Author: Michelle

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DavidsTea’s Black Jasmine Pearls

Black Jasmine Pearls by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$16.90 for 50g

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First Impressions

The pearls are, for lack of a better term, cute. They’re about the size of marbles, a nice mix of light and dark brown tea leaves and they are quite tightly rolled. The Black Jasmine Pearls are certified organic and have a very mild floral scent from the jasmine. It isn’t overwhelming or the first thing I notice, as the black tea base is much stronger in fragrance than the addition of jasmine to the tea.

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The ingredients for Black Jasmine Pearls are black tea pearls from Hunnan Province, China, that are scented with jasmine blossoms.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping these tea pearls in 96°C (204°F) water for 4 to 7 minutes. For my tea pot, I used 4 pearls that I steeped for about 4 minutes.

First Taste

Black Jasmine Pearls steep to a deep golden brown colour, it’s fun to watch the tea leaves unfurl in the metal basket that my teapot has. The overall taste to the tea is a bit underwhelming. It has a bit of a malty taste that I find pleasant. There is no astringency and no bitterness. Despite being called a jasmine tea, there aren’t any obvious floral flavours in the tea itself, which is a disappointing given the fact that it is meant to be a jasmine black tea. It is a pleasant tea, but it’s underwhelming in what I would have expected from a tea that isn’t exactly inexpensive.

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A Second Cup?

I steeped the Black Jasmine Pearls for a second time, to see if the flavours would improve. I steeped it for about 5 minutes this time around. Black Jasmine Pearls actually tastes better in steep #2. The malty taste of the black tea base is more pronounced, still no jasmine flavour to speak of, but it’s very enjoyable. The tea is very smooth and pleasant. It tastes really nice. The tea did well for steep #3 and was a bit watery and thin in flavour for steep #4.

My Overall Impression

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I liked DavidsTea’s Black Jasmine Pearls. While the tea was disappointing in that the jasmine was nowhere to be found when steeping the tea – and to be fair it was fairly underwhelming with the dry tea, the tea itself is enjoyable and pleasant. Black Jasmine Pearls does very well for resteeping at least two additional times, your mileage may vary for the fourth steep. I think it’s a really nice black tea. What it lacks in floral flavouring, it makes up for in the quality of the black tea. It is a bit on the expensive side at $16.90 for 50g, but I think it’s a really nice addition to my tea collection and I do see it as a tea as I’d like to get again (either as a small bag as a treat for myself, or to use my Frequent Steeper reward on).

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Teavana’s Flowering Pineapple

Flowering Pineapple by Teavana
White Tea / Flavoured
$18.98 for 2oz

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First Impressions

Flowering Pineapple smells pretty was the first thought that went through my head when I first smelled it while at Teavana. I had yet another Starbucks/Teavana reward to use and I wanted to try one of their blooming teas. Flowering Pineapple has a beautiful delicate pineapple aroma to it, and it is quite the hefty tea. For the free reward, I get 1oz of any loose tea, and that 1oz equated to just four balls of the Flowering Pineapple tea. Considering how pricey it is per oz, it’s not very many balls. But it smells amazing and I really wanted to try it, so I got it!

Flowering Pineapple is made up of: white tea, marigold blossoms, and artificial flavouring.

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Preparation

Teavana recommends steeping Flowering Pineapple in 82°C (180°F) water for 3-4 minutes. If you noticed on the label, it also recommends using 1 ball. I opted to steep it in a tea pot so I could see the blooming action a little bit better.

First Taste

Flowering Pineapple has a very light fruity smell to it when it is steeping. It does have the pineapple aroma, but it’s not as strong as it was when it was dry. The ball opens up quite a bit, as you can see in the photo. The tea leaves really add to the overall beauty in the way it circles the flower. It is a very pretty blooming tea, and it is fun to watch the petals unfurl.

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The pineapple taste is very light, more of the natural white tea flavour comes through. Make sure you watch your water temperature and steeping time with this one. I prepared it according to the directions and had a lovely cup of tea with no bitterness or astringency. I find that the taste is very light though, compared to the white tea base. I wish more of the pineapple was present in the taste of the tea since it was there when the tea was dry.

A Second Cup?

Many white teas can be resteeped, so I was hoping that Flowering Pineapple would not be an exception. It does fairly well with the second steeping. I can barely taste the pineapple, but the natural white tea taste comes through better. It does okay with the third steeping, but it’s not exceptional, and was beginning to have a very thinned out flavour.

My Overall Impression

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I liked Teavana’s Flowering Pineapple. While the pineapple taste was gone after the first time I steeped the tea, as I was expecting since it was an artificial flavouring, I like the white tea base. I do wish that there wasn’t the pineapple flavouring at all though, because the white tea base is quite nice and will hold up to a few steepings. It’s a fun tea to steep because it is a blooming tea and it is very pretty. But I do think that there are better white teas out there at a more affordable price. Assuming you could get 8 balls of Flowering Pineapple in 2oz, that works out to be ~$2.25 per ball/cup. That’s a fairly expensive tea when you think about it and the fact that there are better and less expensive white teas out there, even if you can resteep it again. If you are interested in trying it out, it might be a nice tea to use your free Starbucks/Teavana rewards on.

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DavidsTea’s Mulled Wine

Mulled Wine by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$9.50 for 50g

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First Impressions

I decided to try Mulled Wine from DavidsTea’s 2015 winter collection because of the amazing smell that the little sample cup of dried tea had in store (yes, I’m lucky enough to live close enough to get to go in person – it’s pretty awesome!). The tea has a beautiful citrus smell, which I quite like. I’m a big fan of a lot of citrus fruits, so the bright aroma of orange is quite welcoming. Despite this being an oolong tea, I really cannot make out the fragrance of the tea. What I can make out is oranges, cinnamon, and ginger.

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Mulled Wine is made up of: oolong tea, apple, orange peel, cinnamon, clove buds, ginger, and natural flavouring. The ingredients are really quite visible, the oolong seems a little overwhelmed with all of the other ingredients around it though. Hopefully the oolong taste comes out when the tea is steeped!

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Mulled Wine in 85°C (185°F) water for 4 to 7 minutes. I went for the lower end of the spectrum of time because I find that most oolongs do pretty okay with being steeped again, so fingers crossed for Mulled Wine!

First Taste

Mulled Wine steeps to a lovely golden yellow, but the aroma isn’t that impressive compared to the dry leaf. I can barely make out the smell of any of the citrus, cinnamon or ginger. It actually smells a bit like oolong tea, which is quite nice considering that is the tea base. The taste of Mulled Wine is a bit confusing. There’s some notes of citrus, a little bit of the cloves comes out, but the tea itself doesn’t wow me. It’s hard to make out the oolong taste because it’s been muddled with all of the other ingredients. The citrus notes are nice, coupled with the cloves and a spicy note from the ginger. The actual oolong is underwhelming.

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A Second Cup?

While Mulled Wine can be resteeped and it tastes pretty much the same as the first cup, I was just not interested in it.

My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like DavidsTea’s Mulled Wine. It’s not something I particularly enjoyed drinking. As an oolong, it doesn’t do anything for me. As a tea with notes of ginger and cloves, I think it would make a great tea for someone with a sore throat or wanting something to warm up with. For an oolong tea though, it is underwhelming and I think there are a lot more better oolong teas out there. I will probably keep the rest of my little bag around as a tea for when I’m sick because I do like the ginger taste, but it falls flat for me.

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