Tag: DavidsTea

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DavidsTea’s Tea Filters

Being able to make my own tea bags out of any type of loose tea to take it to go is a really nice concept. It makes it easier to remove the tea leaves when they’re done steeping, and to also make it easier to travel with as I can make the tea bags in advance. I’ve been using the DavidsTea brand of tea filters. There’s often a package of 10 filters in some tea collections, and they also come in boxes of 20 or 100. I opted for the 100 count box because it worked out cheaper ($5 for 20 or $10 for 100).

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The packaging mentions that the filters are “made with biodegradable, chlorine free, compostable manilla hemp”. Having it be biodegradable is important to me – I go through so much tea that it just makes sense to be able to put the entire thing into green waste when I’m done with it, rather than having to separate wet tea leaves from a filter bag.

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The back of the boxes show the simple 3 step process – pour tea into the bag, pull the drawstring, and then steep the tea. It’s a fairly easy process.

Some things I like about the filters:

  • Clean design, they’re easy to use
  • I really like that they are compostable and will biodegrade rather than sitting in the landfill

Some things I don’t like about the filters:

  • I tend to set my tea bag aside in a small dish when I’m done steeping (and I will often resteep tea leaves shortly after the cup is done), but the moisture from the wet tea leaves will wick up the bag and up the string, leaving me with a wet string to touch. I know it’s science and DavidsTea has noting to do with the law of capillary action, but it still bugs me.

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DavidsTea’s Black Jasmine Pearls

Black Jasmine Pearls by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$16.90 for 50g

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First Impressions

The pearls are, for lack of a better term, cute. They’re about the size of marbles, a nice mix of light and dark brown tea leaves and they are quite tightly rolled. The Black Jasmine Pearls are certified organic and have a very mild floral scent from the jasmine. It isn’t overwhelming or the first thing I notice, as the black tea base is much stronger in fragrance than the addition of jasmine to the tea.

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The ingredients for Black Jasmine Pearls are black tea pearls from Hunnan Province, China, that are scented with jasmine blossoms.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping these tea pearls in 96°C (204°F) water for 4 to 7 minutes. For my tea pot, I used 4 pearls that I steeped for about 4 minutes.

First Taste

Black Jasmine Pearls steep to a deep golden brown colour, it’s fun to watch the tea leaves unfurl in the metal basket that my teapot has. The overall taste to the tea is a bit underwhelming. It has a bit of a malty taste that I find pleasant. There is no astringency and no bitterness. Despite being called a jasmine tea, there aren’t any obvious floral flavours in the tea itself, which is a disappointing given the fact that it is meant to be a jasmine black tea. It is a pleasant tea, but it’s underwhelming in what I would have expected from a tea that isn’t exactly inexpensive.

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A Second Cup?

I steeped the Black Jasmine Pearls for a second time, to see if the flavours would improve. I steeped it for about 5 minutes this time around. Black Jasmine Pearls actually tastes better in steep #2. The malty taste of the black tea base is more pronounced, still no jasmine flavour to speak of, but it’s very enjoyable. The tea is very smooth and pleasant. It tastes really nice. The tea did well for steep #3 and was a bit watery and thin in flavour for steep #4.

My Overall Impression

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I liked DavidsTea’s Black Jasmine Pearls. While the tea was disappointing in that the jasmine was nowhere to be found when steeping the tea – and to be fair it was fairly underwhelming with the dry tea, the tea itself is enjoyable and pleasant. Black Jasmine Pearls does very well for resteeping at least two additional times, your mileage may vary for the fourth steep. I think it’s a really nice black tea. What it lacks in floral flavouring, it makes up for in the quality of the black tea. It is a bit on the expensive side at $16.90 for 50g, but I think it’s a really nice addition to my tea collection and I do see it as a tea as I’d like to get again (either as a small bag as a treat for myself, or to use my Frequent Steeper reward on).

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DavidsTea’s Mulled Wine

Mulled Wine by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$9.50 for 50g

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First Impressions

I decided to try Mulled Wine from DavidsTea’s 2015 winter collection because of the amazing smell that the little sample cup of dried tea had in store (yes, I’m lucky enough to live close enough to get to go in person – it’s pretty awesome!). The tea has a beautiful citrus smell, which I quite like. I’m a big fan of a lot of citrus fruits, so the bright aroma of orange is quite welcoming. Despite this being an oolong tea, I really cannot make out the fragrance of the tea. What I can make out is oranges, cinnamon, and ginger.

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Mulled Wine is made up of: oolong tea, apple, orange peel, cinnamon, clove buds, ginger, and natural flavouring. The ingredients are really quite visible, the oolong seems a little overwhelmed with all of the other ingredients around it though. Hopefully the oolong taste comes out when the tea is steeped!

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Mulled Wine in 85°C (185°F) water for 4 to 7 minutes. I went for the lower end of the spectrum of time because I find that most oolongs do pretty okay with being steeped again, so fingers crossed for Mulled Wine!

First Taste

Mulled Wine steeps to a lovely golden yellow, but the aroma isn’t that impressive compared to the dry leaf. I can barely make out the smell of any of the citrus, cinnamon or ginger. It actually smells a bit like oolong tea, which is quite nice considering that is the tea base. The taste of Mulled Wine is a bit confusing. There’s some notes of citrus, a little bit of the cloves comes out, but the tea itself doesn’t wow me. It’s hard to make out the oolong taste because it’s been muddled with all of the other ingredients. The citrus notes are nice, coupled with the cloves and a spicy note from the ginger. The actual oolong is underwhelming.

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A Second Cup?

While Mulled Wine can be resteeped and it tastes pretty much the same as the first cup, I was just not interested in it.

My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like DavidsTea’s Mulled Wine. It’s not something I particularly enjoyed drinking. As an oolong, it doesn’t do anything for me. As a tea with notes of ginger and cloves, I think it would make a great tea for someone with a sore throat or wanting something to warm up with. For an oolong tea though, it is underwhelming and I think there are a lot more better oolong teas out there. I will probably keep the rest of my little bag around as a tea for when I’m sick because I do like the ginger taste, but it falls flat for me.

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