Riddle's Tea Shoppe and Curiosities

Probably one of the last teas from shmiracles tonight!
Finished my midterm (flat 80%. Ehh I’ll take it) and now time to study for philosophy tomorrow!

Smells super fruity dry. I almost never go for fruity because upon first smell, they tend to take the medicine route and it’s just not good to me? But alas, this was the first thing my hand picked up in my packs so Elven Nectar it is!
Fruity teas always smell weird to me dry, but steeping they always smell soooo good!
Peach, apricot and caramel blend with apple, marigold and cinnamon. Sounds good to me! The smell reminds me a bit of a darker version of Cara’s Elrond, but with a hint of cinnamon.

hmm. Nise and fruity! Definitely no medicine taste :) I get almost no caramel notes though, just the peach and apricot. I’m totally cool with that though, since I had Adagio’s caramel alone before and… no.

“…but no sign of age was upon them, unless it were in the depths of their eyes; for these were keen as lances in the starlight, and yet profound, the wells of deep memory.”

So I’m a bit of a Tolkien fanatic. It has been my fandom baby for forever and a bit longer. I have all the History of Middle Earth books, and I’m totally that person when it comes up in conversation.

When I was in high school, I spent a good amount of free time learning Quenya. It’s actually how my moraiwe handle came into being. I used to sign letters to my friends with it so they couldn’t be traced back to me (and they had their code names too (but one was Star Trek Voyager related and the other Harry Potter related. We were pretty awesome, what can I say?)

Fiance thinks I’m a bit mad, but I get a gleeful enjoyment when someone asks about my gamertag on XBL. It usually goes like:

“How do I say your gamertag?”
says name once or twice “But if you call me something that vaguely resembles it, I’ll probably respond”
“Err. So how’d you come up with that?”
“It’s Quenya for blackbird”
silence
“It’s one of Tolkien’s Elvish languages.”
“Oh like in the movies?”
“No, that was Sindarin.”
silence
“Hey. At least it’s not Telerin”

It’s way more fun when they ask where Tol Galen is.

This tea is actually pretty remarkable though. I was surprised at the depth the caramel offered when paired with the apricot and peach. The peach is mildly candy-like, but that’s offset by the dark caramel sugar notes, and the little bit of cinnamon that peaks midsip. The peach flavor lingers quite long after.

I couldn’t say quite why, but this tea is conjuring images of Celeborn and Thranduil meeting in the former Mirkwood after the fall of Dol Guldur and renaming it Eryn Lasgalen (The Wood of Greenleaves).

This is totally working for me.

Thanks again for your generosity in the samples Shmiracles!

the dry leaf blend smells pretty amazing. peach city!
steeped and plain, the tea falls SLIGHTLY flat for me, but i bet if i add just a touch of agave it’ll kinda fill out. i’m also going to try different steeping times and leaf quantities. it’s one of those occasions where the good outweigh the unsure qualities, and with just a little experimentation the tea will reach it’s proper potential. (i’ll keep ya posted.)

but in the meantime, does anyone here make their own adagio blends? if so, what method do you use? do you buy sample sizes of different teas and then measure out tiny half teaspoon ratios? and the brew them each in a tiny cup? or do you just think really hard and make a blend on the website and just go for it?
i really wanna be able to at least make one blend i feel good about, but i’m afraid i just might not have the knack for it…

Thanks to Shmiracles <3 I get to try SO MANY FANDOM TEAS !!! Nightvale, Teen Wolf, Black Butler, Hobbit, Sherlock. I’m drinking Stiles & Derek this afternoon, and for breakfast I get Elven Nectar tea, which is a beautiful little tea. It tastes like forest springtime, apricot & marigolds. Like golden fruit flowers nectar – just like the name. I’m excited to try more teas but I knew I wanted to get up this morning and drink this first. Yay Friday!

