Adagio Custom Blends, Cara McGee

“So, in fact … You-you mean …”
“Yes.”
“I’m your … … best …”
“… man.”
“… friend?”
“Yeah, ’course you are. ’Course you’re my best friend.”
John watches with interest as he takes a long slurping drink of his tea and then swallows.
“Well, how was that?”
“Surprisingly okay.”

i had NO idea i would like this tea this much. seriously no idea.
it has cinnamon in it for heavens sake. so, maybe, just maybe, cinnamon isn’t my problem? or maybe the apples and oranges balance it out nice?
it does have a kinda spiced cider flavor to it almost.
i’m really surprised.

it’s like this strange balance between fruity and dry, and maybe even a tad idea of salty? probably the puerh.

it’s definitely a weird kind of tea. not normal. and after reading my reviews for over a year you probably know right away that that’s why i respond to it. i like it weird. beautiful things are usually a little lopsided. i like the flaws and imperfections. or as Frances Ha said, “I like things that look like mistakes”. that’s where the art and magic of life is.

This is a very smokey smelling tea. But once brewed the smokey flavor simply lingers in the back of the pack. The spices come out to play and the game is on!

also a sipdown tonight while i tryied to pick out pain colors for our new apartment…so far we’re thinking of orange living room, yellow kitchen and green bedroom…. of course that leaves the hall, two other bedrooms and the bathroom but hey, baby steps. This doesn’t feel very “nine-like” to me, but that’s ok. As with donna noble, a nice tea, pleasant enough to drink but i’m not sad to see it go…i was much more sad to see 9 go lol (and 10 and 11….)

Ack. New format less iPad friendly. I’ll update this after on the computer lol

Slider bar with numbers is a good time :) well except for not liking iPad lol

sipdown! another tea i was happy to try out, but like most adagio blacks, won’t hit my must haves ever. this time around i got a little more cinnamon and orange, though mostly it was the base + cinnamon. not a bad cup, and i’m happy to have the tins and have explored the teas!

Watching fringe, eating butter tarts from the tea festival, trying out a few more of my Dr. Who fan blends so i know what i like and don’t. This one is a bit better than the other two, which is giving me confidence in my order of how i figured i’d like these blends heh. So far, i’ve been pretty spot on in terms of things. Again, not a fan of adagio’s black base but this is a decent enough cinnamon tea with a few other things going on. It’s not IN YOUR FACE cinnamon like i think it was david’s tea – glitter n’ gold…this one is much more subdued and you can still taste the tea.

also…OMG AAAH NEW TEA FORMAT FOR LOGGING JUST MADE MY HEAD EXPLODE WHEN I GOT TO THE DASHBOARD…. i can’t comment on my own tasting note anymore so i’m editing…

gooodbye rose! it was nice while you were here, but i’m not sorry to see you leave since you are not nearly as delicious as i want you to be. :)

Figure i should keep drinking up these teas since i have a few ppl who will be getting little samples of these from me. I still find there’s too much blergamot in this one to really be a great tea, but the raspberry and vanilla flavoring do help to tone it down enough that i don’t want t outright dump the cup out (i’m looking at you river song..) This was ok in offsetting and creating a contrast for the puerh i’ve been drinking but i’m sure most of this tin will be off in swaps for others to enjoy more :)

Another from the Doctor Who sampler. This one also has blergamot in it, but it’s presence is subdued by the fruity bits in here that are going on. It makes it a much easier cup to drink for sure. I think this one might be one of those teas that is best brewed cold (or hot then cooled) with a little sweetner added to it to soften the tartness from the fruity bits :)

River Song, you suck. Blergamot! yuck. I figured i would start with the teas in my pack that i knew i would be less enthusiastic about, but still hopeful. This is blergamot.

I’m cheating and removing this from my cupboard because i know i won’t drink the rest of it. Instead i’ll parcel it out to share with swap friends who want to try it or (looking at cavocorax), want more :)

also in terms of flavour…this really just tastes like an EG to me..that’s maybe just a little creamier? maybe?

“The game is something.”
“On.”
“Yeah, that. That.”

what a light and bright cup! and earthy too!
i’m so glad i bought this. i love black teas most, but i am certainly always searching for a good dazzling green tea with heart. something i can gulp regularly that has weight but isn’t dense.

“What a couple of lightweights. You couldn’t even make it to closing time.”

the flavors in this blend are strong. so i’m not sure how resilient it will be for the long haul. but tonight i brewed it short and sipped it casually. and i enjoyed it’s stoic freshness very much.

perhaps someday i could even try it with a side of limoncello.

“He’s clueing”
“What?”
“He’s clueing for looks.”

