Terra Tee

Welp.

This was another incredibly generic and forgettable offering from Terra Tee that I probably wont have any recollection of trying in a few weeks. However, the positive is that it was the LAST Terra Tee flavour I had to try! So, I’m not 100% sure I’ve now had every tea that this company carries BUT I’ve certainly had a lot of them, and every single one that was available to me.

To be completely honest, I don’t even remember what this one was supposed to taste like – it was just so incredibly generic. Tart hibiscus and apple with flavour splashed into it. Maybe passionfruit, based on the name!? Definitely didn’t nail it though…

Yes, I’m still making my way through Terra Tee’s collection; I’ve just been drinking my way through a lot of other teas as well so I’ve not been getting through them as frequently. I think this might actually be the first one I’ve added anything to though? I did steep it straight at first, but I found it fairly astringent and pretty run of the mill in terms of flavour so I added a little coconut milk and honey and did it up as a bit more of a “Breakfast Blend” to finish it off. Pretty solid that way; definitely held up well to the additions.

Yes, I’m still making my way though Terra Tee blends…

This one was basically a lemongrass bomb in my mouth, and quite similar feeling to a lot of other lemon-y/citrus-y blends from Terra Tee. The problem is that they all have very German names or names that are all really similar like “Happy Fitness” or “Happy Aging” so now they’re all kind of blending together in my head and I can’t recall which of their teas this was most similar to.

But I think, if I said the tea was citrusy/lemony and didn’t mention any type of spice note then it’s probably safe to assume that this tasted similar.

I really didn’t enjoy this one…

Not only was it such a strong marine and vegetal taste, but it also still managed to somehow taste stale and dusty at the same time. Deeply unsatisfying for me.

I feel like Terra Tee has a few different teas sort of like this; herbal/caffeine free wintery spice blends – all different variations on mulled cider/wine/spices. This is my least favourite of the handful I’ve tried – I get the cinnamon in it, but it’s rather weak and watered down tasting. Also lacks depth. The Apfel Zimt is probably the best one, if I had to choose…

Surprised myself with how much I enjoyed this one – it’s a little bit heavy on the spices (cinnamon/ginger) but the mint and tulsi mix with the subtle sweetness from the different fruits in the blend make it a pretty unique and refreshing tasting chai tea. I’d definitely be interesting, just based on this cup, in exploring different tulsi chai offerings from other companies – preferably in loose tea options.

This is a green tea with passionfruit and ginger.

Firstly, why would you pair those two together!? That sounds terrible! Though, the dry aroma of the sachet actually smelled pretty good; no ginger at all in the aroma though, only sweet and tropical passionfruit! Very bright, and sort of syrupy smelling. Steeped tea was awful though; hardly any sweetness at all and a bit of bitterness right off the bat in the top notes. More of a body odor kind of tropical note (unfortunately tropical fruits do sometimes give off that quality) with a gross, intense ginger that didn’t do anything in terms of complimenting flavours.

Nope.

Another blend from Terra Tee!

This one is supposed to taste like cherries, I believe. I was excited for that! It’s not really exactly what I would personally imagine a cherry tea to taste like, as it’s very tart/sour and more hibiscus heavy in terms of flavour, but it is cherry-like. I just wish it was balanced a little more with some sweetness since the tart cherry/hibby due comes off as very one dimensional and unexciting. Also gets to be a bit much after half a mug, as there’s nothing to balance it. Same effect you get from eating too many sour candies one after another…

Made in a travel mug.

I actually really liked this one; it’s quite similar to DT’s Sleigh Ride blend but a little heavier on the cinnamon notes. It’s got that nice cinnamon sweetness too, and was soothing on the throat. Even steeped up that deep red colour like Sleigh Ride does! Certainly not a profile that I’d feel drawn to year round, I think, but nice for when it’s cold or in the winter!

I’m feeling too lazy right now to go and look up all of the ingredient information for this blend and enter it into Steepster – just know that this was a really weirdly flavoured tea with an equally weird ingredient list. Basically, it tasted like herbaceous soap – likely because there’s cilantro in this blend. I don’t hate cilantro and I think I could have handled the vague soapyness of it in this mug, but the finish!? Gah; so much licorice root! It was foul and sweet in that awful, ungodly way that licorice root is where it feels like an artificial sweetener even though it isn’t…

Bleck.

This company is so German that I have no clue whether “Lady Chai” is meant more as a ‘Chai for Ladies’ or if it’s more intended to be interpreted like “Lady Grey” where the term lady is a title? If it’s the first, then I’m confused what aspect of this makes this a good chai for women? It’s all a little weird…

The tea itself is… fine? I guess?

