Della Terra Teas

Sipdown. This was a pleasant, mildly sweet tea. I enjoyed it, but I’m not particularly going to miss it. There are so many other ‘slightly vanilla’ teas on the market.

(Unlike Blueberry Crumble. Every time I drink this I sob a little and wish Della Terra hadn’t gone out of business.)

High marks for presentation — all the bright sprinkles and things in this tea would make it a fun choice for a tea party. I really don’t taste any caramel in this, but I think I’m getting a hint of the marshmallows. It really just tastes like a mellow, slightly sweet black tea, but it is a pleasant cup.

I got a lovely package of samples from Ost, and while opening it I nicked this bag with my scissors, so that made it really obvious which one I should try first. :) Actually, it worked out great because I’m in the mood for something caffeine-free since I’m about to crash out super hard.

Anyway, this is a delicious dessert tea – lemony, creamy, and yes, cakey. Sweet and comforting, definitely hits the spot tonight. So happy I’m getting a chance to try some Della Terra teas. :)

Smells amazing. Tastes like blueberry cake and maple syrup, which is a far better combination than I would imagine. I’m kind of happy and sad to discover this awesome tea, because it looks like Della Terra Teas went out of business? Their site won’t come up and their latest tweets are from 2 years ago. Does anyone know what happened to them?

This certainly smells like black tea, but there is a cake-y element that is also vying for your attention. This tastes like I need sprinkles! No sweetener needed. What’s up with me today enjoying black tea even with no sweetener?! I could see this being a part of a future order.

Another old one. This one wasn’t even sealed but it’s kept it’s scent. And I’m getting some flavor! Some creaminess and a bit of tart berry! I’m impressed but I’ll probably toss the rest of this since I have much newer and tastier tea to spend my time on

So I discovered that I had this completely unopened and I was curious. I brewed this up last night and sadly it had no flavor left :(

Wow, I have some old teas that I probably shouldn’t be holding on to. How long do they stay good? It might be time to start cleaning out the cupboard!

Either way, I still gave this one a try. I didn’t get a whole lot of flavor (probably because of the age!) so I splashed in some milk and finished it off

I got to confess, this was a sample I got in a swap and it was so long ago i forgot who i got it from – sorry! The package was fantastically hermetically sealed and this was in great condition, but still finally giving this a try.

Rooibos with cinnamon, or spices in general is right up my alley and this time of the year, I am always putting the kettle on, but mid-afternoon I got to swap to rooibos or tisanes, so this sample was a nice re-discovery. There is a right time of the day/year for every tea for me.

This is interesting, because it´s a perfect example of how americans and europeans (or the rest of the world?) call cinnamon to different spices. This is the sharp, almost hot, cassia taste, which I confess reminds me inevitably of cinnamon chewing gum. I am used to Ceylan cinnamon, which is rounder somehow. But cassia does work really well as a flavouring, I added some sweetener and milk and it´s very pleasant. Just, and I knew about it, could not help expecting a different cinnamon because of the name.

From the Here’s Hoping TTB…

Sounds good and it is good. I’m not saying it tastes natural but who would think Strawberry Sundae would have a ‘natural’ flavor. The flavor is reminiscent of the sundaes I had as a child. I wish I had more but I am enjoying what I have of it. The fall weather has changed again and it feels like end of summer instead of mid-Oct. Lovely! Perfect for sitting out on the deck and drinking tea. :)

From the Here’s Hoping TTB.

This tea is not exactly what I was hoping for from it’s name. It is primarily a black tea with cinnamon. I taste nothing of the plum. The cinnamon does settle down after a bit but I still don’t sense any plum. But… cinnamon is supposed to be good for you, right? Not a bad tea and I’m glad I got to sample it but I won’t be buying it.

Smells and taste like crumbles. The glittery sugar pieces look nice when prepared.
I tried both hot and cold steeped, with very similar crumble taste.
Overall not a big fan of this tea. I also failed to detect the blueberry flavor.

First time trying this blend. I attempted to drink it straight but it’s a bit too spicy for my palate. I added a heavy splash of almond milk and some brown sugar in an attempt to tone down the spice. That said, there is still quite a bit of spice, even when combined with (non-dairy) milk. The sample I received is large enough to try this tea as a latte, so I will probably go that route the next time I have a hankering for black tea in the morning. Unfortunately, the amount of spice overwhelmed my palate this morning so I didn’t taste a ton of either the chocolate or the pumpkin. I’ll see what happens when I prepare this as a latte.

Sipdown (129)!

Well, Brenna and I finished this off on Saturday when she was over for the weekend. It was more of a tragic sipdown for her though because this is her favourite tea. I’d love to grab more, ‘cause I like it too and she basically drank my whole stash of it but I’m not about to place an order for just one tea. Well, maybe as a Christmas present?

