Della Terra Teas

I made this tea last night and was going to have it before going to bed. I ended up being too tired, so I drank it this morning over ice. I liked this tea quite a bit, and I didn’t even need to add sweetener. It was a yummy iced tea.

From the Caffeine-Free/Decaf Traveling Tea Box.

A nice lemon-y rooibos. The dry leaf is wonderfully colorful and pretty. I put a little more water than I intended, but that shouldn’t have prevented the tea from not tasting peppery or spicy. That was a bit disappointing.

omg i never post on here any more wtf

and even right now i ran out of time and need to log off and run. ugh.

here is a video of oddree’s cat http://shmiracles.tumblr.com/post/86616074858

i bought this tea from VariaTEA yay!
i’ll write a real note later.
happy friday everyone!

Seriously, is there licorice root in here? Is that what makes this drink sweet? Is that what makes me feel so weird about it?

I’m very glad that I switched to drinking this straight black, because nothing should be added to this tea. After a shaky start, I’ve ended my sample with higher levels of enjoyment, but not high enough to be overwhelmed by happiness. Still glad I got to sample it! The joy of tea swaps :D

I first tried this sample from TraceyC with milk and sugar, continuing on my theme of the week, but that was a huge mistake. There is already far enough sweetener built into this blend, and it holds up very nicely as a black tea.

Having said that, I am not the biggest fan. There is something odd about the scent of this tea, and even the taste of it, that puts me off. Drinking it straight certainly upped my rating but not enough to make me a fan.

Still, many thanks to Tracey for the opportunity to try this tea!

Drank this last night before bed.
Rooibos is not my favourite tea, but since I need a decaf at night, I’m growing to like it a lot more….
This one I found to be really nice, tart creaminess and distinctly ‘lime’…. but then my husband had to comment that it smelled like I was drinking a mug of skittles.
Somehow, that brought it down a bit in my book, I hate to admit (it was a really innocent comment…how I let it turn into a pernicious remark is beyond me….. but, I guess I wanted chiffon elegance, not 7-Eleven sour skittles and slurpees…alas).
I still like it, though, and although I’d probably reach for something else if caffeine intake wasn’t an issue, that’s just me and my slow-growing affection for rooibos.

Fake berries! yay!
Honestly though, it isn’t SO bad. I expected much worse based on the reviews. It’s fake in a pleasant way. I didn’t think that was possible.
I do like how it blends with the base. Very well actually. Surprisingly.
Without sugar, it’s pretty good, though a tad weak. With just a dash of sugar, maybe a third of a tsp, it’s more berry gum like. I see it doing well when iced!

This is actually pretty good, but I think it will shine as a cold brew. :) I have a jar in the fridge just to try out.

I mean, I’ve had this tea for a year. I need to drink it. And it’s kinda sad I don’t reach for greens more, because I actually quite like this one. The only reason I’m drinking it now is because I had coffee when I got home from work, so I needed something with a bit less caffeine.

Also, look what I spent my April tea budget on! (I got a few more nail things too…)
http://instagram.com/p/mlyesyx5DU/
It’s Model’s Own Sardonyx. Matte jelly blue-red glitter. I sandwiched it in LED-set gel, so the shiny bits will last all week, but now I’m wishing for a matte gel top coat.

A sad sipdown today as I finish the sample I got from TraceyC in our first swap. Lovely peachy notes to this oolong, one more steep from these last leaves.

A go-to at work after the boo green earlier. And to get closer to a sipdown because I’m addicted to minimising right now.

The other day I had some of this but I’m pretty sure I used water too hot (timolino at work and was too lazy to get the thermometer out)—it was not good. It also helped to enforce for me the fact that recommended steeping temperatures actually pay off. It amazes me, the difference between a few degrees.

I decided to resteep anyway, and the second steep turned out quite lovely. I left it in the timolino for a couple of days and now it’s cold and fruity and delicious.

The first of my swaps with TraceyC and this one is lovely. Great suggestion, Tracey! Sweet and light, just enough peach and just enough oolong. I’m gonna enjoy the rest of this one! I look forward to seeing how well a resteep goes in the morning.

My swap arrived from Roswell Strange! Just as I was thinking I had my samples under control. And I just placed my Butiki order, along with two others over the weekend. Teas galore it will be.

This is a tasty tea. It’s fairly straightforward in that what it says, it is. A fairly sweet black tea, a great treat. I love the mini marshmallows. It’s sweetly vanilla and caramel/chocolatey with that marshmallow goodness. I would enjoy a sample of this every now and then, but I don’t think it’s necessarily something I need in my cupboard.

Thanks Roswell Strange!

Sipdown 60/375!!

Man this is the saddest sipdown I’ve had in a while. I truly loved this tea. It was as good at the end as when I first got it, and I still prefer it plain. Molasses and spices if you take careful little sips, pure liquefied apple if you take bigger ones. It all blends together so well and each time I drink this I crave apple strudel for days. Why did you have to go and close on me, Della Terra??

Please say that somebody out there knows of another seller that carries this tea or a blend similar? I’ll pay you handsomely in love.

I have not posted a tasting note for TEN DAYS! :O
I am so ashamed. I apologize profusely, even though I’m sure most of you don’t care. Life has been just crazy lately (and will continue to be for the next month or so) and I just haven’t been able to find the time for Steepster, which is so sad. I have been drinking a lot of teas, I just haven’t had time to blog about it what with uni work and all, followed by my internet giving up on me for like 4 days (which was hell) followed by yet more uni work which I am now panicking about! I am definitely going to make an effort to post on Steepster if and when I get any free time, though, as I’ve missed it so much! Plus I really don’t want to lose touch with what’s going on.

