David's Tea Coffee Cake Black Tea

David's Tea is having a sale so Mrs. ISMOTU stocked up on some old favourites and tried a few new teas as well.

First up is the Coffee Cake Black Tea.  Coffee cake can be quite delicious but should it be a tea? Find out below:

David's Tea Carrot Cupcake Rooibos

Part of the new autumn collection David's Tea Carrot Cupcake Rooibos is apparently the hot new flavour, much like the Pistachio Ice Cream tea from the spring collection it is nowhere to be found.  Unless you have a tenacious and brilliant wife like I do and she finds the last tin in the whole store right downtown where you'd think would sell out fastest. Does it live up to the hype? Let's find out.

And Now I'm Back...From Outer Space

And you walk in to find me here with this look upon my face:

Ok, real talk: Master of the Unknown though I am, I was not in outer space but rather in the midst of moving to a new city and blogging took a back seat to "offline life."

But I am back and will start throwing posts up again.

David's Tea Caramel Corn Fruit Infusion

Caramel Corn is a delicious treat but should it be tea? Let's find out! Mrs. ISMOTU picked this up after trying it iced but on this rainy day I thought drinking it hot would be more apropos. 

David's Tea Pure Vida Green Tea (Iced)

Another of the iced tea packs; David's Tea Pure Vida is a blend of pineapple, green tea, apple, coconut, mango, chamomile, and natural flavouring.

Iced tea round two is even better than round one. Pineapple, coconut, and mango are much more my jam. The tropical fruit flavours blend nicely with the green tea and chamomile.  I think this tea would be just as good hot as it was iced. The sweetness is well balanced with the bitterness of the green tea and the floral notes of the chamomile.

Not much else to say, this was very refreshing.

Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/pura-vida-iced-tea-pack

David's Tea Luscious Watermelon Fruit Infusion (Iced)

Last time we were at David's Tea we bought some little bags of tea marketed as the perfect portions for making iced tea. Since we bought an iced tea pitcher last summer we thought it was time to bust it out again.

Luscious Watermelon has apple, carrot, watermelon, wild strawberry leaves, honeydew melon (honeydew melon, sugar), beetroot, and artificial watermelon flavouring.  It's a great refreshing iced tea and I don't think it would work as a hot tea very well.  The watermelon flavour predominates and is sweet but not too sweet. I'm not a huge watermelon fan, especially in non-watermelon form, but this works nicely. The carrot flavour sneaks in on the finish while the beetroot mostly gives it colour and sweetness.

This is a great refreshing iced treat for sipping on a hot afternoon in the sun.

Recommended.
For more info follow the links:
https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/luscious-watermelon-iced-tea-pack
https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/luscious-watermelon/

David's Tea Organic Egyptian Chamomile Herbal Infusion

I'm feeling a little under the weather this week so what better way to chase the sniffles away than by enjoying a nice hot cup of chamomile tea.  Only one ingredient here: Egyptian chamomile, dried little daisy-like flowers that are delicious.  The tea has a brighter yellow colour than other chamomiles I've tried and the flavour is smooth and gentle. It's a great contrast to the raucous and ferocious Kamen Rider Amazons episode I'm watching.

David's Tea Raspberry Cream Pie Rooibos

David's Tea Raspberry Cream Pie Rooibos contains a flavour notoriously difficult to mimic: raspberries.  Luckily they actually seem to include real raspberry in the mix and not just the raspberry flavouring options out there. There are a few options for getting things to taste like raspberries and without going into a huge amount of detail on the chemistry some of those options just taste and smell awful to me. Will Raspberry Cream Pie Rooibos suffer this fate? Read on brave audience!

David's Tea Assam Banaspaty Black Tea

We had a chance to visit Edmonton recently and took the opportunity to fill up our tea cupboard. In addition to some new teas we splurged on a cute set of mugs decorated like cupcakes an awesome purple nordic mug with golden elephants and a tea travel mug for me.  So yes, David's Tea got maybe too much of my money this week but whatevs.  On to the tea!

