Adagio Custom Blends, Cara McGee

Thanks to Sil for sharing this tea, & to Schmiracles for sharing it with Sil.
This is bold, with an bit of a tart apricot aftertaste. Not bad…
Sipdown
386

I enjoyed this cup, but honestly my tastebuds must be crap because I couldn’t have identified any of the notes in this (sweet potatoes?) without the help.

I mean I guess I kind of could tell, but yeah. Unrefined.

Thanks for sending it along, Sil!
I did like drinking it!

Thanks Sil for this one. I wonder if I overleafed it or oversteep it. It’s strong and a little bitter. That doesn’t sound like Martha. Martha is so kickass.

I wish she wasn’t so doe-eyed about the Doctor but I love that she became such a badass and moved on to live her own life instead of being in his shadow…

Glad I got to try this one. The caramel is a nice touch. Not my favourite fandom blend, but… they’re really hard to make good. I g ot something salty in the base too. Or maybe I’m just more attuned to some kind of salt taste because my oolong yesterday was also super salty. :O

I actually made this a few night ago, but then I forgot about it and it got cold so I had to pour it out. But the sip I had just after brewing it was pretty good, so I figured I’d make it again.
This has a nice vanilla scent with something heavier behind it. I’m guessing that’s the sweet potato? Not sure since I’ve never had another tea with sweet potato in it, so I can’t say for certain.
Taste wise it’s a bit blah straight. Adding a bit of Truvia makes the vanilla pop and mellows the irish breakfast. The sweet potato is just kinda there with a bit of cinnamon/spice and a fuller flavor. Not detracting, just adding to it. Definitely better with sugar added, for me at least.
The version I’m reviewing here is actually different than the one that’s currently on the Adagio website (and the updated info here). The newer version just has Irish Breakfast & Vanilla Green, while the version I have has Sweet Potato as well (which Adagio has since discontinued). I got one of the (also now discontinued) Doctor Who 10 tin sampler sets from one of the stores that had the original blend in it. I’ll probly one day get a sample of the new version to try, but I’m rather disappointed that I won’t be able to get this particular blend again because it’s actually really nice.
I’ll just have to enjoy the rest of the little tin I have. Lol.

I grew up reading comic books, including the Incredible Hulk comics. Comic books were just part of the deal in my house. My oldest brother bought them with his newspaper route money, & then they trickled down to the rest of us. I loved Bill Bixby, I love Edward Norton, & I love Mark Ruffalo, so of course, I love Bruce Banner, who doesn’t? Super smart, sensitive, & good looking, with a side of tortured psyche. Did you know his father was a mean alcoholic? He was screwed from the start: an emotionally shut down introvert, haunted by an abusive past, a ticking time-bomb of rage.
Then he became the Hulk.
How poetic, right?

So it doesn’t surprise me in the least, that the main component of this tea is chamomile. Poor guy, trying desperately to ‘maintain’, as we used to always say way back in my trippy hippy days. “Maintain, Dude!”

Personally, the bergamot green doesn’t really complete this blend, IMO. I know green tea can help with anxiety, but I think if I was doing a blend for Bruce Banner, it would be chamomile, lemon balm, hops, no caffeine whatsoever, maybe a little lavender (but not too much), a little lemon peel, & a large dose of Valerian Root!! I love my Valerian!

Still, good to try, as I am a fan of Cara McGee’s blends, at least some of them, so I thank Sil for sending it to me, & Schmiracles for sending it to her!
Oh, & this is my daily sipdown! 389

:| I was busy working when I drank this and I can’t remember how it was.
Poor Rory. Poor forgettable Rory.
(never! <3)

Received this from Sil as part of “Project: Taste Adagio”…

It’s my first Doctor blend so far.

I found this pretty tasty, though honestly I’m having a hard time pinpointing any specific flavours in my cup. Also, I only brewed it for 3 min at 205 degrees and it’s got a major bitter aftertaste.

I was trying to discern some specific notes in here but holy, as it cooled it got even more bitter. Fail!

Would have been decent if not for the bitterness! Even though I couldn’t taste anything specific. My tastebuds suck.

Merci Sil!

