Tag: DavidsTea

Blood Orange Earl Grey by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Coming in a sealed, resealable silver pouch, Blood Orange Earl Grey comes in familiar packaging. The label is a navy blue with teal print, and the finer print is (like I’ve said a few times before) small. The tea caught my interest because I’m a fan of Earl Grey and I like trying blends inspired by Earl Grey, so when I spy a blend called Blood Orange Earl Grey, I’m going to try it.

The aroma of Blood Orange Earl Grey is a very bright citrus aroma – it’s inviting with the fruity fragrance. Blood Orange Earl Grey contains: black tea, orange peel, rosehip, hibiscus, calendula petals, and natural flavouring. The ingredients are organic, hence the labelling on the packaging and the USDA symbol.  I don’t really smell a heavy floral fragrance, but I think it’s because the orange peel and natural flavouring is just a stronger aroma in comparison. I also didn’t spy a lot of hibiscus in my bag, even after giving it a shake to redistribute the ingredients.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Blood Orange Earl Grey in 95°C (200°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of Blood Orange Earl Grey for in 95°C water for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Blood Orange Earl Grey steeps to a bright yellow, with a citrus aroma to match. The tea is lightly floral, with a bright citrus flavour. There’s a bit of astringency at tail end of each sip, which I contribute to the black tea base. I found there wasn’t much of a sweetness to the tea. I did try adding some sweetener (organic agave syrup) and I found that helped to temper the astringency, and adding a touch of evaporated milk made it more palatable. With most teas, having acidic ingredients (e.g. lemon, orange, hibiscus) does tend to curdle dairy products, but I found that evaporated milk held up (please note, there wasn’t a lot of visible hibiscus in my pouch of Blood Orange Earl Grey).

A Second Cup?

I attempted a second steep of Blood Orange Earl Grey and found that it was bland in comparison to the initial steep. I didn’t get a lot of citrus notes, and found it was primarily malty with an astringent notes from the black tea base.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Blood Orange Earl Grey. I liked the citrus notes in this Earl Grey inspired blend, and found that it did well with being doctored up with some sweetener and milk. The astringency was the part that made me not enjoy it as much; but those that don’t mind astringency in their black tea blends would probably enjoy it.

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

Mango Lemonade by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

First Impressions

We are solidly into autumn with pumpkin spice and apple pies, but when a tea blogger still has some untried iced tea in the box of new-to-her teas, we’re going to discuss some iced teas. This is a black tea blend from DavidsTea called Mango Lemonade and I definitely purchased it online with the plan to make it iced. Of course, I purchased a lot of teas to make iced over the summer, and honestly we just didn’t host as many events or go to as many events as we originally hoped would be possible. Things have been up and down here in British Columbia in terms of opening up, restrictions, and just gauging the comfort level of our friends and family has been important to us in order to keep everyone safe and comfortable. That said, here’s a black tea blend that I got to try, and let’s see what both me and my husband thought of it!

Mango Lemonade comes in sealed, resealable silver pouch. It has a very familiar label from DavidsTea. I’ve commented before in the last about the tiny print and really, that still hasn’t changed. Mango Lemonade consists of: apple, candied mango, black tea, hibiscus blossom, candied pomelo peel, natural flavouring, orange, sweet blackberry leaf, and rose petals. The aroma of this blend reminds me a lot of mango candy and a blend of oranges and lemon (there is that pomelo in there – and if you’re not familiar with the fruit, it is part of the citrus family). It’s a pretty blend to look at, and I would highly recommend giving your bag a shake if it is sitting in your tea stash for a while. When I first opened it up, all I saw were the fruity pieces. I did have to give it a shake to redistribute the black tea leaves throughout.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Mango Lemonade in 95°C (200°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions and did an initial steep of Mango Lemonade for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Mango Lemonade steeps to a surprisingly orange tea. I say surprisingly because of the presence of hibiscus blossoms in the blend, and that usually lends itself to steeping a bright pink (which I am a fan of). Steeping this reminds me of mango and lemons, it has a great bright burst of citrus flavours and I really enjoy it. It’s not as sweet as I would have liked a lemonade inspired tea to be, even with the presence of candied fruit. There’s a bit of an aftertaste to Mango Lemonade that reminds me a lot of lemongrass.

A Second Cup?

As a primarily fruit infusion, Mango Lemonade didn’t resteep well because a lot of those fruity flavours in the initial steep were just lacking in the second go around with the same leaves. I would recommend Mango Lemonade for just the one steep.

My Overall Impression

I  liked DavidsTea’s Mango Lemonade. While I really enjoyed the mango and citrus flavours in this black tea blend, I found that the black tea didn’t really shine through in this blend in a way that made me enjoy it. The lemongrass aftertaste didn’t really round out the flavour of the blend the best, because I was hoping for a stronger fruit presence. As for what my husband thought, he still prefers the ‘usual’ flavours of iced teas that I often make, so it’s not likely to be a regular feature in our fridge when I go to make iced teas.

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