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This is one of the few black teas so far that I have even tasted the ‘flowery finish’ but it is quite strong in this. This is also, probably no coincidentally, the first straight Darjeeling that I have tried. I’m not usually a huge fan of the Indian teas but I have been mostly pleasantly surprised by this week at my mother’s house, going through her unopened teas.

Forgetting I was drinking this and writing this review…cooled off there is more bitterness but it’s not overwhelming. Overall I like this but it is not even close to my favourite.

This is certainly a bold cup of tea. This is from my mother’s stash and I think I’m going to have to steal it from her. Deliciously malty and the smallest bit astringent but not really bitter at all, this is a wonderful tea with milk and sugar.

1 1/2 tsp tea with 11 or so oz of boiling water. This is for the loose tea, not the bagged.

Either my expectations were too high or there is something wrong with my taste buds because I’m not getting the delicious chocolatiness that everyone else is. This smells fantastic both dry and steeped but I’m getting a sour taste when I drink it that is overwhelming everything else. If I take tiny sips and let it linger on just the tip of my tongue I can taste the cacao but the feeling of this tea is very thin and when I drink it like a normal drink I just get sour.

The last swallow had more chocolate than the rest of the drink so perhaps it all just sank to the bottom for me? But whatever it is, I don’t like this tea very much at all.

Much like Twinings English Breakfast tea with a bit more smokiness and perhaps a bit weaker. This tastes quite earthy to me. Not a bad cup of tea.

Drinking this at my mother’s house from her collection. I drink assams with milk and a bit of sugar. Currently waiting for the brew to cool down a little to drink. I probably won’t taste as much as I usually would because I have a weird sort of cold right now that is seriously affecting my throat, although not my nose so much. I just had a piece of pecan pie from the holidays and although I usually like it a lot, it cam off as much too sweet this evening. That’s why I chose this tea rather than all of the Della Terra chocolate teas that I brought from my house.

Drinking this finally, it comes across as kind of weak. A bit bitter with no astringency, possibly because of the milk I put in. A little malty with an oddly flat aftertaste and kind of a rough mouthfeel but that might be the sick talking.

Oh my, this is my new favourite dessert tea. I can definitely taste both the chocolate and the cherry in this and the tea base is subtle but there and I wish it could be a bit stronger but it’s okay. The chocolate taste is the strongest I’ve tried so far and I’m still not finished my search for the perfect (for me) dessert tea but this is the best I’ve tried so far. I bought a bit of all of Della Terra chocolate teas and this is a great start.

I’m trying this from my parent’s house from where I sent this tea to her over the summer for testing to find her perfect iced tea. This one didn’t even get opened before she found something she liked so I’m opening it now to try.

For reference, I put milk and sugar into black tea. Drinking this hot, it tastes quite good. It is nice and quite malty. The maltiness becomes stronger as it cools and I don’t taste any astringency or bitterness. Not my favourite tea ever but still quite good.

Possibly it’s the season, the holidays, something making me focus on this, but as I try it (and it’s cooled down a lot because I forgot I was drinking it..heh) it tastes like gingerbread to me. It doesn’t help that I’m overly sensitive to ginger tastes, and I haven’t liked it much in the past.

I don’t pick up much in the way of chocolate notes, mainly the chai spices and ginger. Maybe a bit in the very first instant the tea hits my tongue on a sip, but it fades really quickly thereafter.

I’m sure that most people will really love this tea, and I can see myself really enjoying it…if I liked ginger. As it is, I don’t hate it (which is unusual for a tea with ginger in it) so that speaks well of it. But I still don’t like it.

This is a tea that I made so I won’t be rating it.

Because this was created as a dessert tea, and I love my dessert teas to be a bit smoother and creamier than normal, I always put milk and sugar in them, though not large quantities of either.

The tea is currently cooling down enough for me to drink it. The smell is strongly of hazelnut with a background of caramel. Usually when I drink this, I can’t taste the cream or the chocolate chips much at all, but the combination of hazelnut and caramel black teas are very nice still.

There is a bit of bitterness in the first hot sips, but that decreases for me as the tea cools. The hazelnut and caramel flavours blend beautifully and the creaminess of the cream black tea and the milk I added lend a wonderful smoothness. This is a fantastic dessert tea. Although there are chocolate chips in as an ‘accent’, I can’t taste them at all.

This tastes like a pleasant, but not especially special, Earl Grey. The tea base seems fairly weak, though I can taste the bergamot oil clearly. Perhaps more flavour will turn out as it cools.

Tasting the black tea more clearly as it cools, it’s lightly astringent and a tiny bit bitter. It tastes slightly wooden to me, but then I have a weird tongue. The bergamot oil is still the primary flavour, as it probably should be for an earl grey.