Adagio Teas

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #144 overall / Tea #15 for April
An Ode to Tea, V is for rooibos Vanilla Chai by Adagio Teas (gifted by Danielle aka @teaandmeblog)

Monday 04/12 — plain and hot latte using this tea. I actually really enjoyed it because the milk and the chai spices are very nice mix for this cloudy Monday. Not getting vanilla or rooibos which is fine.

Instagram photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNlj9haAw8C/

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

Beautiful tea as long as I don’t over steep. The mint and chocolate balances better than I’ve ever tasted in a tea. Definitely didn’t order enough of this and now I’m out in April with no similar tea.

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“An Ode to Tea” Alphabet Challenge – I

Another swap tea. Not one I would generally choose for myself, as it’s both an Adagio tea AND a chocolate tea, ha ha…

It’s fine. The Assam-Ceylon base is actually fairly tasty – malty and flavorful but only slightly astringent. The chocolate is very boozy and artificial, it reminds me of these carob-flavored chewable vitamins I used to have as a child.

Overall, it is rather stout-esque, as both the tea and the chocolate are dark, deep flavors. Not something I would ever order, but not bad!

ETA: It just occurred to me, this tastes just like Tootsie Rolls!

This is one of my all-time favorite tissanes. It is minty and fresh, with notes of peppermint and eucalytus combined with a hint of orange and lemon. It is super comforting, particularly for sinus headaches. I add a bit of lavender, which makes it even more comforting.

I liked this! Typical brightness/metallic of pure ceylon, with herbal under-notes. Would be a good every day tea. Eager to try iced.

Not a fan. Didn’t have the rich malty notes typical of assam tea. Lacked interest. I far prefer Harrod’s assam or Positively Tea’s assam.

Part of an epic tea mail box from Michelle.

I think we may both have a fondness for smoky teas (and boozy ones). Not sure if this was an appropriate choice for breakfast, but here I am drinking it with a chocolate banana muffin (also probably not appropriate for breakfast). I don’t drink alcohol very often and when I do I don’t typically reach for bourbon so I can’t say how authentic the flavor is. It definitely smells boozy though. Also fruity, but not the candy apple flavor in the ingredient list. I should have checked Michelle’s directions first because I’m pretty sure I overleafed and oversteeped this one. I went with my normal two teaspoons to 8 ounces of water at 195° for five minutes. I see now that three minutes at boiling is recommended. I’ll withhold my rating for now and will try again when I learn to follow instructions.

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This was a swap tea from Instagram! It’s always so fun to swap with different people who have completely different cupboards from me.

I was surprised to quite like this tea, since Adagio and I don’t have the best track record. I think it’s the addition of the bergamot that wins me over. This is a strawberry, cream, and bergamot black tea, meant to represent scones with cream and strawberry jam alongside an Earl Grey tea.

Well I don’t get scones, but it does has a nice strawberry flavor to it, perhaps with a bit of creaminess. The bergamot is fairly light so it doesn’t overpower the other flavors. Overall it does taste a bit more like a strawberry hard candy than jam, but I’m still enjoying it.

Not something I would order, as it’s a bit too artificial, but not bad, Adagio!

Chocolate on the nose. Smoky, campfire up front, finish with chocolate covered fruit. A delight for the senses!

Floral and mineral wrapped up together. Very large leaves. Fantastic everyday strong oolong.

A little too minty for my taste. I wish there was more roobios. A communiTEA sampling.

Rich and malty, with a slight astringency. Lots of flavor expressions. Smell is slightly smoky.

This one was fun to try, although I thought I’d done something wrong when the walnut-sized ball didn’t unfurl much, even after I carefully followed time and temp guidelines.
However, it yielded a lovely, satiny, buttery cup. The veggie taste was mild—edamame, maybe.

The cup was good company for me while I rocked in the outdoor glider and read a bit of Eragon. Dragon tea for a dragon book. Not my normal genre, but tackling it at the behest of a very sweet 16-year-old (one of my “grown-up” Sunday kids) who still comes back to see me. He’s a good kid.

Strong and smooth. Not a single bitter note.

This tea doesn’t mess around. Strong and bold. I steeped for 5 minutes, will do a bit less next time. Although the longer steep didn’t create any bitter afternotes. Bright and tannic at the end. Nice offset to a sweet breakfast.

Large leaf, hand-rolled. Slightly astringent, with flavors throughout the palate. For me, it starts with spice, moves into molasses, honey, and ends with stone fruit, particularly apricot. Lots of fun to drink! On first taste, tea is simple, and the complexity grows on the palate — I prefer complexity up front and throughout the palate.

Bright and moderately complex. Leaves are on the smaller side, although nowhere close to fannings. Smell is slightly smoky.

This tea has super subtle fruit notes which balances nicely with the white/green tea. It has some light floral notes as well.

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Yay, this was the last of my Adagio holiday teas!

I think this might be my favorite of the bunch, though. The lapsang adds a bit more flavor, whereas the rest of these have had exceedingly bland black bases. And it does rather make sense for a roasted chestnut tea, having a nice light savory smokiness and also a hint of nutty flavor.

Not bad! Not something I would order, but it’s an improvement over the other five.

Now I’ll have to pull out my Simpson & Vail holiday sampler to sip down next…

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Well, there’s not a lot to say about this one…

It mostly just tastes like a Chinese sencha – dry and grassy. I think it’s supposed to be pomegranate and vanilla or something? I get a hint of powdery-ness that I often find in berry flavoring, so maybe that’s from the pomegranate. But I don’t really get the pomegranate itself, and I definitely don’t get vanilla.

MEH!

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This has a lot of ingredients for something that doesn’t taste like much.

I guess I’m getting a vague sort of orange spice flavor profile? But mostly I just taste the generic black tea base. It’s fairly woody and earthy with a bit of astringency thrown in as well.

So mostly it’s a crappy black tea with clove. But the sprinkles are cute! XD

The first time I had this, something about it tasted a little like lunch meat to me? Probably just my imagination. I didn’t notice it on future cups. The overall flavor is quite mild. You get the bergamot a little. The rooibos isn’t overly distracting. Rooibos EG will never match regular, but this isn’t one of the better rooibos EGs I’ve had. It tasted best with milk at room temperature.