Josie Jade Send Message

I’m very sleepy this morning, so I am hoping this one will do the trick and wake me up. The tea leaves smell very odd – I can detect a little butter, but it smells artificial. There’s also a strange sourness to the leaves, like vinegar. The tea liquor smells like vinegar also. The flavor is sour and malty, yuck. There is a light butterscotch aftertaste, but not enough to make up for the ickiness of the initial sip. I really just don’t even want to finish it. If this tea didn’t have the strong tart sourness to it at the beginning I think it would be an alright cup. As it is, though, I just cannot like it.

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves, small butterscotch chips and small yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell like artificial butter and sour vinegar. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and vinegar.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium golden brown color.
-Sour and malty flavor and finish. Light butterscotch aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Poor tea. Tart and sour vinegar-like flavor.

I was on a roll today with green and white teas, mainly because I was out of the milk that I normally have in black teas. Thanks to KittyLovesTea for this sample! I had a quick cup before my mom and I went grocery shopping. It was beautiful here today – lots of sunshine and a little breeze. I feel like this was my first real taste of Spring, since I can finally see the trees blooming and little flowers are popping up everywhere. I’m so happy that the dreariness of winter is almost over!!

-Dry blend has medium green tea leaves.
-Dry leaves smell sweet and fruity. Tea liquor aroma is vegetal with a hint of strawberry.
-Tea liquor is a clear pale yellow color.
-Grassy flavor with a light strawberry finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. Very lightly flavored. Fresh juicy strawberry taste.

Adding a little festivity to this ordinary Tuesday morning with some Champagne green tea. This tea has large slices of strawberries and white blossoms mixed in with the Sencha tea leaves. It smells fruity, with just a hint of that sharp champagne aroma. The tea itself smells just like champagne. I doubt I would know the difference by smelling it if I was blindfolded. The flavor is strawberry up front, with a champagne finish. There is even a lingering alcohol taste, just like with real champagne. This tea certainly fits it’s name! I will probably keep some of this on hand for those times that calls for a celebration, without the icky after feeling the next morning that comes with real champagne. :)

-Dry blend has long flat green tea leaves and twigs with large slices of dried strawberries and large white blossoms.
-Dry leaves smell fruity with a sharp hint of champagne. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet champagne.
-Tea liquor is a clear pale yellow color.
-Strawberry flavor with a champagne finish. Lingering alcohol aftertaste.
-Best with a small amount of sweetener.
-Excellent tea. A festive cup of celebration! Authentic champagne flavor. Fruity and light.

This is my second Della Terra Teas blend that I am trying, thanks to KittyLovesTea! This tea has big, fluffy green tea leaves with small red berries and pieces of dried pineapple. Not surprisingly, the leaves smell lightly of pineapple. This tea is the lightest shade of pale yellow, almost clear. Wow, the flavor is very much of a true pineapple taste. There is a little hint of vanilla at the beginning, and a clear pineapple aftertaste. The flavor isn’t overly sweet, just a fresh pineapple taste. This tea has really surprised me, since I usually don’t get this excited about white teas. If all of Della Terra Teas are this amazing it looks like I will be placing an order very soon!

-Dry blend has large fluffy green tea leaves, small red berries and pieces of dried pineapple.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of pineapple. Tea liquor aroma is of earthy pineapple and vanilla.
-Tea liquor is a clear very pale yellow color.
-Smooth vanilla and pineapple flavor and finish. True pineapple aftertaste that lingers.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Authentic flavor of fresh pineapple. Not overly sweet.

So this one seems almost the same as Mistie’s Blend, except this one doesn’t have hazelnut in it. I think the fiancee voted for this one, and that’s why I purchased two blends that are so similar. This one does include rose petals in it, as listed, so I am pretty happy about that. The smell, like Mistie’s Blend, is of strong, rich cocoa. The tea itself smells like warm milk chocolate with a florally hint of rose. The flavor is malty and chocolatey with a light rose finish. The chocolate flavor is strong, but the black tea is still nice and malty. The rose just gives it enough of a floral note without being overwhelming. I really like this tea. As with Mistie’s Blend, the tea is a little thin, but it’s not too bad. And Chocolate Lovers seems pretty true to it’s description and ingredients, yay!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with pink, white and yellow rose petals.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of rich cocoa. Tea liquor aroma is of milk chocolate with a hint of rose.
-Tea liquor is a clear golden brown color.
-Malty chocolate flavor with a very light rose finish.
-Best with the smallest amount of milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Silky chocolate flavor with a floral note.

We were our of town this past weekend at a soccer tournament. Saturday was nice and sunny, but Sunday was absolutely freezing and rainy. It was pretty miserable sitting on the sidelines watching the games. But I’m sure the girls who were playing were really cold and wet, so I didn’t complain too much. I was glad that we took our little 16 oz. Bodum electric kettle and some sample teas so that we could make some teas in the room to take to the games and then also to have a cup at night.

