Adagio Custom Blends, Aun-Juli Riddle

earl grey creme with cinnamon! very nice.
no, really. i drank this hours ago and i’m still remembering it fondly.
it was a great way to start this monday.
me and cinnamon, we are getting to be better & better friends. happy ending :)

i have several of you to email and put swap boxes together for.
don’t worry i haven’t forgotten you!
i just, get, like, distracted and stuff. and i know full well that i’m not really great at prioritizing. and i tend to get 90% done with a task and then kinda stall out a bit? but i spend time telling non-tea people all about how steepster is fun in so many different ways and how we can be a sea of all different types and walks of people and still have so many things in common and how it always impresses me and how i have a fondness for my internet buddies even if i chat with you lots or barely at all.
(okay brace for blab city now)
i lurk some of you, sure i do, i see your tea reviews and read a little about your day or your morning tea or whatever, and i may not have much to add, but i see you and i get it. i see you! hi! i understand you a little! hi!
this site is kinda all about the love, and the complete acceptance and freedom to love/hate any crappy/pristine tea you darn well want to.
and you can tell because instead of clicking a little thumbs-up at the bottom of a post, you can click a little heart! proof!
party on heart clickers!

i first sampled this tea back in mid February, but never got around to writing about it.
then i had it again sunday night. it was a celebration tea! my roommates told us that they are pregnant again!
i say roommates but they are a married couple and Oddree calls them the Little Family cuz it is mom, dad, and their little girl who is less than 2yrs old. and come winter she will have a baby sibling. Overall it’s 5 adults and a baby in a big house and it’s pleasant living :) they are seriously great people and i am really happy for them.
i’m also really excited to keep playing with babies cuz they are totally fun.

this tea has many names due to bummer copyright violation bunk.
the world is changing so fast and the corporate influence is trying so hard. but didn’t anyone bother to tell them that this is tea? it’s just tea dudes. tea.
also, corporate hegemony helps their grand plan duh.
(i know this isn’t really the same as an attempt at corporate control, but it feels like the trickle down)
they wanna keep grips on the money/power but ultimately fandom will rule everything and it won’t be stopped. cuz homegirls are some passionate people. (i just hope homegirls also keep up on current affairs so they have enough time to sell their replica models and limited edition collectibles before the food shortage arrives.)

UGH omg shutup shmiracles! (this is what happens when you stay up too late organizing digital comics and then oversleep and have to rush so you take your adhd meds without eating food haha)

every time i have an adagio tea that is on the lighter side of taste and also has cinnamon in it i love it. they also all kinda end up tasting the sameish.
not a complaint! not a complaint!
it’s just that i think the cinnamon tends to overtake many of the subtler flavors that would be in a blend. so the vanilla and almond are there yes. but pretty mellow. which is fine with me :) i really do like the relaxed cinnamon teas. that’s what it is. relaxed cinnamon with bakey notes.
i used to avoid cinnamon teas. they were always too strong. yet the adagio blends do it right.

thanks to moraiwe for doing this fandom sampler swap with me. i’m still enjoying the fruits of our labor.

i know i don’t have to say it every time, but i had so much fun planning the adagio buy & swap i did with moraiwe that i just feel compelled to mention it yet again.
LOOK at ALL THE TEA i get to try! looook!
and i get to share it with my sister too! double fun all around. and my sis is the reason i even read The Hobbit in the first place.** so totally awesome.

not a bad tea at all! but, ….yes but, ….i’m gonna blame the white tea for why i don’t mega love this blend. i like oolongs lots, but sometimes i just need my white in a very specific context to really enjoy it in the best way. so it’s a very yummy tea, but it just doesn’t warm my veins the way some other similarly flavored teas do.
it’s cool though, more for oddree!!

