Custom-Adagio Teas

The last of The Hobbit blends that I have to try!
Okay. This one… I’m not a fan od Rooibos so that’s why it took me forever to try it?
Right out of the tin, it smells like medicine. Just a reeeeally strong super fruity super sweet scent and.. I’m not a fan.
Brewing.. and it still smells like medicine.
It’s a really red colour and it’s only been steeping for about a minute but the smell is still really strong. With the tea leaves out, it still smells like medicine. If you can’t tell, I’m not really enjoying this blend?
Drinking the tea and… ooh it tastes like… I’VE HAD THIS FLAVOUR BEFORE but I can’t remember what it tastes like. It’s like a sweet, candy-ish type of thing?
It tastes like a watered down kool-air or Hi-C… like those sugary fruit juices from waaaay long ago. But of course, this tastes much better.
Not the biggest fan of this blend, but definitely tastes much better than what I expected.
I don’t drink Rooibos. I don’t even know what the correct steep time or temperature is sooooo yeah.

yesterday i battled my social anxiety to throw my boyfriend an awesome birthday party. i’d say it was a success.
but today i’m sullen and irritable.
so when this tea arrived today i felt almost weepy.
i made this blend on thursday. i don’t recommend it, but i tried. it’s my first. maybe i just have to brew it longer.
not enough lapsang. not enough vanilla.
i’ll get back to you.

Made for one of my favorite characters, this blend smells just like I’d expect him too. Sweet with a hint of chocolaty mystery. In the cup, its quite tart, but with a dash of Stevia in the Raw, that fixes up quick. I had this with my morning fruit yesterday, and it didn’t let me down. Looking forward to trying it with some almond milk once I get more, because cherry/almond sounds amazing.

Crying because Fili is going to run out just as quickly as Kili.
I reeeeally like chai, and this tea is sooo good! It’s like apple pie with yummy goodness.

Gandalf was really… interesting.
I wasn’t a fan of the smell since it smelled soooo strongly of Almond Extract and I’m not the biggest fan of almond extract.
Steeping, it lost a bit of the almond, and smokiness took over.
Not the best blend I’ve ever had, but it DOES seem like a very Gandalf blend.

Mmmm the mocha in this blend! You can definitely smell the Mocha Nut Mate.
I’m still experimenting with this tea blend. My first cup was very bitter and the next one was flavourless.

The boys & I shared a pot of this with breakfast. Irish Breakfast, spiced apple chai, hazelnut, marigolds & cinnamon. Bold enough for breakfast, but also nicely sweet (especially with stevia).

Fili was good!
I drank him yesterday so I forgot things.. umm.. he’s good. I approve.

Don’t think I get pear or strawberry. However, it does taste like the scent of an old fashioned candy store. Kind of like old wood (not in a bad way) and nonspecific “sweet.” Maybe that is the jelly roll chocolate taste Tamm mentioned.

Thanks for the sample, Tamm!

Cold brewed this one in the fridge for a few hours. I love it! The flavors come out a bit more and it isn’t bitter. It’s a mellow, refreshing citrus-y drink with light black tea notes.

No notes yet.

SMAUG. You are a funny one.

Had this blend for a late breakfast before heading out. I really like strong smokey teas, so I was excited for this one. The oriental spice in this one seems to tone down the lapsang, without really showing itself. At first, I was disappointed with the lack of smoke, but I like how smooth the other elements make this tea. It’s not bitter at all and honestly better than I was expecting.

On a mostly unrelated note, I found out that Zhi Tea is near me and I plan on going soon! I just have to find someone I can convince to go with me..

This is a strange tea, but I actually really like it. Bummer too because it doesn’t look like they sell it anymore. I’ve only found a few puerh blends that I like much and thats generally if I can’t taste the puerh. The puerh isn’t hiding in this one at all but the hazelnut and the puerh really compliment eachother. I’m sad to only get to have a bit of this but thank you to shmiracles for the chance!!!

100th note!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (You can never have enough exclamation points)

This is the tea that I made for my mom custom for mothers day. She loves raspberries so I started off with that as the base (it’s decaf so she can drink it after work. Then I added chamomile to help her relax and then honeybush vanilla to add a smoothness to it. When I got it in the pack it smelled really good. It had a nice light fruity smell with vanilla and chamomile. The brew smells good as well.

The taste is pretty good. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn’t have a lot of raspberry flavor. It is kinda there, but it isn’t the fresh tart flavor I was looking for, but the more sweet candy kind. The chamomile and vanilla seem to dominate, and has a floral undertone.

