DAVIDsTEA

I like this! It doesn’t remind me of maple specifically, but it’s a nice biscuity flavor. It doesn’t make a super strong impression, but I’ve enjoyed each cup of it sweetened with milk. The spices are quite mild, not what I think of for a chai.

The dry tea smells like raspberry sherbet. It’s different when steeped. I get some fruit, but I can’t tell if it’s strawberry or raspberry. Something almost grassy at the start of the sip. It’s a little sweet with a flash of tang. I don’t know what to make of this. I don’t hate it, but I’m not intrigued either.

One of two new chai blends that we’ve released for this year’s Fall Collection!

Hopefully it’s obvious from the name, but this is our iteration on the more classic Masala Chai profile. We’ve stuck with essentially just the classic spices most associated with Masala and then used a blended base of shou pu’erh and Indian black tea. There’s a world in which maybe we could have used only the black tea, and that certainly would have been a little more traditional but I think having both adds a really distinct rich earthiness and body that makes this bold blend especially good at standing up to milk.

And, to that point, it’s a phenomenal latte – especially when you take the little bit of time or effort to simmer it stove top! We were really inspired by the masala chai lattes that are so prevalently served by the chaiwallahs (ie. “street merchants”) in India which is partially where the Mumbai in the blend name comes from!

But how does it compare to the other chai in our assortment or that we’ve carried in the past? The closest thing DT has ever carried was probably David’s Chai which was a very classic Masala Chai on a purely black tea base. Both this tea and David’s Chai were unflavoured and focused solely on the spices in the teas. I would say between the two I find this one has more overall body, a bit of a deeper flavour, and less of that licorice-y flavoured caused by star anise or aniseed. Anise and aniseed are classic spices in a masala though, so we haven’t totally omitted it.

Compared to things we currently carry, the closest would be Saigon Chai. That blend could also be considered a riff on a traditional Masala Chai, but IMO it’s even more deviated than this one is. Also sweeter, more cinnamon forward, and a touch creamy thanks to the addition of a vanilla flavouring. So, for argument’s sake, I’d call this more “pure” and honestly probably better balanced in terms of highlighting the multiple spices included (particularly the cardamom) comparatively.

Different strokes, or rather chai, for different folks!

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Backlog/Sipdown

This was the second tea I took with me to work on Monday. The folks at the office commented on how strong this was (it’s a tight space, so it’s easy to be overwhelmed with strong smells). Lol.

Tasting Notes:
Tart
Fruity yogurt bites w/sour tang.
I let it sit too long in my tumbler, so by the time I had the chance to drink it, it was room temperature. Would’ve been nice had I added ice!

When I opened the package, it smelled strongly of rose. Why did I buy this? The flavor is mostly sour rose too. I gave it to a friend who enjoys rose teas. I guess I was optimistically hoping for more prickly pear and aloe.

This is pretty mildly flavored. I don’t taste pear distinctly, though I can tell there’s something there other than matcha. I just wish it had a lot more flavoring!

This raspberry tea was a pleasant surprise. Tasted refreshing and light, especially for a green tea.

Whisked up a little yunomi cup of this and then topped it with some KitKat flavoured creamer, which dropped it to the perfect temperate while also giving the darker, roasty notes of this matcha and almost mocha-like quality, but with some added vanilla wafer tastiness!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOg-WXJkmjZ/?img_index=1 (Fourth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KXfr8UIUe4

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Finally logging this tea after it launching weeks ago! I was able to add it to the database during the Great Dashboard Freeze of Summer 2025 (dramatic but fitting, no?) but every time I’d try to review it the page would crash…

Anyway, it officially launched back when I was on vacation and during that time frame I started the routine of drinking a daily matcha every morning. On that particular morning I made it as a latte with vanilla protein milk and paired it with a bunch of different chocolate flavoured macarons: cannoli, chocolate hazelnut, and white chocolate brulee. It was rich and delicious, with a flavour that reminded me a lot of a Coffee Crisp bar.

