Della Terra

Wow. I had this with breakfast this morning.. a cup of Cinnamon Bun tea with a plain scone. It was a match made in heaven. I am a huge fan of this tea.. strong enough, smooth, just spicy enough. Very true to it’s name.. it was like drinking a cinnamon bun. I will definitely be purchasing more once my 1 oz package runs out.

Yay!!! Coconut!!! A coconut tea that actually tastes like coconut :) I was soooo happy when I took a sip of this just now and it had a nice creamy coconutty flavor. I was a little worried about the chocolate bc I was concerned it would overpower the coconut, but it does not at all, it complements it nicely. I really like this so far! The coconut doesn’t taste artificial, and everything blends together well. I will probably re-order this one, it is a really nice blend.

Weird, only after steeping did I see this has white, green AND black tea in it? It looks like a pu-erh in the bag. Strange. Well, I steeped it incorrectly, and it’s still delicious. Creamy chocolate coconut really, although white chocolate? Hm. That’s a stretch.

Ah, yep. Much better. Alas, I don’t think I enjoy it enough to purchase more, after I finish up my sample pouch, though.

Labeled “White Winter” as day nine of Della Terra 2013’s 12 Days of Christmas box. At least, I THINK so. If not, I’ll move the review as appropriate.

The loose leaf smells quite sweet and coconuty, so if one or both of those invokes Santa — I mean Satan — himself for you, I’d avoid this one. It still smells pretty sweet once it’s brewed.

Surprisingly, this tasted a bit mild at first, in contradiction to the smell (should have steeped it for another 30-60 seconds or so, perhaps). Initially, I just added a bit of almond milk but no sweetener., so I added a bit of sugar to see if it enhanced the flavors in the blend. It brought out the coconut a touch more but that was about it. I’ll have to make another cup with a bit of a longer steeping time to see if the blend develops a bit more

Sipdown! Finished this one off at work over the past few days. Although it’s a white tea, it has quite a substantial flavour in and of itself. Fortunately, the white chocolate and coconut notes still came over clearly, resulting in a delightfully creamy concoction. One I’d seek out again next winter.

On the ninth day of Christmas, Della Terra gave to me…Winter White!

I was a little confused by this one at first. The leaves look so dark in the pouch, I was convinced it was going to be a black tea. Surprise, then, as I read the card. This one does brew up remarkably dark for a while tea, but you can tell that’s what it is upon tasting. I’m glad I stuck to a short brew time, as the base is slightly astringent. Maybe my water was still a touch too hot, but I can work on that for future cups.

Base aside, the flavour here is brilliant. I can taste white chocolate and coconut clearly, and there’s a hint of creaminess swirling around, too. I like that the teas in this box have been really well flavoured. One of the things that annoys me most about flavoured tea is weak flavourings, but that’s something that Della Terra seem to be able to avoid really well.

Anyway, this tea is a little different from the normal run of Christmas teas, which all seem to feature cinnamon, so it was a welcome find in the box today. One I’ll definitely return to!

YUMMO! Tastes like Girl Scout Samoas in a cup.

Yep! Big Red gum, as I suspected once I smelled the tea leaf. Can’t taste much else. Ah well.

I really enjoyed this blend. For me, the most prominent note was the coconut, followed by the sweet creaminess of white chocolate. Delicious!

On the first day of Christmas, Della Terra gave to me…Spiced Pear!

This is really christmassy. Dry, it smells strongly of cinnamon and mulling spices, and I can see pieces of pear among the black tea. Brewed, my experience is much the same. I elected to drink this without milk, and I’m glad because I think the flavours come over really well like this. The cinnamon comes through first, perhaps understandably, but there’s a definite pear taste. It’s almost perfumey, but the two flavours somehow work together really well. I’ve not had many pear teas before, and the only one that springs to mind is 52 Teas SBT Pear from back in the summer. That one tasted almost like a pear drop, sweet and very candy-like. This is jucier and a touch more natural, with the soft scentedness that an actual pear possesses. It’s the spices that are making me think of Christmas most of all, though. This might actually be a good one to drink on Christmas day, preferably by an open fire (although that’ll only happen in my dreams!) Snuggled and warm, anyway! A great start to the festive countdown!

This has a taste and even mouthfeel akin to Big Red gum, right down to that powdery texture left on the tongue. It’s not as hot as, say, fiery red hots (and honestly I’m glad; I’m not nuts about that white sugar+dry heat flavor in tea…don’t mind in candy occasionally but not tea), but it’s definitely on the spectrum of cinnamon sweets. I don’t dislike it, but I’m not sure I’d reach for it again. The gum association is quite strong, and there’s an artificial sweetener aftertaste (nothing’s listed though; it might be a case where it evokes the gum so much I then just start phantom-tasting the gum and not just the tea) I don’t really think I want to drink in tea. Not terrible, but I’d be fine having sampled it just this once.

