David’s Tea company always have the cutest seasonal mugs, and I just can’t help but check out their fall collection as soon as it goes up on their website. Their loose-leaf teas are generally all blends, and tend to be on the sweeter side. That said, it is a colorful and friendly place to get started for those who are new to tea.
This Halloween season, I ordered a cute ceramic jar with glow-in-the-dark ghosts. To get the jar, it came filled with tea, and this blend was such a good time I had to write a review. The tea that came with my jar was Swampwater. This green rooibos blend is flavored with papaya and passionfruit and is decked out with orange and black-cat sprinkles. It smells sweet and fruity in the dry leaf, and tastes even more sugary when brewed. The tropical flavors reminded me of gummy candies or melted popsicles. Definitely a sweet indulgence, but a nice reward for Halloween.
The real trick with this blend is that this tea brews up murky and opaque– like swampwater! It reminds me of those gross-out candy workshops that all little brothers seemed to have in their toy collection. When brewed with hot water, the sprinkles melt to change the color of the brew, and this innocent rooibos ends up looking as densely colored as a cup of matcha, but more brown than green. Even if you like to drink your tea iced, I recommend brewing this hot and chilling it. If the tea is used in a cold brew, the sprinkles won’t melt and you won’t get this sensational color-change magic.
Because of its decaf nature, the sweetness, and the novelty of the color change, this would be a great drink for a kids’ Halloween party. It looks gross and tastes great, and what kid can resist some black-cat sprinkles on Halloween? If you order it soon, you might still be able to get the glow-in-the-dark ghost jar as an added bonus. Happy Halloween!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: David’s Tea
Description:
After we retired this fruity limited edition tea, we never thought we’d see it again. But this Halloween, it rose from the grave one last time. With rooibos, papaya, passion fruit and black cat sprinkles, it’s a spooky blend worthy of any Halloween festivities – and best of all, it steeps to a sinister dark green colour. The scariest part? People can’t seem to get enough of it. So make sure you get your hands on this frightfully delicious tea before it goes back to the grave.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Blueberry Pie from DAVIDs Tea. . . .
Blueberry pie. If I am being honest, I don’t think I have ever had it. I have had Apple Pie, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, Pecan Pie, even Bumbleberry Pie which I believe has blueberries in it. Never Blueberry Pie. I do like the sounds of it though and I am all on board for pie teas so this Blueberry Pie tea from TeaTaxi seemed like a winner. I would prefer if it weren’t a white tea though, at least that’s how I feel going into this even before trying the tea as my usual preference is for non-white bases. Also, seeing no blueberries in the leaf was a bit disappointing. However, you never know until you try…
What I will say is the lack of blueberries in the leaf does nothing to lessen the blueberry flavor in the hot tea. It is definitely present. More than just present, it is at the forefront of this tea. And it is not just fresh blueberry flavor either. Instead it is the rich and sweet flavor of pie filling…blueberry pie filling (or at least what I imagine blueberry pie filling to taste like). Alas, at least for me, the white base takes away from the flavoring. That can be due to my personal bias against white teas, especially the heavily floral white teas of Bai Mu Dan (White Peony) and Shou Mei. The base does contribute a bit of a baked good vibe due to the hay and wheat-like notes, but the floral component takes over at the end of the sip and leaves a potpurri-type flavor in the aftertaste.
I had extra leaf so I tried making this iced as well. Unfortunately, the blueberry flavor I enjoyed in the hot cup seems to have subsided and is lingering in the bottom of the sip acting as more of a base for the floral, and almost bitter base, instead of the star of the tea. As such, I don’t recommend this method.
I think this tea exceeded some of my expectations and met others. In the hot tea, the blueberry flavor was better than I thought it would be while the base was as I anticipated. Consequently, I enjoyed this tea well enough, but don’t think I will be seeking it out again. It was worth a try though and for those that enjoy blueberry pie AND white teas, this might be something you should check out.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
This tea is no longer on the site but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Coconut Cream Pie Chocolate Bar from DAVIDs Tea. . .
