Adagio Custom Blends, Cara McGee

This was a sample sent to me by Shmiracles. I usually try to stay away from lapsang blends but this one had a different aroma to it. It pulled me in. The flavor is so much more than smoky lapsang. It’s tingly and slightly spicy. The peppermint and ginger/cinnamon make the lapsang a little less overwhelming. It’s a delicious blend and would make a nice winter time tea!

So I’m on a tea binge… Who are you to judge?
It’s a rainy day and my husband has gone fishing for the weekend.
Thus, I drink tea.
I ordered this one simply because I love earl grey, I love almond, and I love cinnamon.
This tea is strong, unlike my other tea trials of the day. I’m not really detecting the almond.
Like others have mentioned, this is a great tea for a rainy, cold afternoon by the fire.

Sipdown (138/145)!

Thank you VariaTEA and jump62359 by extension for the sample!

I find the idea behind this tea to be really, really interesting. Green tea seems like a good obvious choice for the The Hulk but given this is named after Bruce all the light, calming, soothing stuff in it is just even greater a touch because inner peace is truly was BB strives for to prevent Hulking out, is it not? Just saying; this was well thought out.

Flavour wise, it was actually pretty solid considering it’s basically comprised of stuff I don’t like or am really touchy about: green tea, chamomile…

It had a nice, thicker and rich mouthfeel and a steady, light vegetalness to it accented with soothing and calming notes of cream, anise, and bergamot. The flavour of the chamomille was very present, but not awful like I was a little worried it’d be. I drank this one late at night and enjoyed it greatly. I was a little sad when I reached the bottom of the cup.

I wouldn’t order this one: it’s comprised of things I’m not a huge fan of and don’t typically crave; and I do have DT’s Bravissimo in fair quantity and it’s kinda similar – but I would drink this again, and I think it’s well thought out and well blended.

Mrs. Hudson, you smell like delicious noms, but you’re actually kind of plain and sharp, aren’t you? The dry leaf has an amazing almond sugar dessert aroma, while the liquid steam is full of raisins, malt and almond. The actual flavour is something else.

This assam nut tea is easily flattened and drowned out by milk, but somewhat nippy without it. I think I prefer it without the milk- at least the talons to the tongue keep me occupied, and they come armed with almond cookies! There’s also a juicy note that seeps out for the finish. There’s no denying this tea has a lot of life.

As with other Indian Assam varieties I’ve come across, I think I’d rather drink this alongside some yogurt. I like my tea a little tamer than this!

EDIT: Steeping this at 200F for a couple minutes yields more hospitable cookies, and less attitude. I miss the lack of raisin prevalence however.

So I have brewed this up a couple times now and for some reason or another, have never gotten around to actually drinking it. Well, today that changed. Trying it now, the first thing I notice is a very heavy mate flavor followed by a hint of juicy apricot. It is earthy and almost reminds me of a fruity tobacco. It is not bad but it is also not my favorite. I am grateful for the sample but I think once I get through it, I will be done with this tea for good. Nonetheless, thank you Cavocorax for sharing with me!

Sipdown (150/157)!

Thank you VariaTEA (and I believe, by extension, jump62359) for the sample! I had a “moment of clarity” late last night after a shower where I didn’t feel sick anymore so I seized the opportunity and made a tea from VariaTEA’s latest care package.

This was ok. Nothing really exceptional about it, but it was good enough I’d have it again if it was served to me. It was a nice smooth vanilla mint tea, and I liked that there’s no chocolate component to it. It’s definitely not needed; sometimes vanilla mint just needs to stand on its own! I guess my biggest gripe was just that it was a little thin/watery overall.

Maybe I could have fixed that by pushing for a longer steep time, but I followed the recommendation on the little sample baggy – and I didn’t want to over do it either.

Pass the Stash

All that I am hoping from this tea is that it evokes warm and fuzzy feelings. After all, I still call one of my uncle’s with a santa claus moustache and beard Uncle Fuzzy because I couldn’t pronounce his name right when I was a kid… :P

It is nice and spicy and oh so lovely light chai. It has a perfect amount of cinnamon, too. Talk about a warm, fuzzy, comforting, cuddle-in-a-blanket tea :]

I love Sherlock, but I did not love this tea, sadly. Though not unexpected, given my track record with Adagio.

Honestly I find all these chai/spicy/green/black blends these people come up with all manage to taste the same to me.

It was “Meh” times 100.

Thanks for passing it along for me to try, Cavocorax!
otherwise I’d wonder forever about Adagio and me.

Cavocorax shared this one with me, and since it’s a new month i’m doing my best to start focusing back on all the samples i have in my cupboard. I pulled this one out because it’s got ginger, and i love me some ginger :)

on the whole, this one wasn’t bad. it’s still got that familiar adagio smell and taste but at least the ginger comes creeping through. i added a bit of actual ginger to this and that made it pop even more.