Somehow some tea leaves escaped the filter this morning and ended up in my mug, and of course made their way into my mouth. So gross. I’m already irritable today, so that didn’t exactly help.
And I do like this tea, I really do, but I think I might already be starting to “get over it” so to speak. I think chocolate in tea mostly annoys me, so I’m always having to tell myself to ignore it. Or maybe i’m just annoyed in general and shouldn’t be rating tea when I’m in a bad mood haha. But yeah, not cool that the leaves escaped the bag. Eww.

Oh the holiday crunch… not only do I have one more paper to complete until my break has officially started, but I also promised my neighbor I would cut and color her hair! Not only does she have a lot of hair, but my timing isn’t what it used to be when I worked as a hair stylist full time. Oh well, I will review this tea and finish the paper that is due in 3-ish hours!

I’m not crazy about mint teas, unless there are other flavors to balance them out. This tea is delicious! It’s not overpowered by mint and the chocolate comes through nicely. I don’t think I could drink this every day, but this would be wonderful on occasion. I would probably write more, but I am nearly done with this darn paper and I cannot wait to get a full nights sleep! Thank you Courtney!

holiday teas are a holiday!
party on wayne, party on garth.

I love the idea of a chocolate/mint/vanilla tea! I don’t know what my beef is lately but Della Terra teas have not been thrilling to me. I guess I’m spoiled? shrug Drinkable but not something I would purchase.

Thanks for letting me try it BrewTEAlly Sweet :D

so. good.
so good!
it IS creamy and it IS coconuty and it IS slightly chocolate sweet!

i also love that this has green, white, AND black tea blended. which comes off as just a mellower even more friendly black tea flavor. i really do enjoy flavored black teas and della terra makes the best chocolate ones for my taste.
i could see myself buying a full bag next time i order. basically it’s in the top 5 of my della terra ordering list at this point. this tea suits me well.

I had this at 4Am this morning at work:) it was sooooooo good. It was minty and creamy and oh so sweet. Dessert in a cup. Or in my case breakfast in a cup. :) with my tonsillitis back again almost 4 weeks later :( I’m trying to avoid having to add milk and this did not need any whatsoever. The creaminess you get from this makes you think other wise I kid you not. It’s amazing! Yummy! This was a tea I received from Ellyn in my Secret Pumpkin Swap! Thank you*

On the fourth day of Christmas, Della Terra gave to me…Cinnamon Diletto!

This one smells absolutely and completely of cinnamon, both dry and brewed. I guess that’s the point, which is fine, and it’s nice to see a rooibos blend appear in the box. They’ve all been black so far! Cinnamon really is pervasive in Christmas teas, though – there’s really no escaping it. Probably a good thing I like cinnamon, really!

The cinnamon and the rooibos pair pretty well here, as they’re both quite earthy, warming flavours. The rooibos is quite strong, and is definitely detectable underneath the cinnamon flavouring. That in itself is quite strong, and the whole thing comes over a little harsh. I added milk, and that improved things a little, but I might try adding some sugar as well next time. It’s just a little overwhelming on its own, although is more palatable when softened down with milk.

This isn’t my favourite of the selection so far, although you can’t argue that it’s Christmassy!

Yum! Cinnamon!

Ok, apparently, I’m too tired tonight to make a sensible review. I think my last note on this has more details. I’m nearly done with this sample, so I’ll say that I’ve enjoyed this one.

(blah blah Della Terra sale – yup I get sucked in a lot)

Ever since the weather got colder, I have been really into cinnamon. Maybe it was the little push from my Secret Pumpkin with a whole bunch of cinnamon teas but something about it has been extra comforting. Every night I come home, I make at least a mug of tea. Tonight I started out with Della Terra Red Velvet Delight Rooibos (it’s ok) and then I decided to open this one. It smells very similar to Cinnamon Crackle though with a rooibos base.

As far as tasting is concerned, it’s slightly less fiery than the Cinnamon Crackle, BUT, it does pack a bit of a punch. I can feel it on the roof of my mouth. It tastes, similarly to CC like big red gum or sweet red hots. Again, I don’t know why I’m addicted to all things spicy at the moment but this sure is hitting the spot.

2 tsp in my 16oz steeping mug + sweetener