It’s been months since the boys & I placed an adagio fandom tea order, and there won’t be any orders placed in the near future either, because I have a box full of adagio fandom teas from Sil. She got this one from Smiracles, so thanks to both of you. This was one I definitely wanted to try, because
1 – it’s a Cara McGee blend, & some of her blends are really awesome!
2 – I’ve been experimenting for awhile with a ginger & lapsange combo, adding various other things, like vanilla, maple, etc. So this tea is right in there.
I’ve tried the Tiger Eye before by itself, & it was very tasty, so I’m glad to see it in this blend too. Of course, I added some Maple to the pot, how could I not?
I think this could handle even more ginger, but otherwise it’s a tasty tea!
It’s also a sipdown, although I didn’t really plan it that way!
390

Sipdown (177/183)!

Final Doctor Who tea in my small round of Doctor Who inspired teas from different companies. I think it’d be very wrong to do a round of DW teas and not include an Adagio fan blend…

Perhaps interestingly though, I think this is the one Adagio fan blend that I may have been more interested in because of what’s in it as opposed to the character it’s inspired by. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I adore Rory! In fact, I think Rory is my favourite of Eleven’s companions. But I’ve been super fascinated by the idea of Sweet Potato Tea since first hearing about it, and I’ve been dying to get my hands on any Sweet Potato tea to try it – and this has Adagio’s SP blend in it so that’s where my attention was/is most focused.

Steeped up, this is really really interesting. It’s got such a unique flavour with components that I’d struggling a little to pick out. The most noticeable is the creamy vanilla and then I think I do taste the sweet potato. It’s a familiar sweet, starchy flavour and I think it compliments the vanilla really well. Reading other people’s reviews they compare it to sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallow and I believe I’ve also read similar comparisons on other Sweet Potato teas especially when tied into Thanksgiving. Is that an American thing? I’ve never heard of someone having that particular combination in Canada. It sounds weird to me, but good as well.

I wish I had more of this so I could play around: I think it’d be good with milk and I’m wondering if a pinch of salt would bring out the sweet potato more in the same way that salt brings out the potato flavourings in Butiki’s Potato Pancakes and Applesauce Green Blend (which I find I am now craving). I’m going to add this one back onto my wishlist because I think I would order it – and I’d definitely drink it again.

I want more Sweet Potato things! Thanks Sil for this sample!

EDIT: Oh, and yeah – I think this was a good blend for Rory. Seems to match to character, so go Cara!

Sipdown (162/168)!

Many, many thank to Sil for the sample of this! It’s been on my wishlist for months now and I was beginning to think I wouldn’t ever get to try it without blindly buying the full 3 oz. of it. Jack is one of my favourite companions, and actually just one of my favourite characters in general on Doctor Who so I really wanted to try this blend for that reason. Still, 3 oz. is a lot…

I’m very glad I waited though and didn’t get impatient, because it turns out that as much as I love Jack 3 oz. of this would have been 3 oz. too much. I kinda didn’t like it. Well, no – I really didn’t like it. At first it was this light nutty chocolate thing but every sip was concluded with a nasty, harsh bitterness! That’s not like Jack at all – and just gross in general. Jack is supposed to be charming and seductive, and just a touch quirky. Not bitter and blah…

So, one Adagio blend I can cross off the list! So glad I experienced it so thanks a million to Sil for that – but just not for me. Wah wah wah.

(259) Thank you for the sample, Shmiracles! :)

Sadly the Lapsang Souchong overwhelms everything else in this blend. It is quite nice, but there’s no point in having a bunch of fandom blends that all have LS, as they all taste exactly the same!

Oh well. I do enjoy a smoky tea with some maple syrup and cream. :)

(1.5 tsp in 10 oz)

Thank you for the sample, Shmiracles!

Sadly, this was lost on me as a “Natasha Romanoff” tea. It tastes and smells like smoke. That’s it. I don’t get anything else from it. And so it blends with some of the other fandom blends containing lapsang souchong, like (IIRC) Tony Stark. They shouldn’t taste the same. They really shouldn’t.

Anyways, the tea itself was really tasty. I had it with maple syrup and cream. Just. The execution didn’t work so well for me as a fandom blend because the smoke takes over.

Last of the sample from Shmiracles!

And yep, it’s cherry. IDK that I’d want more, but it was fun to try! (And it’s actually OK with nothing added, which is good.)

(~1.5 tsp in 12 oz)

Ohh, cherry. Oh Teen Wofls fandom and etc.

The tea is pretty good! I added a little almond milk to cool it down, and that works.

Thanks, Shmiracles!

In other news, is 5pm too early to go to bed? I am so wiped. The tea was good but it didn’t help with awareness.