Assam is a state in India famous for tea production and this variety comes from the Banaspaty Estate within that region.  I first tried an assam tea when I was in China and I immediately enjoyed the rich, malty flavour.  Since I started drinking less black tea I haven't had too much assam since then, but as I was scanning the wall at David's Tea this caught my eye and I decided to go for it.

Assam Banaspaty is just pure black tea, nothing complicated here, but the aroma and flavour are top notch.  It is full-bodied with a strong bold malt flavour cut with a hint of sweetness.  I really enjoyed this tea and it certainly is representative of the expected characteristics of assam tea. My stash will last me a fairly long time due to how infrequently I drink black tea but I will enjoy every cup.

Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the links:
Assam Banaspaty
Elephant Mug
Cupcake Mug

David's Tea Pistachio Ice Cream Black Tea

I love pistachio flavoured desserts. It started with pistachio pudding from when I was a kid but has expanded to all things pistachio as an adult. That's why when Mrs. ISMOTU wanted to try this new black tea from David's Tea I was all about it.

So here we go into the second ever review of a black tea on this blog.

David's Tea Dark Chocolate Delight Black Tea

A rare black tea review for this blog. Mrs. ISMOTU needed a boost to catch up on some work so I decided to tempt fate and join her in a cup of black tea after noon.   This tea has "spiced" dark chocolate, blueberries, cocoa shells, and natural chocolate flavouring. The chocolate scent is nice and similar to other teas with chocolate I've tried from David's Tea. Flavour-wise this is exactly what you might expect, sweet and chocolatey. I don't really taste the blueberries that much, not like in the Rooibos de Provence, the "spiced" aspect of the dark chocolate is very slight also.  On the whole this is a nicely flavoured tea and perfect for all the chocolate fans out there.
Recommended. 

I'm going to add some milk to it now and continue catching up on season 3 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I know I'm quite behind but it took me a bit to come to terms with the somewhat jarring voice change in Leonardo from Jason Biggs to Seth Green, plus I was on more of a Japanese kick for a while there.

I've quite enjoyed this latest iteration of the heroes in a half shell particularly the running gag the turtles watching a different corny old cartoon each season that homages some of the great cartoons the preceded the original TMNT on the airwaves of the 80's. This time it's "Crognard the Barbarian" a mash-up of Thundarr the Barbarian and Masters of the Universe, with shades of the Herculoids. I might have to do a whole post on the topic sometime.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/our-teas/dark-chocolate-delight

David's Tea Organic Coconut Ice Herbal Infusion

Coconut Ice seems a bit of unexpected name for a typically hot beverage. Apparently it is supposed to invoke the flavour of coconut ice cream with its blend of honeybush, coconut flakes, cocoa shells, and natural whipped cream and coconut flavouring. I feel like this was purchased back in the summer with the intention of making it into an iced tea but I don't think we ever did. On paper this tea sounds like a winner and for many people it probably is but for me it's not so good.  I can't remember if I've mentioned how honeybush doesn't agree with me on this blog before, but I really dislike it. Mostly it's the smell I think, it reminds me of something alcoholic, almost whiskey-ish, but that really doesn't go with tea. Even with my nose plugged I struggle to taste the other flavours, the honeybush is just too overpowering.
Not Recommended.

 So this was a disappointing choice but luckily redeemed by delicious chocolate caramel cookies and a new animated discovery Wander Over Yonder from the creator of Powerpuff Girls and starring Jack McBrayer (Kenneth from 30 Rock). It's a silly little show that I will probably add to my post of current awesome cartoons like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe.

Good Cartoons Made When I Wasn't Looking

I love cartoons. I've always loved cartoons and I was lucky enough to have some really great shows to watch as a kid on Saturday mornings (when that was still a thing) and some that are greater in my memory than they are upon rewatching. Today though I'm not going to talk about The Real Ghostbusters, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, or any of the extensive list of cartoons from my youth that I love. No, today I'm going to talk about some shows that sprang up seemingly from nowhere but in reality just at a time when cartoons particularly new cartoons were not on my radar.

