Adhara Tea and Botanicals

I sipped down, and actually added vanilla almond milk creamer, which I never do, and it was a masterpiece. I overbrewed the leaves and time to about 4 minutes, so a latte was in order. I could still taste the nuance of the different spices, the rose, sage, and the mint, but they were harmonious in a creamy, nutty, body amidst a nice malt from the black tea base. Like a middle eastern dessert. My girlfriend was raving, and asked for more. I used to not like cream and sugar that much, but the almond milk and oatmilk creamers have been game changers.

Really cool chai like blend. Definitely Middle Eastern overall, with the Rose, Cardamom, and Mint+Sage dominating the flavor. I’m glad that this was labeled an herbal tea because I tasted more of the herbs than the black tea, but it helped give the tea some umph and thickness in the body. The cinnamon is more noticeable after I brew it a second time. I only did two table spoons for about 14-16 oz for two people, and 3 minutes time with 195 F. I enjoyed the first cup, and though it was naturally sweet, I put some sugar and it brought up the black tea and rose more. Honey brings up the mint and cinnamon more so far.

I’m into this one so far, and I’m glad I got it because it’s unique compared to other Chai/Masala like blends. Then again, I’m a sucker for rose in a chai any day.

Tasting it blind, I might have guessed this tea was oolong. The tea has a really balanced roast bringing out darker honey notes and some lemony ones too. Most of it was very woodsy and piney overall, and was very straight forward in profile. I more less did this western, but shorter steeps brought out more lemon/honey qualities while longer ones were woodier. Very pleasant and easy going. I haven’t decided on how to rate it yet, but it is better than some light medium roast oolongs I’ve had, and definitely more complex than most four seasons. I’m still clinging for the Lishan Green, but like this one a lot.

An oz is not enough of this tea. If they had more servings, I should have gotten more. Damn.

I got more of this one because I was craving the floral combo of green bean, snowpea, and plumeria. I don’t always like super vegetal tea, but I like it when it’s on the fresher green end. Upping the rating considering I got another ounce of this to savor. I was going to get two, but I’m trying to cut back on some spending and enjoy my tea more slowly. The majority of this oz is going to Leafhopper for the swap I’m collecting. This is the first time I don’t have an ample amount of Gaoshan to trade! Most of mine is flavored right now and black teas I’ve been neglecting despite being higher quality than usual, and I’m in the time of year when I switch from wanting black tea to Greener oolongs more often….even though Green oolong is something I ALWAYS drink, I get withdrawals without it starting between spring and winter.

Not your typical green tea, and a lot more smooth. A part of me thought it tasted a little bit closer to the greener style oolong I like, but I know it technically is a green tea because of the oxidation. I sipped this one down quickly and deeply enjoyed my Eclipse sessions with it. My style was a cross between grandpa and gong fu, cutting off the leaves at the following intervals: 30 sec, 45, 55, 35, 55, 60 and then into minutes based on how they opened up.

This tea is a lot like their Lishan Glory, yet I enjoyed this significantly more because of its dimension. I felt like this tea was more flavor forward and the added green quality made it taste fresher. There were times when I got the pine/forest morning dew green taste amidst an intensely milky texture, along with tropical hints and a very melon/pineapple leaning quality that wasn’t tart. I was also surprised by how forward the florals were. Most of them were white tropical florals like plumeria, and sometimes, especially in the second session, I kept getting white and yellow roses.

Yes, it’s got the typical sweat pea lishan quality, but cleaner and more floral rather than honey forward. The green vanilla note was especially prominent in steeps three and four for me, and again in some of the longer western sessions.

Overall, I much preferred this one to the oolong which surprised me. A part of me is regretting not getting more of this one, and for the tea snobs who like greener oolongs, I’d recommend this one. If you need slightly less of a grassy taste, then go for the Oolong Glory.

Thank you Adhara! This is a gooood Tie Guanyin. Heavy into orchid florals, some honeysuckle, and hints of other flowers like lilac and hyacinth. It’s also more floral than grassy, but green and fresh. It’s a softer green bean overall in flavor, and continues to be floral after each steep. Definitely better than some Taiwanese oolongs I’ve had of late, and somewhat similar to a Baozhong.

