TeaEarleGreyHot Send Message

One stone, two birds.
First, I remember, vaguely, a challenge to steep something having ten or more ingredients. Well this has a whole spice rack of ingredients!
Second, @ashmanra suggested I give green rooibos a try, since I liked honeybush, and one of the thirteen components here is green rooibos!

So I went digging thru my teas and found Samurai Maté, from Adagio. Now, I thought yerba maté was a South American beverage, whilst Samurai are from Japan, so it seemed dubious at first thought. But we’re well beyond the jet age, so why not‽ ‽ I ripped open the sample pouch and inhaled deeply… wow! I could smell so many things, and yet nothing dominated, not even the cinnamon! Even the empty pouch carries a terrific peppery fruit scent, reminiscent of Juicyfruit gum and warm spices. Really appealing to me. They’ve excluded clove and nutmeg, thereby deftly avoiding any echo of pumpkin spice.

I brewed as directed: the entire pouch (~3 g) in 8 oz. boiling spring water for a whopping ten minutes. A deeply golden liquor resulted, from which an aromatic battle erupted, with anise, ginger, orange, cardamom, cinnamon, and almond finishing in détente: all contributing, but none dominating. My nose couldn’t discern the lemongrass, maté, rooibos, mango or pineapple. It was quite an odorific result, but pleasing to me.

While sipping, my tongue first noted the sweetness of… ? Perhaps sweet from rooibos, or mango, or pineapple, or papaya or orange. And while I can convince myself that I could taste all of the flavors at play (other than maté and rooibos), I mostly found my attention swept away by by the clamorous roar of battle on my tongue and in my sinuses. And some caffeine came from the maté (as I learned many decades ago, drinking Celestial Seasonings’ Morning Thunder blend, before high school) so this makes a good wake up! beverage in multiple ways.

Yes, there is a lot going on in this tisane. And I like every bit of it! Perhaps overly raucous or jarring to some, I found it invigoratingly welcome after a string of somewhat boring teas. Often cinnamon overpowers in blends, but it was under control in the sample pouch I drank today. I’ll rate it an 88 and remember to order some more at my next opportunity. My only regret is that I could not clearly discern a flavor from the green rooibos. No matter, I’ve ordered some of that as a straight tisane to better evaluate its properties.

I’ve never had honeybush (Cyclopia sp.) before, in any form. Despite being in the same botanical family, it differs from rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) which may account for another reviewer’s report here of not tasting rooibos.

Anyhow, my sample packet contained 2.9 g of material, which I steeped in its entirety, as directed in 8 oz. alpine spring water. The aroma of the dry material was very fragrantly fruity, almost perfumy. I could detect notes of apple bits, strawberry, and rose. The hot steeping vapors were perfumy as well, without the powdery sensation which was probably from the forest berry flavoring, but adding another element to the mix which I suspect to have been the honeybush. The taste was of mixed berries, strawberry, apple, and quite sweet (without added sweetener). I couldn’t really taste rose petals or raspberry leaves. There was no bitterness or sourness, or other obvious defects, though I wish the “natural flavoring” had been used with more restraint, as there was a pervading ‘artificial’ note in the concoction.

Overall I enjoyed the blend, and did not object to the honeybush as I do to rooibos. It’s nice to have a caffeine-free option for dessert or bedtime, without the cinnamon present as in other blends. I’ll give this a rating of 70, and it might have been higher if not for the artificial quality of the flavor.

Fujian Rain from Adagio Teas recent order. 3.1 g sample pouch in stainless steel infusion basket with 8 oz 190°F spring water for 30 sec. Dry leaf had light toasted aroma, which intensified during steeping. Tea flavor was of toasted rice, rock mineral, and a flash note of honey midway through the first steep. No astringency or bitterness, no defects, absolutely no fruit flavor or fragrance. Nondescript aftertaste and afterscent of toasted rice. Re-steep using same parameters, gave essentially the same result, except halfway through a vegetal flavor and aroma arose and the honey note persisted a bit longer. A little woodiness appeared and the toast flavor subsided a bit as I finished off the 2nd steep. A third steep used 195°F water and ran for 60 sec. By this time the leaves had fully expanded, and the toasted aroma diminished and became slightly floral. The liquor was just as amber in shade as prior steeps, but tasted more watery. Still never got any fruit or nut or chocolate or earthy or smokey or leafpile flavors. Just not much bang for the buck here and I won’t waste much more spring water on it. Fourth and final infusion used boiling water and steeped for 5 min., producing a cup that was as unexciting as the third, devoid of floral or honey or vegetal notes, and tasting more of toasted sawdust. Rating it a 65, just because it’s a bit more interesting than sipping hot water, and does have caffeine.

From a sample pouch. Brewed as directed, which was too long. But that aside, despite my love of piña coladas and coconut ceam pie, this is just… not to my taste. It must be like cilantro or cumin: you love it or hate it! I like cilantro, but not this tea. Sweetener did not help. Cooling did not help. Prayer did not help. Clearly many others here did like it though. All the Steepster reviews on this Adagio product are 10-16 yrs old and run the gamut— though nobody seems to have disliked it as much as I dislike it. Still, Adagio continues to offer this coconut tea, so someone must be buying it. I rate it as a 20, and want to brush my teeth, tongue, cheeks, and roof of my mouth. And then gargle with Listerine and bleach my teacup! I guess if you like Adagio’s flavored teas, give a sample packet of this a try before buying much of it. Glad I did.

