Adagio Custom Blends, Cara McGee
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This smells like a slightly heartier Earl Grey, so I didn’t even bother trying it without milk. The scent alone is enough to make me want to rate this tea high, but I guess I’ll wait until I actually try drinking it.
On first sip it’s quite tasty, definitely an Earl Grey base, and though I can sort of taste the rooibos, it’s not overpowering; it complements the EG quite nicely (I’m not a fan of rooibos so I was a little leery of that part of this tea). I can’t really tell there’s coconut in it, though there’s something adding a delicate sweetness that may be the elusive coconut. Something delicious this way comes with the addition of a little bit of honey.
Preparation
thanks cavo! I figured i should try and manage at least one sipdown today in addition to my black tea morning sipdown so i chose this one because it was a green/white blend and i was already boiling the kettle for creamy eggnog lol I wish i was up for more tea drinking tonight but i’m about ready to crawl in to bed for a good night’s sleep. This was an interesting tea for me. I say interesting but mostly it means that i wanted this to be a black tea with this flavouring..but a black NON adagio blend lol
and that’s as explainy as i get tonight… now it’s time for a small glass of coconut rum and coke before bed…and no no the coke won’t keep me up..and the rum will help me sleep lol
Final Count: 188
I personally found this tea to be overly smokey, though I am not sure which ingredient it was that was overpowering everything. I tried lightening it up with cream and sugar though it did little to help. I was rather dissapointed as the other teas I have tried from this person have turned out rather well.
Okay, WTNV tea #2. This one opened with a very strong chocolate aroma, almost overpowering, but it promised a very delicious experience which it didn’t really live up to.
The aroma softened quite a bit upon steeping to a slightly less pungent chocolate/almond. I let it cool for about eight minutes so I could actually start drinking without burning my mouth. I got a definite “cookie” flavor, but it was subtle and not terribly sweet, so I added a little brown sugar for kicks, which helped. On further sippage I could begin to taste the chocolate, though it certainly wasn’t as strong as I had hoped (I brewed it using an open tea strainer instead of a bag, hoping to let the chocolate melt out into the tea).
Hoping to make a more drinkable tea, I then added a little bit of milk and a little chocolate syrup (because hey, why not?) and it just continued to fall flat. As it cooled, a more obvious chocolate flavor started sitting at the back of my tongue, and I began to enjoy it more with each sip. Not a bad tea, yummy but not very exciting. It would probably be a good tea for just before bed (caffeine doesn’t affect me unless it’s in huge doses, so I’m perfectly fine drinking black tea and then falling asleep).
Flavors: Chocolate
Preparation
thanks cavocorax I still haven’t had a chance to listen to the nightvale series, but this tea is delicious!
30 mins later i uh came back to this note i started lol. got distracted vacation planning. At the end of the day? This was tasty, and even so once it cooled off!
Tea, you taste sort of like roasting marshmallows on a campfire. When the smoke gets in your eyes, and the marshmallow is aflame, making the air smell so sweet and burnt.
Interesting, but not something I think I’d go for myself.
Thanks for letting me try this, Shmiracles! :D :D
I do not know who Billy Wiggins is, but his tea smells like cupcakes. Must be the sprinkles. :) Tony Stark smells like a smoker, and I just can’t deal with that when I’m still sleepy eyed and barely awake. Ugh. Maybe I’ll have some mate before I head into work.
Of course, now that it’s steeped, I really smell the lapsang souchong. Oh well. There are sprinkles.
(As an aside, I used the Quo by Orly gel nailpolish kit yesterday, and holy omg it sucks. SUCKS. My nails are still super soft and bendy, the base coat has not adhered at all, so while I was cooking and doing dishes yesterday 3 (THREE!) whole polish things just… came off. No damage, they just came right off. Red Carpet Manicure base and top coat are way better.)
So this tea. It’s really earthy. And smoky. And sweet because of the sprinkles. And I think there’s some cinnamon or something in here. It’s interesting.
IDK. I’m getting bacon. Maybe that’s wishful thinking.
This tea is weird.
Thank you for sharing, Shmiracles!
Preparation
Ech, I’m glad I never bothered with those kits. All I need is a bottle of Seche Vite topcoat. That stuff seals everything off and dries in a few minutes, and makes your nails look like glass.
And for me it starts flaking within just a few hours. There is seriously no base and top coat combination that can keep nail polish on my nails, I have tried SO MANY. :/
The Red Carpet Manicure gel kit is A+. I had regular polish sandwiched last week and I had very minor chipping on two fingers after 7 days. For me, that is amazing. I decided to buy the Quo base/top coat and try it because it was on sale. But it doesn’t stick. :(
You mean Seche Vite flakes off in a few hours? I know many people have shrinkage problems with it, which I get on the edges, but I like how I don’t get the stupid indentations from fabric and what not. I’ve just accepted that I have to change it in three days or so.
