Monday, December 24, 2012

Day 24

I can hardly believe today is the last day of my “Countdown to Delicious” calendar, I really enjoyed the last 24 days and sampling the wide variety of teas. I think I will keep this up when I get back from Florida and aim to try every flavour by the end of 2013. I'm not sure how feasible that will be because they keep coming out with new flavours, but I will try my best :)

Today was a double in my calendar, on Day 2 there was a mix up and I received Santa’s Secret instead of Chocolate Rocket. I peaked ahead and today was Santa’s Secret as well so I didn’t want to have a double blog entry.


I went in to the David’s Tea in Charlottetown before I left and tried to buy the little container of Chocolate Rocket but they insisted I take a bag of chocolate rocket, their treat :) Sadly they don’t even take tips so I couldn’t return the favour, maybe I will have to bring them in a batch of cupcakes when I get back to thank them for their kindness.

So sitting here in sunny Florida on Christmas Eve, I am having a cup of Chocolate Rocket. It is so amazing, tastes like I am drinking liquid chocolate with a hint of raspberry and other flavours, what an incredible combination. I love how they describe it on steepster.com :

“Need a boost? Try this tea. First you’ll experience a pure, sweet hit of chocolate. Then you’ll find yourself awash in the freshness of raspberries. Followed by the richness of almonds and chicory. And then, bang, you’ll realize you’ve been infused with roasted Brazilian maté. How will you know? It’s what’s giving you all that crazy energy. Just fly with it.” 
This tea contains roasted Yerba maté (Brasil), cocoa, almonds, roasted chicory root, raspberries, and natural and artificial flavouring. Chocolate Rocket is definitely going near the top of my favourites list :)

Thanks for tuning in to my little “Countdown to Delicious” blog the past 24 days, it has been fun :) 


Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy Christmas! 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Day 23

Today was Vanilla Oolong flavour. It was a cool evening in Florida so I sat out on the deck and had this tea to keep warm. I found this tea was very plain and it didn’t really taste like its name. I was hoping it would taste more like vanilla bean flavour, but maybe I should have made it into a tea latte instead.


This tea has Pouchong tea leaves, the least oxidized of oolongs which means that it’s almost as high in antioxidants as green tea. It has vanilla and a hint of orange. The water I used may not have been quite hot enough because I could not taste the orange (I have been using the keurig machine, I probably should start using a kettle to get the water even hotter).

I think I will give this tea another try when I go back to PEI. I did that for goji pop and I liked it much better the second time I tried it when they made it for me at the store. Steepster.com says this tea is so good it is known to be addictive. We will see when I am back in January, perhaps I will love it if I try it again :)


I can hardly believe tomorrow is the last day of the tea calendar, I absolutely loved trying all the David's tea flavours this month :)

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Day 22

Today’s tea is called “The Skinny”, what a great name for a tea for around the holidays. This is the perfect tea if you just indulged. My willpower is on a “sweet-free” kick so I did not indulge at all this week and don’t plan to over the holidays. I absolutely love Christmas treats: fudge, cupcakes, cookies, chocolates, candies, you name it - but I don’t like the way I feel after I eat them, and I can’t just have one so rather than torture myself I just won’t have any which works great. That way I don’t have cravings, as long as I don’t try any - if I do it is game over ;)


I really liked the smell and the flavour of this tea, and it chalk full of benefits. Steepster.com said that 2000 years of ancient Chinese wisdom suggest you try this organic blend. It is reputed to speed your metabolism and block fat absorption after a heavy meal. Plus it contains ginger and ginseng, two more traditional metabolism uppers. The Skinny is made of organic Chinese oolong tea, Chinese pu’erh tea, ginger, eleuthero root, and orange peel.

I will definitely keep this in mind next time I decide to indulge on my favourite cupcakes :)


Day 21

Day 21 was organic sweet dreams tea so I decided to have this before bed. Unfortunately I didn’t steep the tea until almost midnight and was so exhausted I only was able to have half the cup before I was asleep.  I guess it must have worked…I didn’t expect it to work so quickly as I didn't even have time to do up this blog post.


I wasn’t that fond of the flavour, but I think if I really had trouble sleeping I would try this again for sure. It reminded me of a neo-citron drink when you are sick, drinking something you really don’t love but the effects work like a charm so it is worth it.


This tea is a blend of sleep-inducing chamomile, lemongrass, hibiscus, licorice, lemon, orange and rose petals. It may have been the licorice or the rose petals I was tasting that I didn’t really love. It was nice to try a good night tea though, that was my very first time.


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Day 20

What a beautiful day in Florida, just taking a quick break from the beautiful warm day to write up this little blog post. This tea “Kiwi’s Big adventure” was a perfect sunshine tea. I am not sure if this is a parody of "Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure" movie, remember that show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse? Anyways, that is what it reminded me when I read the name of it.