Tea #4
This is such a pretty blend in the package with the little sprigs of red mixed into the rest of the tea. Maybe I’m strange but that was my first thought when I opened the tin. Lol.
The dry tea itself doesn’t have much of any particular outstanding smell. It just smells like, well, tea. Lol!
Brewed it’s vaguely cinnamony, a bit roasted with a pecular wet sort of smell to it. Not like musky wet dog smell, but just sort of damp. I know that probly doesn’t make any sense to anyone else, but when I figure out something better, I’ll fix it.
The taste is kinda meh for me with nothing standing out except some cinnamon notes, something kinda smokey and another taste that I can’t identify. Maybe it’s the ‘mineral’ taste that the Mambo is supposed to add, I’m not sure. I’ll have to just make some Mambo (I had picked up a sample pack with my order) and see if that’s what it is.

Tea #3
This has a nicely spiced scent dry, but not sharp like a chai. The brew also smells slightly spiced and vaguely green. I did notice that the brew has a scummy green tone to it. I’m not really surprised since I’m betting that’s just the sprinkles fault. I have another tea from Adagio with sprinkles that does the same thing, though it’s not quite as noticeable with a black tea.
I was surprised at how watery this tasted to me though. Maybe I should’ve used 2 tsp instead of the 1 tsp for my 8oz? Next time I make this, I’ll have to up the measure, or else brew it for a bit longer than 2 min.
As it stands it was a green, spiced sort of brew to drink, though nothing particularly outstanding to me. It’s nicely light and doesn’t seem to want to knock you down with flavors, which is refreshing.

Tea #2 from my ‘The Town We Do Not Speak Of’ (aka Nightvale)
Dry this one has a very strong grapefruit scent. Sort of a sour/tart sort of scent.
After brewing it’s got this strange sweet/sour thing going on with a grassy sort of green taste. Adding some truvia mellows the sour taste, though doesn’t really bring out much more than what I’ve already tasted.
I’ll have to try cold brewing this one too since maybe that’ll bring out more sweet fruityness. As it is, it’s a pretty alright tea to drink hot.

My most recent order from Adagio I got the ‘The Town We Do No Speak Of’ sampler set. Since I had the day off today and all to myself I decided to get through as many of the tins as possible. This was tea #1.
Brewed this has a green smell with something vaguely smoky and coffee-esque (but not like bitter/burnt coffee). It’s earthy and definitely coffee like when I tasted it, though I’m not sure how much of that is the maté since I’ve never had maté before. It’s not unpleasant, just kinda odd. Overall this blend was just kinda strange, not in a bad way, just strange. I also couldn’t really taste any of the clover or cardamom, though it could be because I was concentrating so much on the overall oddness that they just blended in with the rest.
Unfortunately I think I might’ve brewed it too hot? I figured on something close-ish to black tea since the gunpowder can stand up pretty well to hotter water, but when I went to the Adagio website, they recommend 185* for brewing. Whoops. Lol. I’ll have to try that temp next time.
I can say that when I got to the bottom and went to dump the dregs out of my cup (my strainer isn’t the best), it was gritty black and pretty alarming. I’ve never seen that happen, so again, it might be the maté. I hope it was because sheesh, I just drank it. Lol!
Overall not bad. I’m not sure about the supposed kick the maté is supposed to have since I don’t react as expected to caffeine (can drink it right before bed and still sleep), but this did make me feel vaguely shaky/jittery. Could’ve been because I hadn’t had much to eat, but it’s something to keep in mind for next time I drink it.

I keep thinking I’ve reviewed these teas that I have and have drunk but I don’t see the reviews on the pages. Oh well, here it is. Not a sipdown, but significantly closer.

The Earl Grey in this really overwhelms the other flavours for me and I’m not a huge fan of bergamot anymore so this makes the taste somewhat unpleasant for me. Not undrinkable but if it were available (I haven’t looked) I certainly won’t be buying any more. I drank it today because all of the teas that I’ve had today contained caramel flavouring and I wanted to continue the trend. Unfortunately, this one does not at all stand up to the others.

I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, considering I love almonds, assam, and flowers. Should have had it with biscuits ;)

“There’s another bedroom upstairs, if you’ll be needing two bedrooms.”
“Of course we’ll be needing two bedrooms.”
“Oh, don’t worry. We get all sorts ‘round here. Mrs. Turner next door’s got married ones.”

i’ll be honest. this cup of tea is really very good.
i’m not sure that the half-a-sample-tin i’m splitting with moraiwe will be enough. it’s basically just assam and almond tea. simple.
and yet it tasted like old quilts and warm cookies. so warming and cozy when i brewed it first thing this morning! maybe i’m extra sensitive and susceptible first thing in the morning, but i’m still looking forward to another cup tomorrow :)
and i’m gonna have it with tea biscuits then too!