5 oz, 5 grams 10 sec, 15, 20, 35, 45 175-195 F.

Finally opened my bag. This one had HUUUUGE leaves, and I brewed it in my fancy Chufunyu Eclipse Thermo…more on that later.

Tasting this out, I did semi western with a lot of leaves-maybe 5 grams. I preferred this tea over the Lishan Glory because it had a much rounder body and taste. It’s a little bit more vegetal, but really well balanced and easy to drink even in earlier steeps when it was more or less a rinse of 45 sec.

I basically sipped the tea at different intervals in a nearly Grandpa sort of way. It’s hard to explain since I’m brewing my tea in the Eclipse, which gives me a lot more control of how much the leaves are stewing. Sometimes, I let the leaves just sit, then I would cut off the water flow at different times, but I didn’t time it. Here’s a guesstimate: 45 sec sip, 1 min 20 sec sip, 2 minute brew-cut off leaves. Put in hot water again, 1 minute sip, 3 minute, then cut off the leaves. Pour hot water again, and more or less…grandpa style.

Tasting notes of what I got: Cream, Honey, Wood, Pine, Lemon Zest, Lilac, Coconut hints, Ample Butter, and Spinach. Overall, the tea had a heathered honey and milk/wood kind of taste. Sometimes, I though “forest dew” because there’s something misty and earthy about the tea. It was really pleasant, and fruitier notes immerged more mid brew and a little bit towards the end. The vegetal bitterness took over a little bit in later steeps, but adding more water improved it.

I need to try this again using more traditional methods gong fu or western, but I was able to push a lot of flavor out of it. The tea is also extremely flexible. It doesn’t change too much in terms of flavor and notes, but it yields a good experience every time-so I’m not complaining. I enjoyed it highly, and know I’m going to drink it again soon.

Placeholder for now. Let’s see how it does.

Finally giving it some attention, I upped the grams to 7 and lowered the water volume to roughly 2-3oz in my clay shiboridashi at 195 F.

Here’s the intervals so far: 15, 20, 10, 15, 10, 10, 15, 20, 25, 10, flash steep, and 3 minutes and I’m continuing to drink it now as I write.

More flavor came through this time, leaning heavy into melon in the aroma and the taste in later steeps. Floral as ever, very heavy in the honeysuckle and plumeria territory. Unlike a lot of other lishans, this one leans more into a even steamed milk flavor than a fruity or floral forward one in longer steeps, but the shorter steeps do the tea a huge flavor with the ratio I’ve got right now. Earlier steeps in the session were also generally milkier and more soft white, yellow, and purple florals, but the vanilla character as well as the honeydew melon and pear are extremely pronounced in the second 10 second range of flash steeps, and push the temperature into the higher 190s.

The accidental three minute one was a little too bitter and spinachy, but retained the tropical florals and pushed the tea into a condensed milk profile mid-sip. It wasn’t perfect and a little too green that way, but the complexity wasn’t lost thankfully.

As of now, I am mostly getting melon. Aroma throughout this session has shifted and actually caramelized into a fesh sugariness you get from dried pineapple or fruit in the spell. Maybe sugarcane is a better descriptor, because the tea is still green and partly vegetal. Either way, I know I can keep brewing this one for at least two more brews before it loses lustre.

In terms of rating, I’m still undecided. I would have initially leaned more into the 80s at first, but the much stricter gong fu parameters and short steeps made a huge difference . The western style sessions have more balance/dimension than normal oolongs, and definitely more complex than some Jin Xuans or Four Seasons that have a similar grass creamer, distinctly Taiwanese oolong flavor. My pickiness stems more from the fact that I’ve had a lot of Taiwanese Lishans and have a little bit of prejudice towards certain teas and price ranges, but I really am enjoying this company, and I do think the tea is very smooth and good.

I got this and the Shanlinxi for the free shipping after 30 bucks spent. I also got it compulsively because I usually judge the quality of loose leaf a company has based on the quality of their oolong. I know, not fair, but Lishans and Shanlinxi’s are a favorite I don’t get bored with.