**(being an english major and an ex-english teacher and a general overall power reader, she has read LOTR and The Hobbit numerous times.) (also, with that bio under her belt, she seriously makes the BEST fic recs. and she sent me a brilliant fic that i started reading but had to stop because i hadn’t actually read The Hobbit yet. so i saw the first movie, paused the fic, read The Hobbit, then resumed the fic. all thanks to her nudges.)

edit
(in hindsight, i hope oddree doesn’t mind that this post is like all about her?? haha, i just had the stuff to say about the stuff and stuff. xo)

Ah ha! see! this is me learning.

the minute i smelled and tasted this i recognized how similar it was to the Steve Rogers blend i recently fell in sorta-love with. but i was struck by how much i liked that one vs how much i didn’t super love this one…?
subtle (or not so subtle) changes can make a big difference :)

both teas are Spiced Apple Chai forward blends. apple pie and pastries nom nom.
but the rest is almond vs vanilla, and Assam vs Irish Breakfast (a Ceylon & Assam blend).
what’s not to love about almond OR vanilla? potato, potato.
so …SCIENCE! i’m guessing i don’t like Ceylon as much as some other types?? i’ve always known i’m an assam gal. go figure.

controversial opinion: i liked the first movie more than the second one. kinda lots more. could be the book and fic reading changed my expectations? bam!

a balanced tea. easy to drink.
so easy that i kinda just gulped it down and didn’t really ‘stop to smell the roses’.
the green & chunky spice made this cup nature-ready for the sunrise, but the cream and apple flavors kinda got lost in the morning dew.

i’ll add more to this note when i get to my second cup.

come on Wizard! work your magic!
i have lots to do today!
wave your staff!
look angry!
swish your beard!
fire and brimstone!
make it happen!

school/work closes at 4 today and is ALREADY confirmed closed tomorrow!
thank you snow.
i have already packed up all of my tea samples. priorities!! prioriTEAS!!

moraiwe went halfsies with me on her sample tins and sent me a great swap box last week. she even took the time to photocopy the tin covers as labels, and i have the tea samples all lined up pretty in a box on my desk.

this tea MAY have hibiscus in it, but it’s balanced by the spice and lemon grass, so it’s actually just a sort of berry juicy cup. definitely juicy. this tea has ‘springtime drinking’ written all over it.

this might be one of my top faves from my recent Adagio order.
who am i kidding i like so MANY of them!
i’ve gotten much better at knowing what i prefer and what will taste good in a blend. and it’s an exciting feeling when you know you love all the teas in your cupboard and that you have many cups of them to drink in your future.

for me this cup came off as more of an almond tea, like a warm earthy berry and dry fruits and the sun drenched bark of a tree.
i really need to have it again so i can pin the flavor down more, but that is probably why i enjoyed it that little bit extra. sometimes if a tea has a vagueness to it, or a blend where the flavors really mush together in a special way, it sticks in my brain. to puzzle it out. like a subtle plot twist.

Cinnamon Vanilla Chai first, with a hint of Almond.
mild and tasty. you know the dark oolongs. easy to drink and drink and drink.
i wanna say nice things about this tea because it is very nice, but i am kinda tasting noted out.

text from Mr Shmiracles:
I had a dream that I was visiting a family and a violent gang led by Ted Danson invaded their house, kidnapped their baby, and locked us in a pig pen.
One of the gang had no arms.

i’m about to walk over to the post office and mail many teas to several people.

a local cafe is celebrating the addition of 8 more taps to their bar tonight, so that’s where i’m gonna be for a little while after work.

yay friday.

I enjoyed this tea a lot. The white blueberry is very light and sweet, the hazelnut is, in a word, cozy, and the cinnamon brings both flavors together very well. I taste Hazelnut the most, but the blueberry follows closely after with a lingering cinnamon flavor

Second Breakfast is a delightful morning tea, and one of my favorites (this statement really deserves an exclamation point, so just pretend that I used one). The cloves and the spice are balanced by the cream, creating a fantastically smooth blend that doesn’t need cream or sugar.

Thank you Shadowfall for the sample! This really sweet – it seems like I am getting mostly caramel but there’s just a touch of ginger in it to make it stand up straight. It’s very delightful and I think someday I would like some more.

Thank you!

No clue how this doesn’t have tasting notes yet.

