sweet martinis and cocktails. It is also very good with baked goods, and perfect for dunking cookies in. If you're the type who likes to bump up the sweetness of their tea, for this one, if you happen to have some on hand, I suggest a little bit of caramel sauce rather than sugar. White sugar would probably overpower the burnt-sugar flavour of the caramel.


Rating out of Six Tails:
4.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

I would rate this as high as a 5.5 but for the fact that it's a bit finicky and takes repeated brewings at different times to really figure out how to get the most out of it.  Also I would wish for just a TITCH more caramel in this.

Stormy Night

Name:  Stormy Night


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Black


Dry Scent:  Cinnamon and chocolate.  There is a sort of underpinning scent of black tea as well, and hints of coconut and chilies.  This is a very complex scent.  And by "complex" I mean really almost busy, but it smells good.  Like comfort on a cold, stormy day.


Steeping Time: 6-7 min


Steeped Flavour:  The first flavours across the tongue is the musky black tea and the cinnamon.  The coconut is next, mostly imparting its smoothness over the middle of the tongue and making the tea mellow, and last comes the chocolate and the cinnamon again with a lingering aftertaste.  This is definitely a stormy day tea!


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is another of those teas that I actually like adding a little Bailies or in particular maple cream liqueur to.  It also makes a really good tea for dipping cookies into, and it pairs well with most desserts, especially cakes or sweet chocolaty desserts like mousse.  Not a tea that really would do very well being iced, because of the "floaters" from the cinnamon, but it's perfect just the way it is.


Rating out of Six Tails:
5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

I do put a buy recommendation on this but keep in mind if you don't like cinnamon you might not like this.  It is VERY cinnamony!

Bai Hao Yin Zen

Name:  Bai Hao Yin Zen


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  White


Dry Scent:  Very green-smelling (not green-tea smelling) like fresh leaves when you brush them with your fingers.  Delicate to the nose, but strong in the amount of scent it puts out.


Steeping Time:  4-5 min


Steeped Flavour:  Warm, again fresh and green, but with a smoothness to it, and a sort of buttery aftertaste.  Almost tastes a little woodsy, but deciduous forest, not conifer.  Something like the woods out east rather than our coastal rainforest here.  This tastes quite a bit greener than I usually taste from white tea, and almost reminds me of the tea served in every Chinese restaurant I've ever been to, only better.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This would seem to me to be pretty versatile.  I can see drinking it on its own, or with breakfast, lunch or dinner (although it does actually have a fairly high caffeine content for a white tea, so right before bed might be a bad idea)


Rating out of Six Tails:
5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

I've been holding off breaking into this sample since the tea is SO expensive, but as DT has it on sale just now, I wanted to try it and see if it was something I would want to add to my collection.  My "Buy" rating on this should be taken with the caveat that it's definitely not something to just casually decide to buy from the online store if you're short on funds.  If you're really curious about this one, I would suggest going into a DT outlet and getting one of the salespeople there to make you a cup of it.  All cups of tea cost the same, after all, no matter how expensive it would be to buy the leaves, so that's a good way to "test run" a more pricey tea if you aren't sure of it.

Kanpe Tea

Name:  Kanpe Tea


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Herbal


Dry Scent:  Strongly fruity, with overtones of sweet cinnamon and the most predominant fruit being mango and papaya and a little bit of apple-y sweetness. The coconut is there as well, blending all the flavours together. It smells a little wintery actually, which seems strange for a tea based on ingredients from Haiti, but still it smells yummy.


Steeping Time:  6-7 min


Steeped Flavour:   Mmm...you wouldn't think fruity and cinnamon would go together so well, but they blend nicely in this. It tastes mostly of mango and something that reminds me of cherries (but not fake-cherry flavour) with the coconut adding smoothness and the cinnamon underpinning all the fruit to give it a grounding sort of warm earthiness. I really do think this is a nice fall or winter tea.


Food/Drink Pairings:   This goes nicely, I would say, with fruity desserts. It also might be nice iced, with a little rum. Hmm...or rum'n'coke? Yes. I'm thinking yes.

Rating out of Six Tails:
5/6

Buy/Don't Buy

Green and Fruity

Name:  Green and Fruity


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Rooibos


Dry Scent:  Sun-warmed grass, a bit of warm summer dust and dried fruit, mostly scents of papaya, strawberry and mango and maybe a hint of peach as well.  Makes me think of hot summer days sitting in the meadow just enjoying the sunshine and maybe eating a peach or one of those delicious black star plums.


