41 Tasting Notes

52

This came with a sampler pack I picked out from Della Terra. I’m just getting into tea, and trying TONS of varieties out there. Yay!

In the sample bag, you can see ton of red powder – either dried raspberries or raspberry flavoring? I steeped this once, and gave the cup to my very eager boyfriend. I took a sip of his, but did not drink the entire cup of the first steeping. And since I’m lazy, I just re-steeped the tea for my own second cup.

Very diluted, doesn’t re-steep well at all. But! It was still pleasant, but the flavorings got washed out in the first steep.

So I’ll try to judge based on the first cup. It was very sweet, and raspberry-y. But there was something kind of… off about the flavor. I’m wondering if it’s just how Della Terra flavors their tea. I’ll see if the others in my sample pack taste similar. I’m thinking it has to do with the white chocolate, coming across as a fake-candy taste that coats my tongue a little strangely. This also happened with the Smores blend, but again it’s a sweeter blend.

This was enjoyable to drink, and the boyfriend really really loved it. Just not my personal favorite.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 2 min, 15 sec 3 tsp 14 OZ / 414 ML

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45
drank S'mores by Della Terra Teas
41 tasting notes

So, I was amazingly excited about this tea. And when I finally got my sample, opened it up, inhaled, it smelled INCREDIBLE.

But unfortunately for me, I didn’t really like the flavor. Something about the flavor had a sort of plastic feel, and coated my tongue strangely. I actually had trouble finishing my cup. This may simply be an issue of me realizing I dislike heavily flavored teas?

It did have flavors of sugary marshmallows and chocolate. Perhaps the Graham cracker gave it the strange flavor I couldn’t identify? Not a happy cup of tea for me.

Flavors: Chocolate

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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79
drank Sleeping Dragon by Adagio Teas
41 tasting notes

I wished I had something prettier to steep this tea in. I loved watching it unfurl – was late to work this morning because I actually stood there for a bit watching. Lol!

Very tasty green. Not grassy, just subtle and soft. Not seaweedy either, but very vegetal. It was easy to drink, but a little plain overall. I drank it straight, but I feel this type of tea has a lot of potential. I’ll likely seek out other varieties and adagio mixes with this. :)

Definitely need a prettier way to steep my tea.

Preparation
2 min, 30 sec

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58

So this is the last tea I’ve tried from the Dragon Age sampler set I got from Adagio. Good fun :D

This tea SMELLS wonderful in the tin. I had high hopes for it, so honestly put off trying it for last. Unfortunately, it didn’t really deliver the punch I was hoping for.

My sample was loooaded with Cloves. So perhaps this wasn’t blended as well as it should have been. So while this is supposed to be a chai blend, it was pretty much straight up clove tea. Which was interesting.

I didn’t make this with milk/cream, and drank it straight. Unfortunate again, because I think cream would have really made the spices sparkle.

Even so – I did enjoy this tea and easily sipped on it all day at work. Going to try this out again as a butter tea and then later as a proper chai, and see if it changes my rating at all.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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87
drank Mahariel by Adagio Custom Blends
41 tasting notes

This tastes like nori.

That is absolutely amazing. I think it must be the hojicha? I’ve never had it, and I’m new to tea and all the flavors they offer. But this had a really woodsy, nutty, toasted flavor. But also a touch of green fresh grassy-ness. I didn’t necessarily taste any citrus, but I think it may just have lightened up what could have been an overly nutty blend.

Thus, seaweed! I really really crave sushi now.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 45 sec

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81

This is… fantastically appropriate for Andraste. In Dragon Age lore, Andraste was a slave that became a prophet, war leader, and ultimately a religious icon. She’s the wife of the Maker. She’s like a Joan of Arc / Buddha / Mary combo. But much more textured than expected.

The Chantry (“the church”) praises Andraste as a Saint, a beautiful psuedo-diety. Her Grace would be soft, gentle, and ultimately forgiving.

This blend just captures that so well. It feels like a clean tea. Baptized in fruits and gentle florals. The predominant taste for me was the raspberry (came across almost like a strawberry). It was smooth and delicious. I can imagine this sweetened and iced would be an incredibly delicious drink.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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81

My last cup of (decaf) tea to wind down my stay-at-home-sick-as-a-dog day. Tastebuds are fortunately working top notch though, so I’m not deathly bored all day. One reason I was so excited to get these Dragon Age blends, are because I’m such an avid fan of the game. This particular set of fandom teas from Adagio includes both the flagship game, and the expansion. (Dragon Age III coming out this year! Wooot!)