I REALLY like this; very apply and sweet, with just a little bit spice. I almost wish it was a little spicier and bold, but it’s great for what it is. Seems like it’d be awesome iced or as a latte.

This was a sample from Shadowfall and now it’s gone! :O

This one is a blueberry tea – very creamy and light – it makes me think of a scone! But I can’t really taste the oolong in there. Oolong be gone? IDK.

It’s really tasty though. I’m enjoying this cup, and will see if it’ll handle a re-steep too!

ETA: There wasn’t enough for a re-steep, but I suspect that I would have enjoyed this more if I’d steeped it for just a little longer. I"ll have to try it again someday!

Wanted something light today since I’m shaking off a nasty headache this morning so I actually opened my bag of this. Not to mention I’ve been craving it lately. Lol.
I might’ve used too hot of water on it because it was a bit more ‘green’ than I remember, but it’s still delicious. Adding some truvia and it turns into a creamy blueberry muffin sort of taste. I’m not sure the blueberry inclusion in this version (Fancy Tea: Afternoon Tea) really did too much to the overall flavor. At least, I didn’t notice any difference from when I drank just the straight Elevenses. /shrug/ Except maybe some clumping in the bag from where the leaves stuck to the blueberry pieces.
I’m so glad that this was released again. So delicious. Always a reorder.

So I got a small sample of this when the maker Aun Juli offered ‘sampler sets’ of her own. And I adore this tea. I’ve actually made it twice but just realized that I never put up a tasting note.
Unsweetened you can definitely taste the blueberry and kinda the vanilla. But with a bit of sweetener the blueberry becomes way more pronounced and the vanilla comes up a bit better. The cream just kinda adds a smoothness to the entire tea.
No astringency or bitterness. I might try this at a lower temp like Andie did, just to see.

I was completely bummed when Adagio pulled this one along with all of the Tolkien related teas due to a copyright violation with the SCZ company. (Who, if anyone’s interested, has nothing to do with the Tolkien estate. They just made those silly Hobbit cartoon movies ages ago.)

Thankfully this blend is available once more. Aun-Juli rereleased this tea under her own brand of teas ‘Fancy Narwhal’s Fancy Tea for Fancy Folks’ with a blueberry inclusion. You can find it here – http://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/blend.html?blend=46837&SID=2dbb8a5f7bd02cff20c7c97ba3dd08e1

I also just found out that Adagio teas is letting her reopen/repost her Tolkien teas with some revision to the names/labels/etc. so they’re not Tolkien specific. (Which makes sense to me since Tolkien didn’t make up terms like Shieldmaiden or Elevenses). So this blend, along with many of her others, is up again in its originality under the same name, just a different fandom heading ‘Tales and Tea Leaves’ – http://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/group.html?group=2721&SID=1eb52eaf15a99636447ab339f63f7203

It smells amazing right out of the bag. Definitely strong with the berry. When made, I used sugar and a little milk the first time. I can always taste chai really strong/spicy and need something to tone it down (milk). I could still taste the berry underneath, as just a nice hint.

Got the Tolkien Teas sampler set!! I tried to add the Wizard’s Grey that I drank while at work, but steepster won’t let me add teas :( it crashes every time.

Anyway, when I got home from work and showed this sampler set to my fiance, he HAD to try this one. So I made some for myself (hot), and made it iced for him. This tea looks beautiful in the tin. Wasn’t sure what to go with for steep time and temp since it is a blend of three different types of tea, but decided to go with 165° for 3 minutes so I wouldn’t bring out the black too much. Turned out to be a very smooth tea, a good blend of the vanilla and creme, and it reminds me of eating a blueberry scone. Well great, now I want an actual blueberry scone. Next time I make this I’m going to try a hotter water temp and see how that changes the flavor.

Backlog!

One of the first loose leaf teas I bought (in January of this year!), and along with Foxtrot it quickly became my favorite in those days of only knowing Adagio and David’s for whimsical/modern flavored blends (I’d known of Upton for years but that’s not really their thing). It was funny a week or two ago, serving this to my husband…brought back a lot of memories and made me realize how far I’ve come this year with tea, 99% thanks to Steepster.