Another blend from MissB! thank you so much! Two TARDIS blends! I’ll try the other one next week. I never really had a chance to get into Doctor Who… (probably because it would double my show watching time) but these blends sure sound amazing. Both blends seem to be Earl Grey with some sort of berry. This one has blueberry. The Cara McGee blend has blackberry. This blend does have some white tea in it.

Steep #1 // 20 mins after boiling // 2 min
The steep color is very light – doesn’t even seem like black tea! But the fragrance is amazing – definitely sweet and blueberry. The taste is great.. sweet blueberry along the lines of David’s Blueberry Jam or 52Teas Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish. There is a sweetness I would say is supposed to be the caramel/cream. I definitely wouldn’t say this is a bergamot tea though… it’s missing here. The base is perfect for these flavors. It’s very delicious.

Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min
Here are some spices I missed the first time! I’m getting cinnamon this time around. It’s interesting! I really like this one, as I usually like Adagio’s blends.

Sipdown (197/199)!

I am so out of it right now… Literally, I just looked up at the clock and realized I’ve been staring at my dashboard doing literally nothing for a solid twenty minutes. And then, my next thought was “what am I sitting on?”. Umm… the couch. I’ve been sitting on the couch for the last four hours.

Anyway, I got Tre to sip this one down this morning while I made my morning tea. It was not hard to persuade him to have a mug of Doctor Who themed tea; he’ll buy into anything Doctor Who, which is what I was counting on. Anyway – I stole a few sips post preparation and still found it gross, though a little less “brothy”. He liked it, and kept asking why I didn’t. I didn’t want to tell him it was because it reminded me of savory meat/vegetable soups…

But yeah, not sad it’s gone.

Thanks MissB for the sample, I broke it out today because it’s a size I should be able to sipdown relatively quickly. I wasn’t sure whether I should stick to the steeping directions you wrote out because the temp. was rather high for a blend containing white tea – but I figured you knew what you were doing and I went for it.

My thoughts based on my first few sips are kinda “eighyhh” (which is totally a thing starting now, just because I say it is). The problem I’m encountering here is that the caramel tastes really weird paired with the base teas, which are terribly reminding me of vegetable stock. Vegetable stock/broth and caramel? Eww…

And berries? There’s supposed to be berries in this? Sorry, but nope.

Actually, I just looked up the ingredients list… And what the fuck!? I’m starting to wonder if I’m drinking the wrong tea – except, I totally double checked to make sure I’d grabbed the correct TARDIS tea (I’ve got the Cara McGee one too) – because I don’t taste any of this shit?

Blueberries? Nope
Ginger? Nope (thank God…)
Cinnamon? Maybe, if I push really hard?
Bergamot? Even this one – which is typically a hard flavour to miss – is hiding on me.

The only thing I get is vegetable stock and caramel. Yeah, this is a miss for me…

A really, really weird miss; but hey, at least I have one TARDIS tea I enjoy, right?

I always drink this when I’m feeling down. I’m on my 3rd bag of it and still love it.

I simply love this tea. I have to admit I bought it for the tin most of all, but was very delighted with the tea itself. It’s an utterly beautiful mix. The smell and taste is pleasant and comforting. It’s the lightest Earl Grey I’ve had though, would have liked a bit more spice.

This tea is a sweet, fruity earl grey. It’s not a very ‘bright’ tea, like many earl greys tend to be. The caramel keeps it sweet and mellow.

Thank you, whomever posted the right pic for this tea! I always get it mixed up with the Cara McGee version on Steepster (and this one, I like more). Today however it just wasn’t it’s normal AMAZING self – I may be getting sick, this is usually my first sign, that few teas appeal or taste good suddenly. Sigh.

Cooled however, this was almost it’s normal amazing self. Almost….

So… I like this less with a longer steep. :( Gets a bit weird tasting, almost chemical-like, and less the blueberry caramel amazingness that I normally crave. Totally user error this time around!