Of course, I’ve had this tea in my tea stash for a while now waiting for it to make its debut. DAVIDsTEA has carried a Mocha matcha before, but this is our first time introducing a more straight up coffee flavour. I find it particularly roasty tasting, and overall less sweet than many of our other flavoured matchas. Part of that is the fact it is actually semi-sweetened with about 40% less sugar than our other formulations. But it’s also just a less sweet flavour in general, too. I’ve not always been the biggest fan of coffee flavoured things personally, but I appreciate a good roast note and this one does speak to me pretty well on that level.

Part of why I love this flavour is because it just overlaps so nicely with a common conversation we hear happening in our stores right now where customers want to remove or reduce their coffee intake for XYZ reasons and they’re turning to matcha as a possible alternative because it has a “cleaner” caffeine (ie. less of a spike then crash from the l-theanine). So this is an awesome option for that, especially if you do actually like the taste of coffee.

Also, for anyone who does miss Mocha Matcha, it’s pretty easy to introduce that chocolate element back into the blend either through a chocolate syrup, shavings, or chocolate milk. So, you can definitely make it a mocha. A matcha mocha!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DNbRTGJp2UU/?img_index=1 (Fifth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCsZ2h6Xfmc&ab_channel=JORDANN

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

I haven’t liked other DavidsTEA lemonade versions, but this one is a little better. It definitely requires extra sweetener, but I taste the fruity lemonade vibes. Sometimes it ends up pretty thin and unexciting. I think it’s ultimately not for me, but not bad.

I’ve been doing too much for the past few weeks and it has finally caught up with me. I crashed out yesterday; still kind of wrecked today. While I typically prefer to use weekends for savoring fancy teas and ones that benefit from multiple steeps, I just haven’t had the energy for it this weekend. Plus it’s been a pretty hot summer. So an iced matcha latte was appealing. Frothed this up with some oat milk. The flavor is on point. Creamy, sweet lime, very much like key lime pie filling. The grassiness of the matcha is pretty mild – I really only noticed it in the last couple of sips. Sometimes you just need something fluffy and fun to perk you up.

I’m really shocked I didn’t have a tasting note for this already. Jelly Donut is easily one of my favorite DAVIDsTEA blends and I definitely grabbed some while I was in store. Should I have gotten more (I only got 100g… idk why)? Yes… however, that is future me’s problem.

I love this blend because it is sweet, cakey, fruity, and best of all caffeine-free. I tend to crave sweeter teas and lattes at night and have realized that I am more sensitive to caffeine than I might have though. For the sake of saving what I have I might only make this once a week… though I can’t lie, I’ll probably be getting more when I go back in October.

So, Mom and I decided to move our initially much later trip to Montreal up a few weeks because we kind of needed to escape the craziness of life. So… we also found out that there was a DAVIDsTEA close to where we are staying so… we had to grab a few things! Mom ended up getting a bunch of Nordic mugs that were marked down to 10 CAD$ to give as holiday gifts this year. I however… went a little crazy with some teas. I’ve added them to my cupboard but I got:

- 250g Cotton Candy (one of my favs)
- 250g Cactus Rose (New to me but.. convinced I’ll like it)
- 250g Birthday Cake (New to me)
- 1 tin of Manoomin Maple (gonna probably get more…)
- 1 tin of Manoomin Apple Pie
- 100g Simply Maple Breakfast
- 100g New York, New York
- 2 Apres Ski sachet packs
- Nordic Mug- Manoomin

Any who… This blend is sooo good! I brought a mini kettle up with me so while we’re relaxing a bit after dinner we’re also trying teas! I like that its not too sweet and the rooibos ties it together really nice… just enough to taste it!

This sometimes ends up a little thin. I overleafed it the most recent time, and then it was quite tart and slightly funky. It’s just not for me. It’s best cold with a lot of sweetener. Then it tastes decent, but I’d rather drink a different fruity tea.