I do like mango, despite the toxic rind and pesky seed inside. It adds a nice sweetness to my stir-frys, and mango powder (called amchur or amchoor in the specialty market) is a great addition to savory marinades and sauces. This Adagio sample pouch contained 3g of blended tea leaf, chunks of mango, and pungent flavoring. I steeped it all for 2 min. in 8oz. boiling alpine spring water. Nice aroma of mango bits and balanced in flavor, the sweet sensation went well with the Ceylon black base tea. Flavorwise, it was nicely enjoyable, and the lingering aftertaste carried both mango and light astringency from the black tea—yes, I would call it “brisk”! Not very complex but, while still groggy in the morning I don’t necessarily need complexity. The punch of mango aroma became more subdued as the tea cooled in my cup. No need at all to add sweetener to this tea, but don’t let my words stop you from sugaring it up! I bet it would be nice as an iced tea, too. Rating it as a 75 for being a simple pleasure.

I’ve never experienced sencha before. And I was a bit trepidatious to find it amongst the sample packets I recently received. So I followed Adagio’s instructions exactly, for western style: The full 3 gram packet in my stainless steel infusion basket with 8 oz 166°F alpine spring water, for 2 min. The dry leaf had the appearance of chopped grass clippings, so I didn’t expect much, despite the alluring nutty aroma with notes of fresh-cut hay. The aroma intensified nicely during steeping, and a bright, light green liquor was produced, with an almost golden glow to it. The flavor was somewhat reminiscent of a nice dragonwell I’ve had, but somehow richer, butterier, and with notes of both chestnut and Brazil nut. I really liked it and had to force myself to slow down, to enjoy it even more! There was no bitterness or sourness and only a touch of astringency. Really the best part was the wafting aromas in my sinuses, filling my palate with taste, and even notes of edamame. I want to say it was sweet, but really that part of my tongue disagreed: it simply lacked the bitter sourness that contrasts with sweet. There was some umami sensation, too, but not fishiness nor notes of seaweed. A single re-steep following the same parameters produced a bright yellow infusion with just a hint of green. The aroma and flavors were reduced and the butteriness was gone, but the tea was still enjoyable, without defects.. Yes, I like it and will continue exploring senchas. It’s hard to give a comparative rating, as it is my first sencha, but for satisfaction overall, I’ll rate as 81 and recommend. Thanks to Adagio for including it in the assortment!

Surprise, surprise! My sample pouch contained about 3g of leaf and one single visible cocoa nib. And it brewed up a strong cuppa, with a harsh vanilla and harsh chocolate odors. BUT those harsh odors subsided and the tea’s aroma became much more pleasant to sniff. The flavor was nice and caramelly, with just a tiny note of chocolate. The surprise was in the lingering aftertaste, where the base tea became quite noticeable and tasty, cradled in caramel and vanilla. Seemed like a good Ceylon nestled among the other flavors. As the tea cooled, it improved, losing almost all of the harshness and transforming into a good dessert tea. Once I read the comments by Steepster Shanie O Maniac, I spiked my remaining half cup with sugar, which completed the tea transformation into a real treat! If I were to receive more of this Tiger Eye tea in the future, I would hot-brew it to drive off the harshness, then sweeten it and serve iced for a fun liquid snack. Yes, I finished off this tea while watching Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger” music video. ;-) Rating this tea a 75.

I adore hazelnut chocolate bars. This tea was nothing like hazelnut chocolate bars. My main complaint was the chemical-tasting flavoring used in this tea. Any flavors or aromas from the base tea were imperceptible. (It claimed no chocolate, so no complaint there.) Plenty of other Steepster reviews liked it, though virtually all of them are from 9+ yr ago. So maybe something has changed. I’ll rate it at 20 and say no more.

Wow, while still cutting open the sample pouch of this looseleaf tea I was hit with a blast of raspberry! Quite reminiscent of the Chambord Liqueur on my shelf. I steeped all 2.75g of tea in 8oz boiling alpine spring water, as directed for two min. The aroma was steadily raspberry throughout, though the dark dark brown color of the soup was evidence of the potent Ceylon black tea leaves in the blend. The tea leaf contributed virtually nothing to the flavor other than a barely perceptible generic black tea taste. The rapberry-forward flavor was complemented by notes of wheat flour, tomato umami, mozzerella cheese, and pepperoni, obviously from the cold pizza that I was simultaneously breakfasting on. :-) This is a good tea for dessert after (or during) a nice meal, without worry that you’ll miss something delicate! For those who like strong semi-artificial raspberry flavors, I’ll recommend and rate this tea 70. Those preferring a refined or floral experience should shop for something else!

Another new tea for me from Adagio, part of a complimentary weekly assortment box that came with my recent order! 2.7g looseleaf, in a sample pouch, I steeped it all in 8oz alpine spring water at 195 °F for 2.5 min, as directed. The resulting pale yellow liquor had a decent, if soft, floral aroma and tasted of a stale Long Jing (dragonwell). Pretty weak in my opinion, though others might say “delicate”. I won’t look this proverbial gift horse too closely in the mouth, but am not going to waste my spring water on a re-steep. Why does Adagio’s website say this was produced five years ago, in 2020? I’ll rate it as 65.