Anyway, to the tea.
I received this a few days back in a package from VariaTEA which contained the Celestial Seasonings tea she so kindly sent me, as well as a bunch of samples, of which this was one. I meant to come on here and thank her right away, but as I said, life got in the way. The whole package smelled of apples and cinnamon, so I searched for the source (this) which smelled so heavenly I had to brew it up. It reminded me of an apple pie slice, and brewed smells exactly like apple strudel. I had high hopes for it, but still didn’t believe that the taste could live up to the smell. I am pleased to report, however, that it did, and has earned its place amongst my absolute favourite teas. I wish I had more of this, as the sample was only enough for two cups, but I’m sure I can use this as an excuse to place an order with Della Terra in the future!

Sweet enough to not need any additives – I added half a teaspoon of sugar after a few mouthfuls and regretted it. Definitely best plain. This tea is delicate and juicy and ridiculously tasty, with the spices and sweetness perfectly matching with the apple flavour so much that I would basically kill for a slice of hot apple strudel right now. I bet this would be great iced in the summer, and may have to try that if I manage to get my hands on any more of it.

So so yummy.

This came my way via one of the Traveling Teaboxes and it’s been kicking around my cupboard for awhile so I decided to give it a try. Like previous reviewers have said the labeling on this tea is incorrect – it’s such an obvious thing that I’m tempted to say it was genuine error rather than anything deliberate on the company’s part. Either way they seem to have discontinued this blend as I don’t see it anywhere on their website.

The smell of the tea is certainly nice – a mix of smokiness (but not too strong) and chocolate. Unfortunately there not too much chocolate coming across in the flavour, maybe a little bit as it cools but it’s a lot less prominent than the scent would suggest. It mainly tastes smokey, though it’s actually quite mild for a lapsang – more like a Russian Caravan. There’s also a bit of sweetness which provides a nice contrast to the wood-smoke.

My main problem with this tea isn’t the labeling, it’s that there’s so much stuff (for lack of a better term) in this tea – sprinkles, chocolate chips, those round silver sprinkles (whatever they’re called), and what looks like cherry blossoms or some sort of flower. Unfortunately, apart from a bit of a sweet flavour, almost none of these ingredients come through in the tea, like they were mainly added for visual appeal. Also the sprinkles appear to have left a red ring around my mug. Ick.

It’s difficult – I like this tea but I don’t like this tea, does that even make sense? There is something about this tea that just doesn’t sit right with me (although one of my colleagues at work loved the cup I made them)… sigh! I wish I could put my finger on it! Guess I’ll just sip through this bag (or give it to my colleague) and be done with it.

TTBC2 #17

Oh! Wow! This is a really tasty darjeeling. I don’t think I have ever had a straight tea from Della Terra, who are famous for their flavored blends (that are either hits or misses for me).

The thing about this tea is that it looks, smells and pretty much tastes like a balanced and non-too-sweet Yunnanesque tea. There’s absolutely no bitterness to it, no “bite”. The full-bodied sips hint at earthy sweetness and make you feel like you’re eating caramels outside after some big rainstorm.

I actually can’t get over how good this tea is… Wow, Della Terra, what is your crazy source for this?

I was quite skeptical of swaps when I first started out on Steepster (over a year ago – wow!). It just didn’t seem safe to give a bunch of strangers my address. And let’s face it, doing so is still not the brightest idea. Yet somehow it has always worked out wonderfully. I’ve swapped with 15+ people and have yet to have a bad experience. Steepster seems to be the one remaining corner of the internet where genuinely nice people gather. Yay for all of you, and a special yay to the creators of this site. Your hard work does not go unnoticed!

This is the third time someone has surprised me with this tea in a swap package. Lucky me! I still really enjoy it. The spicy pumpkin smell of the dry leaf is intoxicating. The brewed tea has a heftier scent. The spice and pumpkin mellow out a bit and an almost bready smell shows up. There’s a slight smokiness in the flavor today. The spice is barely detectable. Instead, there’s almost a pumpkin bread flavor. The aftertaste is nummy nummy pumpkinness. As the brew cools, some sweetness appears at the beginning of the sip. Actually, this is surprisingly good cold! The flavors don’t really change but they stay nicely blended and quite pleasant.

By the way, sipdown!

EDIT: I’m such a goofball! I went on and on about how great my swapping experiences have been and forgot to thank the person who actually sent me the swap. D’oh! Thank you, MissLena, for your thoughtful inclusion of this tea in our swap.

I was sure that I had already logged this. This came to me through the Secret Pumpkin swap back in the fall from both BrewTEAlly Sweet and RogersCK. Thanks! BTW, BrewTEAlly Sweet has been gone for a while. Anyone know if she’s ok?

This is another fall tea that I’ve been hoarding. It is suuuuper tasty. The chocolate and pumpkin are definitely here, but what makes this shine for me is the pumpkin spices. They are just perfectly balanced. I will miss this tea, for this drink is a sipdown.

Tea #5 from the tea box. Was quite excited to see how this compared to the apple pie tea from the tea shop near us. It is on par if not just slightly better then the one from Indigo. Both are very good though. Added a bit of honey, probably didn’t need to but it adds a flavor to the tea that I think makes it even better.

Sipdown! My last two cups of this were really sweet. I think all of the toffee pieces had fallen to the bottom! I didn’t add any sugar, and I didn’t need it. That just goes to prove that, with more toffee, this can be a palatable cup. Or maybe I’m just getting used to it! Either way, it won’t be one I’ll look to restock.

Second pouch, this time with noticably more toffee pieces. Sadly, I still don’t like it. The apple is somehow floral, there’s a bitter aftertaste, and the whole thing tastes somehow musty. Also, I can’t taste any caramel. Disappointing, because this one sounded like my kind of thing. Sad face.