Della Terra

Sipdown 133/395

I like cinnamon. This is mild, but tasty. Inoffensive.

Thanks for the sample Janelle

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.

Another one from the traveling tea box.

Noms! when hot… super noms. All smooth and creamy and white chocolate notes… with a hint of coconut that works really well here.
Cold, ehhhh. Still good, but not wow good. More standard what I kinda hoped for(not wanting to set expectations too up there!) but on the high end of that.
No sugar or anything added and I found it quite sweet on its own. Possibly too much so for those who prefer unsweet tea.
So points for hot goodness. A few points off for uber sugary-ness.

The combination of green, black and white tea in this blend has kept me from trying it until now. It’s one of my last few Della Terra samples, though, and it’s been hanging around long enough. For my first cup, I treated it like I would a white/green, so 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The resulting liquor is a light golden brown, and smells deliciously coconutty!

To taste, this one more than lives up to its name. It’s creamy, for sure, absolutely coconutty, absolutely, and rounded off with the thick butteriness of white chocolate. None of the base teas seem particularly prominent, largely because the flavouring is so strong they don’t really have a chance. It’s very lightly malty, but that’s all I can really detect. Possibly I could have left the water a little hotter, so I’ll probably give that a try next time.

This is undoubtedly a VERY sweet tea, and I like sweet things so that’s not something I’d usually remark on too much. It’s on the borderline between sweet and cloying, though, even for me. In small doses, and as a dessert replacement, that’s fine. I probably couldn’t drink cup after cup of this one, though, however dreamy it tastes. An occasional sweet treat.

This one accompanied me to work this morning. I think I’ve tried this one before in its previous incarnation (Monkey Bread?), but it was a while ago and I can honestly say that I don’t really remember. I might be getting mixed up.

Anyway, I used 1.5 tsp of leaf, and gave it three minutes in boiling water. It came out fairly light in colour, so no additions. It smells wonderfully cinnamonny, though. Perfect for a cold morning!

To taste, the main flavour is definitely cinnamon. It’s on the sweet side, though, reminiscent of cinnamon sugar you’d sprinkle on doughnuts. There’s a hint of glace icing lurking just in the aftertaste, which is pleasant, and the cup as a whole is smooth and eminently sippable. The only thing I would have liked is a little more of a “bun” flavour. A nice, bready black base would have done wonders here. Still, it’s by no means bad. A sample pouch I’ll have no problem finishing.

It tastes kind of like a cinnamon bun, but isn’t really what I was hoping for. I felt so uninterested in brewing another cup that I ended up giving away the rest of the bag at work.

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.

The blends raw scent is of smoky wood and cocoa. Sweet though sour .

1.5 tsp of blend put into an empty tea sac with boiling water for 4 minutes.

Steeped scent is strongly vanilla and malty.

Flavour is medium strength with sweet and creamy vanilla tones, light malt and smoke tones and a minty after taste. Quite a lot going on though at a decent balance. The chocolate is not very noticeable though it may be part of the malt like flavour i can taste. Due to the vanilla and mint it reminds me of hard boiled sweets, kind of like candy cane.

For pictures and a comparative view against the black base and rooibos base please view my blog.
http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2014/10/31/halloween-tea-showdown-2014/

Not bad at all! It’s a mellow spice blend with a sweetness that really says “Cinnamon Bun” but while the smell is stellar, if anything, the flavor is a bit too mild. I like it tho! A little sugar and milk make it rather delicious for a desert tea. :)

I can’t tell if this is me being weird with allergies/lingering cold stuffola, however this is just tasting ‘meh’ to me. There’s cinnamon, and just a hint of something sweet like a cinnamon bun icing -sorta thing… it’s just.. I dunno. I want the flavor to punch more?

This was just a sample from my massive sample purchase last year, and I think I’ll pass the rest of what’s left along so that perhaps someone else can enjoy this more.

Whoops. I’m just trying this now from the Black Friday sale.

Steep #1 // 35 min after boiling // 4-5 min steep
I liked DT’s White Chocolate blend, and this one almost seems the same somehow, or maybe even not as good. The steep color doesn’t look like it has black tea in it at all, but I know it definitely has some in the blend. It tastes sweet, creamy, hints of coconut. But I think the White Chocolate blend had more sweet & creamy. It’s been a while since I’ve had the White Chocolate though…maybe I’m misremembering. There is also a bit of tanginess from the white tea itself in this blend. Maybe I’ll try it at a hotter temp next time.

Steep #2 // half mug full // just boiled // few minutes
This cup had more flavor, and not much more astringency. More coconut! Not much “cream” in either cup. I definitely don’t think this one should be such a low temp, but probably not just boiled either.

1 tbsp

This one tastes like it may have been cross-contaminated with other flavours. Still a pleasant tea-drinking experience! Brew has a good thickness in mouth-feel and there is a hint of ginger flavour as well.