Steeping Time: 6-7 min


Steeped Flavour:  The warm earthiness of the rooibos really comes out in this one, with high notes from the green rooibos and juicy notes of mango and sweet papaya.  It is very smooth-drinking hot, and ices really nicely as well, with more fruitiness coming out as it cools, predominantly the mango and papaya, making it taste almost like a tropical evening.  Yum.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is a picnic tea, or a perfect iced tea for a backyard barbeque.  This would also be absolutely delicious with some peach schnapps and just a hint of fizz...or maybe mango or raspberry vodka...pretty much any fruit-based or fruit-flavoured liqueur would pair nicely with this in a martini-style drink.


Rating out of Six Tails:
5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Cocoberry

Name: Cocoberry


Brand: David's Tea


Primary Type: Maté


Dry Scent: This is a bit of a strange one. A little bitter-smelling, with undertones of sweet berries and the rich aroma of whole roasted coffee beans. It's almost as though the nose (or brain) can only process one set of scents at once, so in one breath this will smell very coffee-like, bitter and roasty/smokey, and in the next breath all you smell is the sweetness of the dried berries.


Steeping Time: 5 min, and I wouldn't + this and drink it gourd-style since it includes black tea and whole coffee beans.


Steeped Flavour: Interesting. The strongest flavour of this is the coffee, but it doesn't taste like coffee, it actually tastes like the SMELL of roasting coffee beans. The fruit is here as well, but it is defintely less strong. It underpins the coffee bean taste and keeps it from being too bitter. It's actually quite lovely, but a bit of an aquired taste.


Food/Drink Pairings: This is NOT a dessert tea. This is a main course tea for sure; something to drink with red meat or barbeque. It might overpower lighter meals, and with anything sweet it would contrast too greatly.


Rating out of Six Tails:
5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Ceylon Star

Name: Ceylon Star


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Black


Dry Scent:  Smells very much like chocolate cookie dough.  There is a warm cocoa-bean scent, along with the creamy notes from the white chocolate and hints of licorice from the star anise that add depth.  This is a very comforting scent, a little like walking into the house after someone's been doing some winter baking.


Steeping Time: 5-6 min (the directions allow up to 7 but I find it brings out the black ceylon tea too much and puts the flavours out of balance)


Steeped Flavour: I can definitely taste the star anise, but it's balanced by sweetness and chocolate.  The ceylon tea itself provides a lovely base to support the sweetness and make sure it doesn't take over.  This is sweet, but not candy-sweet or even cake-sweet.  It has a more natural sort of sweetness, like what you might get sucking on a bit of licorice-fern root.  Sweet but with hints of bitterness and dark earthy flavours as well.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This tea is lovely with breakfast; with any meal, really.  It's a good all-round tea and also would be good with cakes or cookies as a "teatime" tea.  This is a tea that I would call almost a perfect High Tea drink.  Good black, good with milk or sugar or both, and well able to carry itself off.


Rating out of Six Tails:

5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Peachberry Jasmine Sutra

Name:  Peachberry Jasmine Sutra


Brand: Teavana


Primary Type:  Green


Dry Scent:  This opens with strawberry sweetness, with an undertone of peaches.  Very warm and summery.  I don't smell any of the jasmine in this dry, but it definitely opens up as soon as the water is poured over it


Steeping Time:  2-3 min


Steeped Flavour:  The strongest flavour in this is actually hibiscus, tart and fruity, but the jasmine hovers overtop, and you can taste it on your breath as you drink.  The strawberries and peaches do finally come into play, lingering on the tongue after the tea has been swallowed.  A very smooth tea, refreshing and easy to drink, but I do wish there was a little less hibiscus and a little more strawberry.  Actually, the tartness of the hibiscus brings to mind more rhubarb than berry.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is a nice picnic or teatime tea, and would go well with fruity desserts, a crumble or a pie.  It would be nice iced as well, or served with ice cream.


