Tamm

This is yet another Adagio tea that I have been neglecting to drink. I got a sample of this tea last year. I always disliked steeping it because the leaf is so so small! My solution to the steep problem has been to use Teavana tea bags. They solved the mess quickly and I will have to remember it for future steeps. This tea has a great price tag ($6/3oz).
I’m actually really anticipating upping the rating on this because I think that as I have tried more tea that the nuances of this will be more appreciated.
mmmm I think this is much better than other times I have brewed it. Why have I been neglecting this tea?! Very tasty with lots of different nut notes. The chocolate is there, but in the form I like it most: not overly chocolate oil. I steeped for 5min and I think that this was the perfect timing for my taste buds.

I haven’t logged this tea in forever! My stash is almost gone. I have to admit that this lasted me a long time. It is a pretty good blend. It’s not as powerful in the taste department; which is probably why it is still in my stash. The tea is very smooth/creamy. For a pretty plain rooibos this stands out among the ones I have tried. Very tasty!

After a whole day of studying I’m glad to relax with this cuppa! This tea has such tiny little rolled leaves. :3 super cute! While steeping the smell of this reminds me somewhat of brown rice or genmaicha. The leaves are also very darkly colored.
This tea is no pushover! It is very full bodied and would be great for a stronger oolong lover. I’m picking up on the bok choy notes that Mercuryhime was mentioning. Very tasty!

I’m so excited to be drinking this for breakfast! I have come to really love this blend. I have been waiting to make any more tea orders/purchases until later this year and some of my stock goes down. When that time comes I may be getting this in my cupboard. I really loved it and am excited to try even more of Kusmi’s blends. Their tins are really pretty and I love the two that I’ve tried. Who could go wrong! I also saw recently that they have mini tin sets with an assortment of teas. SO CUTE!!! I couldn’t ask for a more gift-able product.
As for this tea, I love the base of this tea. It is apparent in the flavor of the tea without overwhelming it. I do not always enjoy plain black teas; but I love flavored blacks more than others for some reason. I think that certain blends have this hardy/strong base that helps improve the flavoring. This and 52 tea’s Pancake Breakfast are great examples of this.
Overall this is a great tea. I would recommend it wholeheartedly to any lover of dessert/flavored varieties.

mmm I have been rationing this tea. Mine is the vegan version but the mallow-ness still stands out in this blend. I think this is a great after meal tea. After trying this tea I loved genmaicha in general. I think this should be another tea that should be in the permanent stock. wink wink :p

I hope everyone had a fun day! :) I’m relaxing with a pot of this and my hubby. The smell is just awesome. I love the coconut in this and it’s the first time H. is trying this tea. I think out of the times that I have steeped this, this has been my favorite. It is very smooth, creamy and it cures me of needing something much fattier! I love that about 52 teas; they really hit that sweet/craving spot without the guilt!

2nd tea for today! I realized something about this tea today. I should be eating it with marzipan! I haven’t had any in ages, but something about the floral/sweet/almond flavor profile would taste great with this tea. It steeps for at least 3 infusions and I really enjoy it on cold days like today. Only criticism today? I want more coconut in this…

I seriously love this tea! I’m so glad that it has been added to the more permanent stock of teas. I had been hording mine! This tea is break with breakfast and I think that I will soon finish this bag so I can buy another! :p

2nd tea of the day! I steeped this at a slightly lower temp. than usual (175 F). This is a very back and forth tea for me. Although I do enjoy the flavor and the leaves are much more in the forefront in comparison to other Teavana teas; the price is not great ($15/2 oz). I say this simply because even though there are many teas at this price or higher I find that the tea-to-filler ratio is off. If I’m paying this much I really want tea; not just dried fruits. This begs the question: Should tea be for everyone or is it a luxury? This question of price should, in my opinion, be more important to the Teavana owners. On one hand they want to appeal to the masses with things like health benefits and their expanding physical stores. On the other hand the prices make it not an option for much of what I think should be their target audience: students.
Now back to the tea! This tea has a great smell; it blends pear and apple in the front end of the sip with much more subtle pomegranate notes in the background. The flavor is always crisp and fruity. I have noticed it is not a picky tea and over-steeping rarely causes this blend to get bitter/astringent. Overall this is a nice tea and I would recommend it as one of the best white teas Teavana offers.

