Tag: DavidsTea

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Dragonfruit Aloe

Dragonfruit Aloe by DavidsTea
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Dragonfruit Aloe is a fruit infusion (or tisane – the word used to describe a “tea” that doesn’t contain any trace of true tea leaves) that found its way into my online shopping cart when I was making a purchase – and I’m not remotely upset about it. I’m always looking for another nice caffeine-free and fruity iced tea (yes, I know, not the correct word) option to have on hand to keep around in summer. It’s just nice to have a variety on hand, so I wanted to give Dragonfruit Aloe a try. I really like the dragonfruit fruit – it has a really pleasant floral sweetness to it, and when you get a good one, it has a nice crispness to it.

Dragonfruit Aloe came in a larger-sized silver pouch – both sealed and resealable. And I’m liking the bright yellow label – I’m a sucker for a sunshine yellow. In contrast to the Mango Matcha review I shared last week, the new label design works well with the yellow that DavidsTea uses for their labels because the teal really pops. Dragonfruit Aloe has a beautiful aroma to it – very fruity and floral with great hints of coconut. Dragonfruit Aloe consists of: apple, candied pineapple, hibiscus blossoms, coconut chips, dragonfruit, candied aloe vera, natural berry flavouring and raspberries.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Dragonfruit Aloe in 95°C (200°F) water for 5+ minutes. I opted to do an initial steep in the recommended steeping temperature for 7 minutes.

First Taste

Dragonfruit Aloe steeps to a lovely peachy-pink colour that reminds me a lot of a commerically produced pink lemonade. The aroma is fruity and floral. There’s a good amount of sweetness in this tisane, but it’s not overly sweet – which makes it nice. I actually did not enjoy this hot at all, so I topped up my glass with some ice cubes and found that it greatly improved once it was cooled down.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Dragonfruit Aloe, but found that the flavour just wasn’t there. I recommend Dragonfruit Aloe for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

&

I both loved and thought that Dragonfruit Aloe was just okay. I wasn’t particularly found of Dragonfruit Aloe when I drank it hot, but I loved it iced. I do think it’s a potential contender to make it into my regular at-home iced tea menu and really enjoy that it wasn’t too sweet (let’s face it, we’re all having tea a little bit more often at home!). I definitely think it’s best served iced, and think that it would be excellent with a splash of lemonade or topped with some sparkling water for just a bit of bubbly action.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Mango Matcha

Mango Matcha by DavidsTea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Mango Matcha is a matcha drink mix from DavidsTea. It came to me in the mail in a sealed, resealable pouch. Firstly, I’d like to address the change in the labelling from DavidsTea. I found that the teal of the DavidsTea branding to be a bit difficult to read from the green background – along with the white text on the green background (but not as difficult as the teal on green). I’m no longer surprised by the fact that Mango Matcha has sugar as the first ingredient, because I’ve gotten used to that now and am a little bit less annoyed by the presence.

Mango Matcha is a lovely spring green colour, with a hint of sparkle from the sugar. The aroma is strongly mango with a bit of grassy undertones. Mango Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green tea, natural mango flavouring with annatto extract.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends repairing Mango Matcha in 85°C (185°F) water with a whisk. I followed the temperature recommendation and whisked it directly in my cup. The nice thing about the DavidsTea matcha drink mixes is that you don’t have to sift the powder first because it dissolves quite easily.

If you’ve never made matcha before, I’ve got an article for you that discusses The Basics of Preparing Matcha.

First Taste

Mango Matcha whisks into a nice deep forest green. Not a whole lot of frothy bubbles regardless of how much I tried, but it’s a vibrant green with a very strong mango aroma from the whisked up powder. I found it to be quite sweet, strong mango flavours, with subtle grassy notes in the background. It’s a pleasant drink hot.

I did end up adding some milk to it (organic soy milk) to make it to matcha latte – it helps cut the sugary sweetness down significantly, while adding a nice level of creaminess to it and the mango isn’t muted at all.

A Second Cup?

As a matcha is a suspension, there were no second steeps at all.

My Overall Impression

&

I loved and liked DavidsTea’s Mango Matcha. I liked it hot and plain – but the sugary sweetness was just a bit too much for me, even though I have a really strong sweet tooth. The addition of soy milk really helped to lower the sugar content down a bit, just by adding a little something to help cut the sweetness level. I think Mango Matcha would be great if you like a super sweet drink, but definitely utilize this as a latte base if you’re wanting something that’s got some good mango flavour, a nice grassy background, but not too sweet. Matcha latte is definitely the way to go with this one.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Opalescent Ceramic Perfect Spoon

Opalescent Ceramic Perfect Spoon by DavidsTea
Ceramic
$10.00

First Impressions

Full disclosure, I purchased this spoon late 2019 and got it for 30% off (at the time of posting, the Opalescent Ceramic Perfect Spoon was still available for purchase at an even greater discount!) – and I got it online so I didn’t even have to leave my living room, which was pretty awesome.

The Ceramic Perfect Spoon comes in a lovely navy box with a gold foil polka dot design across the front. The spoon itself comes in a thin foam pouch for extra padding since it is ceramic and it is fragile. The packaging does indicate on the back that the soon is fragile and may break if dropped, to hand wash, and that the spoon is not dishwasher or microwave friendly – just something to keep in mind if you’re one of those people who loathes hand washing dishes.

Preparation

I opted to wash my Opalescent Ceramic Perfect Spoon by hand prior to the first use. I find it’s a good habit to get into because you never know if things get washed after the manufacturing process or not, or how many people have touched it and if their hands were even clean.

And now that I’m coming off as a complete germaphobe (I work in a hospital, you guys, I clean my hands constantly)…

First Use

First and foremost, the Opalescent Ceramic Perfect Spoon functions well… as a spoon. For comparison, I put it up against the stainless steel Perfect Spoon (which I’ve also reviewed before…). The handle of the spoon is basically the same length when I eyeball it. The bowl¹ of the spoon is a bit larger. The silver Perfect Spoon can nestle into the Opalescent Ceramic Perfect Spoon nearly completely, so it does hold a little bit more tea leaves, which is perfectly fine from a usage point of view.

Interestingly, there is no glaze on the inside of the hole located near the tip of the handle. So if you’re thinking of threading anything through, the inside is a bit rough so it may wear on any ribbons or strings.

¹ I definitely looked up “parts of a spoon” prior to writing this review so I would actually be able to use spoon terminology.

My Overall Impression

I thought that the DavidsTea’s Opalescent Ceramic Perfect Spoon was just okay. It functions fine as a spoon, which is what one would be purchasing it for, and the beautiful shimmery opalescent glaze is really pretty… But it is quite fragile. I found reviews of the spoon online where it shattered after a single drop, which makes me quite hesitant to use it in my regular everyday tea drinking life. It may be a spoon that I pull out for special occasions just due to the fragility of it. Much like the coloured Perfect Spoons that have the coloured coating flake off, I don’t want to be picking stuff out of my tea, which is the reason why I always reach for the silver Perfect Spoon instead.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.