Rating out of Six Tails:
4/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Cocoa Canela

Name:  Cocoa Canela


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Maté


Dry Scent:  Cinnamon.  Lots and lots of cinnamon.  Actually, since there really is quite a bit of powdered cinnamon in this blend, be careful when sniffing not to get too close or you might accidentally breathe some in!  Also there is a definite scent of chocolate to this, very much like xocoatl, or at least, the version of this that is made at a local chocolate specialty shop.  Mmm...going to have to make a stop there one of these days once the weather gets cooler.


Steeping Time: 5 min (+ if drinking gourd-style)


Steeped Flavour:  I will admit, this is one of the only teas that I routinely add anything to.  On its own it is quite lovely, with strong flavours of cinnamon and chocolate and just a hint of spiciness although I would like a bit more spice really.  When you add a little Bailies (or other heavy cream or cream liqueur) it becomes absolutely heavenly!  It's just a tiny bit too watery without adding anything, but if you dilute it with too much milk you loose too much of the flavour.  A half-ounce of Bailies solves that problem admirably!


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is an on-its-own or dessert tea.  Not really a first thing in the morning tea either, but with something to dunk in it (and the aforementioned booze) it makes a great happy hour treat, especially on damp, chilly fall days or as an apres-ski (or apres-snow) sip to ward off cold noses and cold toes.


Rating out of Six Tails:

4.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Rose Congou Green

Name:  Rose Congou Green


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Green


Dry Scent: Tea roses.  Definitely heavily-scented tea roses.  This smells like a bouquet or an eastern perfume, and also reminds me very much of lokoum, aka Turkish delight.  The proper stuff made with rosewater.  Purely beautiful!


Steeping Time: 3-4 min

Steeped Flavour:  Unsurprisingly this tastes very much like rosewater sweets.  The perfume of the rosepetals is there, but also the sharp, bright acidity of the rosehips, and all of it is balanced out by the slightly grassy or sea-side flavour of the green tea.  This could end up a bit cloying, but everything manages not to overpower everything else, so we end up with a cup of pure, warm rose garden.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This would probably be good with something delicate, like cucumber sandwiches or maybe smoked salmon.  Definitely a "high tea" kind of vibe to this tea.  Actually, what might be really, really beautiful is if you managed to get ahold of some crystalized sugar rosepetals and put one or two into a cup of this tea to lightly sweeten it.  Gorgeous!  This tea probably would not pair well with most main courses, and definitely would not cut through any heavy desserts, but just the whisps of steam coming off it smell high-class and decadent.  I would also love to try this with patisseries.  Hmm...any excuse to get my hands on a few patisseries!


Rating out of Six Tails:
5/6

Buy/Don't Buy

I'm putting a "buy" recommendation on this, but keep in mind, if you don't like floral perfumes, you might not like this.  It's very floral.  In fact, I'd almost call it "aggressively" floral!  So if you're the type who can't stand a jasmine green tea, don't go for this.  If, on the other hand, you love the scents of flowers...do itttt!

Brazillionaire

Name:  Brazillionaire

Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Black


Dry Scent:  Sweet, followed by the rich buttery nuttyness of the coconut and the brazil nuts.  The black tea is hiding here underpinning the other scents, but if you go looking you will find it.  The scent reminds me somehow of wintertime, but I think it's mostly because I mostly end up eating brazil nuts while snacking on people's nut bowls during the holidays.


Steeping Time: 4-5 min


Steeped Flavour:  Warm, buttery, sweet and very rich.  The strongest flavour in this is definitely brazil nuts.  The raisins are there too, although mostly they just seem to add to the sweetness, but thankfully not in a cloying way.   A bit astringent, between the black tea's tannins and the natural astringency of the nuts, but not overly drying.  This tea is warming and I think a good fall to winter tea.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This is perfect for what the Brits call "biccy dipping".  A tasty snacktime or dessert tea.  Not so sweet that it is dessert all on its own, but a perfect compliment to cookies or cakes.  It could probably go with dinner, if dinner involved a sweet sauce of some kind, but it doesn't really seem like a morning tea.  I would say most of all this is a perfect "teatime" tea.  Actually, it might be nice with a little infusion of cream liqueur, particularly any nut-based liqueur.


Rating out of Six Tails:
5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy


I was so excited to get this as a sample in my latest tea order!  I'd been wanting to try this for ages because I really love brazil nuts, and I've got to say I was not in any way disappointed.  Thank You David's Tea package packer, whoever you are! <3

Ginseng Oolong

Name:  Ginseng Oolong


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Oolong


Dry Scent:  Warm and buttery, with the sharp scent of oolong tea.  There is a sharp green-ness to this underlying the richness of the ginseng, and a faint gingeryness as well, although very mild.


