Della Terra Teas

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90
drank Carrot Cake by Della Terra Teas
681 tasting notes

Sipdown! (97/395)

Okay don’t judge me guys, but I may have had this sample in my cupboard from my swap with VariaTEA for around 4 years before finally sipping it down… My cupboard is just so huge that little baby samples like this often get lost amongst the others and I forget I have them for a while before they finally resurface. I’m fairly sure I had a cup of this when I first got it in the post, but that was so long ago now that I honestly don’t remember. There was just enough left for a big mug so that’s what I’m having this afternoon as I begin Mission Positivity. My wonderful boyfriend (his name is Ryan and we met the day before my birthday earlier in the year) has inspired me to take more control of my life and happiness, and drinking more tea and journaling it along with my life is just one of the ways I’m doing this. Anyway, please bear with me as I find my feet again and drink a lot of tea which has seen better days.

Luckily, this tea has held up amazingly well since I didn’t store it the best and have kept a hold of it for so long. I don’t remember what it was like when it was fresher, but the flavours are still present and I can’t imagine that much has been lost. Immediately when I poured the water over the tea, I got an incredible waft of vanilla cream cheese frosting, and knew that this was going to be delicious. There’s a back note of cinnamon to the scent, which becomes stronger and more cake-like the longer the tea is brewing. I left it brewing as I did laundry in the next room and several times had to stop what I was doing to take a big sniff because it smelled so good. The flavour is just as delicious. It’s sweet without being too much, bready and comforting. I feel like adding a pinch of sugar would have enhanced the dessert quality of the tea, but I’m drinking all my tea plain at the moment as I’ve just recommitted to Weight Watchers (another part of Mission Positivity). I don’t think the sugar is necessary, though – I definitely don’t feel like I’m missing out! The main body of the tea is rooibos-heavy, though not in an unpleasant way, with a touch of warming cinnamon and hint of vanilla. I actually think the rooibos is a very good choice for the base in this blend, as it adds a lovely honey note which meshes really nicely with the additional flavours. It feels thick and unctuous as a carrot cake should. The carrot cake spices and vanilla cream cheese flavours come out even more in the aftertaste, and it really does taste as though you’ve just eaten a piece of carrot cake! It’s one of my favourite desserts, and as a fan I have to say I’m very impressed with this tea.

It’s a shame that DT went out of business, because this tea could definitely replace dessert for me, especially with a touch of sugar, and that’s something I’m looking for at the moment especially as I’m trying to get to my goal weight and just be healthier in general. Still, it’s not like I’ll be off my no-buy any time soon, so at least I’m avoiding temptation…?

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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80

Not very with it this morning, after one of those nights where I tried sleeping for a couple of hours then woke up to cat feeding time, but in any case, I’m in the mood for a nice refreshing oolong. Time to try my new (to me) peach oolong! Let me admit right away that my tea-making technique is not sharp this morning … I boiled the water and then let it sit for a randomish couple of minutes to cool, so the temperature estimate with this tasting note is approximate. First cup was a mostly flat tsp of leaves in ~7 oz of water (which I’ve entered as 1 tsp/6 oz because I didn’t want to put 1.15 tsp or something ;) ), steeped for 2ish minutes.

The dry scent of the leaves is promisingly peachy, supported by a layer of cool dark oolong fragrance. While steeping, the peach scent mostly disappears, leaving behind a light and rather unrevealing fragrance of the tea. Peach comes back in the taste, though, which is a nice balance of subtly sweet fruit and an oolong with clarity and an occasional mildly buttery aftertaste that becomes faintly astringent as I finish the cup. A relaxing and meditative tea that I can see myself craving again later.

Tried a second steep at 2 minutes 30 seconds and got somewhat interesting results: at first an unremarkable, weak flavor, not quite to the “this is almost water” level, then when I took a sip a couple of minutes later I was surprised by a burst of sweetness. Also, the mostly-cool end of the second cup tasted more like peach green than oolong (which makes some sense, as there IS green in the blend). Maybe I’ll try a second steep at 3 minutes next time and see what happens.

Flavors: Peach

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML

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90
drank Lime Chiffon by Della Terra Teas
2955 tasting notes

Sipdown. I’ve been slowly clearing out my tea cabinets because I have so many little samples. My caffeine free/decaf tisanes/teas always have a high turnover rate, but my drawer is pretty full right now and I’m happy to clear a bit of space.

