Adagio Custom Blends, Cara McGee

I love the whiff of cinnamon I get from this, I just wish I could taste it more. Still, it won’t be hard to get through this sample.

Ok, this is a mate! New to me, though I think the chocolate blends well with the earthy taste.

This is the last of the Nightvale collection – now I’ve tasted them all. Hmm, while the Teen Wolf collection was all about fruity-chai-green-green, this collection is more about the earthy-gunpowder. Makes sense to me.

I royally screwed this one up earlier today. :( My apologies Cavocorax as you so graciously shared so much of it with me, I have enough to try, try again.

What I did get out of this was a chalky cinnamon chocolate flavor out of this, and the chalky side was likely hbecause it sat in water to cool for about 20 minutes after steeping, as I was off learning Spanish.

Me gustaría hablo bien español!

Hot with chocolate agave; dense, thick liquor and flavour profile. Like almond infused fudge but with a slight roastiness that reminds me of coffee – loosely. Best cup of this that I’ve made in AGESSSS. I’m sure the agave definitely played a part in that.

Cold Brew!

Also, probably the last mate blend that I’ll be having in a while (aside from maybe some stuff at work) because I’ve now packed all of my mate/guayusa teas up into boxes. So, nothing new for me for a little while now.

This was… meh.

Too much of a high roasted coffee flavour (with hints of chocolate) for it to be really enjoyable to me. I think whatever I was originally attracted to when I first purchased this tea has either long since faded or my tastes have just evolved enough that I simply don’t taste it anymore.

Iced latte.

So, when I bring teas to work to drink I often write their names on the cups, and then jot down tasting notes on the side of the cup when I have a touch of down time. By the end of the day, I often have one cup plastered with jot notes and writing.

This was my first tea during a shift last week, and I have to say it’s also the first one I’ve ever felt like I shouldn’t write on the cup. I mean, I know the context of the name and how it ties into WTNV; but still…

Anyway, it tasted meh; as normal. Very muddy chocolate and nut sort of flavour, with roastiness. There’s some pretty major flavour deterioration happening with this one, though. Which is undertstandable – it’s old. I do think the change in preparation style helped it feel a little more exciting/fresh though. A change of pace, you know? Also, I tasted orange notes as well! And that’s kind of a new thing with this blend, for sure. Considering there’s no orange in the blend it’s a bit of a mystery where that came from.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UECeJzd-G30&index=8&list=WL

My favourite thing about this tea is that when you go to search for it in the Steepster database it gets corrected as “A peach”…

I had this one on the commute to work today; I didn’t prep it as an eggnog latte but to be perfectly honest with the amount of eggnog that my “splash” actually wound up being it might as well have been a weak eggnog latte. Which is to say, this taste A LOT like eggnog. But also it was nutty and chocolate-y from the tea itself which was nice enough.

I still have so, so much of this one left though.

This is a queued tasting note.

Cold Brew.

I’m revisiting the Adagio fan blends I’ve still got in my cupboard. Thus far, this has been the most disappointing because as my tastes have changed/evolved since getting it I’ve been increasingly viewing it as ‘lesser’. It doesn’t help that I’ve fallen out of the WTNV fandom so that element of the tea which initially drew me in has lost appeal as well.

Still, the nutty notes of this blend are really good. Those have not lost the impact they had on me when I first tried this tea. The part which I’m finding just doesn’t deliver the same way anymore is the base, and I don’t know if there’s much of anything I can do to fix that. Plus, the chocolate doesn’t do it for me; I always felt that was the weakest part of this tea, probably because it’s chocolate chips. I’m gonna work towards sipping this down and then I’m done with it.

This is a queued tasting note.

Had this one iced in a timolino with a little bit of cashew milk added in earlier on in the week; it tasted shockingly like a Starbucks iced coffee type drink, but more watered down and less artificially sweet. I was a little surprised how much I loved it, especially with the more simple but light cocoa and nut notes.

However, looking at my current rating for this blend (94) while I do think this is delicious and one of the best Adagio fan blends I’ve had to date I think I may have over zealously rated it the last time I had it, so I’m adjusting my rating to a more appropriate number.

Queued Tasting Note.

Made with a splash of milk and brought with to work; definitely provided a good energy boost from all the caffeine in this one – and with the milk it was super smooth and silky. Most dominant note was sweet almonds, and then milk chocolate. So, pretty much it was like drinking chocolate covered almonds. Just a little bit of a roasty, coffee like flavour to round things out a bit.

Mmm! Definitely one of my favourite Adagio blends.

Cold Brew.

This was gross, but it’s my fault. I cold brewed it on Friday, but wanted to wait until Saturday on the trip to Regina to have it so I strained the leaves and then poured it in a water bottle on Satuday. Except I never drank it on the trip to Regina. And then I was going to have it later in the day, but we were too busy and then when I had time it was too late at night for mate.

So I saved it for Sunday; but I had a different caffeinated tea in the morning since I wanted something hot. Was, again, going to have this one on the drive home but then I fell asleep for most of the drive home, so that didn’t happen. Finally at home I decided I could drink it but, like I should have guessed, it was SO GROSS. Just slimy, icky chocolate tea. Bleck bleck bleck.

