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