Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
Now this is what I call chocolate! Imagine a trip to s Dutch chocolatier, that will entice an idea of this tea. This is chocolate blended together to create dark, sweet and chocolatly tea. We’ve taken black tea and mixed it with the best chocolate pieces and flakes we could find to give you the best in taste!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Now … THAT’S what I’m talking about! This is how a chocolate tea should taste!
I know I’ve mentioned before that I used to flavor and blend teas … in fact, my regular readers are probably tired of reading about it! I had a chocolate tea … in fact, it was a chocolate tea that started me on my journey to blend teas because I wanted to recreate a chocolate tea that I had fallen in love with and was no longer able to purchase. I thought, heck, I can do that. I can make a chocolate tea. HA! Little did I know how difficult it actually is to craft a tea and have it turn out exactly the way you want it.
Anyway … since I hung up my tea artisan apron for the last time a couple years ago, I have encountered only a couple of other chocolate teas that have really satisfied the chocoholic in me. There have even been one or two that I’ve been able to deem an acceptable substitute for my Chocolate Rose Romance. But get this: THIS tea … this Dubbele Chocolade from Della Terra Teas is BETTER than my Chocolate Rose Romance. Seriously.
While this tea lacks a certain complexity that my chocolate tea had; this one more than makes up for that with a STRONG chocolate flavor. Make that DOUBLE strong chocolate flavor! There is some serious chocolate taste in here … a very satisfying level of chocolate for this chocoholic! It’s a rich, dark chocolate flavor … but there is also just a hint of cream to this too, making it not quite a milk chocolate kind of flavor, but softening up the dark chocolate just a little bit to make it creamier and more luxurious.
In fact, there is so much chocolate to this that the black tea base is almost overwhelmed by it … almost. I do taste notes of black tea – an subtle earthiness and a barely there hint of flower that make this cup something more than just a thinned hot cocoa.
If you like chocolate, you should try this. But if you’re a chocoholic like me, you’ve GOT to try it. You can thank me later.
Raisin Oatmeal Cookie from Della Terra Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description: Just like your favorite oatmeal raisin cookie! This delicious black tea blended with vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins will invite to have cup after cup with its incredible aroma and smell. Could it be you just baked a fresh batch of these in your kitchen? No, it’s the tea! That’s how perfectly created this blend is, it really is just like the real cookie in smell and taste! mmm mmm!
Ingredients: Black tea, vanilla and brown sugar flavor, cinnamonb, raisins
Learn more about this tea here: Della Terra Teas
Taster’s Review:
Oh goodness! THIS is delicious! Not only is it exactly as described but it will give you several re-steeps as well! Both my daughter and myself have steeped this same teaspoon of loose leaf tea several times and the flavor is still going quite strong! I rarely find myself able to steep and re-steep a black tea this many times, let alone a flavored black! All too often I find follow up steeps to be very lacking in flavor but Della Terra Teas has this blend down to perfection!
Now I am not going to claim that this fifth steep I am now having is as good as the first but I will say if I placed this fifth steep in front of you and did not tell you it was a fifth steep you would still love it!
The cinnamon is not over done which I often find that cinnamon can really take over the whole flavor profile of a tea. The raisins add a very nice note that dances off the brown sugar and what a nice black base they have used here. There is a wonderful bakey flavor to this tea that pulls everything together into the perfect Oatmeal Raisin Cookie tea!
I have a 19 year old son who never drinks tea, I really don’t want to know what he does drink lol but he absolutely loves Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and I am going to have him try this tea as soon as he comes over next. Never have I even considered introducing him to tea, moms are lame enough without pushing our tea love on our younger “adult” children, but this one is the one I will introduce him to the wonderful world of tea with and I am positive he is going to love it! I think however I will go iced when introducing it to him, maybe not as refined but this is a tea that can absolutely work in an iced format and I am pretty sure my son will be more willing to give it a try that way.
If you love winter blends, chai, hearty teas, autumnal drinks, raisin oatmeal cookies, things that make you feel cuddly and warm and longing for the holiday season, do not pass this up! I am sure this would even work extremely well with an alcohol additive if you consume alcohol.
I also would like to add that Della Terra has wonderful customer service and some of the best communication with their buyers that I have experienced. They reply to emails and Facebook questions quickly. That is always important to me and when applicable I like to mention it in my reviews.
I truly could not ask for more in this tea except for more OF this tea!
Earl Grey Creme from Della Terra Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
If you love Earl Grey you will adore our Earl Grey Creme. It has the classic Earl Grey flavoring matched with a delicious creme.
Ingredients: Black tea, bergamot orange oil, cream flavor
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As most of you know and have read numerous times, I love Earl Grey. I also enjoy Earl Grey Creme blends. I especially love their aroma, and I might even prefer the aroma of an Earl Grey Creme to an Earl Grey without the cream. The soft, creamy notes together with the sharp bergamot creates a very euphoric fragrance.
