Golden Spring

’I’ll just start with my sampler tins, and then when I finish them, I’ll move on to the savant samplers,’ I had told myself. Hah. Guess not. I never have been the most patient of individuals, and none of the ‘regular’ tins smelled like anything I wanted.

I’m not sure this is the tea I would conjure out of the anonymous, inspecific aether for my first tea experience of the day either, but without having met my Ultimate Tea yet, it’s a pretty gosh-darned suitable alternative. The smell from the tin was delicious and sweet. The steeping tea was full-bodied and brewed more darkly than I expected, and I tried to savor it, really I did, but I couldn’t stop sipping. The aftertaste is like the ghostly impression of something sweet, with a faint hint of that raisin-sugar taste, but I can see why everyone is tossing around the word umami. This tea wouldn’t go amiss alongside some onigiri.

That said, I don’t really get the ‘meaty’ impression everyone else is getting…for me, it’s more of a savory sweetness. I suspect this is my freshman palate…it has a long way to go. Maybe that’s the full-bodied, brothy mouth-feel of the tea that I can sense but not quite taste yet?

I think my 100 tea, whenever I find it, is going to be something really indulgent. I can’t see any way that this tea could go wrong, though. I could drink this any time of day, any time of year, with any kind of food, and I think it would hold up its end of the bargain and be satisfying.

It’s officially The Final Sipdown: Day 3 and I thought I would be decupboarding my Kukicha. (Actually, I still might, but that will be determined later today.) Instead, this lovely little tea is the one that is going bye-bye.

I’m sad to see this one go. It’s sweet and thick and almost a little textured, especially before it cools. I don’t know exactly why Adagio calls it ‘delicate’ because I really don’t think it is. (Just because it isn’t tough enough to jump you in a dark alley and steal your wallet doesn’t mean a tea is ‘delicate’.) This has a little Yunnan-like boldness and a lot of Fuijian-like sweetness and smoothness. Very enjoyable and something I could totally see picking up.

This is actually the third time I’ve tried this tea. I’ve just been incredibly busy this week with work. (I made the mistake of mentioning that I needed money in front of my manager. He gave me nine shifts this week. Thanks, but I’m gonna die!)

This has been one of my absolute favorite new teas lately. I’m actually pretty impressed with Adagio. The beautiful, fuzzy gold and chocolate-colored leaves unfold long, slender, and pointed. They smell very sweet, and slightly fruity with a bit of that malty black tea scent.

The flavor reminds me of yunnan tips. I can taste a sort of raisin-like fruitiness. There’s also a strong note of caramel that I have fallen in love with. This tea is such a treat. I highly recommend giving it the full five minutes, as it brings out a certain cocoa-like quality as well. And it doesn’t get bitter with that much time — just more flavorful and satisfying. I might have to get more than the sample size next time.

Also, I have no idea what all of you are talking about when you say this reminds you of meat. Seriously. I don’t get it.

Bumping up…I crave this and I believe it is great in the morning. The honey finish is so delicious and the hints of tobacco add richness and depth. I enjoy this because of all the different layers of flavor. It even tastes great as it gets cooler in the cup. Yummy!

After my disappointing Mariage Freres English Breakfast experience, I’m going to do one more black tea before trying to reestablish my interest in greens.

As I’ve committed to tasting my Adagio samplers without further ado, this is from the Adagio Black Savant sampler. (Which makes me feel like I should start rapidly adding numbers out loud or reciting the World Atlas or something. Surely they could have picked a better name?)

This is a very visually attractive tea, and in the sample tin its fragrance has a sort of fruity, or perhaps tobaccoey sweetness. There’s a breadiness, too. It’s a sort of toast with jam signal. And something along the chocolate vanilla continuum perhaps. In any case, it seems like there’s a fair amount going on here.

The same is true of the tea’s aroma. Sweet. Sort of reminds me of what I like about Yunnans. And yet, it’s not entirely sweet. The liquor is lighter than I’d expected but now that I think about it, with about half the leaves being a golden color it wasn’t really reasonable to expect a very dark liquor. It’s darker than darjeeling, say, but lighter than most black tea liquors.

Tasty! For some reason after reading the description, I’d expect this to be somewhat heavy. It’s not. It’s substantial without being weighty. And very, very smooth. Easy on the stomach, too (mine is a little annoyed with me after the Blue Knight Earl Grey and the Mariage Freres English Breakfast, but this is helping to make amends).

I get the “meaty” description, but I find the aftertaste mildly sweet, not really savory.

I’m glad I have more in the sample tin so I can taste this over time but on first impression this is a keeper!

It is rainy and cold this morning and somehow the power keeps flickering on and off. I haven’t reached for this tea in a very long time. It smells sweet dry and the leaves are pretty and coiled.

First sip – very malty and reminds me of other teas such as Keemun. It is smooth and not bitter. I drank this sans milk and sugar. It has a nice sweet and smokey aftertaste. It is not like the smokiness in lapsang souchong tho.

Good overall!

Wow I’m back from my hiatus and I feel so steepsterite deprived right now!! Good to be back to the best tea site around:) I am currently indulging on a remarkably better Golden Spring now that I’m adding almost twice the leaf amount to my mug. It wasn’t comparing to the taste of some of the bold blacks I was getting from metropolitan and something had to change if only for the sole reason that I had bought a pound of it from Adagio before my intro to Metro Teas. I soooooo love this tea now again just as much if not more than before! Its so yummy and malty and assamy and just my kinda tea! Yum! Glad to be back! :)

Got a sample of this free today from a contest ans couldn’t wait to try it. Dry it smells a lot like someone dipped a flower shop in chocolate. Once steeped it smells a bit like coco nibs. I like the taste it’s not too strong not too mild and its very smooth. There is a kind of floral taste to it with a hint of coco nibs.

The soft, airy, golden colored leaves brew a much darker tea than you’d expect. Though the leaves do have a subtle/sweet aroma to them, the full aroma doesn’t unlock until you steep it, when their sweet and savory quality comes out and invites you in for more. Taste wise, there’s a definite sweetness to this tea, which makes it a smooth and easy to drink tea for a cold morning wake-up. Aftertaste is smooth and sweet, with just a little hint of black tea bitterness. I don’t really get ‘meaty’ from it, but it does have a thicker mouthfeel, so I can see how that would make it a little more ‘meaty’. Overall, a definite winner that can easily be enjoyed throughout the day.

I plowed right through my 3 oz. tin of this. It’s consistently been my morning tea maybe 85% of the days in the past couple months. It has all the characteristics of a solid morning black tea for me: not too light, not too strong either (though there are days when I can’t handle caffeine in the mornings), with just the right amount of natural sweetness. In fact, I think Adagio should change the name of this to ‘Goldilocks’, because it’s juuuust right. It’s definitely something I could see myself drinking every morning for quite some time (though in the interest of coming up with new things to write, I’m going to find another morning black and go with that for a while). In the end, I’m bumping my rating up a few points from when I first logged it, mainly because of its eminent dependability and drinkability.

On a side note, the Adagio 3oz. tins themselves are great! The stickers peel off easily and you rinse them out and reuse them without much hassle.