Della Terra Teas

Finished the first of my two packets of this. I’ve been drinking it with a lot of sugar to try and offset some of the weird bitter/floral flavour. It helps a bit, but that’s all I can say for it. I’ve looked at my second packet, and that appears to have more toffee pieces in than this one — hopefully it’ll taste better for it!

I’m not sure about this one. It’s not quite what I expected. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I don’t like it, but I don’t love it either. The apple here is somehow floral, and there’s a touch of bitterness in the initial sip that just doesn’t strike the right note. I wasn’t keen on my first cup — black with no additions — at all. Tonight’s second cup — with milk and a chunk of crystal sugar — is a little better but still not quite there.

I think of caramel apple as a sweet thing, and one of the problems here is that there isn’t enough toffee. I can only see two small pieces in the whole (sample) pouch. There are plenty of apple pieces, but, as previously mentioned, the overall flavour is somehow floral and a little weird. The spice, I think, is a step too far, and might be contributing to the initial bitterness. There’s quite a lot of clove, from what I can taste.

I like the idea of caramel apple tea, and I’ve tried a couple of nice ones in my time. This one, sadly, isn’t quite right to my tastes. Still — you can’t win them all. This is by no means a bad cup, but it leaves me feeling mostly indifferent.

I joined Steepster in 2012 and at this time everybody was drinking and reviewing Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. I added it to my wishlist. And only requested a sample 2 weeks ago to Sheherazade who so kindly shared some with me.

It evocates christmas to me, holidays. Cinnamon for sure is for something in this feeling.
As for other Della Terra Teas I am not conquered by the black tea base kind of neutral, ordinary base. But the flavours seduce me. This is a lovely cookie.
Cooling it works even better and becomes a velvet cookie. Yummy.

Caffeine-Free/Decaf Traveling Tea Box

I “stole” this out of the traveling tea box without trying it first since I figured I would like it. I was right. It’s a lovely creamy dessert rooibos. Is it eggnog? It’s close because of how creamy it is, but it’s not quite there for me, but close enough for zero calories.

3tsp+sweetener

TTBC2 #9

This one was largely a miss for me. It just tasted like a bland black tea with some very vague sweetener in it. I was a little wary of it in the first place, because I am not a fan of salted sweets, but I didn’t even get any salted notes here. Or caramel notes. Or chocolate notes.

It was okay to sip without paying attention to it, but once I went “What is it I am drinking?” I didn’t feel like having any more and finishing the cup.

So I think I must come to the most unfortunate conclusion that green tea simply isn’t for me, at least the majority of the time. But I have yet to taste a green tea that I don’t have to force myself to finish, and sadly this was no exception.
This sample came to me from VariaTea, who very thoughtfully combed my wish list and sent me like everything on it. I had wanted to try this for a long time, because other people who also weren’t huge green tea fans were liking it. Alas, I got a hint of delicious marzipan followed by a green base that kind of drowned out any enjoyment I could get from the almond flavouring. I thought of adding some sugar to it, and might just do that with my next cup to see if I can’t tame the base a bit, but we’ll see.

Thanks again, variaTea!

If it managed to escape your notice, this blend has carrots in it, as well as peas, corn and peaches; it makes for one very colorful and somewhat unusual tea. I’ll admit, I was having a hard time getting past the whole there are veggies in my tea thing. I half expected it to be more of a savory tea than one suited to springtime, but the flavor ended up surprising me. Rather than savory the corn, carrots, and peach add a sweetness that went surprisingly well with the green base. I tried this tea hot, but it is another blend that I think would make a refreshing iced tea, unfortunately the weather is still a bit on the nippy side and I’m still drinking copious amounts of hot tea to keep warm.

You can read the rest of the review on my blog
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2014/4/8/tuesday-tea-a-rabbits-garden-della-terra.html

I think (?) with this tea, I will have tried all the root beer teas out there. This is also the strangest in the bunch, to me. Cotton candy root beer anyone?

Thanks to Janelle for sharing this with me!

Sipdown!! (167)

Good bye tasty caffeine-free blueberry tea. You will be missed. Thank you TraceyC for sharing!

Thank you TraceyC for such a generous sample of this delicious blueberry tea. Della Terra does rooibos well it seems and this is one I would consider restocking. Luckily, I don’t need to worry about that right now because I have at least a few more cups left and I am sure I will enjoy every last one of them.

In other news, DAVIDs now has COLORED mason jars!! And, they are cheaper than the original. DO WANT! Although, I would probably get killed if I buy anymore mugs.

This is yet another tea shared by the wonderfully generous TraceyC. I have had a couple Della Terra blueberry teas before and enjoyed all of them so I was intrigued by their caffeine free version. Tasting it now, the rooibos mutes the blueberry flavor just a bit but it still remains sweet and present. Personally I think Blueberry Creme is my favorite Della Terra blueberry teas but this is a nice alternative and one I am glad to have more of in my cupboard. Thank you TraceyC!

