4572 Tasting Notes
I ordered full size bags of a couple of the Nightmare Before Christmas fandom blends, and decided to pick up samples of a couple of random fall-inspired blends while I was at it. This one is a mix of gingerbread, cranberry, and almond.
Unfortunately, I guess because of the added cinnamon chips, it mostly ends up tasting like cinnamon. It actually kind of reminds me of some kind of spiced scented candle, it has an odd potpourri quality to it. I don’t notice the almond at all, and there’s only a whisper of cranberry in the finish. Nothing about it even says gingerbread to me, just cinnamon. It’s also a little bitter even though I only steeped it for 2.5 minutes.
Definitely a fail ha ha, but at least the tin is pretty!
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Brisk, Cinnamon, Cranberry, Perfume
Preparation
Hongcha of the day.
I am not a dancong lover, so I never would have chosen this tea to order. Which is part of the fun of getting a curated sampler! I will say, I do find it strange that they would include a more unusual tea like this one in their “intro” sampler, since I would expect that to be more about getting to know the different famous hongcha types. But it works out for me, since I am already well-acquainted. :)
Anyway, I like this better than I expected, as it’s not quite as floral as I generally find dancong. It has an interesting mix of sweet and savory, light and intense. There is a malty, chewy bread quality alongside an intense, slightly biting mineral note. These give way to tangy fruit (guava?) and sweet potato, along with subtle notes of floral nectar. Honestly I’m finding this one a bit difficult to describe, as there is a lot going on. But I’m enjoying it!
(Spring 2025 harvest)
Flavors: Biting, Bitter, Bread, Brisk, Caraway, Clean, Clear, Earthy, Floral, Grain, Guava, Malty, Mineral, Nectar, Savory, Sea Buckthorn, Spring Water, Stonefruit, Sweet, Sweet Potato, Tangy
Preparation
This is quite different from the rest of the selections in the sampler, the dry leaf looks similar to a loose leaf shou puerh to me. Very large, twisty leaves in a variety of mid-to-deep browns and a matte, dusty appearance. And it makes sense, given this leaf is apparently generally used for puerh production.
The taste does have some similarities to shou as well. It’s very earthy and smooth, though not as concentrated and rich as puerh. It has a bit of that barnyard hay thing going on. Definitely a grounding tea, with a somewhat astringent finish. I do taste some notes of tangy apricot near the end of the sip, which linger on my tongue.
It’s not something I would order for myself, but I’m still enjoying it and it’s fun to have some variety in my hongcha selection.
(Spring 2025 harvest)
Flavors: Apricot, Barnyard, Dried Fruit, Earthy, Hay, Mineral, Musty, Smooth, Stonefruit, Straw, Sweet, Tangy, Thick
Preparation
So Simpson & Vail recently released two new fall teas, this being one of them. Naturally, I had to order the autumn sampler box with both new releases plus a couple of existing teas. Because, you know, science.
This is described as a caramel apple black tea, with butterfly pea flower to make it steep up a spooky “purple-black” color. Well, as usual, mine is not the intended hue ha ha – it’s more of a dark, murky brown-black. Coffee-like, almost. Anyway, the tea itself is pleasant, though it tastes more like a candy apple to me than a caramel one. The apple flavor is quite nice, it’s more concentrated than I would expect. It’s also well-rounded, it almost tastes like there’s a bit of cranberry or pomegranate or something in the background? However, there is a slight odd sour-musty herbal note, I’m not sure if it’s the pea flower or the horsetail.
I think next time I’ll try picking out the butterfly pea flower and see how that changes the flavor.
Flavors: Apple, Candy, Caramelized Sugar, Herbaceous, Musty, Red Fruit, Sour, Sweet, Tart
Preparation
Hongcha again! I always feel intimidated by “competition grade” and nonpareil teas and rarely buy them, but this was included in my sampler so here we are. This is a pure bud tea, and the inside of the pouch was densely coated in tiny golden trichomes.
I feel like I don’t have a good grasp of the difference between jin jun mei and other Fujian teas, like golden monkey. But anyway, this is light and has those nice savory Fujian bread and caraway notes to it, with a soft and smooth texture. The description mentions chocolate and honey, but I don’t notice either of those. Maybe this one just isn’t well-suited to my Western steeping methods.
Anyway, it’s still a tasty tea, but I seem to be missing the subtleties…
(Spring 2025 harvest)
Flavors: Bread, Earthy, Grain, Mineral, Savory, Smoked, Smooth, Soft, Starchy, Toast, Wheat
Preparation
I am wondering if the trichomes made their way through your steeping device to end up swirling in the infusion? Sometimes I switch to a fabric bag which seems to hold back the finer components of some tea, since I prefer a crystal clear cuppa. My microscreen steel basket is pretty good, but sometimes things do slip through!
Was a bit nervous about this one, given I’m not generally a fan of very floral teas.
However, I don’t notice even a hint of orchid here. This actually tastes quite similar to the tea I had yesterday – which maybe makes sense, given they’re both from Wuyishan originally. Very sweet, like lightly toasted whole wheat bread smeared with creamed honey and a light dusting of cinnamon. However, I don’t really get the fruity notes with this tea, and it also has a smidge more intensity and bite, especially at the end of the sip. The honey seems a bit darker here, with hints of molasses. No noticeable floral notes to me (other than the honey), maybe if I squint there’s a hint of nectar in the finish? A lot of other reviewers mention the floral aspect, so I guess it’s just me ha ha. Definitely more of a waffle tea to my tastebuds!
