Adagio Custom Blends, Cara McGee

This is a very comforting cup of tea. I usually take it with a bit of cream to bring out the vanilla, although it’s perfectly delicious plain. It also fits the movie perfectly and it’s great to drink while watching it (because you really do need a warm and cozy tea to make it through that movie). I usually steep to taste, because it is a fairly light tea and while I don’t want to over-steep it, I still want to be able to taste all the flavors.
This is definitely one of my favorite blends by Cara and I love it any time of the day.

I take it all back, it is absolutely perfect with a bit of milk and sugar.

Okay, this is a tricky tea in my opinion. It’s really easy to over steep and if you’re not one for strong smokey teas, then it really can be like a punch in the face. It honestly does smell like a musty campfire in the bag and it pretty much still does after steeping. It’s great plain if you like that sort of thing, but I like it best with milk and sugar because it helps tone down the lapsang souchong and bring out the assam melody and the oriental spice.
It’s a bit of a mystery and I think it’s very fitting for Sherlock. An excellent tea if you can figure out how to brew it to your liking.

Absolutely loved every cup of this tea. When I ordered it, I was looking for a gunpowder/mint combo and I noticed, but didn’t fully realize what effect the rooibos jasmine would have on this. Maybe I’m just easy for mint/green tea combos, but this tea is fantastic!

The jasmine adds a little depth and maybe even a hint of sweetness that tempers the smoky gunpowder and sharp spearmint. This tea makes a great travel mug, producing delicious cups even under questionable hot water conditions. Cold, the spearmint gives you that refreshing feeling. Definitely something I would buy again.

Recently I ordered a bunch of tea from Adagio and just recently got it in. Ever since I first opened the bag and smelled Sirius I kept wanting to try it. With the humid weather here, hot tea rarely mixes with it. Last night after it cooled down I finally resigned myself to make some. In the bag Sirius smells divine! Like red hots or cinnamon candy in general. It has a mellow taste at first, but seemed to sharpen the longer it was in my cup. There’s definite sharp notes of oriental spice with a lemony aftertaste. I have a feeling that this tea will become a favorite of mine. It’s just so good!!

Tonight I’m having The Woman… or is she having me? hmmm, either way I’m entirely satisfied. This is one I’ve had every once in a while, but every time it’s a great cup. No embellishments today, just that smokey, slightly cherry-vanilla. Her battle dress if you will.

Sad to see this go. I’ve put it on my list to repurchase. I find it different and interesting.

I should have just made up a whole pot of this and made it a sipdown, but I wasn’t thinking and only made the one cup. Oh well. I feel like the smell of this one is deceiving. It has a really heavy smoky smell to it, however the taste is very smooth with the cherry and vanilla. Then again, Irene is a character with many facets as well and I believe the blend certainly suits her. Will she regard you with leather or lace? The best way to find out is just to dive right in…

I’m typing this one as I go ;)

Scent out of the tin: yummm. Delightful. Intriguing. Sweet and fruity, and definitely smoky, but not overpoweringly so. Brewed I get more of the smoky/woody scent, but the cherry is still there.
First sip: I love this tea! It is earthy without being too heavy. I don’t have a master chef palette, so I can’t tell you what’s all going on in here, I just know that I like it! I gave it a small bit of sugar, and again found that it brought out the cherry for me in both taste and scent.
Again, yummmmm

Oh Molly, I know you’ll always be there for me. It’s been a loooooooooooooooooooong day and I really needed a soothing tea. I made this a little stronger than I normally do, two heaping tsp for about 8oz water. The cherry was leaning towards the medicinal side, but it was great for the mood I was in.

Woke up feeling terrible. If I didn’t already have my appendix removed I may have thought it was that. That’s the only other time I’ve had abdominal pain like that. But I managed to make it through the morning at work. I felt bad because I was in obvious pain. Customers kept trying to cheer me up though, it was sweet. Then I had a dentist appointment. After that I was forced to socialize with the dreaded brother-in-law and his baby momma. the horror. For surviving the encounter I treated myself to some new LUSH products! yay!

I was about to go to bed, when I realized that in all the time I’ve been sitting here on my laptop that I haven’t gotten any of the things done that I had wanted to tonight.
Did I check my e-mail? No.
Did I start my fafsa? No.
Did I read any of my book? No.
Did I look at eyeglass frames? No.

