Chocolate Almond Coconut

Thanks to Della Terra Teas for a generous sample of this tea! It’s absolutely loaded with coconut, which got me pretty excited – hoping it tastes as good as I expect!

Although this tea contains almond, I wasn’t expecting the aroma that I got when opening the bag, which was very amaretto-y/sweet, like marzipan. I was anticipating more of a nutty aroma. Steeped, the tea smells quite similar. At this point I was pretty worried that it would just taste much like DavidsTea’s Amaretto, which I just gave away to my now ex-roommate as it really wasn’t a favourite. However, the coconut and the black tea base really transform the amaretto flavour into tasting much more like a macaroon. I almost feel as if the black base here tastes more like a dark oolong, solid and a bit bakey, which works perfectly. At three minutes, there’s not a hint of astringency or bitterness. The coconut adds a significant dose of amazing creaminess – probably the most deliciously coconutty tea I have tried!

The only downside is that I used 1.5 tsp for about an 8 oz. cup and kind of wish the tea would be a bit stronger – I suspect I’m finding it a touch weak simply because much of the volume is taken up by coconut, which adds creaminess but not a lot of depth, a quality provided moreso by the black tea. Might try a longer infusion or more tea next time, since I have at least enough tea for 4 or so more cups!

ETA: Re-steep in less water (5 min, near boiling) isn’t great. Kind of creamy, a bit chocolatey. Not even much almond. Definitely wouldn’t hold up to a third.

Oh coconut. What happened to us, we used to be such great friends. There was a time where I loved you to bits(coconut bits!) and I looked forward to trying any tea blend you were in. and now? You’ve become cloying and overwhelming and sometimes far too sweet for my tastes. This makes me sad. I miss the days when we’d sit together, you in a nice big mug, me on the couch or at the table. Sadly, those days are no longer. So… Either coconut has entirely changed it’s profile entirely in the last few years, or my palate has done a 180. (yes I am playing naive. It must be possible that nobody else has noticed the coconut profile change bahahaha)
Anyhow, other than coconut I did get a slight marzipan note and it did balance things out a tad, and it was more sugary than I’d have liked, which is odd for me in a tea that I haven’t added anything to.
Overall, the tea was super light and I wish I’d used less water. Not that it matters given my tirade above. So… I won’t rate this because I don’t think it’d be fair. But… If someone asked me to rate it just for fun, I’d likely say 70.
Thanks Kittenna for this sample!

Agh! I have a bunch of other reviews to write, but I’m realizing now that none of them are worth my 1000th note. I want to save it for something incredible. AND I won’t be home all day tomorrow. Bah!!

Tea of the afternoon…..

Yes, I need to start attacking my flavored tea stash. I think the flavored ones are perfect for afternoon, so I think I am going to make my New Year’s resolution to have afternoon tea everyday. Now that I think about it, what a perfect resolution! It makes me take a moment to relax and enjoy rather than just go, go, go. Some afternoons will be tough to squeeze this in, but I think all I am going to require is an effort to do so. We will see how much it helps me drink the flavored tea I have on hand. I admit that I don’t crave them so much anymore, but maybe they will help me cut back on sugar a little.

This is nice, but not fantastic. I do get mostly coconut at this point (I don’t know if flavor profiles change a great deal after storage. I think I have had this one for at least 6 months, probably more.) The chocolate is light, and the almond is more of a nutty presence (which is nice, really….it makes for a fuller taste). It does help when you are craving something sweet. I probably won’t buy this one again, but I am sure I will try more from this company. The small amounts offered are perfect for trying lots of things and not feeling guilty when there is more than half a tin of some flavored tea languishing in your cupboard because your fickle tastes have moved on. See, it does matter how things are offered.

Usual teapot method.

Sipdown tea #6! Thank you yappychappy!
Mmmm the aroma of this tea is nice. The flavor is nice too. Most of the time I can’t really stand coconut and chocolate teas. This one is a bit different and I think it’s thanks to the almond. It’s pretty simple but it’s still nice. All flavors (including the black base) are present.