Flavors: Citrus, Cream, Lemon, Lime, Pineapple, Rooibos, Sweet

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 15 OZ / 450 ML

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90
drank Lime Chiffon by Della Terra Teas
2955 tasting notes

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample! I’ve been wanting ot try this one and now I wish there was some way I could place an order.

Coldbrew. This was so tasty iced. i’m sure it is great hot, but the fruity flavour and hot weather make me prefer it cold. 1 tsp leaf, 500 mL water, 1 hour (resteeped using same parameters).

The creaminess really makes me love this blend. Like key lime pie! Lots of citrus (lime), whipped cream, green rooibos, lightly sweet but very flavourful and natural tasting.

Flavors: Citrus, Cream, Creamy, Lime, Smooth

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more

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drank Serenity by Della Terra Teas
961 tasting notes

Here’s Hoping TTB

Not going to give this a numerical rating, as I know it’s an older tea and I suspect the coconut may have gone bad. The flavor was soapy and bitter and I couldn’t finish my cup.

Flavors: Bitter, Soap

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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71
drank Serenity by Della Terra Teas
4170 tasting notes

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Six – Tea #1
The Here’s Hoping teabox is back at the start point and the signups for round seven have begun in the forums! I’m very happy this teabox has been successful for so long. Steepsterers are generally awesome people, I think. :D I wanted to start with this tea, as any Della Terra tea must be “aged” especially with the addition of coconut. (I couldn’t spot any of those cute sprinkles in the picture in this blend though.) I was expecting the worst from the coconut, but it isn’t too bad yet. Somehow though, I wouldn’t mind more lavender and coconut flavor in this for super serenity. I’m not sure if I’m keeping this in the teabox… there isn’t much left anyway.
I need some serenity lately… I just found out my contact lenses have been discontinued and I’m really worried I won’t be able to find another pair that work for my picky eyes… especially when they have pollen allergies and chronic dry eye. Oh gosh, even when I’m sleeping my eyes are so crazy dry. I can’t stand wearing glasses ALL of the time. We shall see.

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61

Sipdown! (56/375)

Thank you Janelle for the opportunity to try this! I love the flavour of jasmine. I’m not the biggest fan of green tea, but pair it with jasmine and I will happily drink it all day. I like that this is a simple tea – it’s green tea, and it’s jasmine, and there’s not much more to it than that. The green tea is a good one in my books – it’s smooth and floral and has hardly any astringency after a fairly long brew which is one of my main problems with greens in the first place. The jasmine tastes natural, but it’s not as strong as I would like. It was a nice tea to drink after my Christmas leftovers dinner and way too much chocolate, but besides being better than any bagged supermarket jasmine green it doesn’t really stand out from the crowd. I like jasmine greens, but I don’t have a stand-out favourite as of yet and would quite happily keep any of the good ones I’ve tried in my cupboard.

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 4 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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79

Sipdown! (49/375) Hmm I might try to squeeze in a 50th tonight…

Still on my dessert kick, I actually drank this a couple of hours ago straight after vanilla comoro. The black tea base is almost nonexistent, and the liquor brew up an opaque sort of pinky-orange colour. I know that it used to be there in the notes, so I’m guessing there was just a disproportionate amount of sprinkles towards the bottom of my sample. Either way, it was super yummy. I never got chocolate or coconut from this at all, and only actually realised it was meant to be there last time I drank it. To me this has always been more of a plain vanilla iced cupcake, and you know what? I liked it that way. It was sweet, and creamy, and sponge-cakey, and just what I would expect from a tea called Birthday Cupcake. Chocolate coconut would have just been confusing. Even though I’m not a fan of vanilla this tea always impressed me because the scent and the flavour were so accurate. In this last cup they were even more prominent, and since it’s getting on a bit now I didn’t mind the lack of actual tea in the dry leaf. I will probably miss this tea on birthdays, but not enough to purchase more since it’s not the kind of thing I would drink often.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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79