Coconut Cream Pie is an oolong tea by DAVIDsTEA made with white chocolate, coconut, toasted coconut, and flavoring. More than that, it is now a milk chocolate-infused chocolate bar offered by DAVIDsTEA.
was not particularly fond of the tea itself but this makes for a nice chocolate bar. Unlike some of the other DAVIDsTEA chocolates, this one does not have hard pieces of tea. Instead, this is filled with crunchy bits of shredded coconut which makes for an interesting textural contrast to the creamy milk chocolate.
The coconut is toasty and this tastes similar to a bounty bar, with crunchier pieces of coconut. As a fan of bounty bars, I enjoy this tea well enough. If you can find it on sale and want a snack, it is worth a try, however, at the end of the day, I personally prefer the chewier consistency of bounty bars and given the cost of this is significantly more than other chocolates, it is not particularly worth it in my opinion.
Here’s the scoop!
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
This product is no longer available but click below for chocolate bars that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Macaroon from DAVIDs Tea. . .
Chocolate Macaroon, part of DAVIDsTEA’s standard collection, is made of black tea, toasted coconut, coconut, pecans, cacao nibs, rock cane sugar, natural flavoring. Now I am not one for teas with sugar or stevia (though I like sprinkles and I blame my love of the colorful and cute for that) and when I tried this tea originally, I had it plain and I hated it.
I tried it a second time as an eggnog latte. Why did I give it a second chance? Well, when DAVIDsTEA came out with their eggnog lattes, I fell in love and was having 1-2 a day. It got to the point I wanted to try new flavors so I kept asking the DAVIDsTEA employees what they recommended as an eggnog latte. Without fail, everyone I asked suggested this tea. This tea and another tea, usually, but ALWAYS this tea. I said no for a while but finally I caved and I have to say…it was great!
Today I am having it as a tea smoothie. I grabbed it because for some reason, in a moment of weakness, I bought a solo tin (90 grams) of this tea and I figured a smoothie would use a lot of leaf. I used this tea, chocolate pudding, milk, a frozen mix of strawberries and bananas, and Kitten and the Bear’s (a local jam company) Strawberries & Chocolate Jam.
This smoothie is perfect! So, SO GOOD! I wanted sweet and creamy and rich and this is delivering on all those things. This tea is almost caramel in its decadence and the nuttiness contributes a richer flavor. This reminded me slightly of a mexican hot chocolate (minus the heat, both spice and temperature wise) which seems crazy but it was just such a velvety smooth chocolate flavor with just something more. Certainly one of the better smoothies I have ever made. Perhaps I will be having another tomorrow…or later today. And I will say, I am no longer worried about how I will use up the 90 grams of leaf.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
A sweet, satisfying blend of black tea, coconut, chocolate and pecans.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
The Skinny from DAVIDs Tea. . . .
If you like a mildly spicy sheng flavor, and would like to drop a few pounds, I have just the thing for you: “The Skinny” by David’s Tea.
Actually, I can’t promise the weight loss thing. That’s a combination of diet, exercise, metabolism, and genetics.
But this tea is literally called “The Skinny,” so it’s more or less a claim they’re making. The description for this tea says: “Looking for the next big beauty secret or weight loss trend? Let us give you a hint: try water.”
I know the water thing is sound. It’s basically the first thing every weight loss article ever written says. However, you can pry the Diet Coke from my cold, dead hands.
In between Diet Cokes, I will, however, partake in water or tea (which is basically water with some stuff mixed in). This afternoon was this tea. It’s recommended to take this tea “after a heavy meal” to “block fat absorption.”
So I took it post-lunch, which was a giant shawarma pita from the nice people at Pita Cabana, which is running a Ramadan Special. (The key to Ramadan, for those not in the know, is not eating during sunlight hours. Running a food special during Ramadan must be brutal for the Muslim people who are serving a lunch they can’t eat.)
Speaking of shawarma… did you know?
I needed to pair the tea with this lunch because there was a LOT OF CHEESE on that pita. I wonder if the tea will really block fat absorption. We’ll have to see what my weekly weigh-in says next Wednesday morning.
In the meantime, though, regardless of whether this makes me “skinny,” it was a pretty good sip. Give it a whirl!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong/Puerh
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
With pu’erh, ginger, eleuthero and oolong, it’s the ultimate digestive aid.