It smelled so fruity and tasted so fresh. I did not see any pieces of kiwi in it but then again I have never had freeze-dried kiwi before, only the bright green fresh kiwi, with brown fuzzy skin. This reminded me a bit of a kiwi wine cooler. I was almost thinking of drinking this tea with ice cubes and a little mini umbrella garnish ;)
This green tea is made of freeze-dried kiwi, apple, lemon peel and lemongrass. Steepster.com describes it perfectly “from the second the aroma hits you, you know you’re in for something special. Sweet, fruity, tart and lively, it’s an adventure you won’t soon forget.


I just discovered these "fruit adventure" tictacs yesterday, they really remind me of this tea. Yum!


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Day 19

I arrived in Florida tonight and couldn’t wait to try this tea. I have heard really great things and that it is the "world’s best chocolate tea". Steepster.com says that it is better than dessert, more reliable than sex and it is a totally decadent combination of China black tea, vanilla, peppermint, chocolate bits and spicy red peppercorns. Plus it contains little red candy lips for a kiss of sweetness.”



The miniature lip sprinkles were adorable. This tea really was worth the wait, and I was a bit nervous the peppercorns were made of artificial cinnamon, but I did not have an allergic reaction so they must not be. I was very impressed with this tea.

Looking forward to having this tea when I am craving a delicious treat.


Today David’s tea posted a pic of the gingerbread boy with a cup of tea. I decided to have one tonight with my tea too, although he was way too cute to eat, so my Dad had him instead :)



Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Day 18

This tea was made for me today, I really needed it. I had a bit of a scary day yesterday and was hit by a big truck while walking across the street. Very traumatic experience but luckily I don't have any broken bones so I was forever grateful to my guardian angel for keeping me safe.  This green tea is a comfort tea, called toasted walnut. It says on steepster.com that traditional Chinese medicine says walnuts are a warming food, as this is the kind of tea you spontaneously want to cozy up to on a cold winter afternoon.


The comforting, lightly bitter taste of toasted walnuts is sweetened and deepened with dried pineapple, coconut, almond and organic green tea. It even had big chunks of real walnuts. 

didn't have a lot to eat or drink today so this was a very nice treat to brighten my day. I am not sure why but it also seemed to relieve my headache that I had since the accident, as I felt much better afterwards.


Today I got a triple dose of David's tea as I had yesterday's tea, today's tea and I also received a David's tea candle as a gift from my manager. Such a wonderful surprise, I love it :)


Where does the time go, only 6 more days of delicious…off to Florida in the morning so I will be sipping the remaining six flavours in the warm sunshine. Can’t wait!

Day 17

Sadly I missed day 17, but I made up for it today and had two. This was my first time having Checkmate and it really cheered me up. This tea is black and white tea and when they come together they make chocolate. So delicious, I loved it!


It is neat that this tea doesn’t really live up to its name of a chess game, I read on steepster.com that it isn’t a case of black versus white, it’s black and white working together. When you mix white Bai Mu Dan with black tea, coconut and chamomile flowers, it creates a rich, satisfying, chocolate flavour. You’ll swear you’re drinking a cup of hot cocoa, even though there’s no chocolate in the blend.
Just in case you try it and were thinking dessert, this was a healthy chocolate taste not a sweet chocolate. But I think you would really enjoy it :)


Sunday, December 16, 2012

Day 16

Today's tea door was Organic North African Mint, I love mint so I was excited to try this tea. It was pretty powerful smelling, I think when I thought of mint I thought of peppermint green tea which tastes very fresh, this one has lots of other ingredients so I could not really taste the mint. This tea tasted similar to a chai tea, almost a spicy flavour. It was pretty good, but today I was more in the mood for a candy mint tea, I think I will make a Santa’s Secret a bit later for a candy cane treat.



This green tea is made of peppermint with organic cardamom, ginger, licorice root, fennel clove and black pepper. I think the ginger and black pepper is what I can taste the most.

Very unique taste - this tea would be good for those that like plain tea but would like to spice it up from time to time :)

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Day 15

Today I finally got to try Organic Japanese Sencha - David’s favourite tea :) I have wanted to try his favourite many times, however the fancy candy and chocolate flavoured teas always pulled me in and I would order them instead. Glad to see this was day 15 of the tea calendar. I have not tried any type of sencha tea before but I do love green tea so I knew I would like it.


This tea looks plain and smells plain but tastes delightful. It would be perfect with some veggie sushi…hmmm I may just have to get some tonight and have another cup of this sencha treasure.
 


It says on the steepster.com site that japanese monks were writing about tea in the 9th century, but the world had to wait until 1740 for Sencha, when a tea merchant named Nagatani perfected a new process of steaming, rolling and heat-drying green tea. The result? An emerald-green tea that’s refreshing, smooth and high in antioxidants. No wonder it’s Japan’s most popular drink. Yum!