Steeping Time: 5 min


Steeped Flavour: Sweet, smooth. There is a strong taste of Oolong but not it's objectionable.  Really, this tea is quite lovely.  Actually, the level of sweetness is surprising, but I'm presuming it must come from the ginseng.  There is a rich butteryness to it as well, which I'm not used to encountering with oolongs.  Really a very soothing drink, and you can almost taste the health benefits as you drink it.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This would probably go well with most main courses, but it's just sweet enough to accompany a cheese plate as well, or even some less-sweet desserts.  You could drink this any time of day although it is fairly caffeinated so keep that in mind.


Rating out of Six Tails:

5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

And now, for something completely different...

LOL or a little different anyway.  Yes, I'm drinking tea today, Daydreamer from David's Tea, but I'll review that another day, today I've decided I'm going to review a different part of the tea-making process...

David's Tea's The Steeper

This is not your grandmother's teapot, that's for sure!  It comes in two sizes, 36oz and 18oz, and I am reviewing the 36oz size because that is the one I have.  I bought it at the beginning of the summer because of a special deal that was offered at the time, and I have not once regretted having it. I also do not regret buying the larger size although there are times when I wish I had a small one as well.  Perhaps if I had more space in the cupboard that wasn't getting filled up with tea >.>

So, let's make this simple:

Pros:
Easy to use.  Basically just measure in your loose tea (or pop in a few teabags), pour water over it, then sit it on top of an applicable container to empty it when you're done.

Easy to clean.  Although I admit that there was a bit of a learning curve for me on how everything came apart to clean.  It took me two uses or so to figure out that the mesh infuser/screen at the bottom did come out, and it took me about two months to figure out that I could put it in the dishwasher by removing the lid if I so desired.

Pretty!  I love that this is clear and large enough to brew blooming teas in.  I have another glass teapot, a bodum, but since its infuser is integral with its lid, you can't really brew stuff in it without the infuser, which makes me a sad panda sometimes.  I love being able to watch my tea brewing, especially the aforementioned blooming teas and whole-leaf Oolong teas.  So amazing that what start out as little crumpled spit-wad looking things can unfurl into a pot full of whole leaves that look like they were just picked off a tree yesterday!

Functional.  Talk about easy to pour...just sit it on top of the desired final destination for your tea and off you go!  The large size is especially useful for making iced tea or adding tea to other punch-style drinks that I like to make over the summer.  The Steeper comes with a flat disc to sit on, which is a good thing as it does occasionally have the odd drip or two hanging around after you've emptied it, but you're certainly not going to splash tea over your hand if you pour too enthusiastically, and this never does that dribble-pour thing that you can get from a substandard teapot.  The other really well-thought-out functional point to this item is that it has indicator lines on the side for one, two and three "cups", so that if you only want to make one cup's worth of tea, you can still use it.

Cons:
Hard to carry.  Once this has been filled to the three-cup level, you're pretty much hooped if you suddenly decide you'd rather bring it upstairs so you don't have to go back down to the kitchen, or make any similar location change.  Unlike a teapot with a fairly small opening at the top, covered with a stable (usually) lid, and a very small (relatively) opening at the spout, the entire top of this container is basically open.  Yes, it has a lid, but that lid is hardly what I would call a solid seal, and it's very easy to accidentally slosh a large amount of very hot water over yourself if you don't have an extremely steady hand and try to carry it for more than a couple of feet.

Empty in one go.  Unlike a teapot where you can easily take out the tea bags or mesh infuser, there is no way to stop the steeping process other than to empty this.  When you have a large Steeper, as I do, this often means pulling out three cups and filling all of them and then leaving two tented under a teacosy or having to empty the Steeper into another tea pot to contain whatever amount of brewed tea will not fit into the mug you've chosen, which means extra dishes (ugh).  This would, of course, be less of an issue with a smaller Steeper rather than the large one, so this is only a partial Con.

