Candy Cane

That’s the last of this sample now from my Holiday Cheer gift box. I’m thinking about what I can do with the cute little tin that’s left over. It’s only large enough for 5 teabags but perhaps I can keep matcha in them and re label the tin. That’s the best I can think of so far.

I did my food shopping earlier and filled my fridge completely with fresh fruit, salad and veg so tonight I plan on doing a salad bowl with some fresh bread for dinner. We (me and my husband) also went walking with my parents and their three dogs which was nice, I just need to get out of the house and get used to leaving the cats on their own for a couple of hours. Since Ebony died I am on alert mode 24/7 and I really just need to relax.

Tired and achey from the walk I have a slice of Christmas come early with this Candy Cane tea and a few pink wafer biscuits as an extra treat. :) Hold on to the little things because it’s those things that get you through the day.

I’m surprised this has such a low overall rating. Oh wait I’m not, because I always like things that get average ratings hahaha. I took a gamble and bought 3 oz of this, since it was $3 more over the sample for at least 2 oz more.

Adagio also sent me a sample of the birthday tea since my birthday is coming up. We meet again.

So anyway this one, I can definitely see how people do not like it because it is not up front about its mintiness. But aren’t candy canes like that? That’s what I’ve always liked about them, sweet at first and then the burst of peppermint. Or maybe I have no idea what a candy cane is like anymore, but I like this.

It’s also a bit creamy, I think it might be even better with just a touch of milk but I’m too busy basking in the fact I’m drinking an Adagio flavored tea with nothing in it and enjoying myself.

Definitely like this one better than Candy Cane Lane and Santa’s Secret. Who knew?

In case you are interested in the other accomplishment that happened in this apartment: Sebastian the parakeet actually climbed down to the lid of seeds and ate by himself. So proud.

Backlogging…

Got this in a gift pack (bagged). I enjoyed this yesterday while playing RAGE on my xbox 360. (I’m a huge gamer…I should start a series on what teas go with video games!) I started out the day by playing Alice, then decided I wanted to shoot people instead so I opted for RAGE…

Oh, the TEA. Sorry. Easily distracted. ;) This tea is very minty – which I love – and with a name like Candy Cane, it should be. It brews up hearty and strong, and is minty to the last drop.

I think I do like Candy Cane Lane better – but I do tend to enjoy green teas over black teas anyway. Overall, this is a holiday delight – and a must-try for mint fans.

And RAGE is wonderful…

Bye, Candy Cane tea. You were lovely and delicious, but Adagio charges insane shipping to Canada, so I probably won’t ever get to order you.

Sigh.

The smell and first sip of this tea remind me of butter rum candies. There are large chunks of peppermint candy in here, which I think is the source of the slightly minty flavor. If you can imagine using a peppermint stick as a swizzle stick in your hot buttered rum, that’s pretty close to the flavor. The butter rum flavor is rather odd and artificial.

I’m sure there’s some tea in there somewhere, buried under everything else that’s going on. It may even be good tea, but I can’t tell.

It seems there are several custom blends on Adagio called Candy Cane. The one I have is by Megan Pederson.

I give it a “meh.”

I only have 1 more cupsworth left after this one. It’s tasting pretty good today…must have been the correct amount of loose leaf, water temp, infusion length, and all the stars must have been align or something…it’s better than my other attempts…woot.

Love the variety of flavors in the sampler, love the tins, hate that they’re bags. Decided to make this in latte form- 2 bags, 8oz water, steeped 7min 40 sec., added 8oz milk and reheated.

Before I add the milk, I admit the tea itself looks kinda scary… I steeped it so conentrated for long that there’s a ring of tea schtuff around the water line. I can’t imagine what it would look like if I made it concentrated enough for a gallon of tea…

Once I add the milk, it looks much more normal. Kinda like chocolate milk actually. Not a whole lot of aroma (due to the milk I’m sure), but I am getting a faint wiff of mint.

WHOA This is abso-freakin-lutely amazing! The candy cane is much lighter than I expected, but there is definitely a minty flavor as well as a sweetness. I doubt this would need any sugar even if you normally sweeten your tea lattes. And the black tea base… almost gives it a chocolatey quality… which is good cuz I like my candy cane/mint best when mixed w/ chocolate. Not something that screams “THIS IS TEA!” …but INCREDIBLY good. …and don’t be scared by the steeping time I used, it definitely needs it.

Not my favorite candy cane flavored tea, I definitely preferred 52Teas version, but, it is a pleasant enough tea as long as it’s not steeped too long. The black tea is strong and astringent but I find that the flavor tends to soften the astringency enough so that it’s palatable.

It’s enjoyable.

This tea is just what I needed to remove the exclamation mark after my Bah Humbug! I’m certainly not going to go around pooping Christmas cheer, especially not with a visit to my mother’s looming, but I probably won’t kill anyone either. Pretty impressive progress for just drinking tea.

I will warn those who err on the side of more leaf, I do the same and today the candy canes are REALLY strong. I’m sure my second steep tomorrow morning will be a little more mellow and more my speed.

I was super excited for this tea, yet super afraid. I absolutely love candy canes and anything mint related, so I of course had to order a sample of this one. And yet, I’ve had not so stellar results in the past from Adagio flavored black teas. I’ve always found the smell so tempting, but the flavor lacking and needing sweetener and/or milk, which I’m not opposed to doing sometimes, but still…

Well, the smell, like I expected, is definitely tantalizing. It’s everything I would want a candy cane tea to smell like – nice and minty combined with comforting, creamy vanilla.

So I sit here, waiting anxiously to get my mint fix, and then I finally taste it… Go away black tea, you’ve ruined it! Ah, I had my fears. Believe me, I absolutely love black tea of all kinds, but maybe not so much flavored – or maybe not so much from Adagio – or maybe not so much when it interferes with mint.

Either way, maybe it’s a taste that will grow on me, but the bitterness that comes from that base is rather disconcerting. I’m going to try to add some cream to this next time. If that fails, I’ll add some peppermint to it. And it if that fails, too, I won’t be too far away from finishing the sample.

Meh, I wanted to like you Candy Cane. I really did. I’ll try to work on fixing you, okay?