This last cup was super good though! It was uber sweet as well. Brenna added milk, and usually that mutes the maple notes a fair bit but I still felt like my tongue was dripping maple after a few swigs. Ugh; I’ll have to look at pricing to order like 4 oz. of this for her for Christmas. If it’s not unreasonable I might do it.

It doesn’t count as breaking hiatus if it’s for someone else, right?

So, I did a tea leaf reading tonight with my little sister which was super fun.

No one in my family really “believes” in tea leaf readings or fortune telling or that kind of thing, but one of the things I’m most frequently asked when I tell people I’m into tea is if I can read tea leaves and I thought it’d be a neat thing to be able to answer yes, if only to have a sort of “party trick” up my sleeve.

We did the reading with Carrot Cake because it’s one of my sister’s favourite teas, and because I figured the rooibos in the blend is small and fine enough leaf to be appropriately used in a tea leaf reading. After the cup was gone (and what a tasty cup; it had such wonderful maple notes) we looked for shapes and patterns in the tea leaf which had been swirled around the cup. We saw: an eight, an open circle, a triangle next to a heart, and a cat. Based on the little guide book that came with the cup/saucer set and the placement of the symbols within the cup that means…

1. My sister will be involved in a love triangle in the future.
2. An offer will be made to her in the near future but will in no way be certain or definite.
3. Something lucky will happen to her which is neither expected or predictable.

We all had a good laugh about how her reading basically said “at this time the divine is unsure of what your future holds”. It’s the supernatural equivalent of shaking a Magic Eight ball and having it read “Reply hazy, try again”.

Tea from yesterday. I made myself a hot cuppa with a splash of milk. It tasted delicious, warming spice notes and a tangy creamy flavour – though honestly not as much “carrot” as I would have liked to experience. I’m still really happy with this tea overall, though.

My sister liked the smell (my sister who REFUSES to try any of the tea I make, not even a sip – she’s worse than my brother) and actually asked me to make a mug for her! So I added about 1/2 tsp. of new leaf to the steeped leaf and brewed a mug for her too, with the same amount of milk. Her mug tasted better – not sure why.

Did anyone watch the first season of How To Get Away With Murder? Viola Davis is absolutely slaying in it; I watched the first half last night (marathoned it) and am watching the second right now – currently I’m on episode twelve but I’ll likely finish it before I go to bed. Also; Connor’s ‘boyfriend’ Oliver is absolutely adorable and is probably my favourite minor character. I want my own Oliver, please and thank you.

Please tell me there’s at least one other person on Steepster who got obsessed with this show – I need someone to watch Season Two with when it premiers on the 24th.

This is a queued tasting note.

Cold brewed this one just to try something different than having it hot. I think a latte is probably the next thing on my list to test out…

I think the cold brew had a much more full flavour. It was sweeter and the cream cheese frosting/icing element was really well captured and conveyed. There were still spice notes, stuff like cinnamon and nutmeg. All of the ‘warming’ spices, really. The ones you’d dash into a cup of hot cocoa to make it feel ‘toastier’ and more comforting. I want to say the carrot tasted sweeter and stronger too – still in a ‘carrot juice’ sort of way, with the sweetness.

From what I can remember, this was a pretty popular blend from Della Terra prior to the ‘shut down’ they’re currently going through; I think it was on my wishlist for a while but I was never at the point where I was dying to try it.

However, when I recently participated in a group order from East Indies Tea Company, Della Terra’s supplier, I got a chance to nab an ounce of this blend I was still fairly curious about it – and an ounce is the perfect sample size to really get to play around with a flavoured tea like this so I was on board!

My first taste was hot in a timolino; I was expecting a move obvious ‘carrot’ flavour though I’m not sure why since the flavor carrot cake is in large part made up of the spices and the trademark cream cheese icing. The carrot I did taste was mellow and sweet though; kind of ‘carrot juice’ sweet but more subtle. I also tasted some lovely, gentle spice notes: cinnamon and nutmeg specifically. I like that sort of ‘warming’ spice flavour that doesn’t go as bold as most Chai, or which doesn’t incorporate ginger. Bleck; who needs ginger!? The rooibos base was present and tasted both peppery, which detracted from the blend, and a little like graham crumbs which in a way added to it even if ‘graham’ isn’t a traditional flavor related to carrot cake.

Now the cream cheese frosting: almost as crucial as the cake itself if not more to be perfectly honest…

I had high expectations because I’ve seen from other Della Terra/East Indies Tea Co. blends (namely Monkey Bread) that they can be very successful executing this flavour and so I expected that to be represented in this blend too. And I think it was. The aroma of the liquor (dry, steeping and steeped) was spot on cream cheese – the flavour a little milder, but still there. The “tang” of the cheese is there, and I can feel it on the sides of my tongue. Sure, I feel it everywhere but it lingers the longest there. It’s creamy too, but more muted.

