Della Terra Teas

This poor poor tea! I never wrote a review for this ancient blend and it’s actually quite good. The citrus and peppercorns are the perfect flavor combination. So the name is very accurate. It’s lemon. It’s “pepper” as in peppercorn. I think it would have been interesting to have other pepper in it. There is something effervescent about it — it could be a lemon soda tea. It must be the precise spices to make it seem like soda, melding in with the lemon and peppercorn. The black tea seems darker than a typical Della Terra base. I can’t believe it has any flavor at this point.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 23 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

Somehow I’ve never written a note on this one, and it’s not on my tea spreadsheet so I don’t remember who I got this from, but thank you to whoever it was! I’m drinking it as a latte tonight, and it’s tasty but I need to remember not to use maple syrup as sweetener in these lattes as it always comes off as sour when combined with the milk. There’s prominent apple, the hazelnut less so but it is still there lingering in the background. It’s giving me a sort of toasted honeyed granola impression, and I’m not mad at it.

I got this tea aaaaaaaages ago from MissB and I’m shocked I’ve never written a note on it! The caramel is very tasty and quite pronounced, but is fading with time (my own fault, not the tea’s). My only complaint is that the base used is a bit thin, and doesn’t add a whole lot to the experience. This flavouring on a really nice black base, maybe something with natural chocolate or honey notes, would be absolutely killer. As it stands, it’s a bit meh. I tried making a tea latte with this, thinking the caramel would be perfect for it, but the base wouldn’t hold up to the milk so the whole thing just kind of flopped. Oh well. I only have a little of this left so I’ll have to drink it plain next time and hopefully will have a better experience. Rating a little kindly based on this cup, because I remember really enjoying it when it was fresh.

I decided to sort/reorganize my teas, which resulted in finding a lot of little samples of this and that and going “holy cow I really need to finish these”. So, nice caffeine free sipdown here, though I’m pretty sure some of the flavour has been lost over the years. A little bit sweet, a little bit creamy, a little bit spicy, generally quite pleasant.

2022 Sipdown 141/365!
Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge July 2022: Tea that you’ve forgotten about

Definitely not a tea I remembered owning, but it had the perfect amount for a sipdown! Had a bit of nostalgia for Della Terra when drinking this, as it just had some flavour in it that reminded me of other teas from them (of which I still have a decent amount). It was pretty tasty, too – a nicely balanced chai/chocolate combo, with a bit of a twist from the puerh base.

Started off the day with this. Ooops, no caffeine.

I made this hot (despite VT’s note that it is good cold). Really, really good—the best kind of lemon, a frill of icing sugar, the slightest hit of tart berry. Yup, very much enjoying this cup.

Do these people still exist? If so, I will pick some up (if all the usual obstacles for Canadians are not overwhelming).

Thanks for the sample, VariaTEA.

And it’s a sipdown!

At this point— this is one of the long forgotten teas I came across the other day—this cup smells and tastes like a heavy on the vanilla birthday cake, frosting and all. Pretty tasty.

Thanks for the sample, VariaTEA.

And it’s a sipdown!

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Thursday, April 22nd: International Mother Earth Day  Tea  #1

Happy Earth day everyone!   Personally a favorite holiday of mine, as I am a fan of nature.  I scoured my tea list for teas that would fit today’s theme.  Surprisingly not a ton of teas with “earth” in the name other than “Good Earth Tea” which I almost steeped up.  (And yes, I know I’m being too literal.)  However, I remembered I had this one that I haven’t written a note for yet and it’s from StarFevre so thank you very much!I know not many are fans of the half green/ half black blends.  They are weird.  These two types of tea do NOT compliment each other.  Each is better separate.I brewed it like a green as I noticed mainly big sencha leaves.  So it tastes like a green but with a healthy dose of generic fruit flavor – maybe peach and apricot (supposed to be mango, passionfruit, pineapple, papaya and ALSO actual kiwi pieces which is wonderful!). So no mention of peach and apricot in the description but that is what I taste. Symptom of age, possibly.  I wish those unique fruits were here though! Again, surprised that this old of a tea has so much fruit flavor remaining! Second steep, also very fruity, also no black tea flavor (but also no bitterness!) It’s not bad while drinking and wishing I was in a real rain forest…
Steep #1  // 1  teaspoon for full mug // 35 minutes after boiling  // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 25 minutes after boiling //  1 1/2 minute steep