Overflow.  Beware!  If you are emptying this into a vessel which is not clear (and most of my mugs are not) you will need to know exactly how much liquid that vessel will hold, or you need to empty it a bit, pause, check the level in the mug/cup/bowl, then empty some more until the mug/cup/bowl is full.  Do not assume, or you could end up with an unfortunate puddle of wasted tea surrounding your mug as it sits forlornly full to the brim on the counter.  Unfortunately there is nothing that stops this from emptying once the liquid reaches any particular level, or even if the liquid touches the bottom of the valve, so you have to be alert while pouring!

Overall, I quite like this little contraption.  I would say that it is both useful and functional, and for the amount of tea you can brew with it, the shape means that it takes up less space in the cupboard than a comperable traditional teapot would.  As long as you're aware of some of its quirks, I would definitely say that I feel no compunction recommending this.

Rating out of Six Tails:
5/6


Buy/Don't Buy


I feel I should add that David's Tea is not the only place that carries this style of infuser.  I know for sure that Teavana also have one, as does Murchies, and I'm sure other places do as well.  DT's version is the only one I have, however, and the only one I've used, so of course it was the one I reviewed ^_~

Queen of Tarts

Name:  Queen of Tarts

Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Maté


Dry Scent:  There is a very strong tart scent of hibiscus right off, and the guayasa follows with its slightly musty green scent of autumn leaves.  Smells definitely of later summer to me rather than early summer - late August or early September when the berries are ripening and the nights are cool enough that the leaves are starting to fall.


Steeping Time: 6-7 min (+ if drinking traditional style)


Steeped Flavour:  Marionberries.  This tastes exactly like marionberries.  And if you haven't had marionberries before, then I'm sorry for your loss.  Basically imagine a cross between a raspberry and a slightly tart blackberry with a deep reddish-purple colour that looks a lot like blood when you crush them.  Yum!  The tartness pretty much hides the more earthy tones of the guayasa, but it's definitely still there as well, reminding me a little of the scent of the marionberry leaves.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This would go nicely with richer foods, steaks and roasts and such, but it would also be lovely first thing in the morning.  In fact, this morning I was drinking this while eating my toast and it made it almost seem like I'd put jam on my toast when it was only lightly buttered.  This is also amazing iced, and it would go beautifully with, perhaps, a fruit or berry cobbler.  Or lemon meringue pie...


Rating out of Six Tails:
6/6

Buy/Don't Buy

Seriously, this even looks like marionberry juice! 

CocoCaramel Sea Salt

Name:  CocoCaramel Sea Salt


Brand:  Teavana


Primary Type:  Herbal


Dry Scent:  This smells absolutely delicious, like walking into a high-end chocolate shop.  There's chocolate here, obviously, and the sweetness of the caramel, along with nuttiness and just a hint of herbal sweetness from the anise seeds and licorice root.  This is a tea that one could sit and just breathe in for hours without even steeping it or anything.


Steeping Time:  5-6 min


Steeped Flavour:  Not quite as sweet as it smells but close.  This almost tastes like watery hot chocolate, with extra sweetness and the nut flavours making it just a little richer.  This probably would do better with a little milk or cream, but since I don't take my teas that way I do find it a tiny bit thin.  If steeped too long, the anise and licorice flavours become stronger, so beware for those who dislike those, but for me, it just adds to the sense of drinking "essence of chocolate shop".  This is a very tasty tea indeed!


Food/Drink Pairings:  This doesn't really need to be paired with anything, it is dessert on its own, but I would say that it would go very nicely with anything chocolate, like cake or brownies, and would also be really, really nice with ice cream.  In fact, it would probably be incredible with ice cream melted into it, then re-frozen into popsicles...must try that some time!


Rating out of Six Tails:
5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

Fantasy Island

Name:  Fantasy Island


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Black


Dry Scent:  This smells like raspberry jam drop cookies.  The soft kind with oatmeal and coconut.  The raspberry is definitely sweet and jammy to the nose, and the coconut smells warm and rich...beautiful!


Steeping Time:  6-7 min


Steeped Flavour: Not quite as sweet as it smelled dry, but that is a good thing, really.  The first flavour across the tongue is coconut, rich and creamy, followed by the slightly tannic bite of the black tea, with the raspberry lingering on the tongue as an aftertaste.  Quite tasty and surprisingly refreshing, given how I thought it might taste when I smelled it dry.