Anyway, very pleasant and easy-drinking sweet hongcha. I do prefer the Jiu Qu Hong Mei from yesterday because of the prevalent fruity notes, but will have no trouble sipping this one too. I also have a “Fruit Aroma” zheng shan that I haven’t tried yet, so that will be interesting to compare!
(Spring 2025 harvest)
Flavors: Bitter, Bread, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Creamy, Grain, Honey, Mineral, Molasses, Round, Smooth, Soft, Sweet, Syrupy, Toast, Toasted, Wheat, Woody
Preparation
I approached this tea with a bit of trepidation after what happened with the last Dryad sample… XD
Thankfully, this one is actually quite nice. It’s very soft and light but has a nice realistic and crisp apple/pear flavor to it, accented by subtle warming spices. Apparently it also has pomegranate, I’m not sure I’m tasting that, but maybe it’s rounding out the bottom end of the apple. There is a slight winey thing going on, maybe that’s from the pomegranate.
Regardless, it’s nice and perfect for fall. I’m not sure whether I would order more of it, but it does seem different from other apple spice teas I’ve had. It leans more on the apple side and has that aromatic wine note going for it. Almost reminds me of Momijigari? Which, obviously, is a good sign! There’s almost a bit of a potpourri note, but somehow not in a bad way?
Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon, Crisp, Earthy, Floral, Grapes, Light, Mineral, Pear, Red Apple, Red Wine, Rose, Soft, Spices, Sweet, Tannic
Preparation
Hongcha of the day!
Okay, now this tastes like a Taiwanese black to me. Super sweet, dense honey and caramelized sugar with underlying creamy bread and rich dried fruit notes. I can definitely see the plum, although the fruit here also reminds me of plump dried apricots – sweet and tangy and quite concentrated in flavor. Then there are some lovely whole grain bread notes, and a delightfully sweet and lingering honey finish with just a hint of cinnamon. I could even see maple syrup as well. Just a whisper of floral nectar at the end of the sip.
Just lovely! And definitely my kind of black tea.
(Spring 2025 harvest)
Flavors: Apricot, Bread, Brown Sugar, Caramelized Sugar, Cinnamon, Creamy, Dried Fruit, Floral, Grain, Honey, Malty, Maple Syrup, Nectar, Plum, Rich, Stonefruit, Sweet, Syrupy, Tangy, Wheat
Preparation
I swear that several years back I tried some teas from Dryad, but I don’t seem to have written any notes about them here, so maybe I’m crazy… So I ended up ordering quite a few samples (15, to be exact) since I was curious and couldn’t remember any previous opinion I may have had.
This one sounded intriguing, with dark berry, vanilla, and anise. I actually created a blend in last year’s herbal advent that combined elderberry and anise, along with cacao and hojicha, and I quite liked it.
Anyway, this has an insane amount of anise seed, so unsurprisingly that is mostly what I taste. Unfortunately, there is also a weird soapy/perfume note, which is very strange since this doesn’t even have any florals in it. It’s very perplexing, and I made my husband try it to make sure I wasn’t crazy lol – he said it tastes like potpourri. XD They do mention “painting the roses red” in description, so maybe there is some kind of floral flavoring that they don’t list outright? (shrugs)
Flavors: Anise, Candy, Chemical, Licorice, Perfume, Soap, Star Anise, Sweet
Preparation
Another intro to hongcha sampler tea. This is actually the only golden Yunnan tea in the bunch, so I probably should have picked up another one. Oh well, they tend to offer the pricier, bud-heavy teas in 50g increments on the US website anyway, so I can always grab some others when I run out of this one.
This is nice – not necessarily a fully “gold” tea but definitely very tippy, maybe one leaf per bud? I wish they gave more information in their tea descriptions over at Yunnan Sourcing, something like a bulleted list with specifications like specific origin, harvest date, cultivar, and pluck (just buds, bud and one or two leaves, etc.). But obviously that’s neither here nor there… All that to say, this tastes like it has some leaves in it to me ha ha.
Still quite a light tea, but with a gentle mineral/earthy, malty foundation. Very smooth with those characteristic sweet potato and tangy stonefruit/apricot notes. There is an interesting hint of black pepper in the finish, which lingers nicely. A subtle, clear sweetness like honeysuckle nectar appears at the end of the sip as well.
Not sure I would specifically order this, as generally I would go for one of the pure bud varieties, like the biluochun or mojiang, or I would go for a less tippy Yunnan tea. But I will certainly enjoy drinking through my 25 grams!
(Spring 2025 harvest)
Flavors: Apricot, Black Pepper, Dried Fruit, Earthy, Honeysuckle, Light, Malty, Mineral, Nectar, Rich, Savory, Smooth, Spring Water, Starchy, Stonefruit, Sweet, Sweet Potato, Tangy
I find it so curious the number of poor reviews on Adagio Teas here on a website owned by Adagio Teas :,D
I am generally not a fan, but there are some exceptions! And it wasn’t originally owned by Adagio, a lot of us have been around a long time.
I would hope that the site doesn’t become an echo chamber for insincere positive reviews. I have praised and criticised Adagio, but not more than I’ve done for other vendors, and I would hope that my criticisms afford each vendor an honest opportunity for improvement. Only recently have I even begun buying and drinking Adagio, and partly because I became aware that they have been running this site, which I do appreciate! I’m relatively new here, only 4-5 yrs now, and would like it to continue. My sincerity should be clear, as I now drive over an hour each way just to shop in their wonderful Naperville store. If we arrive to a point where anything less than utter praise is viewed as failure or condemnation (like the auto salesmen keep suggesting), then I’ll be going elsewhere.