Sipdown. I tried the last of this iced. The cherry notes really come out. Tart and sweet. I’m not getting much cakiness. Maybe a hint of pineapple, but that might be power of suggestion. Oh so slightly creamy. Mostly this tastes like a cherry iced rooibos. Yummy. Still nothing like the original upside down tea, though.

I have had Della Terra’s Upside Down Pineapple Cake. You, my friend, are no Upside Down Pineapple Cake. Nope. You are a sweet, creamy, vanilla blend with a touch of tartness. Now that others have mentioned it, I am also noticing a touch of maple syrup flavor. You have the same mouthfeel as Autumn Leaves. Sort of a sweet, pleasant film that builds on the roof of the mouth. But pineapple? Cherry? Cake? Nope nope nope. Which is both disappointing and just fine. You are delicious. You just have the wrong name. It’s ok. I like you anyway.

I’ve had this bag for ages, and I found it last night at the back of my cupboard, unopened. What?! So, I made some before sending out some larger-than-normal packages of tea, just in case I needed to share some with others. ;)

I was a bit surprised brewing this up – had to double check it’s a black. By far the lightest flavored black I’ve come across – it brews up looking like a green. The sprinkles added a bit of granularity to the brew, and it’s definitely creamy and sweet. I want to love it, and yet it’s just meh for me. I feel like I’ve already tasted this, like many of Della Terra’s offerings are the same.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, other than I expected from others notes, and the description that I would enjoy it… I was right … & so was EvaGrimm… Thanks for the sample ! I haven’t been avoiding your samples by the way, just trying to save them for when Hubby is available too so he can join me in trying some of the ones he might be interested in.

Dry it smells of sweet vanilla. Steeped it is buttery, creamy vanilla, with just enough cakey flavor to round it out. I don’t get the chocolate and very little of the coconut, but it’s tasty without those being in the forefront.

I actually feel like this is very much like their Pineapple Upside Down, which I think is so good, but this is w/o the pineapple. Not sure which I like better, but have to admit I’ve been hoarding the little bit I have of the Pineapple one. I would be happy I think, to stock either one in my cupboard.

Hubby said this one’s ok… Translation: I like others better.
That’s ok… I like it… It’s dessert in a cup!

Sipdown!! (173)

Thank you Satsuma for sharing this with me!! I am sad to see it go. Weirdly enough, this tea is tasting like delicious cinnamon apples. I am not sure why that is the case but I am really, REALLY liking it. I think I would get more of this tea in the future if every cup I had was just like this one.

Thank you Satsuma for sending me a sample of this tea. I am always on the look out for tasty caffeine free options and this one isn’t bad. Granted, I didn’t really get to drink it until it cooled significantly because I was cooking, nonetheless, it is a nice smooth ginger flavor. There is no burn here but rather a slightly sweet, slightly spiced cup of tea. Very nice.

Sipdown!! (177)

So long creamy eggnog tea. You are certainly very tasty but seeing as winter is on its way out (it was actually above 0C today), it is only fitting to say goodbye to this winter tea too. Thank you Satsuma for sharing this with me :)

Thank you Satsuma for sharing some of this with me! It is one I have wanted to try for a while and it does not disappoint. Something about the little snowflake sprinkles must be magic because I have not come across a tea that had them that I did not like (think Marshmallow Snowflake EG or Ice Princess, and now this). This certainly has the spices of a winter tea – cinnamon and nutmeg are both present while still maintaining the creaminess of eggnog. Definitely a tasty tea that I would happily stock next winter. Yum!

Once this brewed up, this smelled like Honeybee from Davids, but taste…no. Ugh no. It tastes like honeyed black licorice. It was a coldbrew I will not be repeating and the wifey has a bunch of swap packages going out, so hopefully this can be dropped into one of those.

I got enough of this for one mugful from KallieBoo! in a mystery stash sale box. It was actually a lot yummier than I expected. It definitely is a nice balance of chocolate and mint, and quite a decent amount of both. A lot of chocolate mint teas I’ve had before have been weak on the chocolate or the mint or both. This was rich chocolate and tingly mint. I didn’t get vanilla, though, but that may have been because it just combined in with the chocolate flavor and made it creamier. I don’t know. All I know was this was a very nice treat for myself this morning.

I got this one in my sampler sort of on a whim—oolong, caramel, and that was about all I knew about it. I’m really glad, because even though I hadn’t seen any reviews of this one, it’s a beauty. The oolong and caramel flavors blend together really well, and the caramel manages to be true. It’s creamy and fresh-tasting. The mouthfeel is even a little thick! I would say in concept and flavor this is somewhere in between Silk Dragon and GM’s Sugar Caramel oolong, but they’re all different enough that I would keep all three around. Did I mention I love caramel, both to eat and drink?

Sipdown! And another tea from Janelle :)

Not great, IMO. A bit of blueberry flavour, no chocolate, and a bland black base. Pretty substandard, and not what I expected from Della Terra, but oh well. I don’t think I needed a chocolate/blueberry tea anyhow; I like blueberry cream teas better.