EDIT: As it cools more of the chocolate flavoring starts to come out and I’m enjoying it a little more :]

Additional notes: Having this one now – I may or may not have just ordered some super-sale Della Terra, some favorites I’ve only have the try-me packs of and some blends that look too nice to overlook! This ended up being the exact cup of tea I was envisioning. This one works better with lots of leaves and a very long steep time (over ten minutes – you can’t hurt it, really). Very tasty! Liquid cookie.

thank you so much to Stephanie for this sample. (her timing was very ninja-like…. quite cool!)

for those that have been following the nonsense that has been my life of late: i saw the emergency opthomologist yesterday. surgery likely in two weeks, steroids up until then. reading isn’t fun which means my exam on monday is going to be….creative? thus Stephanie-ninja’s package (and VariaTEA’s) found me yesterday!

the tea: hmmm. my sample does NOT look like this, first off, although the smell wasn’t too far from the photo. this tea would give darwin new insights, lol. (ie: the blend has a dramatic evolutionary shift).

i do not care for it hot. i scowled at it openly. i got no chocolate, no almond…. coconut? hah! i do try not hold grudges…. they serve no purpose but to grow poison trees. i channeled zen sipped again and….. MUCH BETTER! not robust. not clearly chocolate almond…. but the cooler it gets the more it improves.

i think the blend itself needs more oomph. an oomph boost! good idea… not done yet though. darwin could meddle!

I like this one quite a lot.

So many teas that have chocolate in them are too sweet, like milk-chocolate creamy sweet. This one tastes more like dark chocolate, and while it’s a lovely sweet dessert-y tea, it’s much more palatable for me.

Also, I just really love coconut. I think I’d drink any coconut tea, ever.

My third time drinking this tea and still no sign of coconut or chocolate. I guess I should give up trying to taste those 2 flavors and accept this as an almond tea. I really wanted to love it like I do Eight Candles and Candy Cane.

In other news, IT’S THURSDAY. And in my world of working on Sundays means it’s my last workday of the week. Yay!! On to Ikea and sewing projects this weekend.

I came to the conclusion several chocolate teas back that I’m just not a fan of Della Terra’s chocolate flavoring. I started out with ten samples to try and this week I’m trying to finish sampling the remaining three that I have before the travelling tea box comes to me. Hopefully someone along the way will enjoy these more than I have.

I actually had to dump out my first cup of this because there just wasn’t any flavor to it. I thought it may have been operator error at first, since this steep turned out super light. However, my second cup turned out the same way, despite a 5 minute steep time. You can smell the chocolate and almond flavorings, but you only taste the barest hint of either. This produces a somewhat watery tasting brew that lacks any real body.

I took the rest of my 1/2oz sample and steeped it 10oz of water. The color is finally resembling what I expected out of it in the first place, but due to my unorthodox steeping method it turned out to be a very cloudy brew. In hindsight, I probably should have tried to make a latte out of this before I wasted the whole package, but I am a bit aggravated at this tea. This cup still has no depth to it, just a bit of sweetness from the coconut, so down the sink it goes.

This was my most disappointing Della Terra purchase yet.

I knew this one would be a risky choice, but I wanted to try it anyway. Let’s just start off by saying I really don’t like coconut. Or almond flavouring. It’s strange, I really love coconut in tea though! And I like real almonds, but not so much in tea. Nutty teas are generally not my friends. Even more than that, I loathe the concentrated almond flavour that’s present in both marzipan and almond flavouring. Hate it!! It tastes like fake medicinal cherries to me, and to top it all off I really don’t like cherries.

Now that I’ve complained about all of the things I don’t like, onwards to the tea! :P
I should’ve looked at the ingredients before ordering, because almond flavouring is clearly listed. For some reason I was thinking it would just be slivered almonds, which I can deal with. I don’t mind the almonds in DTs chocolate rocket, cause they really don’t dominate the flavour. When I smelled the dry leaf I think I pouted quite a bit. The dreaded cherry-marzipan almond flavouring was the dominant scent.

Once I brewed it up, it still smelled strongly of marzipan, and as I sipped it was just smacking me in the face. I’m sure it’s not actually that dominant, but it comes out really aggressively for me, probably because it’s a taste I hate. I get a bit of the chocolate and coconut if I really try.

I think people who enjoy marzipan and almondy flavoured treats would love this! It’s really rich and the flavours are nice and strong. I still found it drinkable, even though it wasn’t my favourite, which has got to mean that it’s a pretty nice blend. It has been designated to the work stash now, which means I’ll probably be able to get through my packet. Unless of course I can find it a better home!