Adagio Teas

Sipdown! (53 | 251)

Belated July sipdown. For cold brew, I count it as a sipdown when I dump the tea into the pitcher and put it in the fridge to steep, but obviously the actual drinking doesn’t happen until the next day or so. Anyway, I’m counting this for July.

Quite enjoyed this one from Adagio. I also tried it with adding in some of the Twinings Watermelon & Mint cold brew sachets, but I found the mint sort of overpowered and ruined it for me. This is a bit light, but so refreshing, and has a nice combination of sweet watermelon candy and more tart apple flavors. The hibiscus is a good amount as well, not so much that it tastes like hibiscus, but enough to add some dimension.

Anyway, I ordered a bunch of other fruit tea samples from Adagio to try cold brewed, so we’ll see which ones I end up ordering after that. At the moment, this one and Wild Strawberry are my top contenders.

Another cold brew, using two pouches for my 1L pitcher.

This is a nice enough watermelon tisane, it’s fairly light but has a nice watermelon candy sort of flavor, with a bit of tartness adding dimension. I would say the watermelon itself is partway between candy and fresh watermelon.

My only complaint would be that it could be just a bit stronger IMO, and this is with me already using double the recommended amount. But it still makes a nice, light refresher for the summertime.

Sipdown (46 | 244)

This was a free sample with my Adagio order, I used two bags for my 1L pitcher.

It’s fine, but quite generic in flavor. Vaguely berry-ish with some hibiscus tartness and an odd musty aftertaste from the butterfly pea flower. Apparently it’s supposed to be papaya and blackberry, I definitely don’t get any papaya or tropical fruit vibes in general. As for blackberry, it doesn’t taste specifically like it but I could see the intention.

Worth noting that my brew is much redder than the photo, more of a magenta than purple.

Sipdown! (52 | 250)

This one was too mild for me, I ended up adding two sachets of the Twinings Mango & Passionfruit cold brew tisane to every pitcher to add some additional flavoring.

It definitely helped, adding some juicy passion fruit notes to the subtle peach and apple. Plus it also helps me sip down the other tea, which is not particularly good on its own either.

Anyway, definitely won’t reorder this one. I do have a sample of their Peach Serenity on the way, so we’ll see if that one’s anyway better.

Cold brewed, using two sachets for my 1L pitcher.

This is quite bland, even though I used twice as many sachets as recommended. It tastes like sweetened, mildly peach and apple flavored water. Which I guess is sort of what cold brewed tea is, lmao. But this is definitely too mild for me.

I might try brewing it hot and then chilling it next time?

Sipdown! (54 | 252)

Another belated July sipdown, and the last one from my Adagio iced tea order.

I also added some Strawberry & Lemon cold brew sachets from Twinings, mostly because I’m trying to use them up and I don’t love their Cold Infuse teas on their own. Here the lemon adds a nice counterpoint to the strawberry, which reminds me of Welch’s fruit snacks. But this tisane was also perfectly pleasant on its own (if a bit generic), with a candylike strawberry flavor and a lot of tart apple and hibiscus.

I probably won’t reorder this, but we’ll see!

ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge – “A cold brew tea”

Picked up several iced tea pouches from Adagio, most of them fruit tisanes. This is the first one I’m trying! The directions said to use one pouch per quart of water, but that seemed like a ridiculously small amount of leaf to me, so I used two. Cold steeped overnight in my 1L Takeya pitcher.

I think two bags was the right call, it’s not overly strong and I feel like it would’ve been watery with just one. The general flavor is sort of strawberry Jell-O mixed with hibiscus and a bit of apple. It’s not amazing or special, but it does make a refreshing cold brew. I’m tempted to add just a touch of sweetener to it, as the sweet-tart balance is just a tad too far to the tart side of things IMO. Maybe I’ll try that with my next glass! Honey seems like it would be suitable…

Here we are, half way through December, and it is still quite pleasant. Not so much a warm weather tea I thought it was going to be initially.

Well, ever since I tried that sample, I have been obsessing. I needed to make another order from Adagio anyway, so I ended up picking up 2oz of this.

I increased the steep time this morning and that did improve the mouth feel and increase the flavor a bit. However its still a delicate tea and I can only get about 2-3 resteeps before its no longer worth the effort. By this point, it goes more vegetal as it cools instead of the sweetness of the grapefruit coming out more.

I am curious how this might work iced or cold brew. Will have to try that at some point.

Cross post to Steepster

Sample from a previous Adagio order.

The flavor here is very light and delicate in some ways. Not a bad thing as I often get tired of BIG flavors.

Especially when hot, the flavor doesn’t really stand out, but the after taste gives that nice feeling of citrus. A there is a little sweetness, but its very subtle and mostly in the back of the sip. This stands out a bit more as it cools, but its still delicate.

I get the impression that this should have a thicker mouth feel, like its trying but not quite there. I think it might be nice if that was more pronounced. Possible longer steep time might help with that.

It seems to resteep ok, though if you do long initial steep times, this might not be the case.

Surprising given I don’t tend to like White teas, this isn’t bad. Not something I would look for exactly but I could see grabbing this if I was in just the right mood.

Sipdown! (5 | 18)

This one was just okay. I really wanted more of the peaches & cream flavor, but mostly I tasted honeybush with a bit of chamomile and rose. And the florals do make sense for sleeping beauty, but c’mon! Peaches and cream, please!

