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Been a while since I’ve posted anything on here, but I just put in an order for some new teas and have been trying to polish off some of the older samples I’d forgotten I had.

I’m pretty sure that this sample is at least two years old, it’s from when Adagio was still packaging everything in tins. The smell and flavor was surprisingly pretty well intact. I didn’t pay much attention to the brewing process as I was trying to make something pretty quickly to take to work with me while I was eating breakfast. I’m pretty sure I used a little bit too much leaf because it came out a bit too astringent, but adding a little bit of plain water helped to alleviate that.

The aftertaste is almost a little bit toasty, and the mouthfeel is pretty smooth once the astringency is taken out of the equation. It’s certainly nice, but I’m not sure if I’d want to make it an everyday sort of tea.

Ehh, I never am sure how to feel about this tea. I was excited when I ordered it because I love the individual flavors and thought that they might go well together. I got it a while ago and still have quite a lot of it because I’m afraid to make it half the time. The first time I ever made it (months ago, now) it came out really well. The second time it tasted so horrible and bitter and… soapy that I had to throw out the entire pot. It was utterly undrinkable. I’ve always kept to the safe side and used small amounts of leaf and shorter steeping times than I normally would with black teas.

Overall, this doesn’t really taste like vanilla, cream, or Earl Grey. It’s just sort of a black tea with a little bit of an almost milky aftertaste that doesn’t stand out much. At best it’s drinkable and at worst it’s absolutely wretched. I wish I’d only gotten the sample size and not the full 4oz tin.

I’m just finishing my third steep of this. It holds up pretty well to resteepings, and I think that the second was probably the best. It is just a bit finicky so the water temperature and steep times really need to be watched, but when it comes out good, it’s great. The first steep was a bit vegetal, but the second was distinctly sweeter and reminded me of apples a little.

Ah, this is so much lighter than any other Grey tea I’ve had. A nice change after the filling Masala Chai I had earlier. It smells nice, both in the tin and in the pot, I could see this being an everyday sort of tea. The one thing that I’m noticing that seems strange is this sort of delayed aftertaste that reminds me of something like an apricot or mango flavored candy. It might just be a result of having had the Masala first, but it’s pretty strange.

I made this for my dad and myself after he dropped me off at my apartment and was so kind as to purchase the stuff for me. Back to school soon, blagh. Having this straight up because, I don’t have any milk right now so the traditional preparation is out. This is nice, it’s spiced, but not too spicy. I was a bit worried that it might be overwhelming but it really isn’t. It seems to be getting sweeter as it cools off too. It seems to have a sort of stick-to-your-ribs vibe about it. Like it’s filling. I’m sure it would seem even more filling with milk and sugar in it as well.

I just noticed that this finally came back into stock and I had to get it. The mint is pretty strong, and the darjeeling is an interesting replacement. It makes the tea come out a bit darker than the Moroccan mints I’ve had that used the more traditional gunpowder. At any rate, I do like this quite a bit.

This is the last of what I have! I might just have to get some more, I really enjoyed it. This seems to have more bergamot than any other Earl Grey I’ve had, it’s strong and citrus-y. Definitely not for people that don’t like citrus or bergamot flavors in their tea. There’s also some lemongrass and those little blue flowers in it that seem to be in most loose leaf Earl Greys I’ve come across.

I can’t figure out why this smells like bubblegum to me. Both the dry leaves and the tea seem to. It doesn’t really taste like bubblegum at all though which is probably a good thing, unless you’re really looking forward to having some bubblegum flavored tea. I keep wondering what those little blue flowers are scattered around in so many Earl Greys I’ve seen. Do they even add any flavor or are they just there to look pretty?

Ah well, this is pretty solid and hard to mess up too badly, though I may have steeped it a little too long this time as the aftertaste was just a bit more bitter than usual.

Bought this on a lark when I was last at my local tea shop. Ahh, the dry leaves smell just like an Andes candy or a Peppermint pattie. So delicious, it makes me want to just try eating it though that would probably be a horrible idea. Let’s see… the liquor is a bit of a sickly brown, sort of like the way my lapsang souchong always looks. Oh, but it smells just like mint chocolate brownies!

So, let’s just take a sip and.. huh? Where’s the flavor? Ah, well… it’s in the aftertaste. Minty, just a little chocolate-y. The liquid itself doesn’t seem to have much going for it though. Sort of… woody tasting. It’s like drinking hot water and then chasing it with a mint chocolate candy. It smells so spectacular but the tea itself doesn’t live up the the expectations it causes by smelling so nice. I don’t think I’ll buy this again, but it was an interesting thing to try out at least.