But, when it comes down to flavor, I usually prefer Earl Grey without the cream. However, when they’re crafted just right, an Earl Grey Creme can be just as magical. Sometimes tea artists can go a little overboard on either flavoring and offset the balance that’s needed for this blend, so it can be even more difficult to find a really good Earl Grey Creme than to find a really good Earl Grey.
Fortunately for this taster… this is an Earl Grey Creme that has been well-crafted. There is a very pleasing balance between the bergamot and the cream flavor. The soft – almost fluffy! – vanilla notes of the cream flavor are in step with the bergamot. The bergamot has a pleasant citrus-y, tangy taste, and the sharpness of the bergamot has been curbed by the cream. The result is a very flavorful brew that’s a little bit citrus-y and tart, and a little bit sweet and very delicious.
And the black tea base is not to be overlooked here. It does play more of a background note, but, it really fills in the backdrop very well. It is good and solid. It isn’t an aggressive black tea. It allows these flavors to take center stage, but there is enough of a pleasant black tea taste to satisfy this taster.
An excellent Earl Grey Creme. I’m very pleased with this.
Lemon Chiffon from Della Terra Teas
Tea Type:
Rooibos & Honeybush Blend
Where To Buy:
Della Terra Teas
Product Description:
If you love lemon cake, lemon frosting, lemon pie, lemon cookies… shall I go on? You get the point! This tea is for you! This tea is a blended rooibos and honeybush. With the rich and delicious flavor of real, homemade cake and the tartness and fruity freshness of real lemon,, this tea will certainly be your morning cup, or your dessert treat.
Ingredients: Lemon flavor, cream flavor, lemon pieces and bits.
Rooibos/Honeybush Blend
Suggested brewing tips
Serving Size: 1 level tsp./6oz serving
Water Temp: 210°F
Steep Time: 2- 5 minutes
Tasters Review:
Sure…it says if you LOVE Lemon Cake, Lemon Frosting, Lemon Pie, Lemon Cookies, etc…this tea is for you – BUT – I must say – as a general rule of thumb I’m a fan of almost everything Lemon. So I was delighted to try this tisane.
The post-infused liquid smelled like sweet lemony cream. It’s a very lovely aroma. The color is a reddish-brown that is medium in color.
I’m pretty excited Della Terra decided to use a blend of both Honeybush AND Rooibos and not just one of the two. The Lemon-Cream flavor combo is perfect for this! I also appreciate the REAL Lemon pieces within the mix! The ingredient ratio they used for this flavor is just where my palate wants it to be. It’s sweet and smooth! It’s creamy and has a mouth-watering (without being puckery) lemon flavor.
I think this is just GRAND!
Mayan Mist from Della Terra Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
This unique blend will take you to the rainforest with the taste of sweet chili and orange. This tea is blended from an ancient South American recipe and has orange peels, chili pepper bits, red peppercorns, coconut and pure cinnamon. Perfect for a night time treat.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m enjoying this much more than I expected I would. I don’t know that I had any real “expectations” … but, as I’ve mentioned before, I have this sort of automatic repellant response toward rooibos. And it really isn’t very fair. Most of the rooibos blends that I’ve tried in the last two or three years have been enjoyable enough, and some were actually really good. It all goes back to my first few times trying rooibos – plain, conventionally-grown rooibos at that – that causes that response. Like I said, it’s not fair. There are a lot of really tasty rooibos blends out there.
And I’m really enjoying this rooibos blend from Della Terra Teas. The first couple of sips, I noticed the woody and nutty tones of the rooibos coming through strongly, but they seemed to meld quite nicely with the flavor of orange and cinnamon. The orange is bright and juicy tasting, and the cinnamon shows us the sweeter side of cinnamon, allowing the chili pepper to handle the spicy notes.
At first, I didn’t really taste much from the chili pepper, but now that I’m about halfway finished with the cup, the spicy notes from the chili are coming through. But they never become super-spicy hot … they are more like a warm spiciness that stays with you throughout the sip, and then imparts an enjoyable burn on the palate in the aftertaste, reminding you of the delicious warmth of the tisane.
The coconut is also something that I didn’t notice at the start. But after the first couple of sips, I began to notice a slight creaminess that arrived toward the tail end of the sip. It isn’t a strong flavor, and never really becomes a strong flavor, but it does develop slowly as I continue to sip. It doesn’t offer that distinct “coconut” flavor, but, it does add a sweet, creamy note that contrasts nicely with the sunny orange and sweet and hot flavors of the spices.
Overall, I found this to be an extremely enjoyable cuppa. Something I’d enjoy keeping on hand to enjoy once or twice a week, when I want something spicy yet sweet for those late-night cravings!