Adagio Teas - Duplicate

And after about 9 cups in the past two days, I’ve finished off this sample too. I forgot that I like Darjeeling as well as Assam, just when I’m in a different mood. Will this hold true for Ceylon… stay tuned! ;)

Was surprised that the leaves were smaller than I remembered them being, but otherwise, what I expect.

I’m getting back into my regular life a bit, and the clearest sign of that is that I’m doing more with tea again. My husband even treated me to a tea kettle I’ve been wishing for some time: http://www.cuisinart.com/products/tea_kettles/ptk-330bk.html

I also got the black tea samplers from Adagio. I’ve been wanting to for about a year, but was also avoiding caffeine for the entire time, so I’d been putting it off. Now, it’s time to get down to it!

So, I kicked it off with the Darjeeling. It’s a good cup. I think this one would probably appeal to people who aren’t tea drinkers but are interested in getting started. It’s an easy one to drink, doesn’t really need any sweetener or cream, and is just a solid cup of tea. Yay!

With agave syrup and a touch of whole milk, this tastes a lot like Thai tea.

I think this tea, so far, is my contender to make bubble milk tea at home. Will add more on my impression after more tastings and comparisons to other Darjeeling teas. Interesting seeing how flavours change processed as a black and as an oolong.

I believe this blend was sent to me by JoeCool ages ago. Sorry about the delay in trying it, I had put it in a tin, and it managed to get tucked away deep within my stash… and as I have mentioned before, I am trying to get my stash under some semblance of control… so I just came across this blend the other day…

It is a very flavorful blend. The Irish Breakfast is bold and bracing, and the coconut and vanilla give it a nice, creamy touch.

I like it.

I set the kettle on to boil and huffed the little pearls for most of the time. They smell soooooo good. I love the smell of Jasmine tea, and this one smells more natural than the Thousand Mountain Jasmine that I have from Teavana.
this one made a lovely pot. The little pearls unfurled in the water and it turned a beautiful clear golden yellow color with just a hint of green. The smell coming out of the pot was just as delicious as the smell from the pearls themselves.
The flavor was very light, very pleasant. I added just about a teaspoon of sugar as I like my teas sweetened. The little bit of sugar really brought out the sweet flower taste. It tasted natural, and not artificial. I really enjoyed this one and am thinking that the girl that gave it to my husband may have brewed it to hot or to long, because this tea was much better than the Teavana Jasmine tea.
See full review on my blog at http://akoalateablog.blogspot.com/2012/02/tea-1.html

I enjoy this blend. The dry tea leaves have an amazing sweet vanilla smell. I don’t really smell or taste the coconut much though. I really wish the coconut was more pronounced because I adore coconut but this tea is still pretty good. I would agree with some of the other reviewers, it seems to be Irish Breakfast with just a hint of flavor (but I’m a tea newbie so my palate is still new and relatively undeveloped).
I like to let this tea cool a bit because it seems to develop a sweeter, creamier, vanilla flavor after some time has lapsed. And it’s especially tasty with a little bit of cream/milk and some sugar.

I got a shard of glass in my thumb today at work… It hurt. All day I have been fretting and worrying that a tiny piece of glass may still be stuck in my thumb. Also, I still can’t figure out why there were shards of glass on my desk… I work a desk job, how does glass break on your desk over the weekend and surprise you on Monday as you reach for your mouse!?!? Anyway, this ordeal made me get home in less than a great mood. To cheer up I decided to make some tea and eat some butter cookies!

Jasmine and butter cookies turned out to be a better combination than I ever could have imagined! So good I even forgot about my sore thumb for a bit!

The dry tea leaves smelled of fresh jasmine and hints of honeysuckle (I read KeenTeaThyme’s note and smiled to find someone else found honeysuckle as well! I’m not crazy yet!). I love honeysuckle! It was a happy smell to be greeted with as I opened my tin. I used 2 teaspoons for 12oz of water (wanted it strong).

The resulting liquor was a light yellow color which made me think of yellow roses. An appropriate association considering how floral this tea is! The smell was amazing. I felt that it became much more delicate once brewed (2’00"). The jasmine came upfront and left a lingering sweetness behind.

The first sip was a little more bitter than I expected, but with each sip the bitterness was slowly overcome with the sweet jasmine finally to be followed by a sweet honeysuckle after taste. The tea leaves own flavor was in background adding to the ecperience. Each sip was a journey through each of these flavors. I was sad when it was gone… Thankfully I have a tin full of this tea, so another fresh cup followed the first! This time I brewed for only 1’30", resulting in much less bitter and a lot more sweet. Which to me was a good thing, a very very good thing.

I am very happy with this tea. I generally enjoy jasmine and floral teas, and this one is a lot better than most. The flavor is stronger and sweeter than in most jasmines, so if you aren’t expecting the full blown jasmine aroma it may take you by surprise. I can only say that the extra sweet jasmine kick made me like this tea even more. It will be reordered the next opportunity I have to order from Adagio for sure!

First steep (175F for 3:00): very pale in color, the scent is mellow. The tea is incredibly smooth, no bitterness. The flavor is mild but pleasant, delicately floral and ever so slightly sweet. A perfect comfort tea.

