Della Terra Teas

From the EU TTB – Round 3

This was my second pick from the box. I’ve heard a lot about this one, and I’ve often hoped that some day I’d have the opportunity to try it. It sounds like such an intriguing mixture of flavours! The cat sprinkles are beyond cute, too. I used 1 tsp of leaf, and gave it 4 minutes in boiling water. No additions.

The first thing I noticed about this one is the liquor colour. As with Bats in the Belfry, the black sprinkles give this one a grey-ish hue, so that it looks rather unappealingly like swampwater. It’s supposed to be a Halloween tea, though, so I guess it’s more than appropriate from that perspective! There’s a light oily scrim on the surface which I assume is from the sprinkles, but it doesn’t affect the flavour/texture at all.

To taste, this one is really wonderful. I’d say it was more of a generic tropical flavour than one or two fruits in particular, but I can detect the influence of pineapple (sweetness) and mango (pepperiness) in the overall flavour. It’s sweet, fruity, a little creamy. Drinking this one actually reminds me more than anything of sherbet!

This is another one I’m pleased to have had the chance to try. It’s a lovely, fresh and fruity tasting tea, and the black cats and unique liquor colour make it perfect as a Halloween tribute. A little incongruous, maybe, but a great tasting cup! No overwhelming rooibos flavour makes it doubly a winner in my book.

Another sample from Ost. Love the cute snowflake sprinkles!

I’m not sure what I did wrong here, but this basically tastes like straight rooibos to me. Perhaps it needed a shorter steep. However, I can’t imagine it making much difference when my cup barely has any spicing at all, and certainly no cream. Withholding rating. :/

This is a sample from Ost. I haven’t really enjoyed Della Terra’s teas in the past, but their flavors always sound so good that I want to try more anyway. This one is supposed to be marshmallow and caramel, and the tea leaves are mixed with mini marshmallows and cute little colorful sprinkles. Dry scent is sweet but somewhat artificial.

Nope, this one’s not for me. It tastes like generic, somewhat woody black tea mixed with artificial dessert flavoring. I guess it could be caramel flavoring, but the artificial quality of it is making me go ick. :(

So…this was kind of funny…there I was, making my Della Terra Black Friday order. I was debating about whether or not to get a package of this tea when I suddenly remembered that not only did I have a sample of this waiting for me (courtesy of the lovely Ost) but that I had actually remembered to bring it with me to my grandparents’ house for Thanksgiving! So, I of course made a cup immediately and sat there sipping it while adding all the other Della Terra Teas I wanted to my cart.

Let’s just say that by the end, this was part of my order :) I enjoyed this one but can’t exactly say that it reminded me of its namesake. I suppose it did taste like a very brown-sugary pineapple, but I don’t recall getting the little touch of cherry that I expected. I’m okay with that, though. I’ll enjoy this once I get it!

Deliciously sickeningly sweet, as usual. Yum. And so fragrant! Definitely a treat tea (especially because I think it has some sweetener in the blend).

Yep, had another mug of this, since I found it. Delicious, and has that room-filling sweet caramelly aroma. Drool.

Actually did not realize I had this tea. I was on the Della Terra website just browsing, noticed it, and was interested. A day or so later, I was grabbing some flavoured rooibos to take over to my boyfriend’s mom’s place (since she prefers uncaffeinated teas), and to my surprise, I had a pouch of it! Opened, but probably only because I sampled it out to Janelle, maybe? Anyhow, it’s pretty delicious. Fits my recollection of Pineapple Upside Down Cake perfectly; it’s all that delicious sweet sugary deliciousness, with no pineapple or fruit to speak of. Which I’m fine with, because it’s quite good. No rooibos weirdness, and it lasts through a couple additional infusions, too. Glad I had a random ounce of this one! :D

This came as a sample with one of my Della Terra orders from a while back. I’m not sure why it languished, but it did. As with many languishing teas, I brought it to work knowing that my limited desk selection would end my procrastination. I’m not having a great time at work at the moment, and yesterday I finally made up my mind to leave. I’m going to use the weekend to take stock and apply for some jobs (I also have a PhD application in the works), so hopefully things will start looking up soon. In the meantime, I have tea to cheer me up.

Dry, this one smells gorgeous. Honey, fruit, and grain. It reminds me of some of the breakfast cereals I used to eat when I was younger. Sugar puffs, maybe? I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but it also reminds me of Special K cereal/breakfast bars.

I gave 1 tsp of leaf about 5 minutes in boiling water, and the resulting liquor is a golden brown. The base here is blend of green honeybush and green rooibos – I’ve tried both plain previously, and I definitely prefer them flavoured! They do lack some of the woodiness of the red versions, though, so that’s a definite point in their favour.

