ohfancythat Send Message

It makes me sad to rate this. Everyone else rated it so highly, but I find it absolutely does NOT taste like dessert. It’s bitter, and I have to force myself to steep it a second time just because I’m too cheap to throw out leaves that still have ‘juice’ in them. I want to swap this all away for something more on my page. I don’t taste any flavor in this.. if the bitterness is supposed to be hazelnut, yuck.

I will try adding cream and sugar I suppose. Otherwise I can’t see me willingly drinking this.
I’m trying really hard to be a tea person who enjoys tea for tea, and I suppose Harney & Sons’ teas are supposed to be of fair quality (am I wrong??) with subtle flavoring vs snowflake shaped sprinkles, fake flavoring and whatnot, but if this is what subtlety or quality tastes like then I’ll stick with the greasy sprinkles and chemical additives.

Om nom nom.

Thanks to Shakirah1984 for the sample of this!

My second matcha ever.

I really enjoyed this. I made a latte out of it. I found it perfectly the right sweetness and level of flavoring (I believe it was distinct flavor). I could taste the cheesecake and it was easily identifiable too. I could really discern the slight delicious bitterness characteristic of cream cheese!

I was skimming other matcha reviews and noticing comments suggesting that matcha is sort of like an energy drink and shouldn’t be consumed before bed but I couldn’t resist.

I could see me ordering this one day!
I think I’m a new matcha fan……

I can’t cheer for this enough. Added a bit of cream this morning, it’s so well done! I love this, perfect vanilla!! Bumping up my rating!

Crap, this is really good.

I feel like I’m about to break my first love’s heart but I gotta do it – this is better than Davidstea’s Read My Lips.

There, I said it.

The other day I drank some Swiss Mountain (also Della Terra) that I received in a swap (didn’t review it yet), and I was pretty meh about it. I thought to myself “Self, you never have to buy this because Read My Lips is way better!” In reality they’re probably pretty similar, I will have to compare. Anyway, so then I ordered an oz of this.

When I got it yesterday I thought to myself “Self, why did you order this? It’s probably really similar to Read My Lips and you already love Read My Lips so what were you thinking??”

Then I re-read the description which includes the words “Vanilla Mint” and I was like OH YEAH, THAT’S WHY.

So, I was doing the sniff test last night, between this and Read My Lips (Swiss Mountain is at work), and this smells WAY creamier thanks to the vanilla. I had to make a cup of this before bed because I couldn’t wait to try it. I’m drinking it again but it’s not really a re-steep because I added a bunch more leaves since the mug I have is twice the size of the dainty little frou frou one I used last night.

I might have to buy more. It TASTES almost like a Shamrock Shake. You know, the sweet green chemical concoction that McDonald’s releases every year around this time? Except obviously better. The balance between all the flavours seems pretty spot on. I need it to cool down a bit but it’s already great.

I am really pleased with this. I’m all over vanilla and therefore the addition of such means Read My Lips has been bumped. Sorry old friend!

Hug thanks to Shakirah1984 for the chance to try this (and a couple others).

I’m aware of my typo above but decided to leave it because these samples are totally worthy of a hug.

I got these in the mail today and I happen to be home, so of course I made it immediately, awesome! I followed Red Leaf’s directions for a matcha latte, and I should note this is the first homemade matcha I’ve ever had, let alone the first flavored one.

It. Is. So. Good.

I can taste the maple, but it’s not overwhelming. I don’t really know what else to tell you because I have no basis for comparison, it’s tasty, you guys. That is all.

I’m really sad because now I have to buy some at some point and that means I will have a long wait because this stuff isn’t cheap.

I’m even more excited to try my other two samples, Bavarian Cream and the illustrious Cheesecake.

Thanks again Shakirah1984 (rather, curse you!) :)

At the end of the day, I wish I would have gotten the Lemon Chiffon instead because I find lime in teas is just a bit too tart for me! That said, this is delicious. Tart but tasty, balances off the rooibos well.

If anyone wants to swap this for some Lemon Chiffon, let me know! :)

(steeped 4 min @ 98 degrees)

So I was very excited to get home today after work to find my Della Terra order waiting for me on the counter. (Incidentally, I was surprised they didn’t include any samples! Not sure what the criteria is but every other tea company I’ve ordered from has included samples!)

This tea was one of the five I ordered, including Love in a Cup, Lemon Lime Tart, Shamrocks & Shenanigans and S’Mores (in case you were wondering!)

