Della Terra Teas

I have a pouch of this from when it was called Monkey Bread, and a pouch of Cinnamon Bun. Today I’m drinking the older of the two — the Monkey Bread. I added 1 tsp of leaf to boiling water, and gave it approximately 3.5 minutes. It brews up a fairly light golden brown, and so I went without additions. I’m glad of that, because I think milk and sugar might have obscured the wonderful yoghurty notes I’m getting from this. That alone puts me in mind of a cinnamon bun drizzled with yoghurt/cream cheese icing. The fact that there’s a big smack of cinnamon helps too, obviously! Cinnamon is the main flavour, as would be expected, but there’s a good dose of chai-style spicing, too. It’s not too heavy, though — it reminds me of the spice you might find in a banana loaf cake, or something like that. Not the main flavour, nor intended to be, but a firm background note. With the chai, icing, and cinnamon notes taken together, this is like cake and tea complete! A seriously good dessert replacement! I’m glad I have two sample pouches now — I can save one for autumn/winter, when this will definitely come into its own!

Thanks Ost for the sample!

Wow oh wow this smells so good, sweet and cinnamony and gooey. Steeped up the smell is strong enought that I can smell it while it was on my bedside table and I was sitting in bed. It really does smell like ooey gooey cinnamon buns. The kind with extra filling.

Sipping it, it really tastes like liquified cinnamon rolls. Sweet, common goodness. I must admit I was skeptical. “What’s the difference between cinnamon tea and cinnamon roll tea?” But somehow there’s something else to this tea that makes it more than just a cinnamon tea. It really tastes like biting in to the best part of a common roll: the dead center. Lots of cinnamon and brown sugar, a little glaze, and the bread that’s just a touch above doughy.

A perfect cup to end the night, this is going on my to buy list.

This has become my daily candy tea.I crave it constantly. Strong toffee, icing and marshmallow notes make it my substitute afternoon sugar fix. I find it really satisfying, because the flavour is very intense, and although it is a bit artificial tasting, it makes me happy.

For some reason, I find it hard to separate out Della Terra’s minty black teas in my mind. They’re all pretty similar, as far as I can tell, with just slight variations on the mint/vanilla/chocolate theme. This particular example has little cow shaped candies! I thought they were all white at first, but there are also some black and brown cows in the mix. Too cute!

I gave 1 tsp of leaf about 3.5 minutes in boiling water. No additions. It certainly smells minty and sweet, a little like mint hot chocolate. To taste, the most prominent flavour is chocolate. That surprised me a little, as mint can be so dominating. The vanilla comes out next, and it’s smooth and creamy, adding a hint of sweetness to the chocolate which is actually fairly bittersweet. None of the Della Terra artificial chocolate here! The mint comes through primarily in the aftertaste, adding a crisp, cooling twist. It’s pleasantly refreshing after the chocolate/vanilla headiness of the initial sip. The black tea base is unobtrusive, but smooth and astringency free.

Overall, this makes for a pleasant sweet treat. It’s similar enough to some of DTT’s other mint/chocolate/vanilla blends that I don’t need it around all the time, but it’s certainly a pleasant variation on the theme. A worthwhile try.

This tastes like a typical Della Terra Tea. I’m getting tons of chocolate, some strawberry, but nothing that I would consider “sundae” – no creamy at all.
I haven’t had anything like this for awhile now, but this was a little fun today. Really it’s just ok, but every once and a while it’s nice to go back to something from the past. I’ve pretty much moved on from this style of dessert tea, but here and there nostalgia kicks in and a cup or two are warranted.

Lemon pastry! Cake! Buttercream icing! Mmmm!

There’s no icky, medicinal rooibos taste here. The lemon is not tart or sour—it’s smooth, and it’s paired with a soft, creamy vanilla flavor. It’s a little drying on the tongue but I have no real complaints. I tried Lime Chiffon right before this, and this one lacks that distinctly citrus note. It’s more like lemon candy or lemon cake than actual lemon. That’s fine with me though! I expected lemon pastry and that’s what I got.

I can’t help but wish there was a version of this with white tea. Maybe black tea. Though it’s nice to have something caffeine-free before bed, it lacks a certain depth of character that belongs only my beloved camellia sinensis!