Seven days is totally amazing! The whole process of applying and removing gel stuff always weirded me out, though.
Yep. Seche Vite just… disappears. The whole polish layer thing can just separate from my nail bed, and next thing you know I only have 2 chipped polished fingers left. :) It’s too bad, because it’s an amazingly shiny top coat.
Removing it is SO weird. I do agree. Soaking in acetone for 10 minutes? UGH. But 7 days wear is worth it for me. And I think if I used a gel polish instead of a sandwich with regular polish, it would last even longer. And I have an LED kit, so no chance of sunburn on my fingers. :)
Billy Wiggins makes his first appearance in BBC’s Sherlock in S3 Ep3. He is sort of weird so I guess the tea suits his character.
I, uhh, didn’t make it that far. :) I went back to Jeremy Brett as ‘my’ Sherlock Holmes.
Of course you can prefer whatever you like. :) I just thought I’d just share the info. Where did you stop watching though? I thought Season 1 was pretty good. Season 2 though… that’s when you really begin to get insight into the characters and see them grow.
Season 3, about 15 minutes into episode 2. Sherlock fully transitioned to ‘the guy who thinks it’s funny to emotionally traumatized his friends’ and I transitioned to ‘team Watson can do better’. :) I’ll probably end up watching the rest at some point, but I am very frustrated with this interpretation for a lot of reasons. I do like the style they adopted with S3! And Mary, even tho I’ve been partially spoiled.
Oh I see. Yes, S3 Sherlock was more of a jerk than usual, but also more vulnerable, I thought. He handles his emotions like a child. Well, I won’ try to change your mind, but Billy Wiggins is quite amusing and oddly enigmatic for the short time he’s on screen. Maybe you’ll meet him soon. :)
“He handles his emotions like a child.” …yes. That’s it, actually. Where in my mind I think Sherlock as a mature person who chooses to not be bound by societal expectations because they’re just not important. Hmm. Something to think about!
I probably will meet Billy Wiggins soon. I’m wiped (and at work on a Sunday whee!) and will probably end up spending some time watching TV/movies this week!
That’s what sherlock would want you to think. :)
Enjoy your tv time! It’s so nice to just veg out sometimes.
thank you cavo! This is not a tea for me. Sadly, this is one where the black adagio base is coming through strongly and the only other flavour i get in this one is almond. I know there were chocolate chips in here and such but really..it’s just a cup of "meh"lightly flavoured almond water with that adagio base.
(but now i’m SO caught up to variaTEA hahahaha!)
MUST SIPDOWN MORE TEAS!! Are you going for the 190? Is that the goal here?
lol yeah… i don’t know if i’ll make it, but i’m going for 190 today…from 208? lol but i’ve been up forever today…. and thankfully i’ve got lots of small samples.
Good luck! I doubt I will hit that however in theory I will be sending teas away soon so my cupboard will shrink (YAY!)
haha yeah, i packed up the BBB box today so i could get one sipdown that way hahaha
Hopefully TastyBrew will hang on to it for a little while, :)
haha i likely won’t get it out until next weekend…i’m stupidly busy this week and super tired today so i don’t wanna leave the house
That’s ok with me. I held on to it for weeks…mostly cuz I was too busy & disorganized to send it back out.
yep…it’s kinda nice that way.. no pressure
I got the Night Vale fandom sampler and couldn’t decide which one to try first, so I just used random.org and this one came up as my first test.
It’s a bit of an adventure, because I’ve never tried pu-erh and I’m not the hugest fan of greens, but I’m willing to give it a try. I’m not used to being able to see the bottom of my cup through the tea.
On opening the tin, I was overwhelmed by the fruity aroma, mostly peach, and something else I couldn’t quite identify, which I assumed was the pu-erh. On steeping the aroma was toned down quite a bit and brought out more of the green tea smell that I’m used to with teas of this color. Smells very delicate – at least to my black-tea-loving nose.
I tried it straight at first, not wanting to bias my tastebuds with sweetener. To be honest, I can’t really taste much of anything beyond the green tea. It’s also quite dry and I think there may be a layer of dust covering my surroundings… I got up just now to get a cup of water and noticed a dead crow on my porch. Unusual. Usually it’s just dead starlings. Staring at me with their unblinking dead eyes.
I added a drizzle of blue agave to see if that would bring out any more flavor in this airy tea. There’s now a totally unique flavor here that I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s not the agave, and it’s certainly not peach, but I’m not sure where it’s coming from. Tastes a little bit like the school board. Hm.