What I did do was paint my nails (then smudge them while doing dishes) take pictures of my cat for instagram, and watch Star Trek. oops. Oh well. I had hoped to at least peruse some different frame shapes and figure out which ones I gravitate towards. The last pair I had were rectangular, and on the skinnier side. I liked the shape, but I think they were a bit too skinny. I guess I’m just worried about liking a pair that seems too “hipster” and end up getting dirty looks for being a ‘fake nerd girl.’ grrrrrrr. Why does this have to be so difficult? Wish me luck.

Anywho, I made up a teapot of this lovely Molly blend. It’s making me sooooo sleeeeeepy. While I do wish I could taste more cherry in this, the chamomile is comforting. I also love the pink color of this, it’s so cute in my little teacup :)

I finally got the large bag of this tea! Previously I only had the sample tin from the Sherlock set. I do shake this one around a bit to get more of the cherry, but this has to be one of my favorite “wind down” kind of teas.

I had wanted to stretch out my last little bit of this tea for as long as I could. Sooooooo, for a while now I’ve had just enough for one measly cup just hanging out in my cupboard. When I made it today it was so sad. Not only was it my last bit, it had more chamomile than anything else :/

Now I’m ready for bed! lol, darn chamomile

I think I might go sit in a corner and cry softly into my last cup of Molly Hooper tea. Why? One, because it’s Molly. Two, because it’s the last of my sampler. And three, because when I went to repurchase I saw the “Out of stock” notice.
When this does come back in stock I will certainly be buying a bag!

Such a relaxing cup of tea! I love the cherry in this, so perfect. I only have a small bit of this left from the Sherlock sampler, but I’m seriously considering buying a bag.

The smell of this tea out of the tin is gorgeous, just like you would expect Molly Hooper to smell like if you gave her a hug, a feminine and delicate fruity floral.
Brewed it has this lovely light pink color, and still retains that fruity floral scent. My first sip and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this tea. It leaves a bit of a tingle, and has a nice hint of sweetness to it. The tea is not too fruity, not too floral, just a happy balance. For me I didn’t think it really needed any additional sweetening, but I did add about 1/4 tsp of turbinado sugar to my then half a cup of tea ;p I felt that it did bring out the cherry a little more, and it was still a nice relaxing cup of tea.

I cold brewed this one for hmmm…. a couple days?? I kept saying, oh man, I need to strain those leaves. Ahh, I’ll do it in a little bit. Yeeeeeah, that didn’t happen. Regardless, this is an awesome iced tea, sweetened of course. The almond plays in to it rather nicely. I can’t remember if this is a sipdown or not. If not there’s only enough left for one mug I believe.

Brewed this up to go with my late night snack! I was in the mood for a really salty treat, like pretzels or tortilla chips. All I have is popcorn though, so kettle corn it is! I didn’t think my usual fruity tea would go along well, so I reached for this one out of my sampler. It’s still like I remember it, malty with that bit of almond that isn’t too strong. Added just a bit of sugar and it’s a perfect pairing!

I love the smell of this tea right out of the tin. I love the touch of sweetness, and the almond scent. Brewed, it’s a different story entirely. Just from the scent, all I can think of is yams/squash. Weird, right? I did not like this by itself, so I added a half tsp of turbinado sugar and could actually enjoy it. Makes me sad because the dry tea is so deliciously fragrant. I’m thinking maybe I brewed this one wrong? I will definitely try it again to see.

EDIT: As I sat and finished my cup, I liked this tea more and more. Still, next time I’ll play with the brewing time.

Goodbye Bilbo Brew! (150)

This was so amazing. I’m basically having it for lunch as it’s so rich and wonderful. If I’d had it earlier I could have called it Elevensies.

Also, that’s a real thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevenses I thought that was just made up for the Hobbit! #themoreyouknow

Eeee! I’m so excited to try this one after reading Terri HarpLady’s tasting notes! And she sent me some and it’s in my hands and I smelling the wonderful cinnamon and sweet potato aroma wafting from my cup! Thank you!

And it’s every bit as good as I had hoped it would. It’s warm and comforting but with enough of a cinnamonyzing that I don’t want to get too comfortable. So satisfying. And I can really taste the sweet potato! That just seems like such an odd add-in but it’s so great.

Man, but why? Why does Adagio have to be so awesome and let people make all the fandom teas at fairly reasonable prices, and then be so awful when it comes to customer service? Even if the shipping charges weren’t astronomical for us poor Canadians, hearing things like this: http://steepster.com/biancag/posts/179849 makes me not want to give them my money even if I could afford the shipping. :| Seriously – they should just say they don’t ship to Canada if they don’t want to support International customers fairly anyway.

(oh but this tea is so good… why????)