Della Terra Teas

Oh this smells divine!
Thank you QueenOfTarts for sending me a sample!!

This definitely reminds me of DAVIDs Coffee Cake, lessen the coffee but add more sweet cake to it. And this is rooibos, rather than black. Definitely does give off the nice and sweet aroma!
The woodsy, sweet rooibos definitely comes out when it steeps. oh for some reason, it tastes like how a sweet coffee cake would taste like if it were baked in an open fire oven atop cedar wood. It has the sweet, cake-y smell, but like.. it tastes like red. And red to me is cedar wood and it tastes lovely :)

So I’m studying for Forensic Anthropology, but decided to take a break for dinner. And with dinner, I always watch a show! What better show than Bones hehe :) Every time I watch that show now, I test my anthropology skills. The second Bones said ‘narrow nasal aperture’ and something about the mandible, I knew that the victim was a caucasoid. And now, I’m about half an hour in and they’ve just identified the murder weapon, and I’m all BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA TO THE STERNUM YES. Mainly because like a majority of our final tomorrow is on trauma so that’s a thing I’ll need to know :)

But because of this Forensic Anthropology course, I’m actually understanding everything they’re saying. Whether if its sexing an individual, or figuring out their race or age, I completely understand. It’s actually quite fascinating :) I love how I can watch this show and it’ll still be valuable to my education hehe

I was feeling like something sweet and soothing tonight, and this is fitting the bill quite nicely. If anything, it’s too sweet! I’ve enjoyed a lot of Della Terra’s rooibos blends, but I’ve found they run very, very sweet.

With my black teas I usually go for a rounded tablespoon of raw sugar, so I scaled this one back to 3 teaspoons. In the future I’ll cut back even further, because this was way too sweet even for my sweet tooth.

And as for the taste? Well, while this was steeping I actually accused my husband of opening a package of strawberry Pop Rocks I was saving for something. Poor guy! While still somewhat affronted, once he tasted the tea he understood. It really does taste – and smell – like strawberry candy.

TTB 7: This one smells really good! Its not overwhelmingly rooibos at all, and has a nice sweet fruity flavor

After a nightmare morning I decided to drink some tea in hopes it would relax me. But this tea just made me feel more sad. It tastes exactly like hot chocolate. It’s ridiculously chocolatey to me. It’s a nice tea but I just keep wanting to put marshmallows in it since it’s like hot chocolate to me. But…I don’t think that would taste too good…Maybe I’ll try it one day xD Either way this is a pretty good tea! The equivalent of hot chocolate to me :P

Enjoying a cup of this courtesy of my sister, who gave me about 2 oz of it last weekend. Yum!

I’ve been craving licorice, or a licorice tea, and I’m so happy I found this one in the Tea and cards TTB. It’s exactly what I needed, and it has a beautiful natural sweetness that I very much appreciate. The spice level is just right as well.

Drinking this tea this morning and it’s the last of a sample I got from my first TTB.
I need more of this tea in my life. Let’s go check out the website and… what…
Della Terra… closed…

;_; Don’t suppose anyone has a stash they don’t love eh?

Samples Only TTB
Well here is my first pick from the Samples Only TTB.

I have to say… I am amazed by the box that arrived at my house today. It was packed full of samples of every kind! I have so many teas to try. The first part of my choosing process was to go through and make two piles: Not right now, and OMG YES NOW PLEASE. I ended up with like a dozen NOW PLEASE so those will be my first several samples and I’ll try to get through them as soon as possible. There were a handful of samples I won’t need/want to try due to having tried them before or being an ingredient I must run from (a spicy ginger tea that i noted for example) but I really want to try most of these. I have identified the first tea to try however.

Apple Cinnamon w/Chamomile. I opened the bag and it smelled amazing.
Okay.. I smell delicious, ripe, vibrant apple, hints of cinnamon and perhaps a bit of other spices like I might find in apple pie, or maybe that’s my imagination… the buttery note of chamomile and some sweet, sweet aroma that I didn’t identify.

It smells so good. I brewed up some boiling water and steeped it for 10 minutes to get a strong flavor since it’s a herbal.

The first sip was full of bright flavor. I taste apples and a hint of the cinnamon. The tea is still too hot to drink readily, so I am not getting a full flavor yet. The apple cinnamon taste lingers long on the tongue.

As it cools a bit, the taste is a bit more sour and tangy than I expected. It’s missing a strong spice note despite the smell, but the hint is there. The chamomile is vaguely present, but I think the chamomile might have hidden itself due to the flowers crushing themselves in the bag (there was a lot of chamomile powder).