The main flavour here is apple. It’s the baked apple flavour that Della Terra do so well, rather than their odder floral-apple. After the initial fruitiness, there’s an almost toasted nuttiness. I can accept it as Hazelnut, as per the ingredients, but it’s a little generic tasting if I’m honest. The final flavour is honey, and it adds a smooth, rich sweetness that rounds out the sip perfectly and brings the apple and nut flavours together. If I’m looking for a cereal bar in a cup, this is the tea I’ll turn to! My only complaint is that it’s quite a strong flavour, and by the end of the cup it’s almost a bit much for me. A smaller cup would no doubt help with that, and that’s how I’ll approach it in the future. A unique blend among the teas I own.

I wonder why s’mores is spelt with an apostrophe. From the Here’s Hoping TTB, round 4

I actually like this lots better when it’s completely cold. For some reason when it was hot it was very chemically smell/tasting to me.

The cool liquor is very sweet smelling, but the mini marshmellows did little to sweeten the taste. The feel is filling, and only a little bit drying.

This was Saturday morning’s breakfast tea. It reminds me A LOT of Della Terra’s Chocolate Pumpkin Pie, which I really enjoyed earlier in the year. I think this one lacks the chocolate, but the spicing is pretty much identical, and totally yummy.

I gave 1 tsp of leaf 3.5 minutes in boiling water, and added a splash of milk. I almost did without the milk, but I find breakfast hard to face if there’s no dairy involved. If I were drinking this one during the day I probably wouldn’t bother, but it’s nice to have the option.

I don’t taste a huge amount of “pie” or pastry in this one, but the “filling” is so perfect I honestly don’t mind. The pumpkin is smooth, mildly sweet, and has that “squashy” flavour that’s exclusive to orange vegetables. The spicing is just right — not so mild that it’s lost, but not so strong that it becomes the main component. I can pick out cinnamon and clove readily enough, and something that’s reminding me a little of almond. I guess that’s where the pastry flavour would come in.

I really enjoy teas like this one during the colder months, and it’s definitely one of the nicer pumpkin teas I’ve tried so far. A potential future repurchase, should it be available.

This one is typically my weekend breakfast tea, even though it’s a rooibos blend. I’m actually quite sad that Della Terra don’t make it anymore, because it’s one of the strongest and most flavour-accurate maple teas I’ve tried. I had my doubts about the bacon pieces at first, but they don’t play much of a part in the overall flavour. Maybe a touch of smoky sweetness, but nothing outrageous.

Anyway, in my bid to finish up older teas, I allowed myself a cup of this today. I have a couple more teaspoons of leaf left, so it’s not over yet, but I’ll miss this one when it’s gone. This is a rich, delicious, sweet maple tea. One word: yummy!

I’ve had a sample pouch of this one tucked away in my stash since last autumn. It’s never been opened, so it’s still wonderfully fresh! The maple scent is sweet and distinctive, and there’s no hint of bacon at all. I have a feeling I’ve kept this one for so long out of fear of the bacon, but I wish I hadn’t now!

This was my breakfast tea on Sunday morning. I used 1 tsp of leaf, and gave it four minutes in boiling water, after which there’s a slight oily film on the surface from the sprinkles. The rooibos brewed up pretty dark, so I added a splash of milk. The scent is still mostly maple syrup, and it’s a truly delicious thing! I’m not usually a breakfast person, but I could make an exception if it smelled like this!

To taste, this is pretty much pure maple syrup. There is a tiny, tiny smokiness that’s half reminiscent of bacon, but it’s not overpowering at all. I had feared it would be, but it’s actually a lot milder than many smoked or smoky teas. It’s also sweet, so it really is putting me in mind of bacon, waffles and maple syrup. Really delicious.

Rooibos isn’t usually the tea variety I’d choose for a morning cup, but I have to admit that it works well here. The slight woodiness fits with the sweet/smoky combo, and there’s a mild, almost spongy note at the end of the sip that appears out of nowhere and rounds this one off perfectly. I wasn’t expecting to like this one, but it’s actually pretty perfect. I feel a little sad that I only have a sample pouch now!

Gonna be the next in the string of busy days that is my life. Sheesh.
Ost was kind enough to send me some of this, and I’m excited to try it. I loved Della Terras Eighth Candles, so I know I like their marshmallow flavoring.
I like it! I do get the marshmallow, and a floating note of chocolate, but I cant say I get any of the grahm cracker, which is required for a s’more!
But I’m enjoying this quite a bit. Good stuff!
Thanks Ost!

PTS TTB

Not as sour as I was expecting, also not as cherry as I was expecting. Not bad, but don’t think I’ll be keeping it.

Let the great sip-down begin! After the tea purge of this afternoon, there is a small stack of teas that I need to try – the stack of teas from our stash that I haven’t tried is significantly larger, but most of them I’m okay with letting go untasted. But this one just sounded like too yummy of a combination to pass up, and I adore another of Della Terra’s marshmallow teas, the Eight Candles.

