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Made a cup of this while I was getting dinner ready (pineapple chili). I’ve been in the mood lately for lots of black tea, and I’ve been sipping on Harney’s Malachi McCormick blend just about every day for the last week.

This is both surprising, and delicious. I was not expecting the smoky flavor at all. Having just recently tried a lapsang souchong, I was instantly reminded of that flavor but toned way down. No campfire sensation, just a hint of smoke. On top of that there’s a dark cocoa flavor along with a bit of honey-like sweetness and the slightest hint of malt. This is not astringent at all. Like the Malachi McCormick, this doesn’t knock my socks off, but it’s a really well done black tea blend.

I’ve been so busy lately! That probably won’t change until Thanksgiving, but thankfully there is tea and chocolate, and sometimes even chocolate tea.

I forgot to log this the first time I drank it, last week. I had just made a cup when a friend stopped by on her way home from work, we chatted for a long time, I made her some tea (peppermint), and then I made dinner for everyone. Somewhere in there I forgot about posting a review!

I was a little wary when I saw the tiny pumpkin candies; usually when I see candies in tea it means I will soon be thinking “holy sugar overload, Batman”. But like everything else I’ve tried from DellaTerra, this is really great. The chocolate flavor is rich, dark, and creamy. The pumpkin flavor isn’t strong for me, but still there mingled with the chocolate. I can also taste the cinnamon and nutmeg blending with the pumpkin and chocolate. And best of all, it isn’t too sweet!

Dessert tea is definitely not an every day thing for me, but DellaTerra is winning me over as a good choice when I do want some flavored tea!

My first time logging a chance combination!

My stomach has been off today. I got REALLY excited when I learned that Arizmendi, a local bakery, is making gluten free pumpkin muffins. I picked up two yesterday, one for me and one for Rayn to have for breakfast today. I think there was either some gluten cross-contamination or I’m just really not used to eating sugary/grainy foods anymore because my tummy was not happy the rest of the day!

I’m sipping on a combination of Adagio’s Anhui Emerald Seed (green) and some peppermint, brewed up at 175 for about 3 mins. It’s nicely pepperminty without being too strong, and since I haven’t cared for this green tea at all (it doesn’t seem to have any flavor no matter what I do with it) it might as well go towards the healing effort. :)

Another home run from Della Terra!

The first thing I noticed after I brewed this is that it SPARKLES. And I was so excited about it that I had to go over to Rayn and go “Rayn, Rayn! Look at this tea! It sparkles!!!” And he confirmed that yes, it was in fact sparkling. It looks like little glitter is just dancing around in the tea! So cool!

Then I smelled the tea: ripe strawberries and a little bit of rose. No pu-erh smell. After a few seconds, it was time to taste. I taste earthy pu-erh with no hint of fishyness. Then the juicy strawberry flavor, like strawberry candies. I taste just a hint of mango.

I’ll be honest, I was expecting this not to work. At all. But it totally does! And seriously, tea that sparkles? Della Terra just keeps impressing me.

A terrible thing happened today: my dark chocolate went missing. But never fear! After reading Nik’s wonderful review today I knew there was a solution, since DellaTerra so kindly sent me a sample of this with my order.

This tea smells absolutely divine, and I’m not just saying that because I’m tired and just studied for my philosophy of religion class tomorrow. It really smells amazing, like shoving one’s nose into a bag of cocoa. I put an extra teaspoon into my steeper because I wanted lots of chocolate flavor today.

And mmm, completely delicious. This is so close to the flavor of sipping on a cup of cocoa, and I’m sure it would be just like that with a little milk. I really like the teas from DellaTerra and this hits my dark chocolate spot!

I got a tagalong of these to bring to school. The tea at my college is sad. So, so, very sad. Neglected bags of tea sit in glass jars exposed to light and with the lids off for most of the day. Typically I bring some kind of bagged tea from home that is unremarkable but at least not blech, and help myself to the hot water in the cafeteria dispenser.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is quite delicious. It’s not bitter at all, and I’m sure the pyramid tea bags help quite a bit with the flavor and quality. The best part, though, was it reminded me of being a kid and chomping on giant slices of toast liberally slathered in apricot preserves (and butter of course, don’t forget the butter). This reminded me of an Earl Grey, but with more of a “jammy” flavor.

I just realized that Terri Harplady logged this yesterday, and she also thought of toast and jelly!

A couple of short notes today. I drank this early in the morning, and it is now late and I’m yawning!

My partner’s last name is McCormick, so when I saw this I went oh my goodness! It’s McCormick tea! I’ve been on a quest lately to find some decent, inexpensive, everyday teas and ordered a tin of this. After all, it bears the last name of someone I love very much, so for that alone I figured I could like it.

And I did! It’s not going to knock your socks off (in other words, it’s no Laoshan Black), but this had a pleasant malty flavor with a hint of cocoa, and no astringency. Although I disregarded the instructions and brewed it for 4 minutes instead of 5.

As a testament to its name, this is in fact a Decent Cup of Tea.

I didn’t mind the flavor of this so much, although it tasted like ginger, and not ginseng. And not really like green tea much at all. The problem for me is that it completely dried out the back of my throat to the point where I felt a nagging tickle back there. I did make it through about 2/3 of the cup before I just couldn’t stand the dry feeling anymore, and got up to go make a cup of Den’s sencha. Now I have to decide what to do with the rest of this – if anyone in the US or Canada wants it send me a message!

I’ve been making iced tea for our housemate lately, and Monkey Fart is currently in the pitcher. Tonight I had some with dinner (beef brisket and a big salad) and I have to say, yum! This tastes like a banana, and reminds me a little bit of hard candy. Pretty tasty, and this is housemate approved (but I didn’t tell him it was called Monkey Fart, it’s a secret).