TTTTB

With a name like Smaug this tea was far too tempting…I decided I had to have a cup as a companion for my first set of physics problems. The ingredients were a bit strange, to say the least, but I had high hopes.

And this is a very odd tea. It’s richly smoky – like standing near a campfire – and there’s an underlying spice and sweetness…it tastes rather like kissing a dragon would, if one were into such things.

It also tastes remarkably like my tin of Huber’s Shoe Grease smells – a little of smoke and an almost maple syrup note – and lingers on my tongue in a very strange manner.

I think I’m enjoying it enough to finish the cup, but not enough to make another one. Into the swap bin it goes, I’m afraid.

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 205 degrees, 5 minutes, Forlife brew in mug steeper, Dr. Who mug (duh)

Dry Leaf Aroma: Smells like earl grey

Brewing Aroma: Bergamot and cream

Flavor: Maybe I just don’t like bergamot in tea anymore. The bergamot is certainly present, but very mild. I expected to like this MORE than regular earl greys, but I just found the bergamot to be off-putting.

I also made this as a cold brew, and liked it much better.

As a tea, a person who likes earl greys should appreciate this one. I didn’t find it to be very River Song-ish. A fandom blend for the notorious River Song should be spicy, IMO!

A TASTE OF THOR.

IDK, I think a restaurant with that name would do well.

Fruity toasted mate. Not bad, but mate isn’t my favourite. I think I like Son of Coul better, because the caramel overpowers the mate-ness of the toasted mate.

Thanks so much for sharing, Shmiracles!

Another fandom blend from Sil, sent to her by Shmiracles.
This was fairly tasty also, but although I enjoy gunpowder, I don’t care for it as much is flavored blends. I prefer it plain. So to me, that took away from the cup a bit.
On the other hand, I love the Tiger Eye blend, so that was a plus.

Yum!
Thank you Sil & Shmiracles
This is a tasty Chai, plus apple, & is especially nice with a drizzle of Maple.

I really like this one :) It’s tart, sweet, and has a kick of spice to it. The cranberry is kind of what makes it different from other spice teas. Good blend of flavors.

I finally had the rest of this sample from the generous Cavocorax – you know, i liked it even more the second time around.

If it wasn’t so hard (read: pricy) for a Canadian to buy from Adagio, I’d consider adding a small amount to a future order! It’s definitely interesting and a unique blend of flavours.

Tasty.

Whaddoyaknow!?

There are a lot of different flavours in this one, but they’re all tasty things that seem to work well together!

It was an Adagio blend that I actually found half decent! So there’s that.

I liked that it included cinnamon but that it wasn’t a chai. It was mildly dessert like and comforting. Not sure why these things have anything to do with Sherlock, but let me just comment on how much I love Sherlock. Because I sure do.

Thank you for sending this my way to try, Cavocorax!!

Lovely! This was my first loose leaf tea EVER and it was excellent! I love how spicy and full-bodied it is! Simply delicious.

This tea can be overwhelming. Since I discovered that I have a caffeine sensitivity, I keep this down to 1/2 tsp. 3/4 if I need the caffeine… but no more then that. It is a good tea! I would use this one in moderation, though.

TTTTB

Man, I cannot figure this tea out. I want to think of this as a sweet black mix, but there are definite chai-ish – maybe assam? – notes that leave it all astringent and almost unpleasant.

Despite my best efforts, I didn’t manage to finish the cup…so this one won’t be in my cupboard any time soon.

This blend is juicy, berry, and delectable, all among the classic notes of black tea. Not overly fruity and sweet, there’s still the weight of spiciness and black tea, but blended perfectly with some jam-like notes. The rooibos vanilla chai adds just enough spice and variety that it keeps this from being too predictable or decadent. Great to mix up my morning cup.

Not your usual tea, love to drink it when I’m being creative or productive. Puts me in my mind palace. The vanilla with the black tea and orange is smooth and almost sweet but still a little tart or with a little bitter bite of tasty black, an almost medicine-flavor from over brewing. I drink it without milk and tend to over-steep. It’s a rich red-brown color when brewed. The astringency is invigorating and tasty when combined with the sour orange. Cara suggests this blend should be drank sweet, so don’t take my review too seriously. This was an unexpected favorite.

Today this tastes completely different than when I first had it- probably because I steeped it in boiling water this time instead of 170F/76C.

I don’t taste the cherry and cucumber so much, and instead taste blackberry leaves, black currant, and hibiscus notes. It’s nice after a few hours in the hot sun. It’s only six o’clock and I may pass out..