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Well I steeped this cup for less time than before and I’m still getting an unpleasent bitterness initially when I take a sip. I am getting a more distinct yam/sweet potato flavour on the tail end of things, which actually isn’t too bad – although I was hoping for more toasted marshmallow, like the description on the Adagio website suggested. ;)

As the liquid cools, I can taste a bit more of the ‘sweet’; it’s not a very sugary sort of sweet, more like a muted, starchy sort of sweetness.

Meh, I’m still not terribly impressed with this tea.

Backlogging from last night. If only this tea tastes like it smells; the scent is probably the most mango-y part of the tea.

I love the new site updates – fantastic job, guys!

This tea is practically MADE for multiple steepings. The dry leaves are loosely rolled and the first steeping, which is only 30 sec, is enough to draw out a bit of the flavour, but because the leaves haven’t unrolled it’s quite light, the infusion a pale gold colour.

The 2nd infusion is for 1.5 minutes and this time the leaves have started to uncurl into more leaf-like shapes. The liquid is the colour of golden honey and spinach-bread taste is more prounced and robust (I use the term ‘robust’ relatively – it’s no where near the robustness of an Assam or other black tea).

Upon the third infusion (2.5 minutes) I can see that the leaves are quite green-looking, interestingly enough. Are Ti Kuan Yins supposed to be some of the lesser-oxidized oolongs? The taste is more vegetal this time and not as robust as the last steeping. I think I’ll leave it at three steepings for tonight, although I’m sure I could probably get at least another two steepings out of this tea.

Did I ever mention that I HATE mornings? DX

I resteeped the leaves and it came out as a light-tasting black tea with a rather nutty/grainy flavour but nothing that tasted distinctly of sesame.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the tin is how oily the leaves look, like the whole container was dropped in a pot of sesame oil. The smell made me think of Chinese food, or maybe teriyaki. When I started steeping though, the smell reverted back to being just like a bag full of sesame seeds.

I goofed on the steeping time so I’m not sure how long it was, but it’s probably somewhere around four minutes. When I rescued it, the surface of the ‘tea juice’ (ha!) was covered in a distinct sheen of oil. The flavour is very much like what I’d expect toasted sesame to taste like; so Adagio gets points for authenticty. It seems to also work quite well with the tanins in the tea base.

This isn’t a flavour I’m used to tasting in my tea (obviously) so my tongue is sending my brain rather mixed signals and confuzzling the poor dear. I think I’m leaning towards liking it, but not loving it – further testing is required! ;)

A passable resteep of the leaves from earlier. However, for some reason it doesn’t seem to go well with banana. Blech!

This tea seems very appropriate on such a cold day of the year. I might not be able to have a roaring fire, but at least I can imagine one while tasting the smokey essences of this tea.

As much as I want to like this tea because of its tasty apple flavour, no matter how I steep it there’s Just. Something. Missing. It either needs stronger spices or a more robust black tea base – like a malty Assam or a smokey Keemun.