Argo Tea

Meghann M…thanks so much for sending me a bit of this tea! You are wonderful!!!!

This smells AWESOME! I can see the dried strawberry bits nomnomnom.

This has a strong green tea taste…a bit on the grassy side and a very aromatic strawberry seduction to it…lovely! Good both hot and cold!!!!

Another treat from laurenpressley. This is capital Y Yummy—the almonds and vanilla give the green tea a really nice sweetness. None of these flavors I particularly associate with “holiday,” but all the better for me. It’s going to be enjoyable long after I get the Christmas tree needles vacuumed up this afternoon.

I had this at the store in downtown Chicago. The one time I went to Argo before was a letdown, so I decided to give it another try. The tea itself seemed good, but the way they served it was bleh. It was the drink “Eary Grey Creme” on the board, served hot. I asked for it strong, too. It was too weak. When I make a tea “coffeehouse” drink, I used only like 1-3 tablespoon of milk to 8 oz of tea, plus making the tea stronger. Here, it’s half tea and half milk. It makes for a WEAK drink. They must not use stronger tea? I don’t know, but I don’t think I’ll be back…ever.

I think the tea itself was nice, but the way it was prepared was unpleasing.

I was in NYC and my friend pointed out that there’s an argo tea lounge, and we went after dinner. I decided I HAD to have this after they gave me a sample. I had it with skim milk.

It was so delicious! I couldn’t really taste the white tea flavor but it was very winterlike with the milk, chocolate, and mint flavors. I felt like I was drinking a starbucks holiday special drink but it was much less heavy and bloating. I’m sure if a different tea was used it wouldn’t work as well, since white tea has a pretty subtle flavor it adds body to the drink without overpowering it. I will definitely get this again if i’m there and its in season. SO DELICIOUS!

So this one packs a little bit of a punch! I think it’s because of the pink peppercorns. The blend of that and apples goes really well and the tea stands up on its own as well. It’s not my favorite holiday tea (I’m avoiding apples lately and the kick is more than I like with white tea), but it’s still a good cup!

While in Argo, I picked up a three pack of holiday blends and this was one of them. It’s really, really good! The orange flowers remind me of Mighty Leaf’s Orange Dulche, but without the overpowering flavor. The vanilla isn’t too strong and the almond balances it really well. The cinnamon is just barely there in the background. This is a fantastic blend and I’m so glad to have picked some up. It’s too bad I can’t figure out how to get it in a larger quantity!

I was in New York, and was looking for tea shops, and realized that this was my opportunity to try out Argo, which I’ve read about on several occasions.

I adored it! It really was like a starbucks for the tea drinking set. They had excellent food options (even vegan ones!) and had both speciality drinks (like starbucks lattes) based on tea and straight steeped teas.

I decided that since I didn’t have any options like this at home, I’d go with a fancy drink and got the seasonal FrosTea. It was really good! It was a lot like candy; more sweet than tea-like, but that’s just how the frou frou coffee drinks are at the other shop. And I’ve often seen teenagers get into coffee by starting with frou frou coffee drinks, so maybe this is a way to hook folks on tea as well. :)

Anyway, fun place! I’ll be sure to swing by next time I’m in Chicago or New York!

I am a fan of black teas (mostly because they are a wonderful morning replacement for coffee) but I was surprised when I tried this at work recently. For a black tea the aroma and taste are very sweet. I didn’t think the leaves were too small, in fact they are on par with any other Argo tea as far as leaf size goes.

This is a loose leaf tea you can buy from Argo. It is a very strong black tea with a nice honey aroma too it. There are hints of lemon which I only noticed after the steeping process. It is a great tea to have in the morning as a coffee replacement, especially if you are nursing a cold.

On tip is to make sure you do not let this tea steep for too long or it will start to get bitter very quickly. Anything more than 4 min on boiling is being adventurous. After trial and error I personally prefer about 3.5 min.

Meh! A bit plain for me, I fear I have been spoiled by the Genmaicha from Obubu Teas.

