Tea Sipper

I’ve had this one a while… just making tasting notes now. It was a sample included with my ESP order. First, I think the flavor has changed since the last time I had it, unless I brewed it differently (of course, it’s different every time). But I don’t trust these ESP packages that are not sealed air tight. The bags just fold over. I put all my ESP teas in one ziplock. The flavor seems very mild for a chai, and I steeped it for a while! It seems like any chai with black tea mixed with it is more mild.. less room for the spices. (Except for Zentealife.com’s Energizing Chai which had both pu-erh and mate added to it and the flavor was AMAZING.) I do like that this one had black pepper in it. I saw a bunch of those fall into my infuser first. But really, why is this so mild tasting?

Another one I get to try from momo! thanks again! Peach & jasmine sounds like the perfect combination! And sencha is my favorite type of green tea! The steep color is a pretty light green. I may have steeped this one too long, but I like it anyway. Definitely a peach presence… not so much with the jasmine, even though I saw two flowers go into the infuser. The sencha has a vegetal taste… tastes just like green beans (which I love.. I eat them raw way more than I eat potato chips!)

Another one from momo! thanks so much! This is exactly as I expected as I was reading about the blend… but better! This combination of fruits is fantastic! And NO hibiscus! I love the apples, cranberries, kiwi and cherries. The icing on the cake is this perfect coconut flavor. It just gives the tea a creaminess and cuts the fruity tartness a bit. Delicious. The steep color is a nice yellow. This is a fine example that not all herbal teas need hibiscus. Thanks for sharing this one momo, as I read your tasting notes and how much you love it!

Thanks momo, for the amazing package of teas! This one is a delicious black tea! The dry leaves have a sweet smell. It’s malty and as it cools it does taste like molasses (not like I’m sure what that tastes like, but it seems accurate!) I don’t get a berry flavor at all, like the description says. It’s not a weak or a super strong blend… a nice medium. This one is tough to describe but really good!

Yes, I saved this one to review on Halloween! The name is accurate with this one, just like the apple pie was yesterday! If I’m not mistaken, this looks to have little bits of pumpkin pie filling in the blend? Like the stuff that you’d buy in a can and then somehow it is dried for tea? If so, what a genius idea! I was definitely getting a pumpkin flavor, and not just the spices that gets added to anything pumpkin flavored. It had a great balance of the spice with the squashy, vegetal pumpkin! As usual with Della Terra, the black tea base isn’t overpowering the flavors. The second steep was just as good, since I used just-boiled water. Peeking in the infuser, the pumpkin filling pieces or the sprinkles weren’t completely melted into the tea. I really like this one, and I think this is the best idea on how to make a pumpkin tea… pumpkin pie filling! (But if anyone knows that this isn’t pumpkin pie filling, please correct me if I’m wrong!) Another amazing tea from Della Terra! This is why I knew I shouldn’t have tried so many in their sample packs… I will want to buy full ounces of most of the teas I’ve tried!

Momo included a few cups of this in the sample sale. Thank you! This is creamy and dreamy. Nothing beats an excellent earl grey creme! (And yes, this is mostly like an earl grey creme because cheesecake is cream cheese!) This DOES have amazing balance like the description for the tea says. It has the perfect balance of black teas, bergamot, and cheesecake flavor. This tastes better as it is cooling. Good stuff! I’m going to savor the couple of cups I have left! Why does it seem like all the teas I’ve rated are in the 90s?

The name doesn’t lie! This is definitely apple pie! A nice sweet apple, doesn’t taste artificial at all, with some cinnamon. I think Della Terra uses different apple flavorings for their apple teas. This is the one I like better, that I think is also in the apple cinnamon yogurt rooibos that I love. The black tea base is perfect for these flavors, not too strong. I think there is also a slight bakey pastry flavor (maybe from the almonds?) but I might be imagining that, since the apple pie filling portion of this tea is so spot on! Another win for Della Terra!

Thanks momo for allowing me to try a few cups of this! Anything vanilla is my favorite. This is a milder tasting black tea base. It brews a medium brown color. Kind of malty. The base is perfect for the vanilla flavor that is neither too subtle or too strong. A tea that is smooth and sweet! I like it, of course (it’s vanilla). I can’t decide which is my favorite of the vanilla teas I’ve tried. I also like Harney’s Vanilla Comoro and ESP Emporium’s Vanilla Black. There was also a teabag I really loved: Numi’s India Night. But why pick favorites?