I don’t know why I only gave this a measly 69 last time I rated it, because this is soooo goooood! So good, in fact, that I took a different tea downstairs to brew up, and came back up with a resteep of this instead. It smells incredible, sweet chocolate wafting out of the bag and filling the room when it brews. I drank it as a latte earlier, brewed double strength with 1/3 hot milk and a splash of maple syrup added. I’ve had it in latte form before, but forgot how good it was. When I took my first sip my eyes grew wide and I actually giggled for a good 10 seconds before taking my second sip. It pains me that I will run out of this soon, because if it were still available it’s one I’d definitely keep around. It really does taste like a Malteser, which is one of my favourite chocolates. I’m not a fan of chocolate teas as a rule, but this is the exception! Maybe it’s the malt, which is in perfect balance with the chocolate. Whatever it is, it’s delicious, and just as good on the resteep, which I drank black with brown sugar. I can’t stop smelling my empty cup, which still smells strongly of chocolate, or cocoa butter. Yeah, I’m going to be bumping this rating up massively!

I drank this yesterday both black and in latte form, and even though I did enjoy it brewed regular western-style it was definitely better as a latte. My mam said it smelled like hot chocolate, and it kind of tasted like it too. Yummy.

I’ll write up a better note at some point in the future, but notes will be brief and sparse for the next little while because I’ve finally started training for my new job! I’m training online because of the Covid situation, and that means there is A LOT of reading followed by A LOT of tests. So far I have 3 down, 23 to go. I’m still drinking tea, but I can’t focus as much attention on it as I’d like to right now. It’s my birthday on Wednesday though so I will be taking the day off and drinking plenty of tea then!

Sipdown 203/399!

This gets sooo much better as it cools. Hot, the flavours are mostly muted with a hint of chocolate. The chocolate does lean more on that ‘cocoa butter’ side, which I don’t really enjoy but find a lot in chocolate teas, but it’s discernible and gets better as the cup cools. The orange too, which starts out as a whisper of citrus oils, becomes more corporeal and distinctively orange. Especially with sugar, this really does give me the impression of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, but maybe a knock off version? Ha. If I came across this tea from a current vendor I might be tempted to pick up a small amount to experiment with. Thanks go to Janelle for sharing this tea with me way back when.

I’ve never had s’mores, being from the UK, and I don’t totally know what they are, though I have an idea. I definitely have no idea what a graham cracker is supposed to taste like! Not that it really matters, because all I taste in this tea is marshmallow (and tea). Don’t get me wrong, it’s an impressively accurate marshmallow flavour that I’ve only experienced one or two times in tea form, but there’s no chocolate that I can taste, or anything else which might be ‘graham cracker’. That being said I’ve really enjoyed it each time I’ve had it, and I’ve had it a few times now, from both Janelle and VariaTEA. Thank you, ladies! It’s a good sweet treat, and it always amazes me how accurate the marshmallow is, even though I wish there were more of the other elements noticeable in the sip. The tea is robust enough to add a maltiness to the cup, without adding any astringency, which I appreciate.

Though Della Terra has gone out of business now, I know their supplier is still around and several other companies sell the same blends. So, eventually, I will probably try to find this from another vendor. For now it’s a sipdown (202/399).

Ugh, I forgot how much I love this tea. It’s such a shame I can’t easily stock up now that Della Terra is no more. It doesn’t seem like cherry cola and cake should go together, but they really, really do! The cherry cola is very accurate and prominent at the front of the sip, and the vanilla cakiness comes through at the end of sip and lingers. Adding sugar brings out the cherry cola even more. I’m definitely going to have to up my rating on this one from 80, because I’ll be really sad when it’s gone.

Cold brew! 3tsps steeped in 12oz of water in the fridge for almost 24 hours.