This was kindly sent to me by MissB, and I used to drink it on mine or others’ birthdays, but it’s getting old now so I need to drink it down regardless of how weird I find the name on non-birthdays. I ate a chocolate earlier and thought I tasted it, so got excited and decided to brew up a cup of tea in the hopes that my sense of taste is returning. While it’s still not particularly discerning, I can taste more than just ‘sweet’ now, which is progress! I can taste enough to eat but not enough to be able to appreciate tea yet. Not that it matters, because while I was ill my well-intentioned mam decided to wash my tea strainers for me. I’m not sure how she went about the washing process, but I used one of my little mesh brew baskets for this and the second the hot water hit it I got a really strong smell of garlic. I’m 90% convinced she hand-washed it with her garlic crusher thingy which I know she used the same day. While the tea was hot it tasted mostly like cupcake, with a slight unwelcome hint of garlic, but now it’s cooling the garlic flavour is getting really strong and I’m going to have to tip it out. I’m quite upset since I’m probably going to have to throw out the brew basket too, and I think she washed all of my tea stuff so I don’t know how much everything will be affected. Plus I can still smell the totally accurate vanilla-iced cupcake and it smells sooo good that I want to keep drinking to try to find the flavour but it’s just not happening.

My rating is based on how I remember the tea from other times I’ve drank it. Obviously I’m not going to mark it down because of my garlic’d-up infuser.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Dustin

Garlic in your tea?! Yuck! You could try soaking your tea ware in hot water with baking soda, which is known for it’s odor absorbing abilities.

Nattie

Yep, I wouldn’t recommend it! I steeped them with hot water and vinegar for a few hours then did a couple of hot water rinses and it seems to have done the trick, luckily! Thanks for the tip (:

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75
drank S'mores by Della Terra Teas
570 tasting notes

I went diving into our sip-down drawer for a flavoured black and came up with this blend from the now-defunct Della Terra. i haven’t reached for it before because I remember it being heavy on the cinnamon. I was clearly making things up because there is no cinnamon at all. Ooops.

I tried a longer steep to tease out some more of the creamy chocolatey tastes, and I have to say that it worked! The black base held up without getting bitter, and I got some nice chocolate and cream flavour. The graham crackers were present in the smell, both dry and brewed up, but disappeared on the tongue. All in all, a very pleasant cuppa.

Prepare for some backlogging – I’ve got a bit of catch-up from the week to do. I’ve become a recent convert to the habit of bullet journaling, and I record tea in that as I drink it. The long-hand notes don’t always make it into Steepster in a timely manner.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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89

I finally got around to trying my very old sample of this blend (so old I forget who sent it to me), and even after a couple years languishing in a cardboard box it was delicious. It’s all sweet, creamy lime; the base rounds things out nicely without being too intrusive. If this one were still available it’d be a restock for sure, but since Della Terra’s gone MIA I think it’s going to end up as yet another addition to my ever-growing list of unavailable favorites.

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Sipdown!

I drank this a couple hours ago and it just tasted like a generic green tea. No jasmine to be found.
Maybe bc it’s been in my stash for ages…

But if you’ve been following me for a while, then you know jasmine is was my first love and I love anything that attacks my mouth with jasmine florals. This one didn’t do it for me.

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78

MissB sent me a sample of this a couple of years ago, which makes it one of my oldest teas and in definite need of a sipdown! I had a friend visiting for the day and while we were watching Preacher I brought down my teas for her to look through. She picked this one out and I made a pot of it, though there wasn’t quite enough leaf so it was on the weaker side. According to other reviews it’s better that way though, so I guess it worked out for the best! I was drinking mine black and was slightly underwhelmed, but Kathleen had hers with milk and sugar and told me it really improved the tea. I was sceptical but tried anyway and almost did a double-take! With a tiny bit of sugar and milk the chocolate and caramel flavours are brought out and the tea becomes a decadent, desserty delight! This always helps because I have a terrible chocolate tooth, and I’m on Weight Watchers so have to avoid it most of the time. I’m not sure the ‘salted’ bit came across, but that might have been the additions and the underleafing.

Sipdown 42/371

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML

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94

Birthday Cupcake on my birthday! It just seemed fitting. :)
Drinking my second-to-last tablespoon of this and enjoying every second of it. Such a delicious vanilla frosting, creamy cake-like delight!
Della Terra really delivered with this one.

Flavors: Cake, Creamy, Frosting, Vanilla

Evol Ving Ness

Happy birthday to you!

Daylon R Thomas

Happy Birthday!

Roswell Strange

Ooh, happy birthday!!!

TeaNTees

Thanks everyone!! :)

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80

Old sample from Tea Sipper. Thank You!

