Eleven

This tea cold steeps very successfully! I’ve drank it hot many times, and never found it anything to write home about, but cold brewed this is making me want to order another tin! It’s mostly vanilla and coconut, and the malty Assam base comes through enough to add to the blend but not enough to make it bitter or overpower the more delicate flavours. The apple comes through more hot than it does cold, but there is still a hint of apple pie in the cold brew. Eleven might not be my favourite doctor, but he’s a winner in cold-brewed tea form.

If anyone is wondering, my favourite of the new doctors is Nine. Yes I am aware I’m the only one. I also love Ten, but who doesn’t?

Finally pulled out my box of Dr Who teas to try! I was looking for a fairly straightforward black tea last night, and the description on the tin fitted my mood perfectly. The eleventh doctor was probably my favourite – we graduated from the same University, after all, so I’m allowed to be biased.

Anyway, the tea. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and have it approximately 3 minutes in boiling water. I added a splash of milk. To taste, I’m picking up mostly a very smooth, sweet, malty assam. The coconut and vanilla emerge after a couple of sips, and add a delicious creaminess to an otherwise plain cup. The apple is a little more shy, but it does appear in flashes right at the end of the sip, and lingers just a little in the aftertaste. It’s not especially apple-y apple. It tastes more baked or caramelised; sweeter than I was expecting, and not as tart. A little like the apple in apple pie filling, perhaps. It’s a tasty cup, although I would have liked the flavouring to be a little stronger and more immediate. It feels like I have to search for them a little bit.

As for the fandom aspect of this blend, I’m not entirely sold. Sweet, fruity? Hmm. I’m struggling a little. It’s a pleasant cup, though, and a sample I’ll have no trouble finishing off!

Not sure how old my sample is, but I really didn’t get a lot of vanilla or coconut from this tea…just a little bit of nondescript fruity flavor and a lot of bitter, astringent black base. I only steeped it for 3 minutes and I wasn’t expecting it to go bitter so fast! :( Oh, well…one more sip-down as I work my way through the pile of samples I’m trying to polish off this week!

Sipdown!

Decent flavour (Caramelly/vanilla), but somewhat masked by bitterness and astringency – not sure if I overleafed or what (I’m pretty sure it got no more than 2.5 minutes of steeping, and was in a Finum basket, so no bits should have escaped). Anyhow, farewell little tea. Maybe you would have been better if I had drank you sooner, but it looks like bitterness/astringency are common occurrences with this blend anyhow.

coconut and apple rounded out by sweet vanilla. It gets bitter/astringent very quickly but when I remember to lower temp(very low) all the flavors are balanced and the tea becomes malty and not bitter.

I made fish fingers and custard for dinner last night, I don’t recommend that combo.

Received this from Sil as part of “Project: Taste Adagio”…

It’s my first Doctor blend so far.

I found this pretty tasty, though honestly I’m having a hard time pinpointing any specific flavours in my cup. Also, I only brewed it for 3 min at 205 degrees and it’s got a major bitter aftertaste.

I was trying to discern some specific notes in here but holy, as it cooled it got even more bitter. Fail!

Would have been decent if not for the bitterness! Even though I couldn’t taste anything specific. My tastebuds suck.

Merci Sil!

I’m finally starting to drink my Doctor Who teas from Adagio. We had an early Easter because one daughter has to work tomorrow. I put the sample size tins for Doctor Who and Firefly in plastic eggs and hid them around the house. Yes, my daughters are in their 30’s. But they humor me. They had lots of fun searching and of course loved their surprises.
Today my daughters and I had Eleven. Seemed bland at first but we looked at some tasting notes and decided to try milk and stevia. That added a lot to it. Tasting some nice coconut which seems so fitting for Eleven! The coconut brings up a creaminess. Quite a nice cuppa. I don’t think I would buy a large quantity of this tea, but it is good. I think I am just going to have to watch some Matt Smith episodes tonight!

Today I’m drinking half ten, half eleven (thanks to Scheherazade and her generous swappage). I want to call it “sandshoes & grandad”, either that or 10.5 I guess?

I like Eleven—I like the flavours in it. A little touch of sweetener and milk makes Eleven just lovely. (I like him a little more with Ten, though. This is all reflecting my feelings on the actual doctors, which makes me grin.)

Thank you NayLynn for sharing this Adagio blend with me! I am not actually a part of the Dr. Who fandom (I tried, we just never clicked) but this particular tea sounded quite tasty. Sipping on it now, it is one of the more flavorful Adagio blends I have had – creamy coconut with a hint of apple sweetness. There is a thick mouthfeel to this blend and it is a touch artificial but not bad at all.

In other news, while logging this, I might have picked up my mug of the Queen and sipped on it for a minute or two wondering where all the flavor disappeared to. So that happened…

So I haven’t really been present on here in the last couple days. Maybe a bit, but no notes or anything.

I’m at my parents’ house and dogsitting right now (as I might have pointed out before), and the oldest, Tango, stepped funny on the ice/snow mess in the backyard and hurt her hip Sunday night. She was moving pretty stiff and can’t make it upstairs to bed, so I’ve been sleeping on the couch with her. She’s doing a bit better now (more independant and such), and I’ve kept my mom updated, but I think I might be the worst dogsitter ever. Blah.

At least the tea is tasty.