Della Terra Teas

I’m trying to get through the tea I have before I go and buy some more. I’m realizing I have a lot more tea than I thought I did…
I never noticed the sparkles that this tea gets when steeped. It’s beautiful! I still love the sweet flavors of this tea :)

First cup of the year! This tea was pretty much spot on with the flavors. It’s sweet but it still has that taste of apple. Mmmmmmmmm :)

I have been a little quiet on here in the last couple of days and may be for a while longer. On Thursday night my beautiful baby boy Ebony passed away, he was only 1 year 3 months old. He came to me for fuss so I stroked him and then he clawed the carpet and within a few seconds he fell down onto his side and he was gone. The vet said it sounds like he was born with a heart defect that wasn’t caught in his examinations.

He leaves behind his brother who needs extra love and support as he has never been on his own before. Both me and my husband have taken some time off, for us this death is personal…I am unable to have children so my cats literally are treated like my own babies. To lose one so young and without warning is beyond shocking.

I post this message on this tea because the first post I made for this tea was me mentioning that I bought it because I had a beautiful black cat called Ebony. This was the first thing my husband could get me to drink after his death. He will always be missed and was taken much too early.

I may be on, I may not be… I just don’t know. So just to let people know I’m here from afar but just not ready to review yet. I don’t know when I will be.

http://tinypic.com/r/6gc0le/5

My first cup of the day and I am in serious need for some anything to wake me up. I woke up unusually early for myself than I normally do and felt very strange, almost as if I’m not fully awake. My head feels fuzzy and I am having trouble remembering things. I hope this tea does the job. It was the first one I saw on my kitchen side.

I got this tea for one reason… I have a pure black cat called Ebony. http://tinypic.com/r/otq1hd/6

Again I’m not a huge fan of rooibos but I do love fruit. I’m not sure if Ebony knows I am talking about him but he just awoke from his bed and is meowing at me. Bless him, he is very intuitive. Now he is attacking my stairs lol.

The tea smells of a fruit cocktail with a little sweetness. The colour once brewed is misty brown with an orange glow.

The taste is interesting, it’s noticeably rooibos but flavoured with enough fruit to make it drinkable. Pineapple is definitely the strongest fruit I can taste but overall it’s fairly mellow with orange protruding not far behind. It’s a little sweet but could be enhanced nicely with a little sugar.

Overall it’s a nice blend that is suitable for non rooibos fans such as myself. The only downside is that it leaves me with a bit of a dry mouth.

Another from my swap with azzrian. Thanks!

So, apparently pumpkin chais and I aren’t friends. This is the second one I’ve had, and both times I’ve not detected much chai, and definitely no pumpkin. The black base is fine, drinkable and not bitter, but as a flavored black its missing the flavour. I might on gift this to a friend, see if they like it.

Pleas don’t worry azzrian, I love trying all the new teas you’ve sent, and I’m sure someone else will love it!

Last bit (2nd last bit, thanks to cavocorax!) of this excellent tea.

Last bit of this, such a pretty tea.

A strong and pretty PARIIIIISIAN Earl Grey?? I like it! It’s deliciousss.

Really excellent start to the day. :D

I liked this one. I’m not one for chocolate teas but I thought id give it a try. Out of all the chocolate teas I have this one is my fav. I don’t get a lot of cherry but its a nice sweet but not too sweet chocoalte tea.

Sipdown! And I didn’t have enough, so added in some of the DavidsTea stuff as well.

Unfortunately, even with a 3-minute infusion, I either overleafed or one of these teas tastes kinda funky… there was definitely astringency, and I’m trying to finish my mug now, but it tastes a little like something’s rotting in my mug :/ Not pleasant. This is unusual, so probably user error of some variety!

Yum. I think I might have underleafed/understeeped this one a touch today, but it’s still really good. Almost gone, though! But that’s ok, as I have a sample from Upton, and the rest of my DavidsTea pouch to get through as well. Yum, earl grey creams are the best…. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the non-cream version.

Uh…. YUM! This tea is delicious. The aroma is distinctly earl grey cream, and the flavour is oh-so-creamy and good. I read Alphakitty’s note on this tea prior to taking a sip, and totally agree that I have trouble telling earl grey creams apart, for the most part, because I don’t have them in a short enough time frame for a real comparison. However, I tend to prefer ones that are heavier on the cream, lighter on the bergamot. Because of its accessibility, the DavidsTea version has become my standby, but when it’s hotter, it’s often not as creamy.