To be fair, almost none of these are all that recent but they are new discoveries to me. Without further ado and in no particular order:

David's Tea Apple Custard Fruit Infusion

Another "back of the cupboard" review while I watch the finale to the excellent revival of "the X-Files" that I can only hope will lead to more. I may have overlooked this tisane due to its similar name to the "Sweet Apple Cider" I reviewed back in the fall.

The Apple Custard contains apples, golden raisins, coriander, chamomile, and vanilla flavouring. The vanilla and apple flavours predominate giving this tea a mild sweet taste.  I think this bag was sitting for a while and as such the flavour has faded over time.

Overall this tea has not left me wanting more, unlike the latest adventure of Scully and Mulder.

Not Recommended.

David's Tea Buchu Superfruit Rooibos

Another new one from David's Tea that is based around a "superfruit" this time a "detox remedy" from South Africa. Other ingredients include black current, blackberry leaves, goji berry, strawberry, blueberry, açai, stevia, and natural açai and raspberry flavouring.  I find the smell of this tea very unappealing. I think it's mostly the esters used for the natural flavours, I like raspberries but not usually raspberry flavouring.

This tea is almost a checklist of trendy exotic ingredients, açai, goji, buchu, even blueberries are considered fancy now. Of the new teas we bought this was the one I was probably the least interested in which may have biased me a little bit but Mrs. ISMOTU didn't love this one either.

It's tart mostly with a hint of sweetness to prevent it from being considered sour. I wouldn't say it's bad but definitely not for me.
Not Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/buchu-superfruit-organic-3

Luckily a disappointing tea did not impede my enjoyment of the latest episode of "Legends of Tomorrow" which despite having a terrible name has quickly become my new favourite of the current stable of DC Comics TV series we're lucky enough to be able to watch.  This episode's trek to the Cold War got us a look into the Eighties without repeating the funkalicious vibe from the team's inaugural trip to the Seventies. Plus we got to see some characters and callbacks to John Ostrander's run on "Fury of Firestorm" which is always a good thing in my books. I'll have to write either a Firestorm-centric post one of these days or an examination of my favourite comics written by Mr. Ostrander. Or maybe I should just do both.

David's Tea Jessie's Tea Rooibos

Another old favourite I'm surprised I haven't reviewed yet. Jessie's Tea is seemingly inspired by this song: 

But that's not why I like it. The blend of coconut and lavender is delicious backed up by honeybush and cornflower. Normally I don't care that much for the taste of honeybush but in this tea it's subtle enough that I don't mind it. Both me and Mrs. ISMOTU enjoy this tea immensely and recently restocked our supply. I always find I have less to say about the teas I really love but this one is great.

Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/jessie-s-tea

David's Tea Ginger Peach Moringa Herbal Infusion

Ginger Peach Moringa, I know two out three of those words. So the ginger and peach are what drew me to try this tea but what's a moringa? According to the tin moringa is a "wonder-plant used for everything from detoxing to immune boosting" blech. I drink tea because I enjoy it I don't look at it as alternative medicine. I also just like to try new things. I don't need to be sold on a new tea because of some kind of magic plant. It's a beverage not a potion.  Ok, rant over. How's the tea?

Pretty decent actually. The peach flavour predominates and the ginger is in perfect harmony with it. A bit of spice to cut the sweetness of the peach. This tisane also contains moringa leaves, blackberry leaves, and lemongrass, but they are all in the background.  This was a nice accompaniment to the latest episode of Supergirl where we are introduced to Bizarro in an episode that plays with the classic secret identity dating issues trope.

Despite my annoyance with the marketing I did really enjoy this tea.
Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/ginger-peach-moringa-4

David's Tea Organic Mango Turmeric Herbal Infusion

The next of the brand new teas we picked up over the weekend is the Mango Turmeric, which is accompanying my trek through the X-Files. I'm over halfway through season 8 and thus nearly ready to check out the new series.

This bright yellow tea has a complex, savoury flavour. Anchored around the yellow root indigenous to India this infusion also contains ginger, mango, pineapple, lemongrass, lemon verbena with some natural orange and mango flavouring.  The smell of this tea was the first thing that hit me. The scent of the turmeric is strong and distinctive. It elicits the notion of a memory in my mind but I can't quite place it. The ginger adds a spiciness to the savoury punch of the turmeric (which is a great example of the fluidity of English pronunciations) while the fruit flavours are all but lost in the mix. I can detect a hint of citrus but nothing really of the mango and pineapple (Mrs. ISMOTU says she gets a hint of the mango sweetness but it's faint).  As such it does not pair well with the cheesecake I had for dessert but that's more poor planning on my part than any real criticism toward the tea.

