Adventaggedon Day Six – 3/5
This is probably one of the teas in the advent that I was most excited to try, so I was pretty thrilled to see it pop up so early on. I actually almost ordered a bag of it back when I was placing my advent order in the first place, but I figured I’d wait and try it…
I was just saying to Marika a few days ago that I don’t usually love Adagio’s chocolate flavouring because it leans a little bit too “chocolate liqueur” in taste to me most times and I definitely smelled that coming off the dry leaf. However, I think this is one of those rare cases where the profile that they were aiming for benefits from that quality.
Firstly, let me just say that Black Forest Cake is a deceptively tricky profile to do well. On paper you would think that it’s just chocolate, cherry, and maybe cream – but in practive it’s so much more complicated than that. You need a specific kind of cherry note that’s like a cross between a maraschino, with a more candied quality, and a black cherry. Syrupy, dark and just a bit juicy. You can’t use only milk chocolate because that will just read as a chocolate covered cherry but it can’t be as bitter as straight dark chocolate either, and if you’re not careful with the cream it will over power and dilute the richness of the cake.
So, with all that considered… I think this is a damn good attempt. Probably one of the better Black Forest blends I’ve tried. If I had to pin point a criticism it’s definitely the cherry though. Kudos for not using hibiscus as a crutch and ending up with a weird tart mess because of it, but it’s still a little medicinal. I didn’t mind it (though it got more pronounced as it cooled), but my coworker who sits at the desk next to me couldn’t get past the medicinal quality in the smell/taste. Maybe a bit of sweetener would help.
I’d still drink this again though. In general, I think I’m more forgiving when it comes to medicinal cherry flavours than most people though.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl16y9KOY7N/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-zqAcS2Uc8
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I actually did not like the first few sips of this tea, but as it cooled I found I liked the flavouring a lot more. I don’t know why I expected it to be more chocolate flavoured, and was pleasantly surprised when the cherry note came out better, even more refined as the cup cooled.
I actually did not like the first few sips of this tea, but as it cooled I found I liked the flavouring a lot more. I don’t know why I expected it to be more chocolate flavoured, and was pleasantly surprised when the cherry note came out better, even more refined as the cup cooled.