I’m worried about everyone on the east coast right now! Stay safe and drink some tea!

thank you so much momo for the amazing package of teas! Holy stevia! They should call this one stevia flavored. I’m definitely not a stevia fan. I feel like CS thinks the stevia tastes like pumpkin or something, so that is their idea of pumpkin flavor. The first tea I ever drank was a Celestial Seasonings chocolate chai, so there is some nostalgia there. I do enjoy some of their blends… the ‘Nutcracker Sweet’ especially. I was looking forward to trying the pumpkin as soon as I heard about it! They just went overboard with the stevia. The second steep has taken most of the stevia out, but probably much of the other flavor too. I’d say the second steep seems like it would have the normal amount of stevia you’d find in other teas. I don’t think they put much or any stevia in their other blends, unless they have started doing that now. That’s too bad, because it might have been a decent blend. I wouldn’t have minded all the spices with a better pumpkin flavor without stevia. I’m always up for trying though, so thanks again, momo!

I tried this again this morning because I was knocked out for some reason. Needed something to wake me up! I didn’t use a full teaspoon for this infusion, since I really want to save the bit I have left, I love it so much. Because of that, this was less brisk and strong. I must have put a ton in the infuser last time. Still delicious — just not the strongest cup of tea I’ve ever had! There was also a flavor I was getting that reminded me of almonds!

Thank you momo, for including this in your sample envelope sale! This is certainly a unique blend! I’m wondering how it is classified as a pu-erh tea, because to me it mainly looks like a floral and fruit blend. The blend looks like a rainbow! The main flavors I get here are floral and vanilla. Jasmine mostly! I would think the flavor would be very light, but it is very full. It kind of reminds me of the David’s milk oolong I had the other day. I’m starting to think the “treasures” are Verdant’s teas!

Thanks TeaEqualsBliss for this one! There is no lack of a peachy scent and flavor here! There is a sweetness from the rooibos that blends well with the sweetness from the peach! Very good. I just kept sipping. It’s very thirst quenching. I also love Drink T’s toffee rooibos that I’ve tried.

I don’t know why the name of this was changed, but it seems like it fits. There is a ton of spicy heat in this one, with a bit of sweetness added with the peppercorns. The black tea isn’t the main focus here, as it is more of an herbal tea. I don’t find too much cinnamon either. I definitely wouldn’t call this a cinnamon cider, so the name change fits. It seems like Della Terra has different apple flavors for their teas. I don’t like the apple here more than the Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Rooibos. This one seems a bit more fragrancy than the sweet dessert type apple in the rooibos blend. I like this, but I wish they would use the other apple. (This same apple seems to be in their Caramel Apple blend.) This reminds me of Yogi’s Aztec Sweet Chili.

So it was between this one and the Pineapple Upside Down Cake to round out my Della Terra ‘Try Me’ packs. I’ve seen reviews for that one since I received my ‘Try Me’ packs that suggested maybe I should have tried that one! Luckily, this one was worth it anyway! It’s a very intriguing & unique blend! The first flavor that hits me is, interestingly enough, the white & green tea blend. Then it’s the peppercorns, which I’m now finding doesn’t really taste like PEPPER per say, because there is a flavor here that tastes much like ESP Emporium’s Butter Truffle that I thought was from the other ingredients. It’s like a sweet flavor, that melds with the vanilla. Then a mild pineapple and apple from the few chunks of those in my infuser! Everything melds together well! I’ve tried a bunch of teas from Della Terra, and only one of them wasn’t exactly meeting my expectations! So many teas!

Additonal notes: I bought this recently because the sample was so good! This time it wasn’t as carroty as it should be if it’s a carrot cake blend, so I think the blend should have more carrots. But otherwise, it is still a DIVINE blend. Really really good. I’m amazed that everything melds together so well, as it would be tough to actually get ALL of the many individual ingredients in the infuser!

Wanted a chocolate tea this morning and this one was DEFINITELY chocolatey! Opening the package filled the room with a lovely chocolate scent! The fragrance of the tea was of a sweeter chocolate but the flavor was a dark chocolate (my favorite!) The black tea base was perfect for this. I wish many chocolate teas would have this much chocolate flavor. I think it was a bad idea to get three sample packs from Della Terra… I love most of the teas I’ve tried so far. Uh oh.

thanks again Amanda for allowing me to try so many of samples of 52Teas! I swear the other day I thought of a caramel apricot cheesecake. I never had that particular dessert before but it sounded good (I must have been hungry). Then I remembered I had this tea! SO I had to try it… Sadly, this one doesn’t have the caramel. From what fell into my infuser, there was at least one apricot chunk. The white tea lends a nice base for these flavors. Definite identifiable apricot, certainly a nice fragrance too. The cheesecake flavor is more of a cream flavor, but it is more present here than in other cheesecake teas I’ve tried from 52Teas. Overall, this is great. But I’d really rather like to have the actual cheesecake I envisioned!