SO YUM. I don’t even like rooibos and this is tasty. It has a very natural, slightly tart lime flavor without any bitterness. The fruity rooibos taste is very faint and in the background. (As it should be! Muahahahaha.) There’s a creamy custard taste that really makes it for me! It’s like key lime pie. I’m into it. I need more herbal blends that taste this good, so I can stop feeling guilty for drinking tea so late at night!

Sipdown

It’s with great sadness that I bid this tea adieu – the first time I tried it, I loved the spice and the tangy hint of cream cheese icing, but that tanginess is gone. Plus, the status of Della Terra teas is still a big question mark – they say they’re coming back soon, but I’m doubtful.

Goodbye, carrot cake. We had a great thing together.

Backlog from a few nights ago.

I think I had this on Tuesday night right before my throat went to hell on Wednesday.

You know what I never noticed about this blend previously? It has little white chocolate chip thingies in it. I don’t think it’s white chocolate, though – I bet you they’re little flavour bombs of cream cheese icing flavour.

Goodness, this tea is nice. I’m really sad that Della Terra doesn’t seem to make this anymore. Thanks so much to Ost for giving me the remainder of your (unwanted) stash!

Many thanks to Ost for giving me the remainder of this from her cupboard. Della Terra doesn’t stock this blend anymore.

There were lots of dried fruit/carrot chunks in the envelope I have. A little bit of agave nectar makes this perfect. This totally lives up to the name, and I’m glad I’ve got a bit more of this. This will be really great now that the weather is getting colder.

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As soon as I smelled this tea, I knew I was going to set it aside in my “to sample” pile. I normally don’t eat carrot cake, but the cinnamony, nutmeggy, cream-cheesy goodness of this was almost impossible to ignore. And since I’m still working on projects in the basement, this seemed like the perfect dessert pick-me-up.

The flavours are not as strong in the cup as I expected, but I have to admit I’m not sure how I would have felt about a big ol’ mug of cream cheese frosting. This smells sooo good though, and I added some agave nectar to amp up the sweetness, which I think was a good call. Unfortunately, it appears that Della Terra no longer offers this blend, so I’m glad I got a chance to try it before it disappeared!

Sipdown! Today’s mid-afternoon cup. I liked this one well enough, but it’s not one I’d repurchase. It has a tendency to get a little bitter at times, although usually it’s deliciously creamy and fruity. I was spoilt by 52 Teas Raspberry Cream. If i ever find another tea like that, I’ll be in heaven. Until then, my search continues.

I’ve just finished a cup of this, and I have to say I’m pretty much an instant fan! This reminds me a little of my much missed 52 Teas Raspberry Cream, except that it’s not raspberry, obviously! It has the same balance of fruit and cream flavouring, however, and it’s just reminiscent of my old favourite.

That aside, I used 1.5 tsp of leaf, and gave it 3 minutes in boiling water. I added a splash of milk. It smells delicious — creamy, fruity, sweetness. I’m pleased to report that it also tastes as good as it smells! There’s a slightly sharp tang from the blackberry, a hint of subtle tartness, and a quite intense fruity hit. This is complemented perfectly by the cream flavour, which is smooth, sweet, and adds a touch of dessert like wonderfulness to what would otherwise be quite a tart cup. I’ll certainly have no trouble finishing this sample!

I pulled out a selection of DTT rooibos blends a couple of days ago, and this was one of the first ones I decided to try. I really like creamy teas in general, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with this one. There’s hardly any cream to be found here. That’s a shame, because I think cream is something that would pair well with blueberry, especially the way Della Terra do it!

For my first cup, I gave 1 tsp of leaf 3.5 minutes in boiling water, and for my second I have 1.25 tsp of leaf nearly 4 minutes in boiling water. Neither yielded any cream flavour, although the blueberry is strong and juicy, very true to life. The rooibos base is a little too clear for my tastes — it’s slightly peppery and it gets in the way a little.

I have a couple more teaspoons of leaf to play around with, but I think this one isn’t going to be for me.

I am almost certain I wrote a note on this before but steepster says I haven’t. Oh well. I know all about disappearing notes from some of you. I even remember writing about how I liked the second steep better because the spices are more muted.