The sourness is stronger as it settles into a drinkable temperature. The nose is sour apple with a strong apple flavor following, hints of cinnamon and chamomile, and then a sour/tangy tail.

The touch of sugar I added was a nice idea. It may have been too sour without it.

I wish I could TASTE all the spice I SMELL when I drink this. There is a bit of it but not enough. It almost tempts me to drop a little cinnamon powder in it, despite my aversion to cinnamon. Haha…

Halfway through my cup, cooled to perfect “very warm” temperature, the taste remains the same. I have decided to add a french vanilla creamer to my tea to see how it is with that.

The French Vanilla creamer is a nice add. It calms the sour flavor down and brings out the apple nicely. With this change, the tea is much more palatable. I wish the sour flavor hadn’t been present because if this tea tasted just like it smelled I’d have had to order it right away.
I am afraid I’m going to have to keep this sample packet and replace it. I need to try it again with a shorter steep time to see if the sour doesn’t come out as much.
If that reduces the sour, I may have to buy this yet. If nothing else, it’s stellar with the cream and I love that it’s an apple tea that I can drink without caffeine. My favorite Apple tea (from Adagio, sadly discontinued) is a black tea so I can only have it early in the day.

Mmm. Vanilla creamer really rocks this tea. I’m going to enjoy the rest of my cup in peace as I feel I’ve said quite enough about it. :)

Another tea made with the unidentified-temperature office water. This one tasted about like I remember, so the water is at least hot enough to make semi-decent black tea. The tea was definitely a bit weaker than normal, but the chocolate and mint flavors almost came through better because of it. I’m definitely going to bring a thermometer with me tomorrow to test out the water temperature. I would love to be able to drink tea all day at work, but knowing what I should and shouldn’t bring will be very helpful.

Here’s Hoping traveling teabox – Round 3

This is actually really interesting. It basically tastes like the lime chiffon blend, except this is with black tea. Thankfully, Della Terra’s black tea base tends to be on the lighter side, so I mostly get the lime and cream with this one. I know it’s late and I’m drinking something with caffeine, but it’s the weekend! Ack, nevermind, something bitter is coming out as it cools.

(sweetener added)

Rooibos (and honeybush) and I mostly don’t get a long. I am very sensitive to the metallic and peppery flavours in both. Every once in a while I taste a rooibos tea that is just super excellent. But I don’t know what it is. I have not yet found a pattern between low quality, high quality, low price, high price, etc., that gives me a consistent good tasting tea.

In saying all that above, I had to try this tea because it is root beer. I like to think of myself as a rootbeer connoisseur. I have never found a root beer that I didn’t like. Although A and W still reigns supreme. This dry tea smelled pretty good. Like a strong root beer. Almost like a root beer candy. So I had to try it.

The brewed tea however, is just full of pepper. (sad face). There is definitely a root beer flavour. More like a watered down root beer float. So the taste is there, it just isn’t strong enough. The problem is, if I would try to make is stronger by steeping longer or using more tea, then it would be a mouth full of pepper. And not the spice that comes a long with pepper, but the actual taste of black pepper.

Gave this one a try today… Thanks to Tea Sipper for sending it along from my wishlist when I bought a couple of other teas to try.

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a tasting note on this one and I had forgotten what it was “supposed” to taste like from having read about it previously. I decided not to look and to steep it as a black as it appeared to be.

Dry leaf smells sweet and vanilla. This is a pretty tea, not for those that like little fun things sprinkled in their tea leaves. With tiny marshmallows, little blue star flowers and gold balls, this is a fun one to look at.

Steeped it reminds me so much of the little marshmallows that you get in kids cereals. Lucky Charms comes to mind. I think it may even be good as a cold steep. This comees complete with the flavor of the dust on those marshmallows… Don’t tell me you never picked them out of the cereal and ate them by themselves!

I will enjoy this sample and how it takes me to my childhood. It almost makes me want to go to the local Amish store and pick up a little bag of those marshmallows… They buy things in bulk and re-package for resale.

Oh so sweet marshmallow cereal for breakfast, then off to riding my banana seat bike on the gravel drive on the old farm. – The good old days!

Thank you VariaTea for sharing this tea with me! I shared this with my son tonight as I let him stay up way past his bedtime because I thought it was Friday, oops. We both like this one :) It’s creamy and I love that the lime does not have a tart bite that would make me want to sweeten it. I don’t remember why it took me so long to try this but I have to say it feels great removing things from my cupboard even if it is not the true amount of tea I own.

