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Aaaaah!!! I got swept up in the Black Friday excitement and didn’t check before I purchased 2 oz of this. Turns out I’d already tried this after a sample was given to me by Dexter3657 a while back. Even wrote a note. Forgot all about it. Based on the note and rating at the time maybe I shouldn’t have gotten 2 oz.

Oh well. It’s fine. Whipping cream and Jameson fixes everything. The tea is alright. Lots of stuff through the leaf: marshmallows, sprinkles, what have you. It brews quite light (and murky) although I used more than enough leaf. I think if my expectations weren’t so high it would have been a good relationship. It’s just not as full of “wow” as I dreamt it would be. I just don’t hear the philharmonica when we kiss. But after running errands on this snowy Saturday it is quite nice to return home and snuggle with a mug of this, an electric fireplace and whatever streaming video my heart desires.

So my della terra Black Friday order is finally here. Yay. Now, like a starved person in front of an all you can eat buffet, I am staring at all these choices. I don’t want to open all the packages and sniff to decide — well, I do, but it’s crazy talk — so I opened this one because I remember reading reviews and they were positive. I also didn’t feel like “eight candles” today despite the fact I’ve been anticipating that tea for days.

As soon as I opened the foil pack and smelled the intoxicatingly sweet fragrance I knew I made the right choice. It does smell exactly like Red Velvet Cake from DAVIDs Tea and the taste is pretty similar. No filmy, oily stuff in this tea though, unlike DAVIDs. I don’t have them some by side but I have had red velvet cake quite a bit so me thinks I’m kinda right. That and the fact that tasting notes show others feel the same.

2 tsp for approx 14 oz of boiling water for 3 minutes gives a fairly light brown brew, I expected darker. And as a side note, what’s with the yellow flower petals? It made me think instantly of 52teas. There’s an entire flower in here, except for the stem. I also have to echo other steepster people when they say they get no pineapple. I don’t taste pineapple either, although I can see tiny dried pineapple bits in the dry leaf. I think it’s just so much caramel in here that it’s hard to pick up on anything else.

Curiosity satisfied, thank you :) it will not be a chore drinking this!

Thank you to Dexter3657 who is furthering my chai education alongside her own.

This pinches! It is so beautiful to look at, not like any other chai I’ve ever seen. There’s nice green cardamom pods, then there’s pinkish red rose petals, some yellow somethings :) .

Steeped for 3 minutes, a (DAVIDs) perfect scoop of leaf to 8 oz of boiling water. Sugar, a splash of milk and we’re off to the races. Maybe not the races.

This tastes first of cardamom, then of clove, and the black pepper gives a slight burn but not too spicy, it doesn’t travel down the throat, it stays in the roof of your mouth.

Too peppery for me, no go. There’s also a flower thing I’m not digging. I know there’s no chamomile in here but it kinda tastes like it way way at the back. Sorry! Thank you again to dexter3657.

Next!

Good-bye, Florence! We shall meet again as soon as I return to Canada and I can place a new Harney order.

I have been denying myself cups of this because I had so little left. But today I needed a good mug. Nothing too finicky and nothing too fancy that would make me break out the more delicate (read:tiny) cups. I wanted to curl up with a comforting mug not a posh saucer and teacup and not those bubble cups. You know how certain teas you drink out of certain vessels? I would never make a big mug of a red robe or other oolong. Big mug for me means dessert tea. So with a sigh I picked up the near empty tin of what continues to be my favourite chocolate tea and settled in for the afternoon. Book, American horror story season 1 (Dylan McDermott, yo!), Skype with my mom…

I am leaving next week so I can’t order any tea. I’m also starting to worry about my Black Friday order. I thought it had plenty of time to get here but alas I am down to four business days left and no package. Not to mention that I’m drooling over those teas (eight candles!) and am so disappointed each day I get home to find them not here. Sigh.

PS. Anyone else still waiting on BF orders? It seems everyone got theirs but me.

If you’re in the mood for a slightly tart thirst quenching tea, this can do the trick in a pinch. Oh, ok, it’s my last “juice” tea, I’m thirsty and water won’t do it. So I finally forced myself to get out of bed and make a pitcher of this iced.