This tea is made of fine organic steamed Japanese green tea from Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Would love to visit Japan someday :)

Friday, December 14, 2012

Day 14

Goji pop, what an adorable name that is :) I had this tea this morning and I made it with my David’s tea ball but for some reason it did not turn hot pink like steepster.com said it would, I am not sure what happened. And the tea tasted just blah. So I decided to give it another shot and went to David’s tea to order a cup. I was very happy to see it did turn colour this time and was much more flavourful. The only thing I didn’t like was the smell, it was way too sweet or something. 


Glad I gave it a second chance though, especially since the steepster website said that Li Ching lived to be 256 year old (as legend says) because of his secret of eating goji berries :) Pretty impressive little berry that is!


This tea is made up of sweet goji berries, vitamin-C-rich rosehip, citrusy lemon oil, apple, melon, marigold and hibiscus. I will give it another try for the health benefits alone.


Fourteen days in and I absolutely love my @davidstea calendar, I really hope they come out with a calendar for every month of the year, it is so fun to wake up to a surprise tea each morning :)

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Day 13

I tried the “Green & Fruity”  Rooibos Blend tonight, it had such a familiar smell to it, It must have been the papaya and mango combination. This tea was so good but I only remember the first sip, and all of a sudden I was at the bottom of the cup. I have to make an effort to be more mindful when having my tea, sometimes if I am doing other things I tend to drink it fast and don’t get to enjoy the full benefits.



I read on the steepster.com site that the green unoxidized rooibos is very healthy for you. The production process, which is similar to that of green tea, results in a higher antioxidant capacity. Even more reason to drink up!


This tea is made of South African green and red rooibos, papaya, apple, mango and peach.

I was looking for a David’s tea photo online of this flavour and came across a store in Saskatchewan that sells David’s tea for hundreds of dollars, not sure if this is several typos (decimal misplaced) or if they are selling the tea by the truck load. Too funny (screen shot below)! 


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Day 12

Today was my first time trying "Forever Nuts", one of David’s most popular flavours. I was very excited to try it and I am not sure why I never did before as I used to have a tea date with my colleague every week as our friend sent us over some David’s tea packs before the store opened.  He would always have Forever Nuts and I would have Happy Kombucha, I guess we should have switched once in a while and then I would have tried this great tea before today :)

The neat part was I happened to be drinking this at 12/12/12, 12:12pm. I even took a picture, now that is one special tea ;) I will always remember it if I think of this unique date in the future :)


I loved the flavour, it had an apple and cinnamon smell and tasted like almonds, and the beet made it a pale pink, like the colour of raspberry ultima replenisher. The smell was amazing too. I had a cup at lunch and then another one tonight; playing iphone music trivia with friends to candlelight (power was out) was the perfect atmosphere for this delicious tea. It has a really calming taste, an instant relaxant.


This tea contains apple, almond, cinnamon, beetroot and artificial flavouring. Allergens: tree nuts.


And as Steepster.com says: “Deliciously nutty, decidedly addictive”. Very true :)

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Day 11

Today’s tea was Sleigh Ride, this is one of my favourites and I also have a tea tin of it. I have heard of people putting this loose tea on their oatmeal after it has steeped, what a great idea as the ingredients are delicious.


Yesterday would have been a perfect day for a “sleigh ride” in Charlottetown – we had all kinds of snow and the office closed in the afternoon. Province House pictured below, taken yesterday afternoon.
Today I woke up and it was back to green and plus temperatures, wouldn't know it was mid-December, at least not today :) Beautiful green grass, feels like spring again!


This tea would be great all year but the smell and taste have that Christmas season feel to it, it reminds me a bit of apple cider which I believe is one of the traditional drinks to warm up to after a sleigh ride, along with hot chocolate as another option.

This fancy herbal tea is made of apple, hibiscus blossoms, candied pineapple, candied papaya, beetroot, cinnamon, raisins, coconut, roasted almonds, popped rice and artificial flavouring.  I love the colour of this tea when brewed, it is a deep red, the colour of cranberry juice, very pretty.


I will stock up on this seasonal tea before it is gone, the flavour is purely magical.



Monday, December 10, 2012

Day 10

Today I opened tea door number 10 and it was Organic Detox. This tea came at a great time as I had cupcakes and wine on the weekend. I have tried another brand of detox tea before and it tasted like black licorice so I was hoping this tea would taste a bit better. It is a green tea and I love green tea so that was very promising.


It said on steepster.com that the rooibos will restore your equilibrium with iron, potassium, zinc and manganese. The sencha will pump you full of antioxidants. The ginger will zap lethargy and headaches. The ginkgo will clear your mind. The lemongrass will detoxify your liver. And the juniper berries will flush out toxins and any lingering regrets.


This tea was awesome, I could really taste the juniper berries and ginger. I have no idea how something so good for you can taste this delicious. The taste and the ingredients scream healthy, I was happy I got my taste buds back after yesterday's hot cinnamon tea :)   

I will definitely get more of this flavour, it would be a perfect tea to sip on before, during and after my Yin Yoga class on Sunday mornings.