Second steep: 180F for 3:30 minutes. Darker in color, the pearls have started fully expanding in their mesh bag. The floral scent has become a bit more bold, the earthy tastes have come out on this steeping along with bitterness. I enjoyed the first cup much more.

Third steep: 175F for 4:00 minutes. Lighter in color than the 2nd but darker than the first. This is more similar to the first cup, with a mellow flavor and scent. Very pleasant.

Awesome staple at a really reasonable price. The jasmine completely overwhelms the oolong, but it’s delicious and smells great, so whatever. Way cheaper than Adagio’s more balanced and delicate jasmine#12. Multiple infusions are not bad.

Tastes best after cooling down a bit. It also makes a great iced tea. Be careful not to overbrew — I’ve let it go over 3 min before and it acquired this weird, bitter, rubbery taste.

I think I don’t like Darjeeling teas. Too perfumey for my taste.

Of the teas that I’ve tried from Adagio’s gourmet tea collections thus far, this is the one I’m least impressed with. And that shocks me given that it’s an Oolong and I love most Oolong teas. And I’m not saying I don’t like this, because it’s alright… it’s just kind of meh… it’s alright. It’s drinkable, but it’s not my favorite.

(Guest post from my mom!)

I recently tried, and loved, a bag of Adagio Tea Organic Citrus Green Tea. I’m a tea fanatic and I have a special place in my heart for green tea. When I see a new tea or tea blend I haven’t tried, I throw it in the cart. If it happens to be green tea, I do a little happy dance THEN throw it into the cart.

The most recent happy dance (and believe me, it’s something to behold) was spurred by the beautiful bag of tea bags you see at the top of the post. I love it when a tea company takes such pride in their tea that they package it as beautifully as Adagio does their teas. Everything is always first class – the packaging, the tea bags, the flavor. You name it, if it has Adagio on the front, you’re in for a first class experience.

As is the case most of the time, I saved my first cup of tea for the evening. This is my favorite time to try a new tea. After supper’s been made and eaten and order in the kitchen has been restored. Then it’s just me, my cat, and (hopefully) a very special cup of tea. Adagio Tea Organic Citrus Green Tea did not disappoint. I knew, from the aroma alone, that I was in for a special evening. As I walked, cup in hand, to the sofa, you could practically see a beautifully aromatic trail following me through the air. If there’s a better smell than citrus, I haven’t found it.

This tea is absolutely Heavenly and would be a great fit for anyone unsure about green tea. I tried my first cup without honey and it outstanding. I added just a bit of honey to my next cup and found it to be EVEN better. Yes, I’m one of those green tea drinkers…. hooked on honey! I’ve also made this tea with a little honey AND a floating slice of lemon /or orange. The orange slice and honey combination is otherworldly.

Adagio Tea Organic Citrus Green Tea also passed the iced green tea test. It as wonderful iced as it is hot. Trust me, you have to try this tea! If your grocery store is on its game (really, really on its game), you can find some Adagio teas in the tea aisle. If they’re a little off their game, Amazon will come through for you like a champ.

This one is for jasmine lovers. I am a big fan of many floral teas, especially jasmine pearls, but I found this one a bit overwhelming. I imagine that for many that would be considered a positive trait, but found this tea was really only drinkable when blended with something else to balance out the flavor and aroma a little bit. No complaints about the quality of the tea itself though, so I would still recommend giving a shot if that is your style.

These cookies have a surprisingly spicy kick to them, rich with the flavours of cloves, cardamom, and ginger just to name a few – very chai-like. The addition of the candied pineapple was a nice surprise it gives the cookies a little pop of sweetness to balance out the spices. I think out of the three kinds of tea cookies these ones are my favorite.

These cookies are more crumbly than the rooibos ones – I keep having to brush crumbs off my keyboard as I type this, lol. These cookies taste more like sugar cookies (though not quite as sweet) rather than shortbread, and the bits of dried cherries baked in are a nice touch too (I looooove cherries). I’m not getting anything that really says ‘white tea’ to my tastebuds though. Personally I think white tea is too mild to be used in something like this – maybe they should have used one of the bolder green teas instead(?)

Beautifully balanced jasmine and oolong.

This is part of Adagio Teas “Artisan Comfort Collection” from their new travel teas collections. It is a very nice jasmine pearl. I usually steep my jasmine pearls in my gaiwan, however, this would be great when I want my jasmine fix while traveling, as I did manage to still extract a very pleasing flavor from the pearls without the gaiwan.

Sweet, beautifully floral and a lovely vegetative tone to the green tea. Very nice indeed.

Delightfully aromatic, floral scent. One of the best Jasmine teas I’ve tried yet.

I’m a huge fan of jasmine teas – but I understand that floral teas aren’t for everybody! (Just like red rooibos isn’t for me.) I love the deep floral taste of this tea: jasmine with a touch of honeysuckle. Actually, you know the honeysuckle nectar that’s so much fun to pluck off? That’s the hint of flavor that is in this tea.

This is an essential for me, although if I drank it all the time I would get sick of it. I have to keep the variety going! With the exception of the phoenix pearls, this tea is the best jasmine I’ve tasted. Also, since it’s newer, it tastes fresher.

I just love the hint of honeysuckle nectar in the aftertaste. Reminds me of summer!