Because, you know, I had to have some after packing up a bit for Cavo. ;)

Dammit, I love this tea. Really, truly love it. I dunno why I gave it such a low rating before, because I’ve been craving it… so much so that I had a cup very, very late last night, be damned the caffeine! So incredibly delicious. I’ll have to order more of this when I (eventually) run out. Also made me want to try the other TARDIS I have, that one the TARDIS (Blend) by Cara McGee. Sadly, I’ve yet to find it in my out-of-control stash. Upping the rating.

Really unusual tea. Definitely smells like an Earl Grey, with chai notes? Something licorice-like as well, although that may just be from the mix not the actual ingredients. Also confusing is the name: I ordered this along with the TARDIS (Blend) which is the much more well known and beloved tea with (I think?) similar ingredients.

With some Truvia, I quite like this confuzzling blend of green and black tea, earl grey and chai, caramel and berry, creamy and sweet.

I still love this tea. The caramel. The blueberry. I don’t even care that the flavourings aren’t top notch quality, and that the white tea can go super bitter if you’re not careful.

CARAMEL. BLUEBERRY. LOVE.

So sad it’s all gone now.

I love how “Chicken Soup” is one of the flavours listed for the tea. :D :D

This is my favourite of the fandom blends, I think. So tasty. Blueberry caramel! Yum yum yum.

I really like this tea. It’s not so much earl grey as it is caramel blueberry for me.

Definitely need to get more, once I’ve worked through more of what I have.

I mean, MissB did give me a little pouch of this, so I’ll be good for a while. :)

Hmm. I think this is the tea I’m drinking. There are enough blends on the Adiago website that it’s hard to tell!

Anyways, I mostly smelled caramel, which is why I chose to try this tea. I love caramel. :) Steeped, I get a lot of caramel and vanilla, with fruit. I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed blueberries, but that makes sense to me.

It’s pretty good! I know that Adiago teas have mixed ratings, so I’m surprised I’m liking this so much. I just wish the flavours were less strong, as they’re so in my face they’re starting to feel a little chemical. Oh well!

This tea might be familiar to a lot of you even if the tea shop isn’t. That’s because Riddle’s Tea Shoppe and Curiosities is Aun-Juli Riddle’s (a popular custom blender for Adagio) etsy shop. Turns out that I have even had this tea before but now I am having it again.

I will say opening the package, this smelled like baked goods. Not sure why or what ingredient is creating a baked good scent but it’s there and its strong. Turns out it tastes kinda like baked goods too. Like a muffin, that maybe isn’t 100% fresh but not exactly stale either. I say that because the earl grey contributes a touch of citrus which is nice but there is a savory, yet flat note that comes from the earl grey as well. The whole thing feels a touch weighty.

I think this is the blend I have and I am pretty sure it came from OMGsrsly. If I’m wrong, I’m sorry!

Anyways, as I sip, I am tasting the earl grey first and foremost. There is some blueberry and if I concentrate, I can occasionally detect the caramel notes but mostly it’s the blerg and a slight bitterness. Oh well. At least this is one more tea I can check off my list and I am so grateful for that chance!

Oh my goodness. How could I have forgotten how good this tea has always been to me? I’m been swept up in the excitement of trying so many new ones that this has been hiding in the back of my tea box. When I need a tea to switch my cranky allergy infested mood though, the TARDIS tea is here for me. This is one tea that I enjoy with honey so I’m sure I’ll be drinking it more often. I’m having an awful bout with seasonal allergies right now.

Allergies are winning :’(

I’m resorting to having a bit of local honey with my teas in the slim hope of getting a leg up. My ears hurt, my throat hurts, my eyes hurt, basically, my whole head is consumed in the nightmare that is spring. Everyone thinks I’m crazy when I say this is my least favorite season, but this is why.

When I manage to make this one juuuuuuust right, oh goodness is it amazing!!!

Future self, I know that sometimes this tea can be sassy, and your adventures together may not always been what you expected, but, they have always been what you needed. ;)