Thanks to Kittenna for sharing!

This isn’t bad. I’m getting a light coconut flavor in the background (which tastes more like coconut creme pie—artificial coconut flavor—than actual coconut, let’s be honest). At the forefront there’s white chocolate, a creamy, thick flavor that reminds me of chocolate mousse. They work very well with the tea base. I’m tasting more green and white tea than anything else. It’s smooth, the way the flavors meld, though there is a touch of astringency at the end of each sip. (Might have been my fault because I goofed the water temperature.) I’m actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I’m not sure I would buy it again, but I can see myself reaching for it when I’m craving something desserty and can’t bring myself to drink the other teas I’m scrimping and saving.

Thanks for the sample marzipan!

Sipdown!

I quite liked this despite the comments that it’s too cinnamon-heavy. Sometimes, that’s just what you need.

Also, the rooibos tonight was a bit fruity rather than woody, which is how I like it.

One less tea in the cupboard! (I need to make room for new Teavivre samples and the Toronto Tea Festival, which are both imminent.)

Backlog from last night.

I’m not sure what happened, but this tea was quite fruity last night. It was a great complement to the cinnamon flavour, of course – I’m just (pleasantly!) surprised by how not-woody it tasted.

I’ve had more rooibos teas now so I can compare this one a bit more to others I’ve tried. The rooibos here is more of the peppery kind, rather than the woody kind, which is nice. I added a little bit of agave nectar, but not really enough to make it too sweet. This was pretty good, though I really need to sip this down soon.

Today was a pretty good day. I had a job interview, I scored some freelance work, and I applied to some more freelance gigs. I have only one phone interview left to do for today, and I’m just gonna keep mellow with some of this tea.

I really like the peppery attack of this tea. I ate an apple as I drank it, and that was even better. I used some cinnamon honey, but next time I make it I’ll see about adding some lemon honey instead. As long as it keeps my stomach happy…

One thing I’m noticing in my cupboard is a relative lack of caffeine-free blends. So when Kaylee offered this up in a swap after not enjoying this tea, I snapped it up.

Others have said that this tastes like a piece of cinnamon gum. I’ve had others teas that bring up this flavour more strongly (specifically Teavana’s Samurai Chai Oolong/Maharajah Chai blend), but it’s still pretty evident here.

The thing is, I don’t think of it as a drawback. I want a sweet tea for when I’m craving dessert, one which won’t make me stay up late, and this one fits the bill nicely.

The cinnamon and rooibos meld well here. At first sip, it was quite woody, so I added some lemon-infused honey to sweeten and round it out, and it works out. It’s got a bit of a peppery aftertaste, too – not sure where it’s coming from.

All in all, a good tea for the evening.

Many thanks to Kaylee for this sample. I’m glad that it’s found a home!

So this is terrible. There are only two flavors: cinnamon and sweet. And they don’t mesh well. The sweetness is weird – not sugary or honey, but not quite artificial either. I made the rookie mistake of ordering this without checking out the Steepster reviews. Reading the comments after drinking this filled in the blank for what’s off-putting about this tea. It tastes like frickin Big Red gum. Exactly like a stick of gum. I am actively angry about the fact that I spent money on this. Which is completely ridiculous, I know. Bad purchases happen. But it’s still making me cranky. Plus I already put it all in a tin and the bag is gone, so I can’t just put it up for swaps.

I’m honestly surprised. I really like a lot of Della Terra’s teas. I don’t know what happened here. But this is a serious miss.

While there were many samples I wanted to try, I decided to brew this one first. I like that it is not a straight black tea, as I feel it would overwhelm the flavors of the tea. I find it enjoyable, but it’s not one of my favorites. I get creamy coconut notes, but light on buttery notes from the while chocolate. The addition of a touch of cream was helpful in bringing out the flavors. Thank you VariaTEA for the sample!

I had sent this to people but never actually tried this myself. Now having experienced it for the first time I can say that it definitely delivers on its name. It is creamy. It is coconutty. And there is certainly a buttery white chocolate sweetness. It is almost too sweet for me – enough to stop me from ordering it again but not enough to ruin the cup.

I’ve had this one a couple of times trying to decide what I think of it.

It’s an interesting blend, first one I’ve seen with white, green & blacks teas. Looks mostly like black leaves until they start to unfurl.

Dry leaf smells of rich chocolate. Steeped this blend loses the smell of chocolate and smells sweet and comforting. Tastes like a lighter version of the chocolate scent of the dry leaf. At the end of of each sip, and even more so as it cools, I find coconut in the flavor.

At times I think I can taste the tea base flavors along with the chocolate or coconut notes. Probably just my imagination since there are 3 kinds of leaf plus the flavorings going on in this cuppa. My palate isn’t that refined :).