Cappuccino, caramel and rooibos just seem like they should go together! Yum! I received this in my ‘try me’ pack, and I didn’t see too many caramel cubes in my half an ounce sample. I think the caramel cubes that WERE there fell into my infuser. The little cubes are interesting! I love the cappuccino flavor — I don’t think I’ve had that in a tea yet. Sadly, the caramel flavor was a bit lacking. I would LOVE this blend if it tasted more like caramel. Like I said, it’s a perfect trio of flavors!

Another one from Amanda. thank you! I really wanted to try this as soon as I heard about it. It sounded divine. I saw at least two big blueberries fall into my infuser! For some reason I know blueberry is a tough flavor to get right in tea. This one is perfect! Yes, I know all the flavor doesn’t come from the actual blueberries (flavoring is added), but it definitely tastes like a genuine strong blueberry. I didn’t get too much of a cream cheese flavor (I don’t know where that flavor would come from anyway). There was a BIT of a danish flavor though. I think this tea is just worth it for the delicious blueberries and assam! I will treasure the one or two cups I have left! I’ve had so many good teas, it seems like they are all crowding around the upper 90s in my ratings.

Thank you Amanda for including this in your tea sample sale! I’ve wanted to try a milk oolong for a while now!

The first steep was for four minutes. The unsteeped leaves smell like a sugary sweet, creamy floral oolong. And that is basically what it tastes like — sweet & creamy! This type of oolong just naturally tastes like this without flavoring? It is strangely like drinking actual milk… but with a nice floral oolong with it. I really don’t drink a ton of milk, so this is way better in my opinion. I had second & third steeps at 4 & 7 minutes that were both equally delicious. I wish I had more to say about this one – it is very complex. I love creamy teas and nice oolongs, so this one is amazing!

I’ve been on a tea spree. I wanted to try Fusion’s other chai teas because I really loved the chai aspect in their Caramel Chai Pu-erh. They sent me a sample of this with my order. This blend looks like a spicy everything-but-the-kitchen-sink. They add extra ingredients to their blend, that other chais might not usually have, like anise. I don’t think I’ve had a rooibos chai before. It seems like rooibos would make a good base for a chai, and really lends itself to other flavors. But here, it seems like it takes away some space in the blend for more spices. The spicier the better for me! The steep color was an orange rather than a red. Also, I’ve noticed the pepper flavor in any tea really only shows itself when the tea water was JUST boiled. I love this, but I would love to see a full chai blend from Fusion. Their spice mix is so great, it would be a nice standalone.

I received this one in Rachel’s fire sale! Thank you! This one has orange peels in it. Not any of the actual edible parts of an orange… just the peel. Oranges are usually not my thing in teas! This definitely tasted more like orange peels than oranges. I couldn’t taste much cranberry. The black tea as usual for Zooms is a nice base to let the flavors stand out. This isn’t my favorite Zoomdweebies! I’m still amazed I’m the only one to write a tasting note for their maple blueberry. I feel like Zoomdweebies teas are the less flavorful cousin to 52Teas.

Also, what’s the deal with Zoomdweebies? Do they not exist anymore? Any search just goes to the 52Teas page.

I could have swore I already tried this once since Nicole was so kind to share (thank you!) but if I did, this second cup was definitely different than the first time I tried it! I steeped for four minutes and it was nice and smokey, so I’d have to disagree with the description for this tea. I have no idea how the description could call it not smokey… that is its main characteristic. It definitely is smokey (but not as smokey as some teas I’ve tried), but also very sweet. I almost chose a russian caravan tea this morning, so I was pleased that this one was smokey anyway. I think the first cup I had was astringent, but this time it wasn’t, which leads me to believe that I oversteeped the last time and maybe the smokiness disappears if it is oversteeped. It was just a tiny bit astringent when the last bit of the cup got cold. (Where does astringency come from anyway?) I definitely would have remembered the smokiness before. So this one is sweet yet smokey. I love it.

thanks for this one, Will Work For Tea! Your tea clear out was amazing! I love that this is a blend of black & green teas, as well as jasmine & passion fruit. The steep color is a light amber. I steeped for four minutes, but I think there is something a bit off about the passion fruit flavor that I may have steeped too long. But that may be because there is so much passion fruit essence! It is good though! The passion fruit is stronger than the jasmine. I have had better jasmine teas, but I don’t think I’ve had any other passion fruit teas. The flavors are very smooth and really lingers on the tongue. I couldn’t really tell this was a black tea, if I didn’t read it on the package. I guess it’s better that the flavors were not overpowered… but that would have been tough to do with this one! This would be delicious iced. I have a tiny sample of this, and after pouring some into my infuser, I realize even this tiny sample will make many cups. I REALLY have too much tea. I’ll just have to keep drinking!