Thank you Rachel for sending me a bit of this to try! I’ve not tried anything from Argo, so I was happy to have this opportunity.

This has a strong honey scent with soft notes of lemon. It’s really quite sweet smelling and very pleasant.

The black tea is a strong tea. Crisp, but not overly astringent. The lemon is just barely there, and I thought that maybe the honey was too, but as I continue to sip it, the flavor develops nicely. It has a very pleasing balance of flavor.

MMMMM….loving the smell of the tea leaves :) I bought a 6ozish sized container of this when I was at the O’Hare airport the beginning of July. The container is thick glass (unfortunately clear glass, so the tea will be affected by light, but it resides in my dark cupboard when not in use). The glass lets you see the leaves and strawberry pieces and it looks very nice, the leaves are dark and long.

While steeping this tea is very fragrant. It is sweet and tart, similar to strawberry fro-yo with a sencha background. On the tongue it isn’t quite so yogurty but more of a sweet strawberry flavor. The sencha is a great pairing for the strawberry and vanilla flavor as it is upholding it’s own against the strong strawberry. The vanilla adds a little creaminess to this tea. I wouldn’t need milk or sugar for this brew, it is good and flavorful on it’s own. Very happy I was able to get some of this tea.

A tasty cup to cling to while my professor ripped on my drawings of Theseus from the Parthenon in class today. Cowering behind a mug of tea at 9 am in the morning got me through the entire class—thank goodness!

I’m adjusting my rating for this one, in this case, higher.
I’ve been brewing cups of this very carefully, because for some reason I seem to have a lot of trouble making a decent cup of darjeeling—especially this particular one. I usually take this in the morning to my classes in my Teas Etc. mug—always gets looked at, and with this particular tea cannot be mistaken for pond scum. (The way green teas can sometimes look.) It’s smokey, and it wakes me up in the morning. The leaves are very distinctive in the mug. It’s also what I usually offer to people who have never really looked into tea and have instead be drinking (gasp!) coffee.

So, I’ve taken a break writing my paper on food and feminism in order to have a taste of this Darjeeling. When smelling it dry, you can smell the muscatel notes in it—once brewed, notes that are hidden behind the other flavors. I’m enjoying this cup with a little stevia to sweetened it up. This is much better than the other darjeeling I have had in the past, with exception to the darjeeling from Adagio.
This is an average cup of tea, to sum it up. Maybe someday I’ll purchase it again, but I feel like if I’m looking for a darjeeling, I’ll have to find a truly knock-out version elsewhere for the time being. I was hoping for much better, but alas, the muscatel is buried among other notes. BUT—it makes for a lovely companion to write a paper that I wanted finished the first time I wrote it. And maybe i’ll bring it to my evening class tonight. We’ll see.

Made a cup of this before I headed into my new studio (it’s TINY) to finish my painting. It really made my afternoon that much better, with the sunlight streaming in from three walls as I painted. I’m glad I brought this tea from home. Tasty—adds to the experience of studio work.

Picked up a bag of this stuff when I was passing by The Argo Tea in Chicago. (I’d always wanted to go in there, but to no avail. This time, my mother was with me and she wanted to try the teas too.)
This is a FABULOUS savory tea. I have never loved green tea much, and although I’m new to the green teas, I really enjoy this. This tea does not shy away from a nice full bodied flavor. Very, very tasty. :)

Sorry it took so long to get around to your sample, Garrett. Many thanks for sending this tea in the mist of end of semester projects/papers/finals/presentations! I decided to go with iced on this this evening as it is over 90 here in IL today. I still have enough left to try this hot another day. I like the lightly tart pomegranate flavor in this white tea. It’s nothing amazingly special, but it is a decent cup of pomegranate white tea. I don’t think it will be something I purchase, but maybe something I choose to drink when I visit Argo again. Happy for the cooling properties in white tea, and in having this cold today:)

Mild and soothing. The flavors blend well. The peach and ginger flavors are equally represented in this tea. Black teas are usually dull to me. Not bad, but not high on my wish list. I imagine this tea would be nice for an upset stomach.