I was looking for a black tea, actually searching specifically for the bag with the Irish Breakfast from Adagio in it, when I fell over this one, also sent to me by TeaEqualsBliss. I don’t know if this is actually a relatively common flavour for green teas or if it’s another one of Adagio’s whacky flavours. It’s not one I can recall having seen before anyway.
It smells really nice! Sweet and fruity of rhubarb and also of strawberries. It’s reminding me very much of the strawberry and rhubarb puddings of my early childhood, often served for dessert by my grandmother. I’m finding myself looking forward to this to an extreme degree. Based on the smell alone we are looking at something close to 80 points here!
Cross your fingers that I don’t get disappointed, Steepsterites. I don’t want to get disappointed in general, and I especially don’t want to get disappointed by something that smells like this.
After steeping it smells very rhubarb-y! All the strawberry smell is gone here, but there is something else that smells like it could be almost lemon-y. An extremely sour lemon, mind, but still lemon-y. Hello, oxalic acid! My teeth are already a little bit concerned about the coming acid assault. But all is not perfect here. It has gained a semi-synthetic smelling sweetness too. I think it was the one I identified as strawberry earlier.
It’s surprisingly sweet in flavour. The rhubarb flavour isn’t overwhelming, but clearly recognisable. Underneath that it’s a citrus-y green tea. Somewhat water-y and weak, though. All Adagio say is that the base is a chinese green, but I should like to know which one. I brewed it like I normally do all my greens, but it tastes a bit like I should have used more leaf.
I do wish it had been stronger than this. I’ll still give it around 80-ish points, but if it had been stronger then I would definitely have given it more. And it’s definitely also a flavour that I would be interested in trying from another brand if possible.
I find myself now desperately wanting that pudding that my grandmother used to serve…
