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Sipdown! Finally finished off the rest of my sample from tattooed_tea earlier today. It might be May, but I love pumpkin enough to enjoy it year-round. Besides, it was freezing cold today (but 90 just two days ago, seriously Kansas?!), so delicious pumpkin spice tea was just what I needed.

This smells absolutely wonderful. The pumpkin, brown sugar, and spices all come together to create the aroma of pumpkin pie. As with other Della Terra black teas, the trick is to make it extra strong. Once steeped, the pumpkin really stood out in both the scent and the flavor. I woud have preferred just a tad more spice, but this would be a good option for people who don’t want to be slapped in the face by cinnamon.

I can safely say that this is by far my favorite black tea that Della Terra offers (though I have yet to try Pineapple Upside Down Cake). This reminds me a lot of David’s Pumpkin Chai. Now that I think about it, I should have done a side by side taste comparison with my last cup. Too late for that now!

Sipdown 4!

After my experience with Banana Dream Pie this afternoon, I was craving a banana tea. I don’t actually have any other banana teas in my cupboard, so I decided to go with something that always reminds me of bananas. For some reason, all I can think of is banana nut bread when smelling this tea. I wish I knew why.

The liquor is a beautiful pink color from the beetroot. I’m not sure that it does anything to the flavor, but it sure makes for a fun cup. The apple is a bit tart and is rounded out by the almond and the cinnamon has a baked good-like quality to it. Soooo tasty!

I wish I wasn’t too cheap to restock this. Using 5g/16 oz. (no resteeps) will add up pretty fast. I would rather splurge on other teas.

Sipdown 3!

After drinking this, I really want to try more banana teas. I’m not a huge chocolate tea fan, but the combination of banana and chocolate definitely works for me. The scent of the dry leaves reminded me of dessert. It smelled like the overripe bananas I use for banana bread with a hint of chocolate.

The banana flavor did not disappoint and the chocolate was subtle enough for me to still enjoy it. I wasn’t so crazy about the base, and I thought it lacked the creaminess of banana cream pie. I think dairy would pair really well with this blend,. I’d love to try it as a latte, especially with a touch of cinnamon.

Thanks to Marcel Duchamp for sharing!

Sipdown 2!

This is such a pretty tea! When I opened the bag, I caught a whiff of mint, but I didn’t smell much else. I appreciated that the mint was subtle enough for me to be able to taste non-mint ingredients in the blend. The first steep had lovely floral notes from the roses, but sadly I couldn’t detect them in the second steep. The white base was very mild, but present, in both steeps.

Thanks to GiggleGoddess for sharing!

I have lots of 1-2 cup samples taking up space in my tea drawer, so I think it’s about time that I start doing some sipdowns.

Sipdown 1!

When I opened the package, I immediately smelled delicious peaches. I was slightly disappointed that the peach flavor was somewhat muted after steeping, but it’s still pretty good. In a lot of the flavored rooibos I’ve sampled, the base doesn’t have much flavor, which is not the case here. It’s quite nice to be able to taste the rooibos!

This was a pretty tasty cup, but not anything I think I need to drink again.

Good news, everybody! I finally escaped O’Hare and made it home.

Before leaving the Argo in the terminal, I picked up another tea to sample. Iced black tea with honey and lemon sounded great, so I went with a Carolina Honey Tea. This stuff was CRAZY sweet. Growing up in the South, I can drink my fair share of the sugar water they like to call tea. This tasted like it was Southern sugar water/tea to which they had added heavy amount of honey and a dash of something that was supposed to be lemon-flavored. Not good at all. The only redeeming quality was that the honey they use was really tasty. If they would have just sweetened the tea with only the honey, it would have been a much better experience.

I got to enjoy my birthday dinner at Frontera, so being stuck in O’Hare wasn’t a complete disaster, even if the teas were a bit of a bust.

Well, I didn’t expect that I’d be celebrating my 25th birthday alone and stuck in O’Hare, but I’m trying to make the most of it. I’m already planning to treat myself to Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless for dinner. The fresh lime margaritas at the bar looked awesome when I passed by, so I may just have to indulge.

In the meantime, I’m hanging out at Argo Tea enjoying the first of what I expect will turn into 2 or 3 cups of tea. The first I picked up to try was Ginger Peach. They serve it both iced and hot. I went with hot and almost immediately regretted the decision. The ginger is a bit spicy, but not overdone. It tastes like there was probably dried ginger chunks in the tea rather than a ginger flavoring. The peach, however, was just okay. I’ve had much better tasting peach teas. As it cooled, the ginger really started to shine through. I’m kicking myself for not getting the iced version of this!

Thanks to Marcel Duchamp for sharing!

This blend did not disappoint! The apple adds a little bit of tartness, but it is smoothed out by the creamy coconut. I adore coconut, so wish it was a bit stronger. I taste more mint than coconut, but the two blend beautifully together to make an enjoyable tisane.

I’m always on the lookout for good bagged teas for when I’m in a rush. This tea is definitely a keeper! There’s a nice sweetness from the mango flavoring. I read the ingredients listed on the box, and was surprised to see hibiscus. I couldn’t taste any hibiscus, but the liquor is slightly more reddish than a normal black tea. I really enjoyed this tea. So much so that I might need to stock up next time I make it to a TJ’s (which isn’t very often!).

I’m a big fan of both cardamom and lemon, so I was very excited to try this blend out. The dry leaves smell mostly of lemon with a hint of cardamom. The smell is wonderful! I caught myself sniffing the bag more than was probably appropriate.

I got three good steeps out of this tea (adding 30s each time). The chun mee base is smooth and blends with the lemon and cardamom beautifully. The citrus components of the flavor were the strongest. I really wish I could taste more cardamom. It’s very subtle, but still nice. I might try throwing in some extra cardamom the next time I make this tea.