So I tossed it, and now I’ll no better for next time. Sorry tea.

Eating Swedish Fish and being reminded of my lovely European tea fren’ Anna!

- VERY sweet marzipan cherry nut flavour
- SO good; and rich! Affirmation that buying 3 oz. of this was a good thing!
- Roasty mate complimenting it; smooth
- Black tea creates a nice depth
- I think Adagio manages to capture nut flavour really well!

On the fandom side of things; I really want to get back (and “properly”) into WTNV. And by that, I mean I want to listen to more than the first three or four episodes of it.

Sipdown (195/197)!

Drink all the nutty teas!

My cup of this was pretty cold by the time I got to it. I think I may have, inadvertently, fallen asleep while listening to music. Just for a few minutes; but long long enough for my tea to have gone close to stone cold. So, the caffeine content of this one is probably much needed.

Anyway, I tried the holding a mint in my mouth thing with this one too; it made the roasty mocha pop a lot – but kind of drowned out the almond/hazelnut so I stopped doing it. I really want to enjoy the flavourful nuttiness of this blend!

It’s just so good – even really cold. In fact, I think this would make for a phenominal iced latte. The flavour palette just lends itself so well to that sort of thing…

Anyway, I’m crushed that that blend is all gone now. I want more! I want to have the option to have this daily, if I so choose! So, if the opportunity to get in on a group Adagio order comes along (and I have money), getting this one is going to be a priority for me.

Never thought I’d say it; but I need the Apache Tracker in my life (even if he is a jerk).

That awkward moment when you’re trying to smell the dry leaf of a blend, and instead you just wind up with a bunch of tea leaves up your nose…

Anywho, I’ve only listened to the first three or four episodes of WTNV, but that does include the first appearance of the Apache Tracker, so I do know a bit about the character. With Adagio blends I think it’s kind of important you understand the character, because their rating (since they are so unique) should incorporate not only how they taste but whether they accurately represent their namesakes.

I was excited to get this one from aisling of tea because Adagio blends are so tricky to get your hands on here in Canada unless you have a tea mule or are willing to shell out lots of money for the shipping. Plus, if you don’t want the full sampler of something, then 3 oz. is a lot to get for a blind try. And, on top of the fandom/character itself I thought the teas that compose this blend all sounded really interesting too!

My friend Robyn may have been a little more excited than I was though; she’s really into WTNV.

Anyway, now that this is steeped up I think it’s really incredibly good! The first thing I notice is actually the really rich and full almond/hazlenut with a dark chocolate weightiness to it; and then the roasted mate’s earthiness and the black base. All in all, I’m actually incredibly impressed with the flavour of this one! It sort of reminds me of Tea Desire’s Bralisiano but with more more nuttiness where that one has sweetness.

I would totally buy a full 3 oz. pouch of this one! Out of all the teas I’ve ever had, I think this one – hands down – does the best job of really capturing and conveying a flavourful and distinctly “nutty” flavour.

As well, the nuttiness totally matches with namesake of the tea, though Cara mentions it being “offensive” in the description, and the flavour of this one is anything but. However, all in all I think this is a good character portrayal and I’m super pleasantly surprised.

Onto the shopping list!

It tasted like a weak Almond Joy to me. I’m just not having any luck today trying these new flavors. Yesterday, I had one that was really good…but just not feeling the love from this cup. There was nothing that ‘popped’ for me in this tea.

I’m finding I can deal with Lapsang Souchong in small amounts and when it’s not the dominant flavor, so primarily in blends, I suppose.

This one, while it definitely has a smoke element, and smells quite strongly smoky, it muted heavily by the assam and then the spices, while kind of muddled, come out mid sip. I get a little cinnamon and clove, but neither is very strong. The lapsang pokes out at the end of the sip, and lingers in the aftertaste; it’s my least favorite part, but it’s not overwhelming and isn’t enough to make me dislike this tea.

I don’t think I’ll ever completely warm up to LS, but our relationship is definitely getting better.

I agree with Shmiracles! This is a really clever blend.

Strong and sweet really does sum it up. And works perfectly in taste and for the character. Those make for the most fun blends too.

This starts with just the tiniest bit of smoke and malt then quickly turns into almond and cocoa and cinnamon — cookies really.

These blends are also making me want to marathon it again. Gaaaaaaah.

This sample is from MissB. Not the latest batch, but the batch before!

I quite like this one. Caramel and spices. Mmm. I took it to work with a little brown sugar, and I’m doing a second steep now in almond milk on the stove, to which I will also add brown sugar.

So yeah, I’d consider getting this tea again. In the distant future. Once the trouble with tribbles samples has been taken care of a bit. :)

I had this yesterday and didn’t review it. I’m really new to mate, meaning I am not sure if I’ve had it before? But yesterday was a rough day – I stayed up really late to watch the True Detective finale after HBOgo crashed and I had to use other methods – and then I had a 2-hour insurance class about statistics and I thought I was going to puke or die. Or maybe just pass out asleep. Bad associations with mate.

But hey, here’s a fic i read at lunch while sitting on the porch in the sun: http://archiveofourown.org/works/574904
It’s set in a diner. Which is like happiness catnip to me. Lonely diners. It’s a thing.