I’m having this totally out of season, but I didn’t write a review in winter. It smells like wassail, like a lot. Must be the blend of spices. There is hibiscus in this, so it turns a nice red colour. The flavour is a mix of cranberry, orange, and spices. Pretty much, it tastes just like it smells, only hibiscus… which is mild, but unneeded.

I had some of this one on Sunday and thought I posted a note, but don’t find it. I got this from Tea Sipper’s stash sale… Thanks :)

I put some of this into a tea bag to take w/me to church thinking I would use their hot water and make myself a nice cup there. I put my bag in my cup and let the water pour into the cup only to find that the water was not very hot.. Ugh. I went up to the coffee bar and my brother-in-law happened to be there and he asked how hot the water was… I told him not near hot enough but that my poor little tea bag was already submerged. He got me a nice hot cup of water and I transferred my tea bag.

Having had it poorly steeped, I will avoid rating this one yet. I could taste a few spices and the apple was a bit artificial like a Jolly Rancher, but milder.

I made a cup for my Hubby the other night and he said he liked it. Steeped, it smelled much like my first impression of tasting my poorly steeped cup.

I enjoy Della Terra’s roasted apple and it tastes like real apple to me, I shall see when I try it again.

Thank you for this one Tea Sipper! It’s a chai evening for me. I’m a huge fan of this tea. It’s a great dessert tea. It really does taste like a cinnamon bun. Buttery, cinnamon and sweetness for icing. There’s a underlying taste of chai once you get past all of the gooey goodness.

Now this is a fall tea! I should of really tried it months ago! Oh well. I highly recommend sweetening this tea as there is much more going on – baked apple flavor, malty black base, light spice and a warm molasses flavor adding lots of comfort food and snuggling by the fireplace feels.

I like the molasses as it is a unique concept, but I still rather have DTT’s more stronger teas like their Pineapple Upside Down Cake tea.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/apples-molasses-black-tea-della-terra-teas-oolong-owl-tea-review/

TTB-C R-2
Finally, after several new samples that really didn’t make it for me, I have a lovely white tea with a nice white chocolate taste. Aroma is good. Nice smooth aftertaste. Very relaxing even on a warm day.

Weight Watchers went fairly well today. Even with no exercise because of my sprained knee I stayed the same weight which I count as a win this week.
Then walking back into the house, I had to carry all the groceries and stuff at one time. (You know what I mean, why do we think we can’t make two trips?) I tripped and fell landing on both knees and scrapping my already sore leg. Really, that’s just what I need!!!
Loving husband I are going on a short vacation to the Rock N’ Roll hall of fame. Lots of walking!!

From the Marco Polo TTB!

Fab tea, however it may have lost some of its flavour… well, it is an old tea bc I’ve had this for freakin forever. The lime has gone away and now it’s all woodsy rooibos, but I sorta like the woodsy rooibos flavour!

Happy Holidays and a very merry Christmas to those who celebrate it :)
I spent Christmas eve and Christmas day with the Mouse, but it was still pretty fab. My parents and sister drove down from NorCal and I was able to surprise them last night! I wasn’t supposed to come home until around 12:30am, but they let me go early and I arrived at 11:30pm, right when we started all our Christmas traditions!
Today was a bit busier so no chance for an early release, but I was working with the best cast members ever so Christmas day was FAB.
((Disneyland did reach its capacity for about an hour and it was slightly chaotic in the booths, but hey, my cast members and I survived!!))

Oh my gosh.
This tea.
I like it!
ANOTHER!!

Thank you VariaTEA for sending me a sample of this tea! It’s nice and tastes like a fluffy lemon cake :) It is lime chiffon so.. well, I taste the brightness and chiffon is a type of cake so close enough! I feel like this tea, if you turn it into cake form, is the perfect thing to eat with tea. Can I like infuse this with milk, and use the Lime Chiffon milk to make lime chiffon tea cakes? Dude. That sounds great.

Anyways, this tea is good! Nice and sweet, and it is blended quite nicely! Oohhh this is just really nice and a definite must when I order from Della Terra!

Cold brewed! This one is sweet but not overly so. I definitely get the pineapple, and a general tropical feel. I think I prefer this one cold to warm!

This one came my way from a swap with whatshesaid.

The dry scent was divine, and I was so excited. The coconut was in the flavour, and to its merit, the tea wasn’t too sweet at all. However, the Della Terra black tea base took away from the whole experience. I remember now why I only truly enjoy DTT black teas with mint, chocolate, vanilla type flavours. All the others seem to fall short.

Thanks whatshesaid! Even if they can’t all be perfect, I always enjoy trying new coconut teas.