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Dry: Small, fine bits of dark green tea leaves. They look almost pressed as the dry leaf; maybe that is the steaming process? The aroma from the bag is lovely. Grassy, sweet, very pleasant.

Steeped: Clear soft green liquor. Smells like a meadow at the time hay is being harvested for lack of a better description. Vegetal and mild.

Taste: This tastes fairly different to me from what I expected in the dry and steeped smell. Primarily marine in nature to my taste buds, it does not have much in the way of sweet grassy notes. More seaweed and spinach and less hay, for lack of a better description. I don’t dislike this tea at all, but I have to be in the mood for this flavor on the tongue. I added honey to the second steep and it was still a nice cup and a bit less oceanic.

Dry: Lovely long, thin dark green leaves attached to a stem with one bud. It is so light and airy that the 7g sample really filled the infuser. Smells fresh, grassy, mellow, and vegetal.

Steeped: Clear very light green-amber liquor. The hot aroma is very green, fresh, and savory. Although this takes up most of the infuser, it didn’t really expand at all so no need to use the extra large one for space.

Taste: This one reminds me a LOT of Dragonwell, maybe a touch less potent and a touch more creamy. Not a sweet base at all, instead a flavorful (and a touch buttery) green tea veggie soup with a tiny bite at the end of each sip. I can’t decide if I liked this one or the Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea more out of the green tea sampler, but both are quite enjoyable for the green tea fans out there.

I should preface this by saying that I grew up just north of the Florida Keys and I am obsessed with authentic key lime pie. I have it for some of my birthdays instead of cake!

Dry: Colorful blend of black tea and bits of what appear to be dried fruit and flower petals. It says on the ingredient list lime pieces and bits, but it looks like there are some graham cracker or pie crust bits and orange peel bits also? Smells sweet, tart, creamy, and citrusy. Not necessarily key lime pie aroma in the dry scent, but key lime pie doesn’t smell like much beyond tart/sweetness and/or added whipped cream. It is the taste of a good pie that makes my mouth water!

Steeped: Cloudy dark golden liquor. The steeped tea smells more tart and a touch astringent to my nose, though still with the sweet and creamy backdrop. Limes are kind of one of those scents/tastes that people might either love or hate and may remind some of cleaning products. I digress..

Taste: I really didn’t have high hopes for this one because key lime pie + tea sounds kind of like a unicorn of flavored teas to me, but amazingly Della Terra did a pretty good job with it! Tart and creamy with a hint of pastry. This is not a strong tea-flavored tea, but I was still pretty darn happy with my cuppa. I added a touch of agave and 2% milk and it is quite enjoyable. Unfortunately, it looks like it might be discontinued so maybe I am one of the few fans, but I really like it. I might have to stockpile with my next order. :)

Dry: Decent-sized green tea broken leaves and what appears to be nut bits, dried pineapple, and slivers of maybe coconut or something else similar. Smells sweet and fruity, a nice summery blend.

Steeped: Cloudy light amber liquor. The pineapple really comes out along with the sencha when it is brewing, though I am not really getting any walnut aroma in the steeped tea.

Taste: I think I prefer this one iced during the summer. Drinking it hot in autumn just wasn’t the best idea on my part perhaps, but I don’t like it that much and I am not sure the name fits the bill either. To me, this tastes like some of the green tea pineapple blends already out there, but in a less ideally paired way. I am not barely getting anything remotely nutty in flavor, nor coconut either. There is a touch of bitterness that reminds me of walnut skins, but that’s about it. The pineapple is sweet and nice, but it is a little odd when paired with sencha versus some of the sweeter green teas out there. Kind of an oceanic seaweed-y flavor combined with something that is in of itself an incredibly sweet fruit. I wonder about David’s names sometimes. Salted Caramel wasn’t caramel-y and Toasted Walnut is not walnut-y, at least to my palate. :)

Dry: Long, twisty black tea leaves. Sweet, almost malty fragrance. I saw some others have golden tips in their stash; my 50g bag doesn’t have any so maybe it was from a different harvest.

Steeped: This one is a nice tea to watch as the large leaves slowly unfurl in the infuser and needs more room to expand in full than most blacks. The fragrance in the tea pot is almost that of orange pekoe to my nose with a kick of malty cocoa. Dark golden-brown clear liquor.