Unfortunately, I am going to have to redo this one. It is full bodied, but extremely soft and complex. I had it on a hotter and busy day, so I was bit distracted. This one is a more pear leaning lishan for sure, specifically the “Asian Pear” as westerners refer to it. Otherwise, it’s a high mountain oolong. I admit I’m starting to get bored writing about them, and this tea deserves better attention.

I’ve almost completed a sipdown. I really like this tea overall-the flavor is perfect for anyone looking for a more affordable Jin Jun Mei. It was only $6 for an oz, and that’s not bad for the quality.

The cocoa and honey notes are obvious in the aroma and in the taste, with a little bit of longan fruitiness in the aftertaste. It can get a tannin-dark chocolate bitter or muddled if you overbrew it, yet it’s far more forgiving compared to other blacks. The only downside is that I don’t get much more than 3 solid cups or brews western, rarely over 4-5 gong fu. The complete profile and flavor is satisfying enough for me, though.

I’d easily recommend this tea to people newly getting into drinking teas without cream or sugar, or if you are looking for an affordable alternative for more expensive Wuyi Blacks or Fujian blacks. I haven’t tried it out as more English style tea yet, but I think it would stand up to sugar more than it would cream unless you use a generous amount of leaf. I still need to play with it more gong fu and western to be sure. Tumbler style and western are best so far in my opinion.

I have at least 50 grams of this tea left that I couldn’t identify from before, and now I can. This is the fresher version of it since it’s a little bit more new, and insanely aromatic, sweet, and chocolaty. There’s some malt, dryness and tannin matted underneath sweet potato skin layers, but it’s heavy into a medium dark, almost milk chocolate cocoa profile and a caramel honeyed aftertaste. It doesn’t last much more than five steeps gong fu, but the flavor was pretty full in a dark brown-red liquid.

This will be my work tea because it’s definitely waking me up and chilling me out. So good.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I opened the bag, and I think I’ve solved the mystery of one of the teas I have…..insanely sweet smelling.

I loved this one, avoided it, and now I’m one cup away from a sipdown. This is a current tasting note as I write as well as a backlog. This tea can be extremely malty either gong fu or western. Sometimes I crave it because it’s got the reason why I started drinking unflavored and unsugared black teas with a little bit of osmanthus for fun, and other times there’s a little bit too much tannin. Sometimes I can get cocoa, other times I get wood, malt and tannin overpowering the osmanthus.

I’ve been on a latte kick as of late trying to cut back on coffee for less acidity, plus adding collagen protein to justify the calories, so I decided to do it with this one. I went friendly with about four teaspoons, four minutes, and then just sweet creme and collagen. It was malty, cocoa-like, with just a wisp of peach and osmanthus lifting beneath the malt and cream. This was a good decision to get through more tea in a faster amount of time.

I rebrewed it again straight, and it was a perfect cup of malt, tannin, cooca, and florals. So nice for the morning.

I still have no idea what to rate it. I stand by it having one of the best black bases I’ve had in a while compared to some other hongcha’s I’ve had. Some of them are just malt and berry for me. I haven’t tasted anything resembling a caramel note in a while like I used to, except for the Smoke and Mirrors Lapsang I got. I hope I remember to come back for a sipdown note of this one.

I’ve had osmanthus blended with tea before, and mostly oolongs. The only times I’ve had it with a black was with the Earl the Great blend, and in Verdant’s blend with their darker and savory Laoshan oolong.

I watched this one for a few months since I traveled to North Carolina for Thanksgiving last year. I was trying to find good teahouses, and Adhara was one of the ones near me that was recommended. I didn’t actually get to try them in person, but the power of algorithms from facebook and instagram worked. I spent so much money on tea in the last few months after the existential dread of this past school year, switching from stoic frugality to Epicurean YOLO.

I feel confident to say I don’t regret getting this one. It’s unique, fruity, chocolaty and complex comparing to other quality black floral teas such as Alice. The base for this was higher grade golden tip tea, and it’s absolutely gorgeous and aromatic. I’ve done it gong fu, but it’s forgiving to some oversteeping later on. I expect this make a great cold brew too, though I would not push it too hard. I’ve quite liked it so far and compares better than other osmanthus blends I’ve had. There’s something about osmanthus’s floral peachiness that accents the yammy malty profile of the black tea to higher levels.