I have a lot of it and found I only drink it when parched. Add sugar, it’s hibiscus-y, but over lots of ice it is, as I said, quite thirst quenching. It will take a while to finish the 4 oz I probably still have but doable. Steeped in near boiling water for 4 minutes, sweetened and put over lots of ice.

I bought 250 grams of this a while ago. And now it is not calling me anymore. I had it a lot at first and then i haven’t had it for a few months. Tried it today and it’s sort of … Meh. Didn’t sweeten it so maybe that’s the reason it’s not making me swoon. It’s still a trusty tea, tastes like banana oolong should. Not too fake, banana does not overpower, but all I can think of is how my della terra teas are coming soon and I will have more choices in my cupboard.

My previous note for this tea was when I first received it and I was so enamoured. I am not one to write multiple notes and will do so only if one is warranted.

I have had this quite a few times since that first attempt and while it was pretty much what I expected and remembered, I don’t love it as much. Usually when I do drink it, it’s not with excitement, it’s only because I have to keep it in rotation.

I will not be replacing this, there’s an element about it, a particular fruit I can’t put my finger on, that’s no longer doing it for me.

I have been hoarding Florence but this morning I allowed myself a cup. I have exactly one cups’s worth left in the tin and am really hoping Black Friday deals will allow me to get some more. I’ve been in a holding pattern with teas recently.

Anyway, something interesting happened this morning. After not having had Florence for a good month or more, and having other teas in the meantime, well, it is not as good as I remember. Total shocker. For a brief moment I even thought to myself maybe I won’t get more. But then the Florence fan inside me screamed and I perished the thought. Yes, I will get more, but just for the record, me thinks the honeymoon is over.

Thank you to Dexter3657 for a sample of this. I have enough for a generous two cups. I need to do a better job of polishing off the ziploc bags. I don’t like them. It’s a dilemma. It’s always nice to receive swaps but then these bags are everywhere, unruly and taking over places… God, that sounds ungrateful. I love the tea, I just need to drink it when I get it instead of dragging it around. A you see it’s not you, it’s me :)

I was ok with these flavours. I did find it a little one dimensional, didn’t get a whole lot or orange, I did get clove but it wasn’t an unpleasant amount. I confess I did not try to find depth of flavour. I took it for a trip to chapters so in a travel mug it went with a generous amount of sugar (after all, chai is sweet, yes?) and some whipping cream. The fake stuff that’s all oil and terrible for you. Whatever.

The chai? Good. Would I buy this? Probably. In my search this comes closer to contenders than to the bottom of the list, in case you’re wondering.

1.5 tsp for 10 oz boiling. In a travel mug. By the time the chapters trip was over, it was gone. And that’s how you know. When you look in your cup and the tea is gone, it means it was good, right? :)

I don’t even know what white tea they are using for this blend. The more I drink and think about their teas the less enthusiastic I am. On one hand I feel they are a gold mine, a good quality tea purveyor right in my back yard, on the other hand, half the time I don’t know what I’m drinking.

In the store you can ask questions but unless you have a notebook with you and quiz the man behind the counter, once you get home with the stash, well, it’s all “up in the air”. Also, teas never taste the same when you’re out vs when you make it home. Is it because outside you are distracted by surroundings and also feel self conscious at times that you are not as in tune with your taste buds?

This tea smells great in dry form. Once steeped, all the aroma is gone. It just smells wet. Not grassy, not fruity, just … Wet leaves. The flavour is more pear than mango which is fine I suppose, they do call it pear mango, not mango pear. But I’m barely getting any mango and errr… I can’t be sure but it tastes stale. Or something.

I steeped at 160 for 6 minutes because I forgot about it, meant to do more like 4 min. Nonetheless, it is forgiving. Not bitter, not astringent, brews quite a bit darker than I expected. Maybe it’s the fruit skins because if you didn’t tell me this was white I wouldn’t guess looking at the liquour.

Some is going to dexter3657, see if we agree or if it’s just me. 25 grams will go fast if shared. Am just thinking, given the prices, there’s something about Bonsai Hill that makes me go hum. But maybe I’m just a pleb.

ETA: resteep not worth the time. I left it probably 15 minutes. Same color, less taste. Examined the wet leaves. They look like tree leaves, not like tea. Upon closer examination I found exactly four recognizable white tea leaves. Explains lack of flavour I guess.