DAVIDsTEA released four teas last week, three new teas and Lemon Pound Cake made a come back as tea of the month. Starting with the non-green tea from the Malt Shop Collection, Vanilla Swirl. This is a herbal tea that they describe as a creamy vanilla infusion that tastes just like a soft serve ice cream cone.
DAVIDsTEA Vanilla Swirl Ingredients & Steeping Instructions
Ingredients: Lemongrass, pineapple, white chocolate, globe amaranth, cornflower, stevia extract, natural flavouring
Allergy allerts: Milk, soy, sulfites
Steeping Instructions: 1 perfect spoon per 16oz near boiling (194℉ – 203℉ or 90℃ – 95℃) water
Lemongrass is not the first ingredient I would expect to find in Vanilla Swirl. They want it sweet and low calorie so stevia is not a surprise. With so many people sensitive to stevia, I wish it was not in there. White chocolate gives it the creamy taste and you know I love some cornflower.
Maybe I am getting fussier the more loose teas I drink but this one just doesn’t cut it for me as a vanilla tea. It is more what you would expect from Lemon Pound Cake going just on names and not looking at ingredients. It does have a hint of vanilla and creaminess you would expect from an ice cream inspired tea but that is where it ends.
I have tried Vanilla Swirl three times plus an instore sample and it has always had too much lemon taste. I do love lemon teas but it doesn’t cut it as a lemon tea either because this probably has more stevia aftertaste than any other tea from DAVIDsTEA. It tastes ok at first then you just taste stevia.
I had really high hopes for this collection but Vanilla Swirl just missed the mark for me. It reminds me of a vanilla protein shake with lemon juice rather than a soft serve ice cream. As a latte, not bad but that was more to use up the rest of my sample bag and I will not be repurchasing this one.
Check back for reviews on Strawberry Shake and Mint Chip Sundae this week plus the tea of the month Lemon Pound Cake!