It’s also, confusingly, leaving me with an almost marshmallowy aftertaste. Odd.
I’m considerably upping my initial rating because once it’s cooled down quite a bit, a lot more of the flavors come to head. I’m now getting a citrusy taste on the back of my tongue in addition to the marshmallow.
Flavors: Peach
Preparation
sooo i’m not sure how i feel about this cup. there’s blergamot in there..but when i’m drinking this, each sip is different. And when the blergamot is really present, i don’t like it..but when it takes a back seat…i do. hmmmm… so i like this half the time? hahaha thanks for sharing cavo!
A sample from Shmiracles! Thank you! :)
So Steve is apparently spiced apple pie. Ok, I can get behind that.
I probably overleafed a bit because I just dumped the whole sample into my mug to steep. And wow, this is way more complex than I was expecting.
Lots of different spices, apple, maybe some caramel. Yum! I added a little brown sugar because it felt right, then added some almond milk because it was too hot. Heh.
If I ever made an order from Adagio, I might throw this in. Sadly, shipping is about $30, so the chances of that ever happening are slim to none. :)
Preparation
i really like this tea. i’m sure i’m influenced by the fact that it’s steve’s tea, but it’s also just a really yummy tea! i’m about to order my 3rd bag, and because of the insane amount of variety available, there are only a spare few teas that i’ve ever ordered more than once. i’m glad you like the tea too!
(i’m gonna see Cap2 tonight a second time, before it leaves theaters tomorrow xo)
Spiced apple cake tea of tastiness, you really really make me want to bake.
Hmm. I bet I could bake that pound cake recipe with a layer of cinnamon spiced apples in the middle. That would do it. A little almond extract (in addition to the vanilla) in the batter, and… yeah.
Only, I don’t have any apples. Woe is me, etc.
This is a much MUCH MUCH better version of Hot Apple Toddy from Herbal Infusions. So much better. I like it a lot. It’s staying on the list.
Thank you for sharing, Shmiracles! :) I really appreciate trying these hard-to-get-in-Canadia fandom blends.
Preparation
Mmmm. I read the first half of your first sentence and then started to drool. Then I continued reading and have come to the conclusion that you make some of the tastiest sounding things. You should have a food blog :P
I am seriously the world’s worst blogger, especially when it means I have to take pictures and write “real” things about what I make. I have a sewing blog I haven’t updated in probably a year. So sad. (I’ve sewn things, just not done anything else…
Haha. I started a blog. Did it for like 2 days and haven’t looked at it since :P.
Caramel flavoured gunpowder + black tea. At least, that’s what I can tell. The gunpowder was really spinachy for me tonight, and really… caramel is not a sauce I’d put on my spinach.
Otherwise, this tea is fun. And I love caramel. So I’ve drunk it all.
Thanks so much, Shmiracles! I think I’m almost through all the samples you gave me oh so long ago. :)
Preparation
Caramel spinach…something tells me that might not be the next big thing lol
You never know! Someone might decide that spinach and caramel should be The Dish for a fancy restaurant! ;)
Or the next bacon and maple syrup…sweet and savory coming together to be friends :P
Except this is sweet and… grassy. At least bacon is meaty and satisfying!
haha I was thinking that as I wrote it but you never know what people grab on to. Perhaps the use of spinach might lead people to believe there is health benefits to the pair just making it part of the health food trend. lol
Oh that would be entertaining. But now all I can think of is a spinach Creme Caramel. Which… Hmm…
I AM DRINKING DEREK HALE. ALERT. I AM DRINKING DEREK HALE.
Thank you so much for sharing, Shmiracles! :D
I totally underleafed this, and I don’t care. Just 1 tsp for 16 oz, because of the tightly rolled gunpowder.
This is a neat combo of flavours and I like it. Yes, I do. (Oh goodness, just wait, I’ll be adding an Adagio order to my list of orders to make. Halp!) A darker spicier (as in it has spices not that it’ll burn your tongue) toffee/caramel tea that is surprisingly light due to the green/black combo.
Yay!
Preparation
Sipdown! (236) – Probably my last for the night.
And I think that’s it for the Doctor Who samples from Sil! I think I like this one the most out of the other ones because of the orange and cinnamon. I mean, how can you go wrong with orange and cinnamon?
Although, it would be nicer if it were stronger orange/cinnamon. The black base is a little bland and Donna needs more pepper! Or fire!
Poor Donna. Poor, poor Donna. :|
But I’m happy I could enjoy this tea.
