I have a sample of this tea, and am mulling over whether to order it. The oolong leaf is very dark and oxidized looking. There is a sweet almond smell, but my sample contained none of the almond chips seen in the photos of this tea. I don’t know if that means they no longer use them, or I just got none in my sample.
The smell of this tea brewing is amazing – I kept taking big long sniffs because I enjoyed it so much. The flavor is a little thin using the average amount of leaf I generally use. For my second pot, I added about a third more leaf, and it was much better. The flavor is smooth, without an over powering amount of almond. My usual complaint with Adagio’s flavored teas is that they are too intense and rather artificial tasting. This was much better than their other flavored teas. The color of the tea is very dark for an oolong.