Adagio Teas
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I’ve just purchased a couple of Adagio samplers, which is why I have been logging about so many of their teas lately. This is a great drink for a chilly fall morning. The spiced cider flavor is really pronounced but not overwhelming. I enjoyed this with steamed milk and a touch of honey.
I have some of this now and just ordered more, not leaving to chance that I should ever run out. I’m usually unenthusiastic about black teas but Earl Grey is one of my favorite blends of black tea and Adagio seems to have improved on it. Making this one of my all-time favorite teas. It has a dark red-brown liquor with a perfumed aroma and flavor with citrus playing bass.
Haven’t been logging tea because I’ve been having a stressful week with moving back to LA for school, unpacking, doing extra training for my research lab, classes starting up again… BUT I would not have been able to do any of this without my wonderful tea collection. And wuyi ensemble is a wonderful way to wake up.
I absolutely love this tea. I first sampled a white blueberry at Seattle’s Queen Mary Tea Room and fell instantly in love. Unfortunately, they no longer carry it as they claimed their supplier went down in quality. Adagio’s has continued to be consistent, at least so far as I can tell. An excellent tea where the blueberries are well-balanced with the white tea. Could stand to have a few more blueberries in there, though.
Made this for my friend Helen today. 2.25g/3oz water and then added 3oz milk. No sweetener.
Preparation
I don’t really like this tea, but I’m gonna try one thing before dumping these leaves. 2nd infusion, 6min steeped in 3oz water and then added 3oz of a creamer/milk combo. 1TB each spiced rum, vanilla, and white chocolate creamers and the rest (~1oz) milk. Eh. Not to bad I guess considering I don’t like it. The lemongrass gets lost which doesn’t hurt my feelings, I don’t like lemongrass in my chai. And the coconut and white chocolate play nicely together considering I don’t care for either one separately.
I’m nervous about trying this tea. I don’t like coconut, but came in a sampler set that I got so it’s not like I intentionally bought it per se. I knew I’d like the other ones in the sampler so I hoped for the best with this one.
When I open the tin I’m even more worried. The only thing I can smell is the coconut. No spices. No lemon grass. No ceylon black tea.
Since this has large pieces of flavoring, I decided to measure it by the teaspoon instead of the industry standard of 2.25g/serving. I steep it in 6oz boiling purified water for 5 min.
The tea has a medium amber color, kind of surprising for a ceylon.
The sent when steeped is definitely of coconut… I hope I don’t regret wasting this teaspoon of tea.
While I’m not a fan of coconut, assuming a person drinking it would like it does, I’m very glad I measured the tea by the teaspoon (it’s more dense than 2.25g/teaspoon). Served unsweetened.
It’s a very weak tea, but I’m not sure if I’d prefer it stronger or not. The first thing that hits me is the coconut of course. Second, I taste the lemongrass… well kinda… I really only taste the grass part of the lemongrass. Finally the spices, but it’s not really the flavor the spices. It just burns my throat. There is absolutely no flavor of the black tea, infact because of the “grass” part of the lemongrass this could be mistaken as a green tea chia.
My conclusions: Do I like it? No. Would someone that likes coconut like it? Probably. Would I like it better stronger? I’m not sure. Would someone else? Probably. Would I drink it again? Probably, if that was my only option. Would I buy it again? No. Serving suggestions: unsweetened, steeped partially or entirely in coconut milk if milk is desired, a touch of pineapple juice or a few (dried, candied, or fresh) pieces added during steeping? More leaf used during steeping? Maybe. I voted it thumbs down because I personally don’t like it and I’m not sure someone else would think it’s strong enough when steeped by industry standards, which would be even weaker than the way I steeped it. I also rate a tea based on number of infusions I can get and I’m leary I’ll be able to get the average of 3 good infusions..
the 2nd infusion surprised me. First, there was virtually no aroma to it. Second, there was almost no coconut in this infusion at all. The lemon that was hiding in the 1st infusion came back as the dominant. Then the sweetness, but not the flavor, of the coconut. And last the warmth of the spice. There was a faint taste of tea, but it was more of a sencha then a ceylon
I find it actually tastes quite good just with regular skim milk. You’re right in that it doesn’t have the harsh spices of a Masala chai but I personally felt the tea was plenty strong for what it was supposed to be and that the flavours mixed nicely. Maybe try fiddling around with the amounts and the steeping time?
The 3rd infusion was a lot like the 2nd. 1 min extra steeping time as always (up to 7 now). No aroma. When I take my 1st sip it tastes like a light lemon herbal tea. Then about halfway I get to the spices that are oddly stronger than the 2nd steeping, yet lighter than the 1st. Still no black tea taste to speak of. These leaves are dead. 3 infusions max here, if that.
Thanks Jillian, but I don’t like this tea enough weak to want to fiddle around and possibly waste more tea due to me liking it even less. And I tend to drink teas that taste good when prepared to industry standards.