At least I can reuse the pretty tin. :)

Last one! This is a honeybush with chamomile and peach, cream, and rose flavors. It smelled very rosy in the tin and so does the steeped mug…

Surprisingly, it mostly tastes like honeybush and chamomile to me. The honeybush is woody and smooth, not peppery like it can sometimes be. Chamomile is noticeable midsip but not overpowering. I do get a bit of the cream flavor, but sadly no peach. A subtle rose note appears in the finish.

It’s certainly interesting, and I’m glad it doesn’t taste like a pile of roses, as I was afraid it would based on the scent. But I do wish more of the peaches & cream notes came through, to make it a bit sweeter and more desserty. As-is, it’s more of a chamomile honeybush with some hints of other flavors.

Sipdown! (14 | 27)

This one mostly tasted like cherry candy flavor, so it wasn’t a favorite for me. Still drinkable since overall it’s quite light. I’m also confused as to why Adagio would pick cherry for a Snow White tea, wouldn’t apple be more appropriate?

Next up from the fairytale collection – Snow White, a green rooibos with cherry and apple. I was nervous when I opened the tin, this one smells strongly of sweet candy cherry, which is not a favorite of mine.

Thankfully, the taste is a bit more balanced. There is still a candy cherry note, but it melds in with the tarter notes of apple and a touch of hibiscus. Overall it’s quite light, with a gentle herbaceous/woody note from the green rooibos base.

Not a favorite for me because of that cherry candy flavor, but definitely drinkable. I might try it iced too, it seems like it would be well-suited for that. I do find it a bit odd that they describe it as an “apple tea”, but really the cherry is the main flavor.

So I ordered a bunch of iced tea pouches from Adagio, since I’ve been liking fruity tisanes better lately and it’s so effing hot here LOL. But somewhere along the way, I found these adorable fairytale collection teabag tins, and well… I couldn’t resist. So all three teas in the collection – Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty – came to live with me. I think these were made to appeal to children, so they are all caffeine-free blends.

This one is a pumpkin spice honeybush, which I thought was a cute idea for Cinderella. I will say, it does not taste like pumpkin spice to me, it tastes like a mild sweet cinnamon tea (similar to Hot Cinnamon Spice). I don’t taste the honeybush at all, just that candy-sweet cinnamon flavor with a bit of clove.

I enjoy these sort of “Red Hots” cinnamon teas, so I’ll definitely drink it, but I am a bit disappointed that it’s not really a pumpkin tea, given the theme. Also it’s a bit weak, even though I used two sachets for my 16-ounce mug. Probably won’t reorder it, but will enjoy sipping through it, especially in the fall.

I got this as a sample from my bday gift box a friend got me from Adagio. However, it was labeled rooibos caramel which I was super excited to try but on the back was listed the EG ingredients. Super yummy though I am disappointed.

This is definitely a decent tea. The hazelnut in the black tea base gives it a nutty flavor. Only reason this isn’t on my with list is because if you add chocolate oat milk it tastes like a weaker version of David’s Tea’s Hazelnut Chocolate. However if that one ever gets retired this one will replace it.

I used to love this blend but right now… I can only tolerate it iced… that is all lol

Months and months ago, Cameron B. mentioned cold steeping hibiscus in lemonade. I’ve wanted to try it ever since, but only keep whole flower hibiscus around and it always felt wasteful to use that for an experiment like this. So I was pleased to get a sample of this with my Adagio order and finally be able to try hibiscus lemonade! The flower is very crushed up, so I put it in a tea filter bag, put the bag in a glass of lemonade, and stuck the whole thing in the fridge to cold brew. The lemonade started turning pink almost immediately. I let it cold steep for about four hours. Maybe I should have gone longer but I was really hot and needed something refreshing to cool off with! Unfortunately it was hard to tell whether the hibiscus really added anything flavor-wise. The color was a gorgeous, vibrant red, but it tasted sweet and tart in a way that lemonade usually does anyway. I’ll revisit this concept at some point, but this particular experiment seems to have had unremarkable results.

Smells beautiful and the floral flavor is good in this one. Not over powering or bitter.

This blend is pretty nice, I do understand that people prefer their highly caffeinated wake-up blends but I think this cozy sweet, spiced blend is a gentle start to the perfect fall morning. Sweetened with a tiny bit of honey, it tastes like cinnamon bread.

Nothing special about this tea. No flavor particularly stands out

Will definitely need more of this in December. Gave some to a friend. It is one that can bear over five minute brews and Reindeer Fuels is sure super charged for me with some extra sugar to enhance the flavor.

Had another cup of this. Since my first initial brew brought some to a friends’ house – she adores mint – and we watched the first episode of Yellowjackets while sipping on this. She uses coffee cups and a keurig to brew tea ***shudders*** but I don’t say anything. She did have a fresh mint sprig from her garden to add in, which was interesting and of course made it stronger mint. She also added in much more sugar than even I use, so we basically had Candy Reindeer fuel lol

So today, long work day, stress – tea break. Dug this out and did a trial of a splash of milk to the 2 cup brown pot. My thoughts were a tea hot chocolate type with the milk since the chocolate is present. It worked, and didn’t. The mint gets lost a lot with a little milk, as did the chocolate. However, it thickened it and make it silkier to fit the taste. So I think next time I try with a little milk that I will increase brew time and strength to try and combat that.

Ate some ham and havarti cheese with crackers while sipping for my work tea. Used a tea cup, not a coffee cup. What a nice break it was!