Well, anyway, so I got this during Black Friday because it seemed to be so popular on here and I was curious. Unfortunately I was really disappointed because all I get out of this tea is Cinammon. It’s also a bit bitter and needed some doctoring. I get no raisin or oatmeal or anything resembling a cookie, aside from the cinammon. It reminds me a little of DAVIDs Glitter and Gold which I also don’t dig mostly because again the spices run amok.

In fact I like this so little that I still have the full 2 oz pouch, I only made 3 cups out of it so far. Tsk.

Weekend Sipdown #4

My current cup. Once again, I’m getting a lot of cream from this one. It even smells creamy! There’s a wisp of EG in the background, but it’s really not more than that. Tasty, but ultimately probably not the tea for me.

This one is growing on me the more I drink it. It’s deliciously creamy, but I do feel that this aspect completely overwhelms the earl grey base — it’s supposed to be both cream and earl grey, after all, and all I can really taste here is cream. For that reason, it’s not the EGC for me. It’s a pleasant enough treat, though.

This is the second earl grey creme I’ve tried. I gave 1 tsp about three minutes in boiling water, and added a splash of milk. To be perfectly honest, I think this would be fine without it, but since those are my normal parameters, I decided to stick with them for today.

This one looks (medium brown liquor) and smells (black tea, bergamot…citrus!) just like a conventional earl grey. As soon as I took a sip, though, I could taste the creaminess really well. It’s pretty much the main flavour, although it works well with the relatively mild earl grey here. My main complaint about Della Terra teas is that they sometimes taste artificial. I feared this would be the case with the “creme” here, but fortunately it’s not. It doesn’t taste half so chemical as coffee creamer, so it’s a nice alternative to earl grey with milk/cream when that’s the effect you’re looking for. I added milk of my own, so I think I got a bit of a double whammy. I love creamy teas, though, so I’m okay with that!

This one isn’t quite as good as my current favourite — Bluebird’s Earl Grey Creme — but I think it probably just needs time to grow on me! Fortunately there’s enough in my sample for another few cups, so I can get to grips a bit more with this one. First impression is good, however.

Weekend Sipdown #7

I am finding the strawberry here a little on the fake side for my liking, although its similarity to ice cream syrup is actually pretty nice in small doses. I like the strong “ice cream” flavour this one has to. On the whole, though, it’s not a tea I’d want to drink a lot of, or a lot of the time. I’m glad to have had the chance to try it, but it won’t be too sadly missed.

This is one of my older samples from Della Terra, so I pulled it out to try last night. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but after a couple of sips, I think I get what this one’s about. The first thing I could taste was the chocolate, and DTT’s chocolate isn’t always to my liking. This one was saved by the emergence of the strawberry flavouring, which reminds me of strawberry syrup rather than an actual strawberry, and a distinctive vanilla ice cream flavour. Very creamy and delicious! Happily, both these flavours are the main stars once they come to the fore, and there’s not much of the slightly artificial, basically weird tasting chocolate to be found. It’s probably not a tea I’d buy in quantity, but the strawberry/ice cream flavouring is nice enough that I’ll have no trouble drinking up the rest of the sample. A sweet, tasty summer treat!

Samples-Only Small TTB

So I took the end of this tea from the box and stuck it in my fridge in a mason jar to get a cold brew out of it, after I was amazed at how good it was hot. It’s way better hot. Not to say it’s not good cold, because it’s nice, but not nearly as tasty as it is hot. It just doesn’t seem to have as much of the limey flavor.

Samples-Only Small TTB

This is creamy and limey and delicious. I really like this one. So much more than the Lemon Lime Cream Tart. This mug is hot, but I think I’m going to cold steep the rest of the sample. It’s really tasty. It’s really nice.

I’ve had this for a while now and haven’t written a note on it yet. I’ve actually made it twice before, but both times I came out weirdly bitter so I figured I’d give it a couple more tries before rating it. It’s a mixture of chamomile flowers, cinnamon bark, and pieces of dried apple with peel. It smells very strongly of apple and only lightly of spice. I steeped it for 5 minutes.

The aroma is nice. I get a lot more cinnamon than in the dry leaf, then chamomile and the sweetness from the apple. Unfortunately, I got the same odd bitterness this time as I have before. I can only assume it’s from leaving the peel on the apple pieces, although no one else has mentioned this in their notes so… I’m not sure what’s going on there. It makes it hard to drink, even with sugar added. So disappointed… :(