Unfortunately, this did not live up to the name. The black tea base was pretty generic in and of itself. The marshmallows added a touch of creaminess without adding flavour, and left a bit of an oil slick on the top of the tea. As for the caramel and pumpkin, I suppose those were the flavours – if you squinted at them really hard from across a dark room. Very artificial and generic. I feel bad giving this a very low rating because it wasn’t gross or anything, it was just . . . nothing special.

I am woefully behind on tea reviews. I got an amazing surprise tea sample from Cameron that had 31 samples in it, all hand picked to my tastes. She really got it right. So as I have been trying the samples, I have been putting the bags on my desk so I could remember to write reviews on them. I didn’t take notes (bad me) so I will do my best!

This was the first sample that attracted me. The name is just oh so yummy! The tea didn’t quite live up to the name. I liked it, but I was hoping for more of a flavor punch than I got. Still a nice cup of spiced caramel tea. Thanks Cam!

Thanks to Ost for sending some of this my way. I wish I could say I like it, but I really don’t It doesn’t taste like red velvet at all to me. Maybe I steeped it too long and the rooibos got too strong? I don’t know. There something about this that is just not doing for me at all. Of the few Della Terra teas I’ve tried, I haven’t liked the majority of them. So far, it’s Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie FTW.

so this is one last tea from last week that I didn’t write about because the dashboard started to not update and I got mad. I should also check my journal I’ll write in at work when I’m bored if I noted to myself to log anything else but I barely was at work this past week. I still get paid like I was though, so I really got the whole experience of various forms of paid time off.

This wasn’t that good. I just wasn’t getting blackberry. I thought at first maybe it was really old but I see this is a common theme from the other tasting notes. It just was meh. I guess I’ll try it cold at some point to use it up since thankfully it is just a sample size that I have.

I had a busy tea day. And I haven’t even started in on the list of fifteen or so teas from the last week that I still have to log.

As a white-black-green blend, I had no idea how to brew this thing. Whites I like to brew for only about 30 seconds, greens a minute and a half, and blacks two minutes. This one I let go for between green and black time, and that was definitely too long. The underlying tea was so bitter that I couldn’t really get much flavour. When it comes to creaminess, I’ve definitely had better attempts. I will try this again with a shorter steep time and a lower temperature before I give it a rating, but I did not enjoy this cup.

I’ve had this in my cupboard for ever and decided to finally open it up and give it a try. I wish I’d done so sooner! This is delicious. Some sugar really makes the blackberry stand out. I don’t really get a cream or vanilla taste, though, but it’s still very yummy. I’ll have to put this into the rotation.

I’ve been wanting to try this one ever since TeaSipper wrote a note saying it seemed to have actual pumpkin puree bits in or something along those lines. Then, the lovely Ost sent me some to try! Yay! I love when it works out like that where I get to try something without having to buy a whole 2 oz.

Does this taste like pie? Yes, it does. Does this taste like pumpkin pie? I don’t know and I don’t care this time. I’m not even 100% sure I’m tasting everything accurately as my nose is still recovering from being sick this past weekend. I think this tastes like cinnamony crusty bits with some kind of sweetish something that I’m willing to call pumpkin. I’m having this plain right now, but I’d wager there’d be more pumpkin flavor with a little sugar added. Ost sent me just enough for a second cup, so I’ll try it that way. I’m glad I found another one from Della Terra that I like since I haven’t had the best of luck with the samples I’ve tried.

And it’s so quintessentially fall outside right now. This was a perfect choice for my noon tea :)

I’ve been super curious about this tea, since I’m a big Della Terra fan! But I figured it would be super cinnamon-y, so I didn’t want to buy any. Thankfully, Rosehips sent me a generous sample! :D
The dry leaf of this tea smells like pure cinnamon, and even while steeping it continued to smell like that. So I wasn’t too hopeful while I waited for it to cool.
When I finally drank it, I was pleasantly surprised.
It wasn’t dominated by cinnamon at all!
The pumpkin was the most present flavor, with a touch of cinnamon and spices.
It’s one of the better pumpkin teas I’ve had (Though I haven’t tried too many :P).

Sadly, I couldn’t finish the entire cup of this one since I had to eat dinner, but I look forward to trying it again. Rosehips gave me enough for a few cups. Super generous of her! Glad I got to try this finally. Thank you so much, Rosehips!! :D

On a side note though!
EIGHT CANDLES AND EGG NOG ARE FINALLY BACK IN STOCK AT DELLA TERRA!!!!!!!!!!!!
They didn’t officially annouce it yet, so I was surprised to see them up on their website. I’ve been waiting for so long it feels like!! And finally they are back! If you haven’t tried them, but love dessert teas, try them!! They are both incredible!! :D