Tag: 24 Days of Tea

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24 Days of Tea: Coconut Cream Pie

Coconut Cream Pie by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

Mmm, day 15 of the 24 Days of Tea advent calendar is Coconut Cream Pie! I was expecting with a name like that it would be an herbal/fruit infusion, but Coconut Cream Pie is surprisingly an oolong tea. There’s a delightfully strong coconut smell to this dry tea, it smells exactly like it’s namesake and the oolong base is kind of lost in the mix with the strong flavours that they’ve added to it. It’s easy to see both the tea leaves and the coconut, chocolate, and everything else that has been added to this tea.

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Coconut Cream Pie is made up of: oolong tea, white chocolate, coconut, toasted coconut, cane sugar, and natural coconut flavouring. The allergens in this tea are: coconut, milk, and soy (soy is in the white chocolate).

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Coconut Cream Pie in hot water (75-80°C/167-176°F) for 4 to 7 minutes. I don’t usually steep oolongs for that long, so I opted for closer to 3 minutes but found that the white chocolate hadn’t fully melted (it took a full 4 minutes in 80°C water for the white chocolate to completely melt).

First Taste

Coconut Cream Pie steeps to a nice yellow colour, with an oily film on top from the melted chocolate. The strong fragrance of the coconut is subdued after the tea has steeped, and the oolong base starts to take over as it is much stronger now that it has been steeped. There is an oily mouthfeel to this tea, which I anticipated from the white chocolate chips that I saw in the mix. The cane sugar adds a good amount of sweetness to the tea, but it does need a little bit more to help out the flavour. The tea lacks a certain creaminess that I was expecting, because of the namesake of the tea, and the coconut taste is milder than expected. However, there is a nice buttery quality to it that does add a certain sense of cream taste to it, so not all is lost.

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I’m not sure where the aftertaste comes from, but there’s just a slight hint of a bitter aftertaste to this tea from each sip. It’s not the usual ‘you oversteeped your tea and this is your punishment’ aftertaste though, so I’m not quite sure where it comes from.

As an aside, it always makes me smile to see how much oolong can expand and unfurl. Oolongs are definitely teas that deserve to have a whole tea pot to fill up, or metal infuser, versus being put into a tea bag.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Coconut Cream Pie just once, the odd bitter aftertaste persists, and the oolong has a nice buttery quality to it that adds more of a creamy flavour to the tea itself. Sadly, the coconut flavouring gets weaker on the second steep so I would say that Coconut Cream Pie is good for one steep only.

My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like DavidsTea’s Coconut Cream Pie. There was just something ‘off’ about this tea for me, with the lack of creaminess to the tea and the weird bitter aftertaste. This tea may taste better as a latte, I think, because the added dairy (or non-dairy milk) would add some much needed creaminess. A little bit of sweetener wouldn’t hurt either, to help boost the sweet coconut flavour a bit as well.

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24 Days of Tea: Irish Breakfast

Irish Breakfast by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Straight
$5.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

Day 14 of the 24 Days of Tea advent calendar and it’s a straight tea! Irish Breakfast is the tea of the day, and I’m pleased as I’m having it in the morning. I quite like breakfast teas in general because they tend to be bold in flavour, and easy to mess around with when it comes to tempering the strong flavours to something that takes you well into into the afternoon.

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I haven’t had DavidsTea’s version of Irish Breakfast before, the dry leaf smells quite strong with a malty fragrance to it that is new yet familiar to me. Irish Breakfast simply consists of: black tea from Assam, India, and Dimbulla, Ceylon.

Preparation

The steeping recommendations for Irish Breakfast are to steep in near-boiling water (90-95°C/194-203°F) for 4 to 7 minutes. I steeped Irish Breakfast in my Tea For One teapot for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Irish Breakfast steeps to a deep red, and has a strong malty smell to it as it steeps. On first sip, I’m almost overwhelmed by the malty flavour of the tea. It’s quite strong, and there’s just a subtle hint of bitterness at the end of every sip. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had steeped it for a full 7 minutes (would it have been undrinkable? Maybe!). I wouldn’t steep it for more than 4 minutes, perhaps even closer to 3 or 3½ minutes. There’s just a touch of astringency that makes my mouth want to pucker, but it’s enjoyable and similar to my other experiences with breakfast teas.

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I tried out Irish Breakfast with some cream and sugar, and found that it takes to it very well. I wouldn’t have expected anything different from a strong black tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Irish Breakfast a few times, just to see how it would do. It resteeped well for a second time, giving me a similar cup of tea. I found by the third steep the flavours just weren’t there. I would say that Irish Breakfast is good for one more steep only.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved DavidsTea’s Irish Breakfast. It’s quite nice to have a nice, straight tea after a whole slew of flavoured tea blends. Irish Breakfast makes for a nice strong cup of black tea, and has a good about of malty flavour to it. I would not recommend steeping it for more than 4 minutes, at least not for the first steep. There are cheaper breakfast teas out there, but I would say that this one has a good amount of flavour and the ability to be resteeped puts itself above the bagged breakfast teas out there.

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24 Days of Tea: Crème Caramel Rooibos

Crème Caramel Rooibos by DavidsTea
Rooibos Tea / Flavoured
$7.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

Officially into the second half of the 24 Days of Tea advent calendar, and day 13 is Crème Caramel Rooibos. My initial reaction in seeing that it was a rooibos tea was “poop”. I don’t like a lot of rooibos teas, I’m quite particular (although I love Birthday Cake by DavidsTea). Rooibos to me often has an almost medicinal quality to the smell and flavour, and that is generally something that I don’t want to have in my cup because it’s not pleasant to me.

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Crème Caramel Rooibos has a slight caramel smell to it, but more heavy on the rooibos side. Crème Caramel Rooibos consists of: rooibos, caramel pieces, natural and artificial flavouring. For those who are lactose intolerant, it does contain milk. As you can tell from my photo above, my tin didn’t have a lot of caramel pieces in it (this may have played a role in my overall experience).

Preparation

The recommendation for preparing Crème Caramel Rooibos is to use near-boiling water (90-95°C/194-203°F) and to steep for 4 to 7 minutes. When I use my Breville IQ Kettle, I opt to use the French Press option (200°F) to get the water to the right temperature. I steeped my cup of Crème Caramel Rooibos for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Crème Caramel Rooibos steeps to have a very strong rooibos smell, very medicinal and not enough caramel in the steam that wafts up from the cup as it steeps. It does have a beautiful red colour that it steeps to, which I always like. There is a slight sweetness to this rooibos blend that I like, but it does get overpowered by the rooibos base. The medicinal quality in the smell is followed by a medicinal quality in the flavour. It lacks a creaminess that I was anticipating with a name like Crème Caramel Rooibos, and found that it benefits from a splash of evaporated milk. The cream content of the evaporated milk helps boost the caramel flavours, but doesn’t cut through the medicinal rooibos flavour as much as I would like.

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A Second Cup?

I did not resteep Crème Caramel Rooibos.

My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like DavidsTea’s Crème Caramel Rooibos. I really wanted to like this one, especially with a name like Crème Caramel Rooibos because I am all about the sweets (especially in the holiday season!). I found the amount of caramel in the steeped tea to be lacking, although it did improve a bit with the addition of evaporated milk. I’m just not overly fond of rooibos as a tea base, as I’m not a fan of medicinal flavours in my tea mugs.

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