Holiday Cheer

Writing this from a cup last night! For some reason I was craving something like this and I figured I should try it.

It was right before bed and so I really didn’t want to sweeten it, but I should have. As it cooled the hibiscus and cranberry both did a good job of tarting it up.

It reminds me of spiced wine. I’ve never had spiced wine but I imagine it to taste like this. Maybe a spiced punch makes more sense?

Anyway it’s mostly tart, with notes of spices and I want to try it iced. Or steeped in cider.

So guess who got their parcel from Della Terra on…. SUNDAY?! Since when does Canada Post deliver parcels on Sunday?! And not only that, but my two Try Me packs were put inside lovely little tins, and I swear that there was more than just 0.5 ounces of tea in some of the packs. Ah, so awesome!

So this tea was my free gift for placing an order on the day I did, and just as I was lamenting that I hadn’t brought any strongly-flavoured herbal teas along with me to drink (since I’m sick and Verdant’s Mrs. Li’s Shi Feng Dragonwell would be totally wasted on me right now), I remembered all these new teas I received, and found this one and another that may just have enough spicing to cut through my lack of smell-ability.

So clearly I have retained at least a bit of my ability to smell, because this tea smells just like Christmas! Like… clovey, cinnamony, orangey apple cider. Delicious. Sadly, this also brewed up a deep shade of hibiscus, and unfortunately, that is all I can taste :‘( I’ll try again later with a shorter infusion (3 instead of 4 minutes), but I’m so disappointed since this smelled like it had such potential, but appears to be another tea ruined by the dreaded hibby. Come, tears.

(I’m going to sweeten this and see if that improves it… even the aftertaste is delicious! So maybe sugar will help? Or maybe I just need to pick the hibiscus out next time before brewing???)

ETA: Success! Sweetened (yeah, maybe a bit oversweetened… I’m sick, ok!) it tastes much better. So that will be my fall-back plan if this one gets a bit too sour again. Yum, haha.

Tea #7 of iceday sipdown

I’m not sure who I got this one from.
Whoa does it smell Spicey.
Oops waaaaayyyy over steeped this, like 25-30 mins, trying to clean my daughters’ room & completely forgot about it.
It ended up being very tart & very spicey, like overkill in both aspects. Yikes.
This is a tea that could use less leaves than I usually use & a proper steep time.

I have enough left to try this again, so once I do, ill give it a numerical rating then.

ETA: Got to resteep this & decided to make a whole pot to use it up. Way better this time! Definitely a tea where you can use far less leaves. This time nicely spicy and a bit tart with a nice berry flavour.

Got this as a free sample for my Della Terra order.

I was pretty worried about hibiscus being in this. It’s such a tart, overpowering flavor. The scent of the tea itself seemed off to me, too. It was trying to be a chai, but also seemed to be trying to be fruity, too. Fruity and chai just aren’t flavors I’d put together, you know?

So anyway, I steeped this for right at three minutes, because hibiscus can be bad news if you let it go too long. Fruity flavors and milk don’t go together, so I just kept it plain.

Surprisingly, this blend worked! The deep red color of the liquor was gorgeous – my favorite part of hibiscus is the color it adds to the resulting steeped tea. The spiciness of the cinnamon/ginger/cloves did a good job of balancing the hibiscus, too – in fact, the spices and orange peel really could fool you into thinking the hibiscus was more cranberry like, since both are so tart and astringent anyway. Or – maybe the actual cranberry in the blend helped give it a cranberry like taste. Wow. My brain really isn’t operating at 100% today.

Anyway, in a nutshell- this was good. Tart, spicy, good with or without additives. My mom and I drank it last night on a dark porch under the glow of christmas lights, and this really added to the holiday feel. I’m super glad I got to try it!

Evening decaf cup. This one was included for free in my Della Terra order (thank you!). It has a really strong aroma of spices – mostly cloves and cinnamon. The tea brews up a pretty very dark reddish purple color. The flavor is clove with a very tart finish. There is a musty and tart fruit aftertaste. I didn’t care for this tea at all until I added sweetener, and then suddenly it became a cup of smooth clove flavor with a sweet fruitiness to it. Still not a favorite, but I will be able to finish the sampler pack with a little sugar in each cup!

The fiancee and I went on a major cleaning spree today. All of the Christmas decor is tucked away for another year and the house is organized and sparkling clean. We kind of went a little overboard at the Yankee Candle clearance sale, so the house has candles in every room and smells so good. The candle nearest me is ‘Daisy Fields’ and it smells like fresh grass and pretty white daisies. I think I have a candle addiction.

-Dry blend has a mixture of spices and dried fruits.
-Dry leaves smell overwhelmingly of spices. Tea liquor aroma is of spicy cloves and cinnamon.
-Tea liquor is a clear very dark reddish purple color.
-Clove flavor with a very tart finish. Musty and tart fruit aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. A strong numbing clove flavor with a hint of tartness.

1 tbsp for 248 ml

Hibiscus is overpowering. Nice flavour of the cloves coming through attempting to balance the tartness.

Thanks to Kittenna for sharing this with me!

Well guess what… I made this in my brand new BREVILLE :D yay Christmas. And even better I got this as a lovely sample with my order and it seemed appropriate to drink it today.
The flavor is very tart with hibiscus. I can also catch hints of ginger, cloves, and cranberries. I think the hibiscus is a bit strong D: but I still enjoyed it :)
I hope all of my steepster buddies had a good holiday!

Got as a free sample with my order, but I would buy this! This is a wonderful natural caffeine free drink to end the day. I was drawn to this fruit tea and rationed the last bit I had. They really did well with this blend, makes me want to try their other fruit blends. I am finding that I am usually not a hibiscus fan, (to be quite frank, that flavor is not one that was really one I knew until I really started looking for it) but I think it works in this blend (it also is the last ingredient so there may be a small amount helping make it work for me). Thoroughly enjoyed!

I’m having this totally out of season, but I didn’t write a review in winter. It smells like wassail, like a lot. Must be the blend of spices. There is hibiscus in this, so it turns a nice red colour. The flavour is a mix of cranberry, orange, and spices. Pretty much, it tastes just like it smells, only hibiscus… which is mild, but unneeded.