Tag: DavidsTea

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DavidsTea’s Blackberry Jasmine Blast

Blackberry Jasmine Blast by DavidsTea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Blackberry Jasmine Blast was a tea that I had gotten to sample in store and really enjoyed it, so I decided to buy some to steep at home. This green tea blend has a really nice berry aroma with lovely floral notes. I found that it smells more like roses and hibiscus to me than jasmine, which is likely because those two are just much stronger in fragrance compared to jasmine petals. I got to try this one iced in store and thought it was great.

Blackberry Jasmine Blast consists of: apple, green tea scented with jasmine flowers, hibiscus, rosehip shells, blackberries, and natural flavouring. While I can definitely see the apple pieces, I don’t really smell them too much – which I don’t think is a bad thing since apple is often an ingredient that’s present for a general fruity flavour and sweetness.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Blackberry Jasmine Blast in 85°C (185°F) water for 3 to 4 minutes. My initial steep was for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Blackberry Jasmine Blasts steeps to a gorgeous deep berry pink colour – a quality that I fully attribute to the hibiscus flowers in the blend. There’s a lovely hint of floral from the tea, but it’s primary a berry aroma that I smell. On first taste, I note that Blackberry Jasmine Blast is quite fruity – it has a nice ‘mixed berries’ kind of flavour to it. I found it was light on the floral notes, although it is still present. I taste the hibiscus the most, and very little of the green tea base and the jasmine, which is a bit disappointing (but not surprising given that hibiscus is such a strong ingredient.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Blackberry Jasmine Blast once and found that the colour and taste was really weak in comparison to the initial steep. My recommendation would be to just steep Blackberry Jasmine Blast once.

My Overall Impression

I thought that DavidsTea’s Blackberry Jasmine Blast was just okay. While I really enjoy this green tea blend as an iced tea, I’m a bit disappointed by the lack of green or jasmine in the flavour of the steeped tea. It’s mostly the berries and hibiscus that run the show when it comes to Blackberry Jasmine Blend. However, as a fruity hibiscus iced tea blend, I would definitely give it a 4 out of 4 since it makes the tastebuds happy as an iced tea – just not as a green tea.

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DavidsTea’s Maple Matcha

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

First Impressions

Maple Matcha was a tea that I opted to buy when I was placing an online order. It intrigued me mostly because I do love maple so I was curious as to how it translated in terms of flavour in a matcha blend. It came in a sealed, resealable foil pouch with a light green label on the from with all of the information about the tea. DavidsTea refers to Maple Matcha as a drink mix, although it is found under the matcha category on their website.

Maple Matcha has a bit of a dull pistachio green colour to it. There’s a pleasant maple aroma, but it’s not as strong as say a maple syrup would be. I can’t really make out the aroma of the matcha base. Maple Matcha consists of: cane sugar, green tea, and natural maple flavouring. I am a bit disappointed that cane sugar is the leading ingredient, because that does mean that it is the most prominent ingredient in the blend.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends whisking Maple Matcha in hot water, which is 85°C (185°F). I prepared Maple Matcha by sifting the drink mix into my matcha bowl, and then whisking it. If you’re new to matcha, I have an article about preparing matcha.

First Taste

Maple Matcha easily whisks up and it was easy to create a fine layer of broth on the top of the matcha. There’s a sweet maple aroma from the tea. The flavour of Maple Matcha is primarily sweetness and maple, with a slight grassy background that is noticeable with each sip. I found it to be quite pleasant, although I feel like it could have had a little bit less sugar in it because it was almost too sweet.

I feel like Maple Matcha would lend itself well to being added to a glass with ice and lemonade, or as a latte (either hot or cold). I don’t feel that Maple Matcha needs any additional sweetener added to it, unless you have an even larger sweet tooth than I do.

A Second Cup?

As Maple Matcha is a (matcha) drink mix, it was fully used up in my initial cup.

My Overall Impression

I thought that DavidsTea’s Maple Matcha was just okay. While I really enjoyed the maple flavour, I found this drink mix to be on the sweet side and I was hoping that the matcha would be more prominent in the flavour profile. Maple Matcha is great if you’re looking for something sweet to drink that’s easy to prepare, it would make for an excellent matcha lemonade or a latte. Bonus points if you have it as an iced latte on July 1st in Canada.

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DavidsTea’s Honey Ginseng Defence

Honey Ginseng Defence by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$12.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Honey Ginseng Defence is actually a tea that I picked up in January of this year when it first came out. I got to try a little bit in store and decided it was interesting enough to buy a little bit to steep at home. As always, DavidsTea’s loose leaf tea comes in silver foil bags that are resealable. If you buy the tea online, they come in heat-sealed, resealable bags but if you buy it in store, the bags aren’t heat sealed. Makes for easier opening, in my opinion.

The aroma of Honey Ginseng Defence is primarily that of a berry fragrance, with some floral and honey notes. Honey Ginseng Defence consists of oolong tea, goji berries, ginger, marigold blossoms, ginseng, natural honey and goji berry flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Honey Ginseng Defence in 90°C (195°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions and my initial steep of Honey Ginseng Defence was for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Honey Ginseng Defence steeps to a light yellow (honey yellow…?). There’s some sweet floral fragrance notes, and a hint of fruitiness. The flavour is primarily floral and honey sweetness, although I can taste a bit of the ginseng, a hint of ginger, and the creamy oolong base. While I do know what goji berries smell and taste like, I don’t really get a goji berry flavour from the tea – the fruitiness that I do find reminds me more of mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, etc.).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Honey Ginseng Defence twice, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found by the second resteep, the flavour of the tea was primarily that of the oolong base – which has some great buttery and creamy qualities to it. If you love oolong, you’ll probably enjoy resteeping this blend. If you were more of a fan of the tea as a blend, you may find it to be a bit more ‘meh’ to your liking.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Honey Ginseng Defence. I thought that the blend was really pleasant and was quite tasty. I’m a bit disappointed that the tea as a blend didn’t resteep that well, but I’m glad that the oolong had some nice quality to it and it allowed for a tasty steep. I wish that the tea had more of a goji berry flavour to it, despite having both goji berries and the flavouring of goji berries, I found it to be on the lacking side. That said, the ginseng was noticeable, as was the honey, so it still made for a nice cup of tea.

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