It’s a snow morning! This winter has been especially warm for whatever reason. This is my first cuppa of the day and I’m glad it’s black! For my Steepster friends: I started a new blog! It’s been pretty fun. :p (http://postscriptforfinales.tumblr.com) if anyone wants to read the ramblings of a crazy girl! :p
This tea is one of the best smelling teas in my collection. I think that one of the secrets to getting this cup right is the steep time. I enjoy this tea more at a shorter steep time.
The flavor of the tea has some very obvious cinnamon notes; but the reason they stand out is because it is warm without being spicy. As much as I love my chai-style teas strong this tea stands out by being more subdued.
The sad thing about this tea is it seems to no longer being stocked. It was replaced by the Amandine rose tea. I haven’t read any reviews on this new tea and I’ve been wondering how it compares to this one. I’ll have to ration mine!

2nd steep! I’m putting this on its own tab just for housekeeping reasons. :)
This steep is actually better than the first. I used a lower temperature for the water. The flavor of the leaves themselves is standing out much more this time. It is very pleasant! I must admit that this is by far the best bagged tea I’ve ever tried. I love the fabric that they use for the bags and I like being able to inspect the leaf before steeping. Even though a four ounce tin of this would have been pretty cheap online ($6.75) I do prefer the tin that the teabags come in; call me vain! I think that for the price this one really hits it out of the park. I hope that I’ll be trying more from Harney & Sons in the future.

I’ve been waiting to buy this forever! Today I finally picked it up from my local Barnes & Noble. This is going to be the very first Harney & Sons tea I’ve had. I ignored the instructions to brew this in boiling water as it’s a green tea. I think that the dry leaf smells just like a fruit roll-up.
Mmm! This is pretty good for a first sip! I think that something about this would be nicer as an iced tea. But it is fruity. This actually really nice. I think I’ve gotten used to the overpowering sweetness of Teavana. This is much more subtle than anything I’ve tried from them. This tea is pretty enjoyable and I’m really glad I have this in my collection.

mmm yet another go at this one! I love this tea! I use a very small pot for this+extra leaves. But it always comes out fragrant and crave-able. I think that this is easily one of my favorite teas.

I got this sample from TeaEqualsBliss; thank you for everything! I’m a little behind in my rating. I have a very non-functioning relationship with Earl Grey. Not just this one.
I saw the instructions on the bag and at first really questioned the 5 min steep time. Looking back I’m sure this was much longer than what my cup needed. This came out as being very astringent. The fruit loopy-ness was there but I couldn’t get past that initial punch of blah. I think this could have been saved by some milk if I had not steeped it so long. I don’t normally take milk with my tea, but something here seems to need it.

Hello Steepster! I hope everyone has been doing well. I am finally back after a break. No tea was had for the past few weeks b/c I was sick and overwhelmed. If there was anyone I got behind on talking to I humbly apologize.
A friend from a class works at my local Teavana and I got this from her the other day. I wanted to get tea bags but I couldn’t resist!
The dry leaf and the liquor of this are very, very similar to the zingiber rooibos. The main difference I can tell without that tea here is the black base along with an almost anise flavor. This blend also seems to have more vanilla flavor to me. Other than that I think that I would never stock both of those teas at the same time and ultimately I would purchase depending on price comparison and if I was going to be drinking it at night.
Rating it on its own though it is very nice. Somehow I’m getting lots of sweetness that I wasn’t expecting. I think that I may blend this with a heavier base to make it have a more solid base instead of just sweet. It is trying to do a lot in one glass and has notes of nuts, light spice, coconut, vanilla and overall it can be a nice wake up cup.

Amazing. When brewed at the lower temps. it makes a big difference. I find that around 180 F is right for me. This tea is bold and great for cold days! I love Kusmi for this tea!

I have been off tea for the past few days but now I’m back! gah! I’m having tv withdrawal as I just finished Battlestar Galactica. But in lieu of upcoming due dates I’m having this cup as a wake up call.
This tea is very powerful in the smell department. This sometimes has been a good thing and sometimes a bad tea. It often gets passed over my hubby and me simply b/c you really have to be in the mood for it.
The flavor is just Christmas. It’s spice/citrus/cookie all the way! I think that this tea, although tasty, could never hold a permanent spot in my cupboard. This is simply because although it is tasty, the mood for it rarely comes up.