Although I’m having it cold, I think this is perhaps the most creamy ECG I’ve tried. Definitely smells like an earl grey, and tastes exactly like an earl grey with creamer. If not for the clear, brown liquid, I could swear that someone dropped a bunch of coffee whitener into my cup (yeah, my best friend and I used to steal her parents’ coffee whitener for our earl grey when they were out of milk… sooooooo many chemicals…..) The bergamot is definitely lighter here; I don’t know if it’s because of my conservative 3-minute infusion, or just how the tea is. I have a sample of Della Terra’s Saveur de Paris as well, so it’s tempting to mix a touch of that in when brewing this one up next time just to add a bit more bergamot. Not that this isn’t just fine as it is, though!

I’m glad to have tried another yummy ECG, but accessibility likely will still cause the DavidsTea version to win out.

Side note: Although my mom has not cared for pretty much every black tea I’ve made her sample (which would be nearly every tea I’ve brewed up, haha), she said that this one was quite pleasant. I’m tempted to leave her the rest of my pouch of it, but am not sure she’d ever choose it herself over a green/green oolong…

Sipdown! For me, anyhow. Sil gets the rest of this packet :)

I’m getting a bit of cherry today, along with the chocolate, but I definitely feel like rose is more prominent here than cherry, which makes this less than a favourite for me. I prefer caramelly, marshmallowy chocolatey teas like Love In A Cup (although had this tasted more like actual chocolatey cherries, I probably would have really enjoyed it!)

I’m getting rambly, obviously time for sleep!

Hmm, this smells like a chocolate tea. No cherry at all…? Just a bit of a perfumey, possibly floral aroma. The flavour, not surprisingly, is mostly chocolate and perfume. Almost like… rose water. I definitely am not picking up cherry.

I admittedly did just buy this one on a whim (I dislike chocolate-covered cherries, mostly because I dislike maraschino cherries), and although it’s better than it could have been, I was really hoping for some solid cherry flavour! In spite of that though, and the fact that I’ve mentioned that it tastes like perfume, this tea really isn’t so bad. It’s actually growing on me a bit as I sip it, so although I don’t think I’d ever buy it again, I will manage to finish the bag!

2022 Sipdown 110/365!

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge April 2022: Woody tea

Not bad, actually, as rooibos goes. Tasted like apple cinnamon; didn’t get any yogurt. Rooibos was woody but not overly so, and not medicinal.

Oops, this was another tea I brewed up the other day and didn’t get around to drinking. What a waste! So I started with some fresh tea today to give it another shot.

The dry tea smells kind of appley with a bit of a rooibos aroma. Not bad but not terribly enticing either. Brewed, same deal. Mostly appley, but that rooibos aroma pokes through and makes things a little iffy.

The flavour is definitely a bit different though. The first thing I noticed was a fair bit of creaminess, which isn’t apparent at all in the aroma! I suppose this is the yogurt. The apple then appears, along with a bit of cinnamon, and those flavours linger into the aftertaste a bit. I don’t really tasty any funky rooibos flavours, which is relieving.

Overall, it’s not too bad, and I like the way the creaminess works in here to smooth everything out, but I just don’t think apple teas are ever going to be a favourite of mine. Unless someone comes out with a granny smith apple white or something. That could be delicious.

This tea is such a comfort after a busy week. I love how smooth and vanilla-caramely it is. A delicious dessert before bed. An early bedtime is called for this evening.

Della Terra has not failed me yet. I love how smooth and caramel-y this is. A nice caffeine free treat before bed.

I remember my sister making me a virgin Pina Colada in a blender as a kid when we were in Kauai. The creamy coconut and sickeningly sweet pineapple were almost unbearably rich- it’s one of those things that I feel needs something strong, like rum, to balance it out.

Why do I bring up that story? Well, despite that both it and this tea are related to Hawaii, the dry leaves remind me exactly of a Pina Colada. Luckily, unlike my virgin milkshake, Hawaiian Dream does possess that cutting strong addition that prevents it from being nauseatingly sweet. The black base is noticeable once steeped- in the odour and during mid-sip.

It’s not very astringent, and the pineapple, along with a little coconut, carry the cup. I think I may be noticing the sweet pineapple slightly more but it’s a close thing.

The one thing that prevents me from enjoying this tea to the max is the fuzzy and dry mouth. I still like the idea for the flavour combination, however, and I can’t complain about the dry leaf scent. Maybe this would taste good as an iced milk latte or slush.

Side Note: Ingredients have a tendency to settle. My coconut pieces were all at the top and I had to mix it all up.

I’m finishing off my little sample size of this one from my chocolate try me pack. I made this a little stronger than last time and I’m getting more of the S’mores taste this time around, particularly at the end of the sip. I also got much more marshmallows and graham cracker bits in my scoop than last time. I’m upping the rating by one point, but if it could consistently get a taste like this, I would increase it by even more. I’d probably randomly pick this up again in sample size or maybe in a larger size if it were on sale.

Although it’s good, with the inconsistency in the taste of the brews, it’s not really a must have for my tea cupboard.