This is the best ‘cola’ tea I’ve tried. In fact, it might be the only one which gets across a strong and accurate cola note. Though it smells very cakey, as well as like coke, the cake doesn’t translate through into the sip when cold brewed, except as a very faint background note which I could be imagining. I remember it coming through more when hot, but cold brewed this is all cherry coke goodness (and the ‘coke’ feels less confusing cold). I don’t get any chocolate from it either, but I think I prefer it that way. I wish I could remember which company Della Terra sourced their teas from or who else sold the same blends, because I would love to pick up some more of this for the summer. As an iced tea it does a good job of killing any coke cravings! Thanks for sharing this with me, KittyLovesTea!

ETA: I resteeped my cold brew leaves in hot water, and the cake is much more prominent as is the base tea.

I received this in a swap with Janelle a long time back, and it’s always lacked the chocolatiness I crave every time I brew it up. Chocolate isn’t usually a flavour I go for in tea, mostly because it never actually tastes as chocolatey as I want it to, but I have to say that this one disappoints me less than most. The scent is so strongly chocolate that each time I inhale I think it’s going to be better than it is, but sadly the taste doesn’t live up to what the scent promises. It is more chocolate than cocoa butter, which I appreciate, and it’s not too artificial-tasting either, and if I had had this in the prime of its life and overleafed more maybe I would have liked it better. It really is one of the better chocolate teas I’ve tried, though I prefer a black tea with natural chocolate notes, like the Laoshan black. Making allowances for the age of the tea and the fact that I had to slightly underleaf this time around – it’s my final cup – I suppose the chocolate is sort of kinda thereish. I just wish it tasted as good as it smelled!

Sipdown 174/397.

Sipdown! 285/365!

Should have used a finum filter for the last of this tea – it was a bit astringent for this final cup. Not too bad, though.

This was surprisingly good, actually. Kind of like a sweet cider with cinnamon. Wouldn’t buy it again, but especially given its age, I was impressed at the flavours I was getting!

Sipdown 2020! 13/365

This was actually a pretty tasty tea. Didn’t taste much like chamomile, but was pleasantly apple-cinnamon flavoured.

Once upon a time, I got a bajillion Della Terra samples from Janelle, I believe. Most were herbals, and though I had requested them, due to a general dislike of such teas, I really didn’t try very many. However, my MIL prefers caffeine-free teas, so it was perfect when I located the bag! Which, curiously, smells overwhelmingly of honey flavouring that is used by many companies (not an objectionable smell at all, when we think of the possibilities that herbal teas could bring).

This tea seemed pretty straightforward – apple chunks, some spice, and chamomile. Flavour is just what you’d expect, and surprisingly, I thought it was okay. It’s not too strongly-flavoured, and the chamomile is more present than I’d like, but it made for a nice evening cup the other day. Of course, my MIL also enjoyed it, so I’ll be leaving the rest for her while I focus on other teas that I like more.

I have nearly a full ounce of this, but I think this is my first time trying it… Anyhow, it looks and sounds good – barley and roasted mate, coconut – except for the rooibos. Unfortunately, something tasted off to me when I had a couple sips, so I tossed the cup (unusual for me, I know! But I brewed it up while I had guests, and then left it overnight, and just didn’t care to try and salvage it in the morning.) I realize now that it’s probably the coconut, which is sad. I’ll give it another shot, maybe with a bit of milk, before I toss the whole packet.

2022 Sipdown 28/365!

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge January 2022: Apricot tea

Ok, officially feeling like I’m conquering this sipdown challenge, because I’ve been slow to finish off these Della Terra teas as I’m not a huge fan of many of them, but now, perhaps, I’ll get through them because they fit a prompt! Haha.

This tea smells better than it tastes – a bit like fuzzy peach. Taste is kind of chemically, maybe a bit of peach, no apricot to speak of. I don’t really like it. I’m glad it’s gone. I should toss the leaves now, too, as I don’t particularly want to resteep it, either (unusual for me).

This smells delicious, like fuzzy peaches. Unfortunately, there’s a strange element here… almost tastes like the fruit is rotten-ish? It could be age, but I think it might actually be a combo of the honeybush and fruit. Not really a fan.

Sipdown 2020! 33/365

Whoops, waited a touch too long on this one and the walnut and/or coconut went a bit off, but it was the last cup, so that’s ok. I did definitely enjoy this tea fresh!