I’m so pissed at Tre right now!
He just got in from Siast, and his first question was “what kind of iced tea do we have in the house?”, to which I answered that there was some prickly pear brewing and about a cup worth of Tropicalia left. I told him he could have the Tropicala if he wanted and he then proceeded to head over to the fridge, grab the Tropicalia and dump it down the sink! WHAT THE HELL!?
I basically screamed my head off at him and he sorta just innocently went “I didn’t want it”. THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU DUMP IT DOWN THE SINK!!! I would have drank it, I was just trying to be nice and offer him some because that’s what a nice roommate who is in a good mood from getting 35 teas in one day does! Ahhrrgg! It’s limited edition, and one of my favourite teas ever. I might not ever get a chance to buy it again because it was seasonal! Such a freaking waste.
Anyway, this is one of the samples I purchased today from Janelle. It’s a blend I’ve been curious about since learning of Della Terra but I was hesitant to place an order for it because what people seem to love about it is the sweet, cakeyness where as I would want it to be very cakey but also very much full of pineapple (and most people seem to think it’s lovely, but comment on a lack of pineapple). So, the idea here is to sample it and then determine that way if it’s something I’d want to order as part of the Black Friday sale.
So, steeped a level tsp. for 8 oz. of boiling water for 3
min. 30 seconds…
The colour is actually really light for a lot of the black teas I’ve been drinking lately (and any of the Della Terra black teas I’ve ever had). Maybe that’s because typically Della Terra uses their measurements for 6 oz. cups (smallest cup size I have is 8 oz., though). And the smell…
It’s just SO good and heavenly and indulgent and delicious. However, all of that is coming from the CAKE aspects, and I’m getting no fruit which is what I really want. Boo. Sipping at it now, and I think this is honestly the best cake tea I’ve ever had. There’s clear notes of brown sugar and a very creamy taste to it. It’s like eating the brown sorta layer of an Angel Food cake: the sweet and soft ‘crust part’ that I used to pick off the outside and top of the cake as a child.
Still, I can’t help but be a little dissappointed because while this is delicious I feel like I was promised pineapple sweetness and now I feel like this is sorta lacking without that. MAYBE part of the missing flavour is because the small sample portion I bought didn’t actually contain any pineapple bits (although it did contain cherry bits). I do get some fruitier notes in the very back of my mouth in the tail of the sip but nothing so distinct I’d call it pineapple or cherry. Sigh…
Maybe I’ll throw in a 1 oz. sample pouch into my Della Terra order and see if I can pull more pineapple flavour out of the tea by actually using leaf with pineapple bits. At the very least I’ll have a delicious cake tea to occasionally sip away at.
Errghh. So conflicted. It’s good – but not what I wanted or was hoping for.
EDIT: I let the last quarter or so cool for a while, and I definitely get a more clear pineapple taste this way.
yep it’s cake tea..not pineapple :)
Tropicalia is on sale online right now at David’s.