It is very rare that I actually like a peach flavored tea. I love peaches and peach schnapps, but I tend to think peach teas just don’t do the flavor justice. Many of them are way too sweet, I tend not to like how the flavor combines with black or green tea, many of the herbal varieties are too sweet or have a strange aftertaste, or both. But I really like this. The peach flavor is light, but definitely present and the oolong is less prominent, but really rounds out the peach flavor well and adds a bit of a floral note. This is a keeper!

Flavors: Floral, Peach

Preparation
Boiling 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Kristal

totally hear you!

rosebudmelissa

Have you found any really good peach herbals? Since I liked the floral note here, I wonder how it would taste with rose petals…

Kristal

Just Peachy from DAVIDs TEA was the best peach tea I’ve had, but it is sweet. Mind you, so are peaches ;). There was also that peaches and cream tea they had a while back that was decent too.

rosebudmelissa

I haven’t tried that one yet, I’ll have to sometime.

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83

Additional notes: Sad sipdown! I loved the vanilla mintiness of this one. It’s a fun blend. I miss Della Terra!

gmathis

Me, too. They did dessert-y teas very well.

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83

I was asking about Ost’s DT Peppermint Bark which is why I imagine she sent some of this one. I wanted to try this one too, so thanks so much Ost. :D This one is such a cute blend with plenty of candy cane sprinkles, silver sprinkles, hints of popcorn and ample mint. So it’s like a vanilla mint tea…. and I love those. Plenty of flavor, mint, vanilla, deliciousness. So good! Scrumptious not just for Christmas, but I might save my last couple of teaspoons for around that time of year. :D

Flavors: Peppermint, Vanilla

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drank Eight Candles by Della Terra Teas
350 tasting notes

I’m so glad to have a chance to try out all these Della Terra teas. :) Thanks again to Ost for the samples! This one is fun-looking because of the sprinkles and marshmallows. I definitely get some marshmallow flavour in my cup, though the caramel is pretty subtle (I don’t think there were any caramel pieces in this scoop of tea, which may explain it). Mostly I’m just tasting the black tea base, which is actually quite nice – fairly rich and malty, so maybe it’s an assam, but minimal astringency even with a longer second steep.

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This is the other one I had yesterday, and I didn’t find it to be as… flavourful? as the birthday cupcake. Maybe this tea is a bit older than the other one? Anyway, it’s not bad, you can still get some sweet cake notes and a bit of fruitiness, but I would have never identified it as pineapple upside down cake specifically. Pretty good though, especially with a bit of milk and sugar added.

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This is from memory, but I remember this being surprisingly true to the name! Sweet, cakey, and with a creamy icing note as well. There’s a bit of oil on top that might turn people off, but I think that adds a bit to the creaminess.

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90
drank S'mores by Della Terra Teas
44 tasting notes

Unfortunately for me, Della Terra is (apparently) no longer in business as this is one of my favorite teas. It offers just a slight sweetness blended with black tea. The scent is delightful and gives you that just-in-from-the-campfire-with-an-ooey-gooey-smore feeling.

Preparation
5 min, 0 sec

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I was lucky enough to score a 4-ounce bag in a Facebook group. It’d been mentioned by someone in the group before and sounded so intriguing that I had to try to track it down. Flavored black teas are my jam and I love marshmallows so I knew that this would almost certainly be a hit. It is. I’m sitting a cuppa this morning.

The marshmallow flavor is lovely and only improves as the tea cools. I added a drop of stevia because I didn’t find that it was as sweet as I was expecting given all the add-ins (gold sugar pearls, sprinkles, mini marshmallows). The caramel flavor is faint but adds a bit of depth to a tea that would otherwise be straight marshmallow (not that I would’ve minded that in the slightest!). The tea did have a bit of an oil slick on top but I used a filter, as suggested by other folks on Steepster, so it wasn’t too bad.

The only negative thing I’d say is that I wish the black tea base was a bit stronger.

This is another new-to-me tea that I’ve tried in the past few weeks that I’ll now have to ration. I haven’t tried many marshmallow teas, but this is, without a doubt, the best I’ve tried thus far. If anyone has suggestions on other, more readily available, marshmallow teas, please let me know.

Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Caramel, Marshmallow

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55

I think this was supposed to be a spice tea? I’m not really getting much in the way of spices, but it’s a pleasant-enough black tea.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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