So I figured, what the heck, let’s try Rose’s tea. It was the second one I pulled out of the box….Well, technically Jack was the second one, but I’ve tried that one and didn’t like it at all (though I might retry the stuff in the tin since it doesn’t smell as strongly as the batch I got in a bag). So I skipped him and went to the next.
This one smelled pretty fruity dry, which was nice.
Brewed this still was fruity, but a tart/sour sort of fruity from the raspberries. Thankfully I don’t get any of the earl grey from this since bergamot is definitely not one of my favorite flavors. Or maybe it’s here, but its subtle (which I’m not used to with earl grey) so I can’t really pick it out. But honestly I don’t really think of this as much more than a raspberry tea to be honest. Everything else is just kinda overshadowed.
A bit of truvia tones the sour/tartness down, but not so much that I can tell anything else from the tea. Lol!

I’ve been afraid to try this tea because of the smell for awhile but for some reason I decided today was the day. It turns out to be the perfect day as I ignored everything I should be doing and sat around drinking tea pretending it’s a cool cloudy and rainy fall day. This just adds to the element of having a fire burning and the mint cools the breath like a cool breeze. Fun! Thank you so much jump62359 for sharing this unique tea with me :)

Soooo I got 2 samplers from Adagio before they pared down to 6 tins and I figure I’d better at least start trying them. Lol. So today I decided on the Doctor Who one, mainly because I’ve technically tried most of the teas in the ‘Tales & Tea Leaves’ set, so these are all new to me.
Nine is my fav doctor so it was only fitting that I tried his tea first.
Dry this had a sweet, roasty sort of smell, but nothing else really stood out to me.
Brewed I can kinda smell the anise, but again, it’s kinda just there. I ended up brewing it way below the recommended temp of boiling since I’ve found that most Adagio blacks turn almost undrinkable when steeped at boiling. And this one had gunpowder, which I didn’t want to burn either. So I gave this a shot a 195* because why not? XD
Everything kinda comes out in the taste. I get anise pretty strongly right off the bat. It reminds me of the sassafras that I get at the RenFaire, which is actually a shame because I don’t actually care for sassafras. Lol! I get a bitter note, but I’m kinda used to that because it happens so often with Adagio black tea blends. And I’m getting a light smokyness from the gunpowder. It’s also middling on the astringency scale. Not bad enough to make me want to pour the cup out, but enough there so I notice.
After adding some truvia, it didn’t get sweet persay, but the anise toned way down and let other flavors come up. I’m not sure if this is one I’d order a large amount of, but I’ll definitely finish the tin worth eventually.

Sipdown. Thanks for the sample, Shmiracles!

I figure that since I’ve been hulking out lately (anxiety sucks!) and my emotions are all over the place, something calming might be nice.

It’s a decent tea. Yep, mostly chamomile, a little orange, good with honey.

I still like my homebrew chamomile mix better, but this is a pretty tasty option. Especially if you like green tea.

Ok. Green earl grey and chamomile and just what.

Smells like chamomile and oranges, which I can get behind.

Tastes like chamomile.

Sweetened with honey.

I’d honestly rather mix up my own chamomile blend with orange peels and marshmallow root and maybe some lavender or lemongrass. It’s not that this is bad, not by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just… easy. Which I suppose Dr. Banner might be into. But chamomile flowers and orange peels are easy too! And I don’t think the antioxidants in the green tea are gonna help with the gamma radiation there, big guy.

(Thanks, Shmiracles! Much appreciated. :) )

I really do enjoy this one far more than I ever anticipated I would. If given the choice, I probably would not have gotten this for myself so I really appreciate jump62359 sending some my way and forcing me to try it out. This is creamy and smooth and minty. It seriously is like a decadent white hot chocolate with just the slightest bit of peppermint to make it fresh and exciting. Yum! Thank you jump!!

Jack Frost, you are one tasty tea. This is incredibly creamy, so much so it is almost reminiscent of white hot chocolate and there is just a touch of mint flavor to keep this from being bland. Delicious. Thank you jump62359!

This is a very light chai. It’s good and relaxing chill chai. I feel like this is what watson’s breath would smell like. Mostly black tea, hint of cinnamon. This would be a great tea if you can’t decide what you want with breakfast.

Description from Adagio: leather… a distinguished, if tired blend. Yep, I’d say that’s pretty accurate. There’s something nutty and… old… it’s just not my thing, although I could see my Dad having wanted to drink this as he smoked one of his pipes. Yep, that’s what this tastes like — hazelnut tobacco, the good kind. (Is there a good kind?)

Anyway. Not for me. Anyone else like this sorta flavor? I’ll send it along.