Your purchase will support Steepster.
“I’m in a no-frills mood today. My husband had knee surgery on Monday, so I’m pretty much running dead on my feet. I need the warmth, the simplicity, the CAFFEINE to make it through the work day...” Read full tasting note
“Almost a sipdown on this one today — two cups worth left. This has been languishing in my desk drawer for a while, so I might take it home and finish it off this weekend. Then I can replace it with...” Read full tasting note
“I’d rather drink Adagio’s Irish Breakfast. I’m not sure what’s going on in this one but it seems like some thing is wrong. I find that “tea” taste with quite a bit of bitterness. I swear I’m...” Read full tasting note
“Another sample comes to an end. I’m digging this more than usual this morning, I usually prefer Ceylons cold, and like to drink maltier blacks hot.” Read full tasting note
Ceylon Sonata is a classic black tea from Sri Lanka. In colonial times, this island nation was known as Ceylon. This name is still used to describe all teas grown here. Ceylon tea is bright and lively, medium-bodied and delightfully tangy. Our Ceylon Sonata hails from the renowned Kenilworth Estate, located in Sri Lanka’s Kandy region. Fresh, citrusy aroma, sweet juicy notes like mandarin peel or grapefruit, refreshing texture, and balanced astringency. The perfect afternoon tea.
The first tea plant was smuggled into Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) in 1824. While it was not intended for commercial uses at the time, it wasn’t long before more plants arrived, and by 1867, the first tea plantation was founded by Scotsman James Taylor. By the 1880s, following a severe blight in the 1870s, nearly all coffee plantations had converted to tea. Now, Sri Lanka is one of the world’s largest producers of tea, with six main growing regions across several elevations and growing conditions.
Black Tea | High caffeine | Steep at 212° for 3-5 minutes.
Adagio Teas has become one of the most popular destinations for tea online. Its products are available online at www.adagio.com and in many gourmet and health food stores.
This was recommended to me as making a pot of iced tea since I am a big iced tea lover. I brewed the pot and of course had to make a small glass of iced tea immediately before putting it in the fridge and I must say that I really like this tea iced and it tastes so much better than the usual Lipton I used to make for Iced tea. Loving Adagio
Second steep + 1/4 Golden Bi Luo by Chicago Tea Garden for 1 min
Pretty strong sweet caramel smell. Has a strong malty and bitter flavor. Hardly any aftertaste.
Has a dark, almost “blunt” taste – tastes good when complimented with cookies, but only mediocre when by itself. Might be good with honey to lighten the flavor.
I love a good mug of Ceylon black tea, and waited to try this out on a rainy day… but the “Sonata” was not what I had hoped for. Perhaps the tea-meister was having a bad day when he blended this batch. Brisk? Oh-yeah, and how! But perhaps the sample bag was old, or ?? Tried two infusions, then made the rest into a pretty good iced tea. If you are looking for Lipton in a loose tea format, then this might be the one for you.
Okay my morning tea did something to me this morning that I just don’t comprehend. I brewed my first cup as normal two mounded teaspoons around 12 ounces of water steeped for 3 minutes. Got my day started. The first cup tasted good as usual.
Then I brewed the second cup which goes with me on my commute (same tea leaves, second steep, same duration which usually creates a slightly weaker cup, that brings out some different tastes in the tea). On the highway something odd happened. I got my nose down in my cup and inhaled as usual and expected the nice aroma of Ceylon Black Tea that I expect (give me the sonata, that music that gets me started each morning!) and suddenly the nose screamed wet dog and poof… I didn’t finish my second cup and ended up making some earl grey to clear the whole thing from my brain when I got to work.
I am not bumping down my rating of Ceylon Sonata for this yet, if it continues I really have no explanation as to what happened. I brewed it with the same teaware, into the same cup and the same way I do every morning and the first steep tasted good.
I will try this again, but it may be a couple of days as I wait for the memory to clear.
Have any of you had something like this happen? Where a daily drinking tea suddenly has something happen which changes your perspective? Was this just a bad second steep? I’ll have to take a good look at everything back home when I get back this evening to see if there is some explanation.
I recall /loving/ this when I first had it several years ago. Since then I’ve found new favourites, but I still love this one. I think it’s a very good “introduction” to looseleaf teas because Ceylon teas are so common that people are sort of familiar with their flavour. Being looseleaf makes it even better. Anywho… Sweet, ceylon scent, typical “bag” flavour but fuller and less astringent. Good all-around cuppa… I like mine with cookies. :)
Glad you’re liking it! :)