464 Tasting Notes
My first thought when I opened this bag of tea was just one word: Barbecue!! It seriously smells like southern BBQ ribs. I think I was expecting more of a woody sweet smell rather than a smoked meat smell, so it was surprising and powerful. Maybe a little too powerful. I don’t think I really enjoyed drinking this tea. The smokiness was just overwhelming. I enjoyed the aftertaste which was muchmore subtle- woodsy and a little sweet, but I don’t think I’ll have this tea again. The taste is a bit too powerful for me.
Walnut teas are just so yummy! I don’t think I enjoyed this quite as much as I enjoyed DavidsTea’s take on it, but it was still creamy, nutty, and delicious. The coconut just enough to make the tea creamy. I didn’t taste any pineapple. The green tea base was smooth and yummy!
Sidenote: Anyone else get a burnt feeling in their mouth when they drink walnut teas? I got that with both walnut teas I tried. It wasn’t so intense in this one, but it was still there.
Yum! I think this is the best Della Terra Tea I’ve tried so far! The dry leaf smells fragrant and perfume-like. I didn’t detect any really artificial smelling things like DTT’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, which was a relief.
On first taste it oddly tastes like cactus pear, especially since it feels so thick in the mouth. I guess that’s due in part to the cactus flowers? I did a double-take and had to look at the ingredient list to make sure I hadn’t skipped over cactus pear in the list. As I kept sipping I started tasting the fruit flavors and it started tasting less like cactus pear, but it still tasted good. I’m glad the peach flavor didn’t overpower the whole thing like in a Rabbit’s Garden. The after-taste is a little tart, but not bitter.
This was a good choice of tea for overcast morning. It starts off with a strong malty, black flavor which turns into a creamy caramel flavor and in the aftertaste there’s just a hint of salt. It was just the right amount of sweet too without adding sugar.
I had a slight bit of astringency on the first steep, but I steeped it for far too long because I was walking to work- 15 minutes. The instructions say 5-7.
Sipping a second steep now and there is less astringency. Also there is a little less salt, which of course I’m not surprised about in a second steep. I’m tasting the coconut in this second steep more, which adds to the creaminess. This tea won’t be one of my favorites, but I could see myself getting this to go again from the store because it did cheer me up on this overcast, gloomy day.
I’m not rating this one because I’m still trying to make up my mind whether I like lavender. Most of my experiences with lavender scents and tastes have been soapy, chemical, and fake so I may be a little prejudiced against it.
The dry leaf is beautiful and smells pretty good! When I taste it, the chamomile is not overpowered by the lavender. Both of them are there equally. The chamomile part is quite good. It smells fresh and for a lack of a better work “herbal”. I’m trying to taste the lavender as something new and not something I have previous thoughts about. I think I would have to try this again with honey or sugar before I can make up my mind completely about it.
I gotta say that I’m kind of disappointed in this tea since it had so many high ratings. There is just this artificially bubble gum sweet smell and taste in it that I usually associate with soy lecithin, which I’ve learned is something I can’t stand in teas. For example Celestial seasons uses it in their lemon zinger. It’s not on the ingredient list, but maybe it’s used as a preservative for this tea? I could smell it as soon as I opened the package, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be in the taste. I’m going to give the rest of the packet to my sister who tried it the other night and liked it.
When it’s hot, I can’t taste much else over the lecithin taste. bleh! As it cools, I start to get some cinnamon in the taste and a little of the raisins as an aftertaste, which is nice but not enough to make me happy. I wish I could get past the bubble gummy aspect of this, but I can’t.
How lovely! Drinking this tea is like smelling the scent you get when walking into a flower shop- minus the allergies! :-) I would almost say it smells/tastes like potpourri, but I would hate to make that comparison because I’ve always hated potpourri, which is kind of soapy, overpowering, and makes me sneeze.
At first this left me wondering if there was really any taste going on. As I kept sipping and as it cooled, I got a tiny little blossom of flower fragrance. As I got to the bottom of the cup, I imagined a whole garden of flowers erupting into glorious bloom! This really brightened my morning, which started out rather rushed and late. Perfect for a spring morning!
I am ever in search of the perfect blackberry tea. I steeped this one twice. The first time I did it with boiling water for 3 minutes without sweetener. It was slightly fruity with a smooth black tea base, but didn’t wow me. The second steep was better and slightly below boiling for about 5-6 minutes with a spoonful of raw wildflower honey. It brought out the blackberry much more, but still not quite as flavorful as I wanted it to be. Maybe I should try it as a cold steep.
After the Premium Taiwanese Assam blew my mind this morning, I was very eager to try the other teas I got from Butiki! Brewed up some of this for my mother and I this afternoon. It starts out with a very strong floral fragance and as it cools the pineapple comes out more and more. It feels very smooth and buttery. It leaves a slightly bitter after-taste that isn’t unpleasant- probably a result of the pineapple. A very tasty tea to relax with on a Saturday afternoon! :-)