Also, here’s a good gifset for Donna: http://stefficr.tumblr.com/post/80312280193/screw-writing-strong-women-write-interesting
Sorry Ten! I wish your tea was more memorable! It just tastes like a plain black tea with a little tiny bit of banana.
I’m happy Sil sent some over for me. I would have been disappointed if I’d just bought 3 oz of it!
(240)
Oh no! There seems to be so many flavorful ingredients though. How can this be?!
I’m thoroughly confused by this tea too, as I’ve got a blend with fairly similar ingredients and it’s chock full o’ deliciousness. Must be the proportions in which they’re blended. Poop.
That being said, Adagio’s discontinued the guanabana tea, so who knows? Maybe the creator will reformulate and come out with a tastier replacement. A fandork can dream.
Hmmm. Maybe it’s the guanabana? It just seems to mild for a Doctor that is decidedly not.
242! Maybe I can hit 200 by the end of the month? Probably safer to aim for 225 though as my one-cup samples will soon be gone!
Anyway this was a decent tea. It was all bam!chestnut with a bit of comforting cinnamon. This would be a great autumn tea actually, but it’s spring! (yay) Chestnut seems like a good choice – it’s not subtle. It’s just there, doing it’s thing, much like 9.
Man, 9 had some really good moments! Why did he also have to have so many farting pigpeople moments too? /shudders in embarassment/
Thanks Sil! -(if you keep commenting on all my posts you will be VERY BUSY)
Maybe she’ll be TOO BUSY FOR TEA.
OH NO! No time for tea!
I looooooooooooooooooove chestnut so much.
And Nine, actually. I sort of forgot about him after not seeing his season in a few years, then went back to it in the fall for a pub quiz (my team came second, HECK YES) and that season’s really grown on me! It’s pretty camp at times (seriously the farting aliens, just NO) but it’s just so joyous :)
hahaha i might be able to keep it up. Work is full of production issues today, carried over from last night so no hope in getting real work done. Should have just stayed home.
Anna… uh. no. never.
It’s 9:30 and I’m my first sipdown for the day! I’m hoping to get a lot in since I’m in the shop by myself today and have easy access to the kettle. I actually moved out of my office and set my laptop up in the shop and just made myself at home. Who’s gonna stop me? NOT YOU.
I came into work today and my boss was still here – two nights in a row! So, since Wednesday I think he’s slept for maybe 3 hours. Yikes. The movie biz is only PARTIALLY for me, you guys. Assuming he can drive home safely, I think he’s going to sleep for 5 hours and then head out to set. And this is why I’m alone today – all the prosthetics are built and the only thing left is a giant mess which I will clean throughout the day between cups of tea.
And onto THIS tea: The lavender and the EG are fairly muted, leaving some apple raspberry notes on the surface. It comes across as simple and sweet, but there’s a little more to it than you might expect. I nearly dismissed it at first, but by the end of the cup I found I was enjoying it more!
MUCH LIKE ROSE! No, not really. I actually really loved Rose Tyler when I first met her, but then as I moved on from her to other companions I looked back at her and realized a few things: I don’t like how she treated Mickey. Dump him, or don’t dump him, but make up your mind. Also, do I really want to ship her and the Doctor? Yes they were adorable but… let’s creep it up a little. He’s 900 years old. She’s… 19? Oh well they’re in love and they didn’t actually do anything about it, but… no…. Just… no. I guess the human version of the Doctor going off with Rose is less creepy because he’s human, but…
Whatever. I’m thinking too much about this! Onto MOAR tea!
if i makes you feel better… you have samples of the ones i liked least…since i’m trying to drink those first… so hopefully they’ll just get better in your opinion too!
I can’t judge on the ship front (seeing how I ship Six and Peri something fierce, and Three and everyone Three interacts with, and Two and Jamie, Five and Turlough, and One and his Aztec girlfriend Cameca, Adric and math…) but I actually really liked Rose until she kept returning in the middle of Donna’s season and I wanted Donna to get to do her own thing. But that’s not a reflection on the character, but the writing insisting on making her THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTER IN THE WORLD which really annoys the crap out of me. And she totally wasn’t good with the whole SERIOUSLY JUST BREAK UP WITH MICKEY SO HE CAN MOVE ON thing, but she was 19, and 19 year olds suck at relationships.
Whoops, don’t ever get me started talking about the Doctor Who. I won’t rest until I’m producing it.
I’m so glad I’m not watching that show.
whispers Dude, watch the heck out of it! It’s the best thing!
anna… i might love you a little less now..
It really is a great show, but the First Series was a little unpolished – they were trying to figure out what to do with the show after not airing it for so long. I can forgive them, but if you’re not sure you would, just start at a later series!