Food/Drink Pairings:  Cookies.  Omg definitely a cookie-dunking tea.  Especially oatmeal cookies.  This would be wonderful with breakfast, and any snacks or desserts, and I'm guessing would be extremely tasty as a tea latte.  DT suggests icing it, and I can see how that would be really good as well, although it's starting to get past "iced tea" season a bit.  Another tea that I would love to try infusing into a cake icing, maybe for a nice dark chocolate cake with jam between the layers...


Rating out of Six Tails:
4.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

The reason I rated this tea a little lower than it sounds like I ought was because I did find that the tea is a bit more tannic than I like.  I may try it another time with a slightly shorter steeping time and a tiny bit more tea so that I can reduce the amount of tannins coming through and not lose the richness of the flavour.

Glitter and Gold

Name:  Glitter and Gold


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Black


Dry Scent:  Sweet is the first scent that comes from this as the tin is opened, followed by the warmth of cinnamon and a faint brightness from the orange.  The black tea underpins all of these diverse scents and helps tie them together.  Ultimately this smells something like sugar cookies dunked in tea, faintly cinnamon-orange and sweet.


Steeping Time: 6-7 min


Steeped Flavour:  Before we even get to flavour...this tea has to be seen to be believed.  It glitters!  As a fox attracted to anything shiny, I love the tea for that reason even before anything else about how it tastes.  Now, pulling myself away from **the shiny!** and on to the tea itself, on the tongue there is the faint taste of cinnamon sugar cookies, and the tea taste is very soft in the mouth.  Not one of those black-tea bases that is super-tannic and makes you pucker.  The orange is there as well, making this taste a little like orange pekoe, but the cinnamon adds depth that I find orange pekoe often lacks.  This is a well-balanced tea, although it seemed a bit weak.  Next time I brew it, I'm adding more than the recommended amount of tea.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This would be very, very nice for dunking cookies into.  Because of the sugar, I don't really see this as a mealtime tea, but it would be excellent first thing in the morning, or in the middle of the day as a snack-substitute.


Rating out of Six Tails:

5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

This tea is so shiny!  Still pictures just don't do it justice, but I'll do my best to show you all...

The glitter travels along the convection currents in the hot tea, creating swirls of shimmer in the cup.  I recommend always drinking this tea from a clear cup if you possibly can, just to see more of the sparkly!

Honey Bee

Name: Honey Bee


Brand: David's Tea


Primary Type: Maté


Dry Scent:  This smells like honey, unsurprisingly.  Actually, let's be more exact here:  This smells like delicate orange blossom honey.  If you're a long-time Lushie (as I am) this will remind you very strongly of the sadly now defunct Honey Lumps bath bomb, or B Never shower gel.  Very, very natural honey scent, not toffee-honey or commercial honey.


Steeping Time: 5-7 min +  (I've been steeping this up to 15 min for my throat this week)


Steeped Flavour:  Mmm...sweet honey!  Still very floral honey though, definitely orange blossom honey.  There's a hint of earthiness from the maté and sunny warmth from the rooibos, but the overall effect is that of honey, and I find it very soothing. It almost makes me think of sweet honey cakes or baklava.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This goes nicely any time of day, and probably would go nicely even with main courses, but it is best paired with dessert.  Especially things like poundcake.  This tea ices extremely well, and can be diluted to quite a degree after brewing and the floral honey is still evident in the water.  Done this way it is extremely refreshing, and if, for example, you tend to take a bottle of water with you while exercising, adding just a little Honey Bee to the water is something you might enjoy very much.


Rating out of Six Tails:
6/6


Buy/Don't Buy

This is definitely one of my "must have on hand at all times" teas.  If for no other reason than because it is so incredibly versatile!  Well, that, and it's just so tasty, of course.

The Skinny

Name: The Skinny


Brand: David's Tea


Primary Type:  Oolong


Dry Scent: This smells, of all things, like Tang mix.  At least, that was the first thing that came to my mind.  The orangey scent is quite sharp, though, and on second sniff this reminds me of Seville oranges - the bitter, bumpy-skinned oranges used for making marmalade.  They have a certain acridness to their scent that isn't apparent in, say, a navel orange


Steeping Time:  5-7 min


Steeped Flavour: Strong, although not biting, taste of ginger in this, followed by orange with an undertone of the usual smokiness inherent to oolong tea.  The pu'erh tea in this blend lends it depth and balances the brightness of the ginger nicely.  Not, by any means, a sweet tea, but it is wonderfully smooth and somehow soothing.


