DAVIDsTEA Forever Nuts

Forever Nuts has to be my favourite tea of all time. The scent alone is enough to make you buy a tin full at a time. With almonds, beetroot, apples, and cinnamon (among others) in the tea, you get a lot of bang for your buck. Some teas you buy a certain amount (grams) but because there are a lot of larger pieces you don't get a lot of tea. Forever Nuts is not the case for this annoyance.

When I first made it (after smelling it and going "OH MY GOD!") I noticed that the tea is actually red. Which to me was weird, until of course you realize it has beets in it. Or specifically beetroot. There is a bit of an aftertaste from drinking it but it's very minimal. Smooth and you don't need to steep it forever to get a good taste; however, when you leave it in the better it tastes.

You can read about Forever Nuts here. I recommend at least smelling the tea at your local Davids store.

Reviews of Coffee...I know right?!

There are only three coffees I will ever drink. Period. End of story. In fact, two of them come from "take-out" establishments because my favourite coffee that I can make indoors is expensive.

My favourite coffee of all time is Nescafe French Vanilla instant coffee. It's about a tsp. per cup of coffee but when the jar is not on sale, it's $7. On sale it's $4. I guess if you drink coffees like my mom used to (upwards of 4 Tim Hortons XLs a day) then it's cheaper, but I cannot bare to fork over that money. It's easy enough to make and mixed with milk and sugar it's so great that I have to limit myself to having only one a day.

When I'm out and about I will sometimes just "require" a coffee. McDonalds is my first go-to place for coffee. You get more bang for your buck and it's just a nicer coffee compared to Tim Horton's. I find that Tim Hortons coffee is just really expensive now and not a nice coffee to drink. If I'm desperate or it's free then I will. Even roll up the rim to win is not a way to get me there.

There are a lot of choices for coffee and one place I haven't really tried to dig into for hot coffee is Starbucks. Love their one drink that's called Very Berry Hibiscus but other than that I just buy their popcorn.

Until next time...

DAVIDsTEA Strawberry Fields

I am drinking Strawberry Fields right now, a sample tin that came in my Easter Egg hunt kit from David's. With the exception of the 24 days of tea, I always get the kits of tea samples way after the fact because they go on sale.

Immediately after putting the tea in my strainer it smelled like a particular candy that I just cannot pin point.

It wasn't a favourite for me, even though the ingredients and description had me convinced. It had a weird aftertaste that I couldn't get rid of.

I would have to give this tea a rating of 6/10. I was able to drink most of it but it just wasn't lovely.

Fliters and Infusers

As I wrote my review of Cotton Candy, I realized that I could actually review filters and infusers. There are a lot of options on how to make your teas and how to infuse your tea into the water. Some are ridiculously expensive and others are not.

At DAVIDsTEA for example, there teapots come with a large infuser that is removable and can be reused for daily use in a mug. They also sell a mesh ball and tea bag filters which have a little DAVIDsTEA tab and can be closed.

I found the mesh ball that they sell to be easy to use but very hard to clean. If you're like me and something always comes up, it's hard to get the tea out of there and rinse it out in an orderly fashion. That leads to the tea sitting in the mesh ball up against the stainless steel for too long and it ends up staining it, usually brown. They suggest cleaning it with baking soda and scrubbing it with a clean toothbrush. I found it easier to just stop using it altogether.

Teavana sells a larger infuser that has a removable top with a chain on it. It is about double the cost of the mesh ball at Davids, but I haven't had too much trouble with it staining. The infuser is easier to use for sure and there is a lot more room for the tea to move around, expand, and let the "juices" out.

My favourite thing to use however, are the filters. Especially when you have in-laws or guests come over and they want to try a tea you have but you don't really want to give the your infuser. They come in packs of 20 and 100 at Davids and 100 at Teavana. The difference is cost. The 20 pack of DAVIDsTEA infusers are the same cost of the Teavana 100 pack. They do the exact same thing, infuse your tea.

DAVIDsTEA filters can be found here and yes they are stylish and cute. They have a drawstring to close and have that little cute tab. Let's be honest here though. For a whole dollar more, and minus the fancy drawstring/tab, I can have 80 more filters. Teavana filters can be found here and they are much larger but have to be folded or hung over your mug so that the tea doesn't come out.

Even though a tea ball or mesh ball (strainer) is more cost effective, meaning you don't have to go and buy more filters constantly, I found that having to clean it out before I could have another tea was super annoying. Especially during the long winter months when I have tea like a kid wants ice cream in the summer. It's easier to just throw the teabag out or infuse it again.

DAVIDsTEA Cotton Candy - UPDATED

What I am drinking right now is David's Cotton Candy. Details on their website here: Cotton Candy

It reminds me a lot of the Birthday Cake tea (which was the very first tea I ever purchased from Davids so many moons ago...and was on my birthday).

The tea is definitely a rooibos with your spoon filling up almost all of what your purchased (unlike some teas where there are tons of big chunks). Inside are sweet little cotton candy sprinkles that must make you want to find a carnival to run to. It also contains mango, green rooibos, brittle, and flavouring.

There's no aftertaste which for some of us is refreshing. I have only tasted it hot and steeped with a Teavana tea bag filter (more of that here). As I am doing laundry while typing this post, it has somewhat cooled down but slightly warm. I find it still aromatic and delish!

I give this tea a 9/10 only because it does contain artificial flavouring (boo!).

UPDATE: I left the tea bag in because I didn't have anywhere to put it. At the end of the tea (and it was a tad cold) it was so sweet. I do not recommend leaving the bag in that's for sure!

Introduction

Good Morning to everyone!

I have started this blog because I love tea. Especially loose tea. I've had a really rough couple of weeks and I need to start something positive in my life so that good things will follow.

I am a "frequent steeper" at DAVIDsTEA and also at their competitor, Teavana. In fact, Teavana is the first store of tea that I visited and purchased from. I guess in a way, I cheated on DAVIDsTEA before I really got to know them.

My blog will be reviews on tea that I have had and accessories from filters to mugs and kettles. I also joined Steepster, a community for tea lovers where reviews are a plenty.

Enjoy and have a cup of tea with me while you browse!:)