We went up early on Friday to spend the day in Richmond and went to the Carytown area to have lunch and visit Carytown Teas. Overall, I wasn’t super impressed with the store. I took a list of teas that I had found on their website to try, and when I got there and realized that a lot of their teas are Harney’s that they just resell. That cut my list down a lot, since I already have a lot of Harney’s and would just rather buy from them. The shop was really cluttered, there was literally stuff all over and it was all jumbled and didn’t really make me want to browse around a lot. My fiancee asked to use the restroom and he told me later that there were actually teas being stored in the bathroom! They were in clear plastic bags on the floor, but still . . .

I ended up purchasing 3 teas. Mistie’s Blend was the only one that I really wanted to try from there. It smells heavenly, like very rich cocoa. There is a nice hot chocolate aroma while the tea is steeping. The ingredients list rose buds and hazelnuts, but there are only ordinary black tea leaves in the blend. I’m not going to lie – I was a little sad, since I love rose flavor and if it’s listed on the ingredients I kind of am expecting it to be in there when I open up the bag. Maybe I am just being too picky? The flavor is malty and chocolatey with a little hazelnut finish. There is a nice cocoa aftertaste that lingers. Sadly, I can’t taste any rose in the blend whatsoever. The tea is a little thin also, but not terribly so. This is a nice tea and it really does taste like a tea version of hot chocolate, but if I could find another tea with rose added in I would probably purchase that one.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of rich cocoa. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and nuts with just a hint of cocoa.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Malty chocolate flavor with a small hazelnut finish. Lingering cocoa aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Thin hazelnut and hot cocoa taste. No rose flavor noticeable.

I really love this tea. This used to be my go-to morning tea, and I still look forward to revisiting it frequently. It’s malty and strong, but with a delicious marzipan aftertaste. It’s just like those pretty little marzipan candies. The flavor of this tea is so true to actual marzipan, nothing artificial about it. I like mixing this one with the Bon Bon tea from Tin Roof Teas – chocolate covered marzipan magic in a cup!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs and pieces of almonds.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of marzipan. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and almonds.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy medium brown color.
-Malty almond flavor and finish. Strong marzipan candy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Authentic marzipan flavor.

Having a cup of this one this morning to mix it up a little. I’ve had a sample pack of this for awhile, but not much has been taken out so I don’t think I liked it very much. I think that with the name I was hoping for some type of banana flavor, but there’s none of that. (Should have read the ingredients, haha!) The flavor is pretty bland. I taste a little maltiness and a little fruit, but you can’t really pick out the individual strawberry or pineapple flavors. There is a light citrus finish that reminds me of the way a fresh orange tastes. This is just a very subdued tea. Adding sweetener helps to bring out more of a candy-like fruit flavor, but it’s still very light. I guess I don’t love this tea because nothing really stands out about the black tea base, and the sweetness/almost artificiality of the fruit flavor masks it. For me, this would be an ok afternoon tea; kind of a little sweet pick-me-up in the afternoon.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell fruity. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet strawberries and pineapple.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Candy fruit flavor with a light citrus finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Lightly flavored. Sugary fruit taste.

Ever have a tea for the first time and know without a doubt that you love it?! Yeah, that just happened.

I got this tea at one of our outings for lunch at The Secret Tea Room. I love marzipan and almond flavored teas, so this sounded like a winner to me right away! It steeps to a pretty dark reddish brown color. The flavor is almondy with a sweet finish. The rooibos aftertaste is different than in other rooibos teas, kind of nutty in a good way. The flavor reminds me of the way almond extract tastes in desserts, but not overwhelming. This is a pretty much perfect cup of tea before bed and hands down my new fave rooibos. I could drink this all day, every day!

I wonder where marzipan originated? The description of this tea says Catherine the Great loved almond flavorings so I wonder if it’s from Russia? Is it odd that I don’t know that?

-Dry blend has fine red rooibos and pieces of almonds.
-Dry leaves smell like rooibos and marzipan. Tea liquor aroma is of warm and nutty marzipan.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color.
-Smooth almond extract flavor with a sweet finish. Light nutty rooibos aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Excellent tea. Perfect almond flavor with very little rooibos aftertaste. Reminiscent of almond extract.

So last year I ordered from Adagio and received this Chestnut tea as one of my samples. Thinking I wouldn’t like it, I gave it to my Mom. She called later and said it was so good, and tasted just like real maple syrup. So I ordered a little sample pack and it is good indeed. I don’t know if the changed the recipe for this tea, because mine doesn’t have any chestnuts in it, and none are listed on the ingredients on the front of the pack? I am thinking that they must’ve just added the chestnuts to the dry leaves that are what I have in my sample. The leaves smell like black tea and maple syrup. There is a nice toasted nut flavor and a sweet maple syrup aftertaste that lingers. I thought this one may be only available seasonally, but it is available now, so hopefully it’s in stock year round. :)

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell sweetly of maple syrup. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and maple syrup.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Toasty and nutty flavor and finish. Sweet maple syrup aftertaste that lingers.
-Best with sweetener. Small amount of milk optional.
-Very good tea. Smooth toasty flavor. Reminiscent of maple syrup.