It basically tastes like a turmeric lemon with hints of apple; which doesn’t taste bad but it also certainly very boring to me. Also sort of similar to the Orange and Ginger blend that they also carry? As well as the Maracuja Orange.

Meep.

Much more of an orange profile than a ginger one – and while it’s not a bad tasting orange tea it’s not really a great tasting orange tea either? Like, in the grand scheme this is probably going to be a really forgettable tea drinking experience for me.

It seems like that’s where a lot of Terra Tee’s collection is landing for me: decidedly average or forgettable. Still have a few more to explore though; so fingers crossed I find at least one that dazzles me.

Yeah, I’m gonna be honest – this one didn’t make an impression on me at all.

Like, I barely remember even drinking the mug that I had made of it. Basically, it was vaguely warming spice tasting and herbaceous rooibos – with a decently strong fennel note. It’s nothing special though; and ultimately a very forgettable profile for me.

Back to exploring some Terra Tee offerings…

This one seems like it should be really fun; the packaging is vibrant, bright colours and it uses a lot of tropical fruit descriptors. I’ll admit; I bought into the marketing a bit myself and as I was steeping up my cup I definitely let myself get excited for something sweet, tropical, and yummy! I should know better, honestly – the initial sip is SUPER tart/tangy hibiscus and orange and it reminds me a little bit of Tang or other instant “juice” drinks that come in powder form. It’s not super wildly unique or deeply tasty but it’s not bad.

However – and of course there’s a “however”, that tangy hibby/orange pop of flavour in the top of the sip is fleeting, and when it gives way what’s left is a very thin/watery citrus note lacking any sort of body. It’s disappointing.

I will say – this might be good if you iced it. But really, who wants to go to the trouble of icing bagged tea!?

Ugh; I deeply hate teas with names like this…

What makes it worse though is that the tea actually did taste really lovely, and could likely sell on that merit alone. I guess this feeds into the Wellness angle/market more though, which gives it an extra sales bump from the people who buy into those things/don’t care so much about the taste as they do the effect.

Basically just a nice marriage of mint and lemon though; the lemon was natural and had a hint of acidity and bitterness – like getting lemon juice alongside lemon peel. The mint was a mix of several kinds of mint, but the most forward one was spearmint. Definitely sweet, which offset any lemon bitterness. The choice of white tea for a base is interesting; you can’t taste it over the other strong flavours – but maybe it’s there more for that “wellness” angle, and at least by having it in there you can say that there’s some caffeine in the blend.

I don’t know – I enjoyed this one, though! Despite the dumb name.

This one basically tasted like a mulled wine and mulled cider cross – and it was pretty lovely, actually. No real criticisms of this one; I’d drink it again as a cold weather comfort tea type of thing. Maybe the best thing I’ve had from this company yet, even if it wasn’t complex in any way?

For a strawberry and red currant tea, this tasted surprisingly like cranberry juice to me. Cranberry juice with the body stripped from it though; decently sweet but lacking acidity and needed tartness. A fine cuppa; but not something exceptional.

I’m a little frustrated by this tea, because it seems like it has the potential to be so good but then – because of the choice of herbal ingredients/“base” for the flavourings, it winds up tasting super weird and disappointing…

Like, I grabbed one of the little pyramid bags from the box and gave it a good sniff before steeping the tea and it smelled super strongly and clearly of vanilla shortbread/sugar cookies – so basically exactly like a vanilla kipferl! I was shocked by how accurate the smell was, and very excited to brew up the tea. I took a few sips as it was steeping and the same thing – scarily accurate creamy vanilla sugar cookie notes! Wow! Then, however, a minute or so passed and everything changed when the hibiscus attacked. It was just so tart, with sharp notes of hibiscus, acidified apple, and orange and then this weird undertone/finish of vanilla. Cacophonous mismatched flavours, and a loss of accuracy in conveying the flavour that they were advertising – which is especially grating when there were previous moments where they had nailed that flavour!

It just brought two things to mind. Firstly, just how incredible the correct combination of flavourings can be in a tea to really convey a specific flavour profile. Secondly, how idiotic it is to just add hibiscus to everything – and how much it can spoil a good blend when mixed with something it has no flavour relationship to.

Very crisp, cooling mint note – and I can appreciate that. However, the rest of this blend was far from memorable and pretty average overall. I did like having it to sip on during my commute home; I had a bit of a headache coming on and the mint was particularly soothing, and the green tea was well behaved and soft, which just left me relax a bit more and ease my ailments.