Speculations: David's Tea Fall Collection

Hey Tea Lovers!  I've decided to try something new and do a preview and speculation of collections from tea boutiques such as David's Tea and possibly Teavana.  I have not tried these teas yet so don't take what I say to heart, but feel free to voice your opinions about these teas and if you've tried them, share with us.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

The Teas:  

Pumpkin Chai

 

Ingredients:

Black tea, cinnamon, cloves, lemon peel, squash, carrot, caramel bits, pumpkin candies, natural and artificial flavouring*. 

 

Mmm...pumpkin.  It's something a lot of people are polarized about and I'm on the love side of that polarization.  People also can be particular about their chai and honestly, very few companies deliver a good one.  This particular one looks a bit sparse on the spices but the squash, carrots and candies seem like they could add an interesting sweetness.  I imagine the strange ingredients also are there for color and the candies are there to weigh it down.  Still, this seems like something worth trying.

 

Mom's Apple Pie

 

Ingredients:

Green tea (China), apple pieces, cinnamon, artificial flavouring*. 

 

I'm actually pretty sure I'll like this.  The ingredient list (minus the artificial flavoring) seems simple compared to their other teas and I have been looking for a green tea flavored with apple.  This seems like something light and sweet and a good alternative to the heavily-spiced blacks and herbals you see for fall.  

 

Sugar and Spice

 

Ingredients:

 

 Black tea, apples, cinnamon cassia, cloves, carrots, marigold petals, natural vanilla flavoring*. 

 

I wish they added caradom in there so that it would be a chai because the world needs more unique chais.   I also appreciate the natural vanilla flavor.  Honestly, I wouldn't want to buy this and it seems like the least interesting in the collection.  There are tons of spice teas out there and this one just seems like a glorified apple spice.  These kinds of teas are also pretty subjective to taste.  

Pistachio  Creme

 

Ingredients:

 

 Mulberry leaf, pistachios, chamomile, natural cream, macadamia and pistachio flavouring*. 

 

This actually sounds really interesting.  I've only had a few nut-flavored teas and think they work quite well for the fall and winter when you want that roasty toasty flavor.  The chamomile is also an interesting but rational ingredient since I feel that it adds sweetness while also giving teas a slight increase in mouthfeel.  This is definitely one I'd love to try and I feel like this would be a wonderful herbal for a desert alternative.  

Cocoberry

 

Ingredients:

Black Tea, black currant, mango, barberry, coffee bean, juniper berry, hibiscus, roasted yerba mate, lucuma powder, acerola powder, baobab fruit powder, acai powder, coffee flavor, natural strawberry flavor, natural and artificial plum, sugar cane and cherry flavour*. 

 

Dat ingredient list!  This is actually a mate, so it's full of caffeine and David's Tea seems to be promoting this one as the healthy one.  Lucuma is supposed to be a natural sweetener that tastes a bit like maple.  Honestly, this seems a bit too crazy for me plus I haven't had good experience with coffee-flavored mates.  There just seems like there's so much going on with the fruit, coffee, hibiscus and random flavorings.  It might be good but I'm a bit meh about this one.

 

The Teaware:

 

 

 

 

I didn't include all of them, but this should give you the general idea of the patterns used.  

Adorable.

I love the colors but also the simplicity.  I love the leaves, birds and chevrons.  I just love them all.  In fact, I'd rather have these mugs and teapots than the sampler they have.

David's Tea's Fall Collection Website:  All pictures were taken from here. 

 

 

 

 

 

Celestial Seasonings Black Cherry Pomegranate Black Tea

So, I stole a few boxes of tea from my mom in order to make some cold brew tea.  It's obviously not because I need more tea or anything, but because I happen to like fruit-flavored tea for the summer and am running low on it and funds.  This tea is old and I don't know if this even exists anymore, but I'll use it.

Hot version:  the color is darker in this one.

 Outsides:  Celestial Seasonings has those weird sachets that I personally think are pointless to me.  They're not individually-wrapped  and don't even have strings on them.  For the hot-brew, I put one sachet in 8 oz of almost boiling water.  It's a light brown color with a hint of orange or red and it smells like cherries.

Insides:  The hot one has a nice balance between the tea and fruit flavors, partially because the tea is just not very strong or full-bodied.  There's a pinch of bitterness in there but it's not too astringent.  The cherry flavor is light but tends to overpower any other fruit flavor in the tea.  It's sweet but has a nice tart note that pairs well with the tea.  And no, I don't taste any pomegranate except possibly as it complements the cherry flavors.

The cold tea is a bit different.  There really isn't as strong of a tea flavor and cold brewing gets rid of a lot of the bitterness.  Thankfully, the cherry flavor is brought out nicely and makes this more of a natural version of Kool-Aid.  It's actually quite fragrant and smells a bit like cherry chapstick. 

Tilt:  I honestly don't even know how old this box of tea was but I'd guess it's easily two years old.  Celestial Seasonings is cheap for a bagged tea but something people will learn when they become closer to the ultimate tea snob like me is that you can get whole-leaf teas from various places that are cheaper and tastier.  I like it more cold-brewed and during the summertime or when I feel like having iced tea.  I also think that fruit teas are generally a good thing to serve when you have company around since most humans tend to like sweet, fruit-flavored things. 

Overall:  It's ok.  I'm glad I finished the box and my housemates drank it. 

My Rating:  Pass

Celestial Seasonings is an American tea company specializing in flavored teas with beautiful artwork on the packaging (in my opinion, the artwork tends to be the only reason to get the box).  

I'm still alive!

Hello fellow tea lovers!  I hope all of your summers were enjoyable and filled with tasty beverages.  I'm sorry that I have not updated this blog for the few people that do follow it but I was busy during the summer and just did not want to buy more tea.  However, I moved to an area of Pittsburgh with a tea-shop within a two-minute walk of my apartment so buying tea is practically inevitable. 

Anyway, I should be doing more reviews soon.  See ya!

~Dom~