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. 

 

 

 

 

 

Teavana Samurai Chai Mate/ maharaja chai oolong blend

So, I got this as a free sample, which is good for multiple reasons.  For one thing, you have to buy at least 2 oz of each tea when you go to Teavana and since this is a blend, that means 4 oz of tea (probably putting you back $15).  Second, this is a tea that Teavana likes to push so it's nice that I get the experience without having to buy the extra tea.  And lastly, I like chai a lot.  Ok, the last thing I tried from Teavana was a flop, but that can happen.

Outsides:  I'm feeling lazy so I'll just say that this is a blend of green mate, green rooibos and oolong with all those fantansic chai spices.  I brewed about 2 teaspoons of this at near boiling for 5 minutes.  The tea is a medium dark murky brown and smells sweet and spicy.

Insides:  This is actually a pretty good chai and if I didn't have Adagio and the spices to make chai at home, I would probably get suckered into it.  It's a strong chai with a lot of pepper and ginger, but it's paired with a base that isn't so bitter so you can drink it without milk.  This sample already has sugar in it so I'm not really pleased about that, and the tea is a bit heavy on the cardamon.  But this is definately something I'd drink for breakfast since the mate gives a lot of energy (perfect to drink before a night out).

Overall:  I don't think you should buy this for the price they're asking for it but I like it.  Look online for the free sample codes.

My Rating:  Try it!

Teavana is a chain tea retailer found in many a mall across U.S.A and Canada.

Zen Tea Yerba Mate

Yerba Mate is extremely fitting for Christmas Eve.  It's a relative to a holly plant, is often shared by people in South American as they sit around a gourd and drink from metal straws called a bombilla (my source here), and has a stimulating effect on heartrate much like caffeine does.  Mate is also supposed to contain vitamins and minerals, so theoretically, it's healthier than coffee (but that can be said about a lot of things).  Anyway, I need this today so let's drink.

Outsides:  Yerba mate is just yerba mate, and I don't have a gourd so I guess my authenticity is out the door.  I got it in Zen Tea's sample size and have to say, this is a pretty good size and can easily make 10-15 cups of this.  One thing I did wrong was that I used near boiling water when apparently (from Wikipedia and not the directions on the packet), you're supposed to use hot water and not boiling, but I let it sit for about 5 minutes (1.5 teaspoons in 8 oz).  The color is greener than a typical herbal blend but still that same shade of yellow.  It smells like a light green tea.

Insides:  Well, it's not bitter so that's good.  This drink has a medium to light body with a sweet and slightly planty flavor (kinda like green tea).  Another thing is that this yerba mate seems to be very mild in flavor, especially compaired to something like coffee or energy drinks.  I went and added some sugar to see if any new flavors would be brought out and with that, this drink tastes like the Dilmah Ceylon Green Tea or Lipton Pure Leaf Green tea.  I like it and am curious to try some of the fruit flavors.

Overall:  If you don't like coffee or energy drinks but still want to get your caffeine in somehow, try this out. 

My Rating:  Try it in general.  I'm probably going to get some from Prestogeorge, but Zen Tea still has a decent price on this.

Zen Tea is a Canadian Tea retailer specializing in mid to high quality tea and has a wide variety of teas around the world.