Category: Review

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DavidsTea’s Cold 911

Cold 911 by DavidsTea
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Cold 911 is one of those teas that always seems to be available as a sample choice when checking out online. For those new to DavidsTea, they offer samples on checkout and you can opt to get 3 that they pick or to select it yourself. Since they offered the DIY option, I usually pick out teas that I haven’t tried before and Cold 911 – you just never know when you might need a sicky-time tea on hand! I’ve had this herbal infusion multiple times over the years (usually in the autumn and winter months when I feel a cold coming on).

Cold 911 smells like mint, orange, and eucalyptus – it smells very much like an herbal cough drop of some sort, thanks to the eucalyptus. Cold 911 contains organic: peppermint, apple, juniper berries, with natural eucalyptus and orange flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Cold 911 in 95°C (200°F) water for 5+ minutes. My initial steep of Cold 911 was for 8 minutes.

First Taste

Cold 911 steeps to an orangey brown colour, not the most appealing by any standards. The aroma is mostly minty, which is quite nice. The taste of the herbal infusion is a blend of eucalyptus and mint – with the mint winning out in strength. There’s a light sweetness that I would probably attribute to the apples. There’s a lovely cooling sensation when I drink this that is quite pleasant, and would probably be very soothing when someone isn’t feeling that great.

A Second Cup?

I’ve attempted to resteep Cold 911 before in the past and it doesn’t do very well, with it tasting primarily like mint.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Cold 911. I really do welcome this herbal infusion into my mug when I’m feeling a bit under the weather because it does make me feel better. I do wish that the eucalyptus and orange was actually physically present as opposed to flavouring because then it might resteep at least once better. It does have a nice cooling sensation that does help a lot with a sore throat though, so I do have to give it props for that.

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Tea Side’s Wild Jungle Green, Grade A

Wild Jungle Green Tea, Grade A by Tea Side
Green Tea / Straight
$12.00USD for 50g

Tea Side has provided me with Wild Jungle Green Tea, Grade A for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Wild Jungle Green Tea, Grade A came to me in a shiny green packet. Inside the tea leaves are long, wiry – in varying shades of brown from a light green to a dark, almost black brown. I learned from the Tea Side website that there are three grades of this Wild Jungle Green Tea – from A to C where A is the most expensive. The grades are decided on based on which tea has the tips (A) and which tea is made up of the second or third leaves on the plant (C). Grade A is considered to be premium grade because it has the two leaves and a bud leaf selection present.

Wild Jungle Green Tea, Grade A, is a straight green tea from the forests of Thailand, where the tea grow wild there (unlike from a tea plantation or farm). Tea Side describes this forest has having trees between 200 and 500 years old. This tea was harvested in August 2017 at 1300m above sea level. The aroma from the dry leaf reminds me of the fragrance of plums and berries.

Preparation

I couldn’t find steeping recommendations for Wild Jungle Green Tea, Grade A. My initial steep was at 175°F (80°C) for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Wild Jungle Green Tea, Grade A steeps to a lovely light yellow. There’s a sweet, fruity aroma from the steeped tea. The tea itself has a sweetness to it, some plum notes, and a slight grassy flavour throughout the whole sip. I found at the tail end of each sip, I noted a little bit of saltiness – just a little bit of umami throughout.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Wild Jungle Green, Grade A a total of three times, adding an extra 30 seconds for each steep. I found with each steep, the saltiness grew while the sweet fruity flavours faded.

My Overall Impression

I liked Tea Side’s Wild Jungle Green Tea, Grade A. I really enjoyed the initial steep, and think it would be fun to get the other two teas to compare the different grades in terms of being able to compare and contrast the differences in flavour and quality. I found the initial steep to be the best, as I really enjoyed the sweet, fruity notes that were primarily present in the initial steep. If you’re a fan of the saltiness that umami flavours bring, you might be a fan of the subsequent steeps (more so than me, at least!).

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Trader Joe’s Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix

Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix by Trader Joe’s
Black Tea / Flavoured
$3.99USD for 10oz (284g)

First Impressions

Big ol’ tin of chai latte mix for $4USD? Don’t mind if it I do! It work out to be about $5.25CAD, which isn’t terrible, especially when I consider how much a comparable product might cost me in Canada! I picked up this tin of Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix during my cross-border (mostly tea) shopping trip back in September. The tin has a plastic lid and a foil seal that I had to peel open to get to the powder inside. The powder itself is a light brown with a very mild chai spice aroma to it.

FUN FACT! Chai is another word for tea, so when someone says “chai tea”, they’re really saying “tea tea”! However, we’ve come to expect “chai” to describe spiced teas, usually like a masala chai.

There is a scoop inside of the tin! I found it when I was using a tablespoon to scoop out the powder for my first drink. Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix consists of: sugar, non-fat milk, non-dairy creamer, tea powder blend (with black tea), honey granules, spice blend (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, anise, ginger), silicon dioxide, natural flavours, carrageenan and guar gum, and bourbon vanilla extract. Silicon dioxide is used to prevent clumping, carragenan is a thickening additive (from seaweed), and guar gum is another thickening agent (from beans).

Preparation

Trader Joe’s provides instructions for both making a hot or cold chai latte with the Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix. For hot, it’s 1 scoop (3 tablespoons) with 6oz hot water. For cold, it’s 1 scoop (3 tablespoons) with 2 oz hot water, poured over 8oz of ice and topped with 2oz of cold water or milk. I followed the directions for a cup of hot chai latte.

Since each serving consists of 3 tablespoons (40g) of latte mix, it results in 27g of sugar per serving (if you’re mixing with water). On a side note, you do get 15% of your daily intake of calcium, 2% of vitamin C and 2% of iron per serving. Given that it’s 40g per serving, it is approximately 7 servings per tin.

First Taste

The aroma of the Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix when made hot is really quite fragrant – I can smell the spicy mix, but it also does smell sweet. The colour is darker than the pale brown powder that I started off with. The flavour is primarily sweet, although I can also taste the blend of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and anise. It’s not as spicy as I was expecting, considering the name, but it isn’t bad either. I do think it is quite sweet (after all, it has sugar and honey granules in it!).

A Second Cup?

Since it is a drink mix, all of the powder dissolved with the initial drink so there were no resteeps!

My Overall Impression

I liked Trader Joe’s Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix. I did find it really sweet for me, which was a bit of a surprise since I’m usually quite fond of sweets. I think a full scoop is a bit much, considering how sugary the powdery mix is. I did try it again with double the recommended volume, but in milk (so 12oz milk plus the 1 scoop of powder) and it was quite delicious – a lot creamier, just a tad less sweet – it’ll also help make the tin last a lot longer.

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