I like it, it's quite different from many of the other flavours I've tried but it is enjoyable. I don't think it'll become a favourite but would probably go nicely with some Indian food.
Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/mango-turmeric-organic-5

David's Tea Sweet Almond Green Tea

If you've read my review of the "Forever Nuts" herbal tea you can probably guess how I feel about the Sweet Almond Green Tea.  It's great. Taking green tea, adding almonds, marigold flowers, cornflower petals, and almond flavour reduces the bitterness of the green tea while the sweetness is not sugary. I love almond flavoured goodies, like marzipan, and this is no exception. The floral notes from the marigold and cornflower add some complexity to the flavour. The almond scent is predominant in this tea's bouquet and it's quite inviting.
Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/sweet-almond-green-organic-3

David's Tea Poached Pear Rooibos

A brand new tea to review, not just something in the back of my cupboard that I haven't tasted in a while. I don't know why but "Poached Pear" sounds extremely British to me. Whatevs. This is a delicious blend of green rooibos, apple, cinnamon, pear, and natural pear and cinnamon flavouring. Why added flavouring when you've got the real deal? Probably so they become the dominant tastes. The like the green rooibos, it's a softer, smoother flavour compared to regular "red" rooibos. This tea claims to capture "all the flavour and aroma of sweet, refreshing bosc pear at its peak." And honestly I'd say it does a pretty good job of that. This tea has a great bouquet and a light flavour that still satisfies.
Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/poached-pear

David's Tea Orange Blossom Rooibos

Orange Blossom Rooibos flavours the tea with currants, orange peel, orange blossoms, vanilla, marigold, and safflower.  The gentle flavour is wonderfully smooth. It's not as strong or bitter as Earl Grey and the hint of vanilla adds a creaminess to the mix. Tonight it's paired well with discount Belgian chocolate biscuits and the latest episode of Agent Carter. She's still kicking butt and wearing amazing dresses whilst doing so. The comic book science was out in full force and Howard Stark stole some scenes.
Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/orange-blossom

David's Tea Banana Nut Bread Fruit Infusion

Banana bread is a delicious treat that I should really make more often. When we were in the frigid North I would toss bananas in the freezer when they started to turn, with the notion that I'd make delicious banana bread. It never happened. So far this year my wife has made a super yummy banana bread twice and I've reaped the benefits.

This fruit infusion captures the flavour surprisingly well by using a mix of dates, currants, almonds, banana, and some added flavouring. I think it's the dates that are the secret ingredient here. I would never have thought to use dates in a tea but they work really well.

Banana Nut Bread fruit infusion is complimenting nicely my evening watching the latest episode of Supergirl, a show I'm enjoying far more than I thought I would.

Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/banana-nut-bread-5

Toku-WHAT-su?

In the beginning there was Ultraman...

Specium Ray

Japan is a place that has fascinated me for a big chunk of my life now. My initial interest came through my study of Isshinryu Karate which began when I was 10. As a teenager I had friends who were really into anime but I was more into American comics at that point. Plus I had seen Ninja Scoll late one night on Teletoon at an age where I probably wasn't ready for it and it kind of turned me off anime for a while. I have been lucky enough to visit Japan twice in my travels. The first time was a 5 day trip to Okinawa which was awesome and probably the initial spark toward today's post. The second time was a bit over a year later as we (me and the at-the-time-soon-to-be Mrs. ISMOTU) left China for the final time we decided to turn our layover in Tokyo into a week-long holiday which probably cemented or at least furthered my fascination.  At the time I had just rediscovered Transformers in the form of Transformers: Prime and that led to spending too much money and suitcase space on fun Asian exclusive toys that I'd never see again.

But that's not what I want to focus on today. Boy do I have rambling, slightly askew openings to these posts. Well if you've read this far, thanks for sticking with me hopefully it'll be worth it.

