The Summer of Iced Teas : A Mini DavidsTea Haul + Review

I’ll be the first to admit that I tried to get into DavidsTea around 2014 but saw it as a waste of money and just stuck to Starbucks. I had the tea infuser, a press cup, and a bunch of other accessories like the sachet bags to build your own tea bag. It honestly got quite costly and on top of that, I found that too many of their teas tasted heavily of dried coconut, which is a flavor that I always tried to avoid.

But in the recent years I’ve become an avid fan of sparkling water and wanted to try out DavidsTea again since I had remembered them being a lot less sweet than other drinks. So far I’ve done about 10 orders in the last 4 months (it probably doesn’t help that they always have deals going on and I haven’t unsubscribed to their emails..) and now they have easily become my go-to Summer drink. Since I’m always grabbing new flavours thought it would be fun to share what I picked up in my latest order along with some first impressions.

 Cotton Candy

Notes from the website :

• Caffeine-Free
• Combines nut brittle, candied mango, and cotton candy sprinkles with a smooth, sweet red rooibos base.
• Suggests to try it iced with a scoop of ice cream.

First Impressions / Thoughts:
I was thoroughly impressed with how much this tea smelled like Cotton Candy Bubble Yum and couldn’t wait to steep it, but I was left feeling disappointed. I tried it iced, with honey and a splash of vanilla creamer but found it didn’t live up to the initial scent. I found that it kind of had a plastic aftertaste.

 Confetti Cupcake

Notes from the website :

• New flavour for 2021
• A light green rooibos that tastes like a vanilla birthday cake
• Contains white chocolate chips and sprinkles

First Impressions / Thoughts:
The initial scent reminds me a lot of bubble gum ice cream. I originally had this tea iced and found that something in it causes a layer of butter-y looking oil to form on the top ( I think it might be the chocolate chips) which was really off putting. The bubble gum smell and flavour mellowed out once steeped. It does taste a bit cakey but at the same time it’s not quite there.

Birthday Cake

Notes from the website :

• Currently being retired
• A Red Rooibos tea with a creamy vanilla twist
• Caffeine-Free

First Impressions / Thoughts:
The scent was very familiar, and after I had steeped it and added vanilla creamer + a touch of honey, it hit me. This tea reminds me of a milder Thai Iced Tea. The only think birthday cake-y from this tea is the sprinkles, but flavor is still very smooth and has sweet notes that linger which are reminiscent of vanilla frosting. I thoroughly enjoyed it though, and ended up ordering 200g worth.

How does Confetti Cake stack up to Birthday Cake?

I was thinking the reason Birthday Cake was being retired was to make room for something similar, but these two flavours are nothing alike. I’ll probably end up buying a few more bags of Birthday Cake before it’s gone.

Candy Apple

Notes from the website :

• New flavour for 2021
• A rich black tea with a crisp and slightly tart apple flavour with hints of caramel & cinnamon

First Impressions / Thoughts: It reminds me of fall, and if having apple cider while hanging out at a pumpkin patch was a flavour, this would be it. Once steeped, this tea still smells as it does in the bag but the flavour is a lot mellower than anticipated. It’s more on the cinnamon/tea side and the apple flavour is much more subtle. I wish the apple flavour came out more, but either way I still found this tea to be enjoyable. Despite the name, it’s not sweet at all and I added a touch of honey to it. I’ll definitely be picking this one up again.

Hibiscus Splash

Notes from the website :

• A Caffeine-Free infusion with apples, candied pineapple, hibiscus blossoms, cherries, cranberries, and dried fig.
• Supposed to be reminiscent of cherry popsicles & fruit punch.
• Tastes great hot, cold, or even frozen into popsicles.

First Impressions / Thoughts:
Out of all the teas I’ve tried so far this summer, this was by far my favourite to drink iced. I can easily go through a 50g packet in two days. They really hit the nail on the head with this one. It’s light, refreshing, and fruity. The initial scent reminds me of cherry Koolaid, but the flavour tastes a lot like fruit punch without being sickly sweet. The only downside to this tea is having to wait for it to cool down when wanting to drink it iced.