Food/Drink Pairings:  This would go nicely with any meal.  It is citrussy enough to do as a breakfast or first-thing tea, but would also cut nicely through the flavour of red meat, and would balance nicely with a warm soup for lunch...really, this tea goes with anything.  I don't see it as much of a dessert tea, but it would do nicely as an after-dinner palate cleanser.  And of course, as a between meal snack substitute.


Rating out of Six Tails:
5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

I have no idea if this tea actually helps with weight loss, but honestly, it's tasty enough that I could drink it every day, and that, if nothing else, is a sign of a tea that will help with loosing weight by preventing some of the snacking I am wont to do.

Mango Lassi

Name:  Mango Lassi


Brand:  David's Tea


Primary Type:  Herbal


Dry Scent:  Mango.  Pretty much just straight mango, with hints of grassiness from the chamomile and sweetness from the vanilla bean.  Actually, this doesn't just smell like fresh mango, but specifically like Ataulfo mango.  And if you haven't eaten Ataulfo mangoes before, you really, really should.  They are light, sweet and have a deliciously smooth texture.


Steeping Time: 6-7 min


Steeped Flavour:  Again, mango!  This is the most mango-y thing I've ever consumed that wasn't actually mangoes or mango juice.  This is even more mango-y than the frozen mango juice concentrate I keep around for adding to iced tea.  Colour me impressed!  Drinking this hot is like consuming a warm dose of sunshine, and can't help but make you feel happy.  There was a slight grassiness near the end of my cup from the dregs which did contain a little too much chamomile, but it was easily overlooked, and probably would have been less noticeable if I didn't let the tea cool quite so much.


Food/Drink Pairings:  Breakfast?  I definitely think this would be a really tasty breakfast tea, either hot or iced.  It would also be great on a picnic, and I can see it being perfect with dessert.  Also, I can see it pairing well with Indian food.  The drink this is named after is often used as a palate cleanser between courses, and this would serve very well in that capacity as well.


Rating out of Six Tails:
5.5/6


Buy/Don't Buy

The only reason this doesn't get a full 6/6 is due to the unfortunate influence of the chamomile, so if chamomile is more your thing than it is mine, feel free to ignore the half-point loss XD

Coconut Grove

Name:   Coconut Grove


Brand: David's Tea


Primary Type: White


Dry Scent: Very coconutty. This reminds me of making cookies or, well, anything that involves baking with shaved coconut. There's a hint of "Hawaiian Tropic" here but it's not cloying, and the tea leaves mellow the coconut scent out a bit.


Steeping Time: 4-5 min


Steeped Flavour: How best to describe this...hmm...it's very tasty. It's like drinking "essence of macaroons*" and I didn't even have to add any sweetener to get there! The coconut is just naturally sweet and it blends so nicely with the delicate flavour of the white tea that it is blissfully pleasant to drink. I honestly cannot describe the flavour as anything else than macaroons! *(the plain kind, not chocolate macaroons. And yes, I know, there needs to be a real drink that is essence of macaroons)


Food/Drink Pairings: This is probably best served as a dessert tea. It would go well with everything from cookies to lemon snow to heavily spiced coffee cake and would probably be amazing reduced and poured over vanilla ice cream.


Rating out of Six Tails:
6/6


Buy/Don't Buy


Buy this one while you can, folks, if it sounds like your cup of tea ^_~. It was part of the summer line and might not be around much longer. I just had to review it while people still have a chance to pounce on it!

Peach Paradise

Name: Peach Paradise


Brand: Silk Road


Primary Type: Black


Dry Scent: Smells lovely and peachy, like fresh summer peaches on the tree, with the slightly sharp undertones of black tea.


Steeping Time: 5-6 min


Steeped Flavour: Um...where did the peaches go? Honestly, all I taste here is black tea. There's some scent of the peaches in the steam off the cup but there's none at all in the tea. None! I cry! So frustrating! I wanted something peachy! If I'd wanted a plain black tea I would've brewed one!  It's at least a nice quality black tea I suppose, but still!


Food/Drink Pairings: Whatever you'd normally drink plain black tea with I suppose?


Rating out of Six Tails:
2/6


Buy/Don't Buy