Taste: This is a nice black tea, but not anything I would always have to have around 24/7 for flavor alone. I do like that the tea garden helps works to help local schools, underprivileged families, and the elderly. I overleafed this one slightly and found that it is naturally on the sweeter malty side with no bitterness. Very faint hay and honey notes. A touch drying on the tongue after each sip. I am not getting any cocoa in the flavor and I am liking it best so far sweetened with just a touch of agave. Milk was hiding the more mild flavor of the tea, at least to my palate. Overall, a nice Sunday steep.

First review of this tea? No pressure! :)

Dry: Pretty black tea base with what appears to be chocolate chips, coconut flakes, sprinkles, and lots of yellow and blue cornflower petals. Smells absolutely delicious with rich vanilla and caramel cake-y notes straight from the bag.

Steeped: Smells very similar to David’s Red Velvet Cake while steeping with sugary bakery aromas. Slightly cloudy light amber-brown liquor.

Taste: This one is pretty darn good! I am always a little bit skeptical of bakery teas I’ve noted some dessert teas in general are fairly weak and muted even brewed overleafed. I used a heaping instead of level teaspoons and it came out lovely.

Let me just say though that this one does not taste strongly of black tea- but it does come out like a delicious vanilla sugary confection!

At first when it was still very hot I was only getting vanilla, but as it cools I taste sugary frosting notes and a cakey flavor as well. I am not getting chocolate or coconut at all, which is funny because I can see those ingredients in the loose leaf and saw this is supposed to be a chocolate cupcake flavored black tea. So I guess technically it missed the mark a little with the chocolate part, but I really don’t care because I like it quite a bit as it is!

If you like sweet bakery teas then give this one a try, it is a good one! I think I like it better than David’s Red Velvet Cake actually, so that is a pleasant surprise, too. This is my first Della Terra experience and I am looking forward to trying some of their others.

I haven’t met a tea I dislike more. Bitter coffee, fishy pu’erh, and mixed sweet flavors. I tried it straight, with sugar, with milk, with agave, with combinations thereof.. and I just flat out can’t find any enjoyment in this one. Yick!

Oh Paris, you are a wonderful afternoon tea. And breakfast tea. And anytime tea. Complex and smooth like your namesake city. Dark fruits, vanilla, and is that a hint of bergamot? She’s a keeper!

I thought I had rated this one forever ago! Where is it? I don’t know if the tealog was consumed somehow or if I just imagined that I wrote about it previously, but Florence is one of the staples around my house. It is my husband’s favorite tea so I keep it stocked up.

Dry: Simple, lovely Chinese black tea leaves with a few tiny twigs noted. Smells fantastic as the dry leaf, just chocolate, hazelnut, and smooth tea notes. This is not one of the chocolates like David’s where it is more like powdered cocoa or milk-chocolate, but rather a smooth cacao bar-type chocolate if that makes any sense. Less sweet or dessert-like, but more rich and flavorful.

Steeped: I tend to overleaf a little with Harney blacks because I like it strong with a dash of milk. Mine brews up a rich and deep clear brown liquor, but it is a medium clear brown liquor if steeped per the instructions on the tin. The aroma is wonderful- creamy chocolate meets brewed tea with a nutty addition.

Taste: One of the things that I love about this tea is how straightforward it is. It is described as a chocolate hazelnut tea and that is exactly what I expected and exactly what I get in flavor. This tea is lovely, which I have come to expect with a Chinese black. No astringency or bitterness noted of course, and has a smooth mouthfeel. As I mentioned at the start of this note, it is one of our regular go-to teas and is very much enjoyed around our home as a breakfast or afternoon tea.

I’ve tried this one several times now in several different ways, including various steep times, temperatures, with and without milk and/or sweetener, but I still am not tasting salted caramel anything. The smell is lovely, but I am really not even getting caramel at all in flavor. It still is a nice black tea blend with some sort of sweet touch, but that is about it.

A bit let down from expectations based on the name and description of this tea. I won’t buy this one again, but that said I am not sad that I still have around 30g left. Maybe I will try to blend it with some of my others and see what kind of pleasant black I can come up with until sipdown. Going to lower the rating a bit though to reflect the lack of salted caramel.