And Sami you bring up some great points. She’s 19 – she’s going to make mistakes that might not make sense to thoseof us who’ve learned better. :P
I also agree with you about it not being fair to steal the light from Donna. I thought I’d hate Donna and I was so wrong. She was so great and I love how she was decidedly NOT a love interest. Martha was so good, but she would have been stronger had she no been interested in Ten.
Yeah, I wish they’d dropped the whole unrequited-crush thing with Martha after maybe 2 episodes and just moved on. I thought she was a really smart, capable character, who just wasn’t always well-served by how they wanted to write that season’s arc.
Then I shall henceforth refer to you as sill, which means herring.
No, but it’s daunting tackling a show that is so widely criticized for failing its female protagonists.
Thing is, Moffat is not an intrinsic sexist – I’m a HUGE, OBSESSIVE fan of his first show, Press Gang, which is a phenomenal 80s series with one of the most thoroughly enjoyable (and badass) female leads ever (my current laptop is named for her – if I tell you my desktop is named Ripley, I’m sure you understand the level of her badassery). His problem, though, is that he’s always completely devoted to and invested in his main character – if he only wrote female leads, that would be amazing, but, alas, no.
That’s an ineresting point, Anna – one I really hadn’t considered in that way, but I see it. And he’s not as misogynistic as a lot of angry fans paint him either, though I have my qualms about his writing as well. I haven’t met him, but we have mutual friends, so I give him the benefit of the doubt as a generally good person. No writer’s perfect.
As far as female characters go, I still think Barbara, Nyssa, Leela, and Ace have been a few of the strongest, best served female characters in the show. Whoops, I keep hijacking this thread! I’m going to go for a walk :p
i hear ya Anna
So my Butiki order arrived today (yay!) and I was debating between brewing Red Queen Cupcake or Butterscotch & Hazelnut Mocha Candies but since I had to make it in a travel mug I decided against them. Instead, I decided to try icing this tea. Alas, all I am getting is Adagio’s black base with some coconut creaminess. It’s drinkable but certainly nothing to write home about. Still, I am happy for the opportunity to try it so thank you NayLynn for the share :)
Thank you NayLynn for sharing this Adagio blend with me! I am not actually a part of the Dr. Who fandom (I tried, we just never clicked) but this particular tea sounded quite tasty. Sipping on it now, it is one of the more flavorful Adagio blends I have had – creamy coconut with a hint of apple sweetness. There is a thick mouthfeel to this blend and it is a touch artificial but not bad at all.
In other news, while logging this, I might have picked up my mug of the Queen and sipped on it for a minute or two wondering where all the flavor disappeared to. So that happened…
POOF!
Haha. I was very shock. I mean I know the Adagio base can be overpowering but that was just ridiculous.
I also don’t Who, but I am OBSESSED with Moffat’s first show Press Gang.
The only Moffat show I watch is Sherlock. I thought I would love Dr. Who but I just never got into it.
I love Sherlock crazy amounts, and loved Doctor Who, too. I lost interest after David Tennant, though – Matt Smith is just not my cup of tea.
thanks cavo stupid work is interupting my tea drinking…and because i’m drinking adagio teas, they’re all blending together into a giant mush of BLACCCKKKKKKKK MUTED TEAS…
i remember thinking this one wasn’t too bad. but i like the other one i drank with it better. mmmm blueberries (in the other tea)
Cavocorax Spoiled me with samples of her custom adagio blends which makes me super happy. Not because i think that i’ll love any of them but because i love trying ALL the teas, and maybe some of them will be nice enough. :) I had this one very early and so long ago. What i remember is that this was sort of an average cup of tea with some cinnamon. I’m trying hard not to look at the ingredients beyond black/green/rooibos tea so that i can really see what flavours i taste when i drink them :)
I have faith in you Sil, if someone on this earth can try “all the teas” I’m pretty sure it’s you :-)
hahahaha
I’m with TTF.
i’m almost at 1650 different teas logged :)
Sil-zilla!
on the plus side.. my tea drinking is so totally getting interrupted right now with MOAR stupid work problems (5th one today….) but this is keeping me laughing
I still haven’t seen Winter Soldier yet (shame on me) but I figured I would have a cup or five of the Steve Rogers blend in honor of the movie anyway. I really want to love this blend, I do, but it’s just not winning me over. Maybe there’s too much/not enough of something? I think there’s a bit too much ginger… or not enough apple? Anyway, I brewed this double strength with a touch of sugar like someone here suggested and it was better than previous brews. I was just too lazy to get up and grab honey. Shame, because I really think a bit o honey would help this tea out a lot!