2014/02/06
finished my sample up as i packed up tea swaps to mail tomorrow. there was something i really liked about this tea and if i keep considering it for weeks to come, which leads to buying some of my own or at least getting more in a swap, i wouldn’t be surprised.

holy crap steepster looks so different! i love it. looove it!

and TAGS!?!? we are working with TAGS NOW?!!! that is so cool. i hope it becomes an awesome and beautiful and messy and poetic world of tag chaos. this is gonna be good :)

but seriously, i’m not really serious enough of a tea drinker to take the time to record the amount of tea i brewed in what amount of water i used. so now i will just proceed with ignoring that part of the review process details along with how i have always ignored the steep time and water temp questions. but HECK am i glad that there are tea drinkers that are patient enough to do this!! so you, yes you! thanks!

this tea IS chocolatey-ish i guess. and it is kinda cinnamon-y i suppose. it’s not bad or anything, it’s actually pretty nice. it’s just also a little flat i think? idk. i’ll drink a cup again soon and re-write this when i feel differently.

thanks as always to jump62359 for this fandom sample!!

public service announcement: always confirm consent before touching the butts.

let me tell you what happened.
i got this awesome swap from jump62359 and i just started enthusiastically drinking them. dove right in.

however, it seems that 3 teas i picked in a row to try from the swap all had chai in them. chai chai chai. and this tea itself was so kinda dull, that i just kept procrastinating making a note. and then i would brew another cup. and try to pay better attention while sipping. and maybe figure the tea out more. maybe it would click or something? but nope. not this one.

(i would brew it. taste it. taste it some more. i would get bored. it would get cold.)

what i do love about this tea is that it makes me think of Elementary’s Sebastian Moran who i thought was very good and menacing. and still i “felt something” for the man. he was cast very well. (i suspect casting is why Elementary has grown on me so strongly.) (also the show has/had a trans-woman casted and portrayed it and not in any kind of weird or outlandish way, she was written and acted with depth and nuance.) (also all the women on the show (all two of them? hah) aren’t annoying. which is basically unheard of on american tv.)(i ramble…)

the other thing i like about this tea is that Tea Sipper apparently loves it! she has a much more sensitive palate than me. i can say that with confidence and very little background information because basically EVERYBODY has a more sensitive palate than i do!! hahah
i still have a few more cups of this so i will give it a rest for a while and then try again, while channeling Tea Sipper through my brew. i love the learning puzzle that’s sometimes tea.

.

“Well then. Short version. Not dead.”

thanks to jump62359 for this sample! it’s such an earthy mellow brew.
smoky and smooth i suppose the gunpowder kinda takes over a bit in the personality category. that, paired with the afternoon mediumness of the ceylon, it’s a very mellow and fairly flat cup.

which is appropriate for this theme!

so sad and angry and frustrated and relieved i abandon all reason and collapse dramatically on the warm loose flat earth. hands at my sides and flat on my belly. it’s over.

not dead.

Phil Coulson!
the original fan boy!
(and who wouldn’t be for a captains uniform like Steve’s)
(now come to think of it, it’s pretty easy to imagine Phil drinking tea. it goes with his suits. and perhaps he’d swap samples with Bruce and Natasha.)

it snowed last night and i was hoping for a snow day so i could stay home and drink all my new tea that arrived yesterday. that didn’t happen, but i did still try my first Coulson cup as i tried to watch the opening scene to Agents of Shield. (problem there was no new episode last night)

keeping my story long, i didn’t know what the ingredients were in this blend. i just wanted to get to know Phil. so 30 min later when i was yellllling with enthusiasm at my sister about fanish things while we were trying to defrost her car. i HAD to calm myself down and wonder aloud, ‘what was in that tea’…

maté. the answer is maté.

which i never drink. but i should probably drink it before every party.

i think this was my gateway maté.
also, it’s very strong. it’s for when you need to bring out the big guns. and that is totally Phil Coulson.

the smell of this tea is delicious cuz anytime you put adagio’s chestnut or caramel or hazelnut teas in a blend it takes over and smells like cake. yay cake.

so at first the flavor i got from the tea was confusing because i didn’t know it was maté. but now that i understand what i was tasting, i declare Agent Coulson’s tea BADASS. i seriously enjoyed the toasted maté sample i got in a swap way back when, i even thought about buying more, and this is the best way ever to buy more!

i suspect i will be able to get my boyfriend addicted to this tea cuz he’s the real maté drinker in the house, and then i will have an excuse to ALWAYS buy more Phil Coulson if i want.

Agent, report.

I took a sniff and fell in love, then had to wait five minutes to see if it loved me back.

But seriously, this tea is comfort in a mug. The earl grey is familiar and comforting with its bergamot and black tea flavors. The blackberry and vanilla flavors add some excitement to what would otherwise be the typical earl grey, and they blend in wonderfully while toning down the bergamot.