Kate Loves a Mystery Too

Mysteries abound in this great world of ours and the ones on television can be a fun diversion that's not always as mindless as other genres.  In this post I'm going to blab on about a few more of my favourite TV mystery shows, for organization's sake I'm going to stick with older "classic" shows, which I'm going to arbitrarily define as pre-90's just to make room for part three of this series.

David's Tea Oh Canada! Rooibos

Sitting down to watch the first episode of season two of Agent Carter (with a great opening sequence reminding us why this show is awesome), enjoying a hot cup of Oh Canada! Pure typical Canadiana means that the Oh Canada! rooibos must be flavoured with maple.  It's got red and green rooibos blended with tons of sweetness from honeybush, caramel, toffee, candy maple leaves, and other flavouring. This is one of the sweetest teas I've had from David's Tea and as such I sample it somewhat sparingly. The maple flavour is sure to warm your glowing hearts as you stand on guard for the true north strong and free. There I got all the O Canada lyric references out in a single sentence. Seriously though, Oh Canada! rooibos is a sweet treat that brings the heat and is a lovely accompaniment to after dinner dessert.
Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/oh-canada-2

David's Tea Cocomint Cream Fruit Infusion

Coconut and peppermint? Sure why not.

This is a older tea in our cupboard and as such I don't think it's available anymore. But it is a nice one actually. I definitely wouldn't have thought to pair coconut with mint but sweet and fresh tastes work together well. The blend of apple, coconut, blackberry leaves, peppermint, and spearmint is described as "cool and creamy" on the label and I'd say that's as apt as anything I could write.

Cocomint Cream has an interesting flavour that I enjoy best in nebulous intervals. It's not one of my "go to" teas but it certain hits the spot when I'm in the right mood.  I'm enjoying what may just be my final cup of this blend as we prepare to honour Alan Rickman's passing by watching GalaxyQuest, "By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!"
Recommended.

*edited to add: apparently I reviewed this one once already back in September. Here's what I thought of it then.

David's Tea Grilled Pineapple Green Tea

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Can Spongebob drink tea? Probably not but we can!

Grilled Pineapple green tea from David's Tea is full of pineapple flavour. Not as much the "grilled" flavour which purportedly comes from the roasted rice but I have a hard time tasting it. The fact that rooibos is the first ingredient listed is interesting, it certainly doesn't overwhelm the flavour but I think the added pineapple flavouring overwhelms just about everything else. There is a hint of green tea in the finish but this blend stays sweeter overall.

If you like pineapple then you'll enjoy this Grilled Pineapple Green Tea.

Recommended.
For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/our-teas/grilled-pineapple

David's Tea Sleigh Ride Fruit Infusion

Whilst on holiday visiting family in my hometown the intrepid ISMOTU couple restocked our tea coffers and took advantage of some sales which would be over by the time we returned home.  Today's post is about the first of those spoils.

Sleigh Ride came in an adorable wee tin with, naturally enough, a sleigh on the front. This fruit infusion is anchored by apple and cinnamon flavours buoyed up by pineapple, papaya, beetroot, raisins, coconut, roasted almonds, and popped rice. Why am I using nautical terminology when describing an wintry delight? Because it's my blog and I can by wry if I want to? Also it's just more fun that way.

On the whole Sleigh Ride reminded me a lot of "Forever Nuts" which is not bad company to keep by any means but it doesn't really have enough of an identity on its own to make it stand out. It's warm and cozy, sweet but not sugary, though I find many of the flavours are masked or blend together to something more generic than I think they were hoping for. The popped rice is neat and looks like tiny popcorn but I can't detect its presence in the taste of the tea. Ditto for the pineapple and papaya. I think their flavour just blends with the sweetness of the beetroot.

It should come as no surprise that with a name like "Sleigh Ride" this tisane is part of this year's winter collection and thus will only be available for a limited time. We bought ours for 40% off and if you can snag it at that price you won't be disappointed but I'm certainly content waiting for the sale to try it and I can't say this will be one I'll miss terribly once it's gone.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/sleigh-ride-tea