I had a face palm moment when I noticed that the directions on the tea pouches called for 1-1.5 tsp of tea per 6oz, and realized my mug was 12oz, the directions for Davidstea are probably the same and so I’ve been skimping on tea this entire time! Ugh!

Anyway. I added the proper amount of tea to this mug (about 1.5 or more Davidstea perfect spoonfuls) and then I got distracted and accidentally steeped it for like 10 minutes instead of 4ish.

Needless to say this was a super strong, intense and flavorful tea! It surprisingly didn’t get too bitter so I still drank it no problem. It was sweet but not too sweet, full bodied, rich, dark – (All the qualities you’d want in a man?? Haha, sorry. Just found that funny as I was re-reading it) – really tasty and definitely vanilla-licious! Almost a “classy” vanilla. Sort of like the Michelle Williams of tea. Maybe Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in ‘My Week With Marilyn’.

In summary, I really enjoyed it. For some reason I thought of blending it with H&S Paris sometime because they both seem classy to me. I mean, relatively high quality, natural vs artificial tasting, not cloying but more of a jazz loving 32 year old. “Classy” isn’t proper tea lingo.

I really like similes tonight, my apologies. I will resteep tomorrow and report back with an accurate rating.

edit to add – drank my second steep of this this morning, which was more like my first steep should have been (since the first one was STRONG!). It’s a really good tea. I could see this being my go-to breakfast tea. It’s rich and full bodied and all the things I said earlier. And the perfect vanilla tea.

I have coffee addicted friends and family who have said “I wish I could love tea as much as you do so I could give up coffee! But tea is just too weak and tasteless.”

I get what they mean, because coffee is pretty substantial, but a lot of tea is pretty watery (particularly if you don’t use enough leaves when making it duh), this is a tea I would recommend to my coffee loving friends. A gateway tea :) YUM!

Drinking this for the second time, thanks to Jackie T for the swap!

I was more impressed this time around than with my first cup of this tea. I can’t help but compare it to Love In A Cup as they are similar, but I think I prefer LiaC due to the addition of caramel.

My big problem with flavoured teas like this is unless I am drinking them with a clean palate I find they can underwhelm me. This morning I am really tasting the marshmallows though! Especially as it cools down. Not getting a ton of chocolate but it is definitely present in the background, mingling with the graham crackers.

As with many dessert teas, I suspect the flavours will be brought out more with the addition of some sugar, which I will try next time.

Pretty tasty tea! Slightly less sweet than Love in a Cup but not too dissimilar.

I’m glad I ordered some!

Drinking my second steep of this now. I was really excited to try it based on all the glowing reviews, but maybe my tastes aren’t refined enough at this point because it didn’t really do it for me.

It’s a good oolong, and I am starting to associate Butiki with quality, subtlety & delicate teas, and this would be another example of those characteristics. (Others I’ve had so far are just the Creamy Eggnog, Raspberry Truffle and Maple Pecan Oolong)

Unfortunately, I think this one may just be a bit TOO subtle for my tastes. I added a bit of sugar to my second cup which does bring out the flavors a bit more, but I can’t really taste any strawberry in this tea. It’s clearly not a straight oolong but it seems a bit floral and that’s all I am getting. It’s not nearly as buttery as other oolongs I’ve had.

When dry, I couldn’t smell anything off the leaves, and in my cup the liquor is verrrrry pale yellow.

I know I am in the minority here but at the end of the day I’m not much for subtlety (in any facet of my life, haha) and I guess I just prefer a more substantial tea!

Thank you so much to Stacy from Butiki for the sample as it was definitely on my ‘Must Try’ list.

Perhaps I will revisit this later on in my tea journey.

I might have to revisit my rating of Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake! I may have been a bit hard on it.

I haven’t had this one in awhile so my memory (of one of the first DavidsTea’s I fell in love with) may have been a little foggy and slightly rose coloured.

Don’t get me wrong, this tea is REALLY good. That being said, if I forget the fact that the word “Cheesecake” is in the name of the other aforementioned tea, I might like it more, possibly as much as this. I will have to try it again to compare, now that I’ve refreshed my memory of Pumpkin Chai.

All comparison aside, this tea is sweet, spicy but not overwhelmingly so (I’m NOT a fan of super spicy chai blends), and is still tasty with a bit of milk/cream and sugar (though you don’t need it, IMO).

It is not quite as thick bodied as you’d think, a bit watery…but probably steeping it longer would help.

I definitely recommend this one to people!