This particular blend? Comes from a cute dialog the characters have as you’re wandering around the world. Alistair is a charming jock-looking virgin ex-templar. Wynne is an elderly kind white-magic mage.

“Alistair: Wynne?

Wynne: Yes, Alistair?

Alistair: My shirt has a hole in it.

Wynne: I see. And?

Alistair: Can you mend it? When we get back to camp?

Wynne: Can’t you mend your own clothes? Why do I have to do it?

Alistair: Sometimes I pick up too much fabric and it ends up all puckered and the entire garment hangs wrong afterward. And you’re… you know, grandmotherly. Grandmothers do that sort of thing, don’t they? Darning socks and whatnot. You don’t want me to have to fight darkspawn in a shirt with a hole, do you? It might get bigger. I might catch cold."

The two characters are the most… innocent, wholesome, and freakishly adorable characters in the first Dragon Age game. I think this scent is befitting of not just Wynne (her scent alone would be something in the white-tea range, imo) but how she treats all the characters. From mending socks, to lecturing you on the dangers of falling in love during such a critical time.

This is classic, bordering on old-fashioned. Decaffeinated to keep you calm and steady. There’s a touch of outdoorsy comforting warm sun on the fields vibe. Unfortunately my sample tin literally only had ONE orange peel and ONE apple piece, and this cup didn’t get those. I think the Apricot Tea is still infusing it with a slight fruity aftertaste – I just know having chunks of apple in this would round it out absolutely perfectly.

I really enjoy this. It’s a nice bed-time tea. I’m not sure if it will outlast other varieties I might come across, but for now I’ll be using it up.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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71

I thought I already reviewed this! Drank over the weekend, AT my computer. How silly of me.

Leather is an accurate description for this. Think worn, aged, black leather. None of that soft english leather. I believe this was my first Pu-erh blend I’ve had, and I think that lead to the smoky quality in this tea. It was very strong to me, relatable to black coffee (can you tell I’m new to tea?). But not bitter or biting.

I enjoyed it, and will be making a butter tea out of this in the future.

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73
drank Thai Chai by Adagio Teas
41 tasting notes

This is from last week, made notes in my notebook before I found steepster.

I don’t know why, but every time I try a chai tea I expect to be blown away by spices. I’m am very very frequently let down.

I prepared this plain (not a proper chai P:) and the flavors were a little flat compared to what I expected. You can also read that as the flavors were “smooth”. It was very pleasant, gentle, and flavors were there. But the “Thai” side of things definitely toned down the spices I was weirdly expecting.

I’ll happily finish off my samples, and maybe make a proper chai with it. :)

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76

From last week – via my notebook!

This was a grassy, slightly sweet, easy to drink tea. A good candidate for a “sick” tea, as I think it would go well with honey. I look forward to trying this again and seeing if the flavors change with a different kind of steeping.

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Bio

I discovered a love for tea when I started a Ketogenic diet (http://www.reddit.com/r/keto). Cutting carbs/sugars meant I needed a daily caffeine fix in another form. I don’t like coffee by itself (and I dislike fake sweetners if possible), Mountain Dew is out of the question. Tea?

I started with very little tea knowledge. I grew up with my mom’s herbal tea blends that I hated – and every so often I’d get something from the grocery store to try out. No good. So when I went on my keto journey, I threw myself into learning about teas. I grabbed samples from all over the web and changed everything I knew about tea.

Now – I only drink tea by itself. No addins at all. I prefer black blends, or single-note greens. I like robust teas that don’t taste like flavored water, instead are a whole entity to themselves. I love matchas, masalas, and genmaichas. I’m learning about all kinds of teas – the possibilities seem endless. Yum.

My rating system, roughly:

100 = I will Marry You.
90-99 = Adore. Stockpile time!
70-89 = Good. Wishlisting this stuff!
50-69 = Decent, will finish my stock but not likely to buy again.
40-49 = Not a fan. Will try to sell/trade/give away my stock
00-39 = Crap. Maybe I’ll give it away. Maybe I’ll use it as fertilizer.

Location

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Website

http://innate-secrets.tumblr....

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