TTB 2025
This is tart strawberry with a little earthiness underneath. It’s nice and sweet without stevia, but the second brew didn’t have as much strawberry flavor. Glad I got to the bottom of this mystery, thanks for add8ng it to the box!

Welp, finally getting around to writing the tasting note for this tea!

This is one of two new “superfood iced tea powders” that DT released this year, and we actually released it months ago. I usually do my big DT info dumps for new products much closer to after they’ve launched, but I’m actually allergic to this one (the mushrooms in it) so I hadn’t tried it at the time of launch. Yes, I know it’s very weird that I work on making products I’m allergic too – if you’d asked me years ago how much my mushroom allergy would impact my day to day work life I would have told you never and I would have been so wrong.

So I’m doing with this one what I’ve done with other mushroom blends DT has released: one big sip in a controlled environment on a day I’m not working and don’t work the next day – and spitting it straight out instead of ingesting it. For the flavour education. Gotta know what other people are experiencing. As always, no one is forcing me to do that and I wouldn’t recommend others do it either.

First though – what was the intent with this blend? Other than being tasty, I suppose. Like all the powders in DT’s “superfood line up” this is definitely a functional blend with a combination of ingredients meant to make it an ideal hydration option for mid and post work-outs. Two adaptogenic mushrooms (cordyceps and chaga), tart cherry, and acerola. We loved this combination of ingredients because they’re known to have anti-inflammatory properties and support your body: think physical endurance for during your workout (whatever form that takes) and muscle recovery and replenishment for afterwards.

Flavour wise, I wanted this to be kind of like an “adult kool-aid”. Juicy and tart, not so sweet or artificial, and something that it vaguely nostalgic that you can feel good about drinking. Tart cherry, while a specific kind of cherry, is still in fact tart tasting and with the hibiscus in this blend it’s definitely got a punch to it. I observed that too with my quick sip, though once you get past the top notes there’s a little more depth from the mixed berry flavouring that kind of rounds it out a little.

Texture wise I don’t find this one quite as smooth as Maqui Mojito, but it’s also certainly far less gritty and granular than a lot of other tea powders I’ve tried. The mushrooms are subtle and if those scare you from a flavour standpoint I wouldn’t worry – this is a far stretch beyond tasting savoury or like soup. But there is a touch of earthiness to the finish that I do want to acknowledge.

Since this tea has launched I’ve heard of a lot of people mixing it with sparkling water to create a sort of cherry soda, and I think that sounds very tasty and easy to make. A shame I won’t personally end up trying it that way.

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

This is more lightly flavored than some DavidsTea matcha blends I’ve had. One time, I made some meringue and put it on top and torched it. That made the cup fun, but the matcha was definitely overshadowed. I never had a cup of this I really loved unfortunately. Possibly the flavor profile is too indistinct to show up clearly. It’s certainly not bad, I just taste matcha and the tiniest desserty something extra.

A few weeks ago when my friend Todd was visiting, several days of lackluster sleep were starting to catch up with me, so I pulled this out even though it is a “newer” order (which I typically ignore to drink older teas first) just because it was only one of two yerba mate blends I had in my current stash. After opening the package I realized it was cut with rooibos and thus probably not the caffeinated bomb I was hoping for, but at that point I brewed it up anyway.

Todd and I both really enjoyed it! The tea smells like cinnamon and cheesecake, and the flavor isn’t far from that, either. The tea is very sweet, with strong notes of woodsy cinnamon and cream cheese. There is a little lingering spice in the aftertaste that I think may be the ginger, but it doesn’t really come out in the sip. I’m not sure if I could say I’m getting horchata specifically, though I definitely understand it. I think for me it’s more of a warm cinnamon bun with cream cheese frosting, which I’m equally down for! A very desserty cup. Makes a fine latte, as well.

The flavor I taste most strongly is the sugar. It’s pleasant and sweet with milk and sugar, and sometimes I feel like I really can taste the boba, especially during the resteep. It’s nicest cold or at room temperature. I enjoy eating the boba after it’s finished steeping.