Candy Cane

I think I got this one from meowster… Hot, I didn’t like it much, but once it cooled down, I could really taste the candy cane flavor. It makes my tongue feel tingly and minty. It needed a lot of sugar to make it taste like a candy cane instead of just strange. The black tea is also pretty musty. So… I’d say this tea is just okay. The candy cane flavor is authentic and fun, but the musty base is too distracting.

I’ve had a lot of “candy cane” teas over the years that were just a renaming/relabeling of something already peppermint. Adagio does a better job of pulling in the creamy candy part. Reminds me of those puffy peppermints that come in a tub that melt in your mouth.

I love textured mugs—something to rub your thumbs on while you’re enjoying the aroma, and I’m sure this tastes much better because it’s in a raised holly-pattern Pfaltzgraff mug thoughtfully gifted by a friend.

I ended up grabbing this tea at some point last fall, knowing that I’d be wanting to have some holiday-themed teas around to review on my blog over the winter months. I first tasted and reviewed this for my blog the Tuesday after Christmas, and finally managed to sipdown the sampler bag from Adagio this last week. I have to give it to Adagio, their samplers are pretty full compared to many samplers I order! It took a while to finish this off, and that was with help sharing this with coworkers…

I am not much a fan of black teas that are too strong and have too much of an astringent bite to them, and since this tea has a Ceylon base — a tea where I often have that issue — I was prepared for that. Hah! As far as I’m concerned, this is the sweetest, mintiest tea I have ever tasted! It tastes like getting a high dosage of those little peppermint candy freebies left out at the counter at restaurants in liquid form… every sip leaves that brisk, cooling minty sensation on the tongue. If you like peppermint, this is the tea for you! It is super minty and super sweet! For me, it was just a bit… too overwhelming. It wasn’t… bad, but it just felt like the flavoring was absolutely dominating the cup. I enjoy someone telling me “Merry Christmas,” with a smile on their face, but if they get right in my face and scream it at the top of their lungs, then it is just too much, you know? Then it gets annoying. And that’s what I felt like this tea was doing.

Since I usually will make an “extra-strong” brew when I want to latte a tea, so the flavor notes will shine through after adding the milk, I figured this tea would be a good candidate, as it already had such a strong flavor. So I decided to froth up some hot chocolate almond milk, and try it in a minty cocoa form. Now that was quite nice! It gave it a sort of of chocolate-mint appeal, the milk cut down on some of the overwhelming mintiness just a bit, the flavor was enough a normal brew worked great for a latte, and it had a lovely creaminess. It made for a great hot cuppa on a wintery day. Sipping this down latte-style using chocolate almond milk became my go-to, and it was very nice!

Full Review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/tea52/

The aroma is intense and very alluring. We had a whole box of tea samplers and this one was what my fiance picked first. This is an incredibly richly scented tea!

Fresh from the pot and piping, this is a very smooth black tea at somehow, it’s so smooth the tongue lies to me and thinks there’s cream in its ingredients. However, there isn’t- and it’s a very full-bodied flavor. The peppermint is not harsh or in-your-face, but it’s like sucking on an actual candy cane. It’s extremely satisfying warm.

Chilled in our cast-iron tetsubin in the fridge for 8 hours while we slept, we had it again just now and the coolness is accentuated by the temperature. This tea is amazing hot or cold, and only loses slight traces of creaminess while cold. The minty candy flavor comes out as fully as when it was warm. If you want an icy blast of candy-cane while walking on a snowy road- you don’t have to! Brew this tea and drink it cold.

Me and my fiance (who is more an energy-drink person) couldn’t stop drinking this! Definitely a winner. :)

3 people tried this one, two of us gave it a low but drinkable rating, one liked it but didn’t love it. It’s that usual Adagio astringent black tea base, with a definite tingly peppermint in there. Peppermint teas don’t usually give me that tingle and this one does. I can see what people mean about a creaminess to it – it doesn’t have a pure peppermint/black tea flavor, but that vanilla or cream is still very slight and it is still a pretty one-dimensional tea. It might be better with a bit of milk to bring out the creaminess. I’ll probably drink the rest as I have just a sample tin, but I’m not interested in more.

Not sure why the rating is so low for Candy Cane! I love this tea in the winter. In fact, almost every time it’s snowing, I brew up a pot of it. Makes me feel nice and warm while it’s cold and blustery out.

I even had this tea in the summer when I had a cold. The peppermint has a way of making my throat and nose feel better.

I wanted to like this one so bad, I had a tin of it from the adagio Christmas gift box from last year that I’ve tried a few times. I finally just gave up and had the beau try it and he loved it so I just gave it to him instead :( It’s probably good but just not for me.

I love this tea, yes it is not MINT IT YOUR FACE because it is based off candy canes! I love it and it tastes good!! LOVE IT!

Received this as a gift from my boyfriend for Christmas. Hadn’t had it in a while or any flavored blacks from Adagio and forgot that if you drink this after it starts to really cool down, the bitterness really sets in. When its hot and fresh, wow, pretty smooth and minty with no real after taste. A very creamy cup of mint. Once it cools a bit, the bitterness really overshadows the rest of the tea and makes it not as good. But overall, if drank like a latte with some milk, I bet this would be pretty great.

It’s been 9 month since I was last on Steepster’ve had a rough couple of months, where I didn’t really have anywhere to live, and then where I had to start teaching, which has sucked my soul into oblivion.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about getting involved with Steepster again, but then I was humiliated that it had been so long. I have reached the (excuse my language) fuck it moment and decided I’d post. I’ll probably have a few tealogs in rapid succession.

Anyway, I love this tea. I wish it wasn’t seasonal. I wanted something like David’s Tea’s Santa’s Secret (I’m really into David’s Tea right now, for what it’s worth). But this tea from Adagio was cheaper and I had a lot of rewards points.

This tea is as good, in my opinion. I know other people disagree, but I just think it works as well. The two teas are different. Santa’s Secret is a lot softer and rounded, while this Adagio blend is sharply peppermint-y. That might be the black tea base on this one, as Adagio’s black tea bases can be very acidic.

But I like the sharpness of this tea. It is like instead of sucking on a peppermint, one bites into one and chews it— that level of aggressive candy cane taste. And it tastes like a peppermint candy, for sure. It’s round and sweet that pairs with the mint. The taste of cured sugar is definitely here.

And I really like this tea. I really, really like it. Adagio’s flavored teas are soooooo hit or miss, but this is a huge hit for me. I bought 6 oz, which will certainly hold me through the winter.

And it’s cheaper than Santa’s Secret! Which is also really good, by the way. I don’t think anyone would need both, so this is kind of a cheaper and slightly more pungent option.

Sooooo, Adagio, can we get candy cane pieces in the blend options now? Please? I know this won’t be a permanent tea, but…