I don’t know what exactly I expected overall – it wasn’t this, but even still I found this to be a pretty exceptional tea and I’m happy my curiosity drove me to try it.

Here’s Hoping TTB (round 5)

Damn… this was just that average tea that didn’t leave me with much to say.
Enough to pass the class, but still the parents are like “don’t you want to do good?”

Here’s Hoping TTB (round 5)

Dessert teas :)

How descriptive was that tasting note?
Anyways, when I get my tea smoker (if I ever do) I already have a plan to make ‘Golden S’more’ by smoking a golden tea from Yunnan with 20-30% strength in mind which means I will get to play with it a lot.

P.S. did you see the smiley face above? It means this tea is good; just thought I would reiterate that.

Wooohooooo!!!!! This sample was a huge surprise from tea-sipper!! Thank you!! I’ve had this on my wishlist for a while & I can’t wait to try it! Peanut butter in a tea? Yes, please! The flavor is whoa…unexpected. It’s not like any other flavor I’ve tasted in a tea, and that’s saying something because I have tried A LOT of teas!

This really does have a peanut flavor. It reminds me of peanut soup from King’s Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. If you’re ever in the area, you have to go there and try it! It sounds weird but it is soooooo good! Like liquid peanut butter. Mmmm!

I tried this tea sans additions first and then added Truvia and a tiny splash of milk. It’s definitely better this way. I don’t know how much chocolate is in this. I’m trying to figure out if I’m really tasting fudge or if I’m imagining it because it’s in the name. The peanut butter is definitely stronger than the chocolate. Yum! This tea is unique and delicious. If you’re looking for something different, I definitely suggest you try this out. Thanks again, tea-sipper!

Sipdown (138)!

From Scheherazade!

This is a Della Terra blend I’ve been curious about for years, but since I’ve had Minty Cow (or whatever equivalent DT had on hand at the moment) stocked just about as long it’s seemed redundant to purchase this when it’s so similar. I was very happy to see it in my swap package from her, though!

I cold brewed it because I remember discovering near the end of my tin of Minty Cow just how great it is cold brewed – and this isn’t any different. My first thought after the initial sips was “this tastes just like marshmallow fluff”, and that’s because the vanilla is really, really strong. I’m loving it! The chocolate is really rich too; creamy milk chocolate for sure. The peppermint is crisp and provides a very refreshing finish to the drink. Overall, it’s like some of the best peppermint bark I’ve ever had – which I guess it more of a Christmas thing than Valentines but this is Anti V-Day Treat.

It’s a shame Della Terra has currently closed up shop; I think I like this better than the Minty Cow I had at one point…

Side Story: One of the cool things about working at a grocery store is that there’s constantly food in our staffroom for everyone to eat – usually it’s platters of fresh cut fruit or vegetables, or cheese/meat trays from the Deli but sometimes they bring up donuts or stuff like that. Once they brought up like 50 candy apples that they couldn’t sell because the sugar crust (or whatever it’s called) hadn’t been tinted correctly.

Well, yesterday I came up for break and there were literally 40 boxes of cookies. Someone had screwed up the order and they had more than they could sell before the expiration date so they put half of them on sale and then brought the other half upstairs for staff. It’s a shame they tasted gross though (some kind of weird vanilla bean flavoured crispy cookie), I’d have loved to bring some cookies home…

I had to work on Saturday (I do hate 6 day weeks), so this came with me in my Timolino to make my morning more bearable. I used 1.5 tsp of leaf, gave it approximately 3.5 minutes in boiling water, and added a splash of milk. I don’t usually try a tea for the first time in a Timolino, but I feel like I’m familiar enough with Della Terra’s flavoured blends to do that. This one is good – creamy from the vanilla, mildly minty, with a hint of chocolate smoothness rounding out the sip. It’s delicately sweet – not overpoweringly so, but enough to know that this is a dessert tea. There’s a hint of the base in the aftertaste, but it’s mostly malt and I can’t argue with that. Malty teas are my thing.

I enjoyed this one (although why it’s anti v-day, I’m not sure). My one real complaint is that it’s clearly a re-named version of an existing tea (or teas, actually). I’m thinking Swiss Mountain, Bats in the Belfry, Minty Cow…they’re all vanilla/mint/chocolate blends of one kind or another, and they all taste pretty much the same. So, while I enjoyed this one, I do feel like I’ve been here before. There’s nothing unique to be found. Still, sometimes familiarity is what I crave. Never more so than at 6.30am on a Saturday, when I should be in bed. Thank goodness for tea!