A really great tea! I was feeling down and so this is my late night pick-me-up. I really appreciate how much information was given on this tea package. I think that it was nice to have exact information about the distributor/steep times/etc.
Something that I was reading on another forum about was an idea that I’m trying to encompass. I know that some teas can be steeped over and over again, but at some point they really do loose that pizzazz. I think that I’m going to be more cautious with steep times and temp. so I can narrow down when I should continue re-using leaves.

After a very long and awesome day at school I thought I’d sit down to my now 5th steep of this tea (still going strong!). I am wondering if anyone else thinks that this smells slightly of cheese? Or at least butter. This is my 2nd experience with milk oolong and I’m glad that they were so wildly different. :) The 1st one was by Teavivre.
This milk oolong has much more of a milk taste instead of Teavivre’s more floral liquor. They are both very good in their own special ways.
For this one I noticed that the smell is just a bit stronger; it hits you right when you open the bag. The flavor itself is very buttery. This was the perfect tea to drink during the snow recently! I have to admit that even though I’ve now had 5 cups of this that I still haven’t really given the flavor too much nitpicking because you know what? I drink it too fast. This really tells me something. A+ tea.

No notes yet.

So this is my tea break of the day; I’m trying to get through all this reading…It really never ends. This was a very generous sample provided by Teavivre! :)
I’ve had an interesting relationship with jasmine. It’s not always my favorite because of its very heady aroma. This one would not disappoint true jasmine fans! It is beautifully rolled and I can almost taste it as I open the bag. My first steep did not fully unfurl the leaves of these pearls. There is also a very deeply complex smell to this jasmine.
The liquor itself is very light and the taste is actually much more subdued (a good point for me!). I put less leaf into this because of my slight jasmine phobia. I actually really enjoyed this one. It’s not overly floral; most of this flavor hits my palate on the end of a sip. I think that this could be the jasmine that changes my ideas of what jasmine tea should be.
edit I’m now on my 3rd steep of this tea and I’m surprised by its ability to last. I’m quite sure that a 4th and at least a 5th steep could be taken from these leaves. This would be a great tea for the penny-pinching-jasmine loving-poor college student. :p lol

This is another sample that I received from Teavire. Today is an overcast and rainy day that feels perfect for relax style homework and tea! I’m eating peaches while drinking this and the pairing works wonderfully.
This tea is the most floral of the Tie Guan Yins that I’ve tried (Rishi, Chinese Tea Shop, Teavivre). It really hits you on the end of a sip and mid palate. It pairs really well with fruit! The mouth feel on this is very light and more mellow than crisp.
The liquor at first was actually kind of surprising because it is very light, closer to some of the whites that I’ve sampled.
This was an excellent Tie Guan Yin. I find that the more floral/sweet notes are what I seek in this style of tea. I would recommend this for oolong newbies any day! For me this is my 2nd favorite oolong (after milk oolong). I think if I had to rate the 3 Tie Guan Yins according to how I felt it would go: Chinese Tea Shop/Teavivre as a tie with Rishi’s coming in 2nd. This is simply because the Rishi one tends to be more on the strong wheat/barley flavor profile as opposed to floral/vegetal.

I have to thank Teavivre for this very generous sample! I asked for this tea specifically and I’m so glad I did! The dry leaves are beautiful and fragrant. Today I’ve been mostly sleeping as I guess I am coming down with something; so I’m pretty lucky to even be awake for this!
The liquor is so fresh! It does have that kind of Botan candy flavor, some vegetal sides, some fruit (easily peachy) and just is wonderful. This was my first experience with milk oolong and I think it has risen to the #1 spot! :) I’m very impressed by this tea’s ability with flavor. It really stands out and is not weak at all.
I could easily see myself recommending this to oolong lovers and new commers to more traditional teas alike; excellent!
edit I’m now on my 3rd infusion of this tea. The flavor on this is very long lasting. I did this infusion at boiling/2min and it’s still very robust and I am going to keep going! I’m noticing that this tea is especially fruity alongside the milky-ness. This adds a lot to the flavor profile. love
final opinion: after 5 infusions (semi Western style here) at 2-3min/boiling/extra leaf 7oz ceramic teapot
Very solid, almost sweet, peachy, milky awesomeness! This also has HUGE leaves!

This is some funky smelling stuff! lolol I don’t drink it much because it really is just a strange tea. This is kinda lemony; I guess more in a lemon cookie or pie shell or something. It’s lacking the major citrus bite that I was expecting from something labeled “lemon.” I like this a lot, despite the weirdness. I can’t say that this would be my highest recommendation from Adagio, but worth the sample.