While I like it I want it to have a little bit more of a tart edge. I think next time I am going to brew it longer, since it seems adagio’s decaf teas don’t turn as bitter as there normal teas. That might bring out more raspberry flavor. If that doesn’t work I might take out one of the raspberry leaves and put in hibiscus instead to add tartness.

Do any of you guys have any suggestions?

P.S. My mom did like it a lot though so, YAY!

Specifics

Pot: Porcelain
Water: 8oz per steep
Leaf: 2 tsp (5 grams)
Steep Time: 2:45 minuets; 3:00 minuets
Sweetener: a good small spoon full per 8 oz

Combined two steepings in one cup.

You can smell the apple right out of the tin! Right out of the tin, the aroma smells sooooo good. The Apple and Sour Apple overpowers a lot of the other flavours, but it’s lost in brewing. When it brews, the smokiness of the gunpowder and the cocoa nibs take over.
Tastes pretty good with a bit of milk and sugar.

Fili is the careful older brother. i’ll translate that into more patient and loving. cuz this cup is definitely kind and gentle.
this tea smells really good. and i’m gonna say it’s the hazelnut. with this cup i’ve figured out that every single adagio blend that has hazelnut in it smells great to me. and so i like it. that’s all.

this weekend i went to the Bilbo Baggins Cafe. and in this picture is a Hobbit’s Lemonade cocktail.
http://instagram.com/p/ZLiOlsoc1G/
i also had beer with blueberry mead in it. i would totally drink that again.

Pippin: What’s that?
Merry: This, my friend, is a pint.
Pippin: It comes in pints? I’m getting one.

thank you very much Shadowfall for sharing all these blends with me. i’ve had a great time. cheers!

HE’S GOOD? Ish..
Like.. It’s a nice green tea, but it had a weird aftertaste?
But still, it smells sooo good coming right out of the tin.

Wow, this smells so much better to me today. I wonder why that is? I’ve heard of other brands needing some adjustment time before being had. For whatever reason, I think that may be why this one was throwing me off. The smell is still very strong with this one. The lemon verbena is so much stronger than I would suspect, being as it is just an “accent” to the tea. I really actually love nut (especially hazelnut) teas, so this has plenty of that to offer. Still, the ginger and lemon verbena are strong players in this blend.

“What are you captain of? The Innuendo Squad?”

idk what the descriptor is talking about, this tea is rooibos heavy (at least the sample i got is) so i don’t think it would keep me “up all night”. ..unless john barrowman served it to me personally i suppose??
har har
this IS a nice tea. i can taste the almond and the light chocolate hints.
thumbs-up!

in related news
someone made this.
and then i watched it.
oh internet.

Single Ladies – John Barrowman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEr0BPOfVw4

thanks Shadowfall!

“Bravery is by far the kindest word for stupidity, don’t you think?” – Mycroft Holmes

thank you Shadowfall for this taste of the Queen. haha tv joke.
anyways, i don’t really prefer chai’s but even though this smells very chai it tastes mellower. which makes me like it. (perhaps i should just short steep all my chais?) plus it’s a vanilla chai AND there is the chocolate chip tea too. so it’s good!
i LIKE it.

i’ve spent the past 24 hours reading a looooong post-Reichenbach fic which is kinda Mycroft heavy, in a lovely way, so i thought this was an appropriate tea for the evening. here’s to the CCTV warrior.

backlog Sipdown! thanks terri! I had this last night while testing – it’s not something i love with that familiar weird adagio taste i don’t like but for whatever reason i kept drinking it. None of the tastes really popped with this one – it seemed to boil down to just a meh cup of tea. Oh well, can’t win them all! :)

Thank you so much Shmiracles for sharing such a coveted tea treasure; the only tea that you deemed worthy of a rating. It must have been hard to part with! haha.

So I have to start with a bit of backstory: About a week ago, my father was grilling bbq chicken and he used some fancy smoke-flavor thing that my brother had given him as a gift some time ago. I took one bite of this chicken and complained immediately that it tasted like a chimney and that I was pretty sure I was exhaling chimney smoke from my nose for half an hour after eating it. But my father loves smokey flavors, so all the better for him. What he doesn’t like are most of the teas I bring for him to sample. “tastes like seaweed!” … “that tastes like seaweed too” … “too weak” … “too boring” … “SEAWEED!!!”

I had never tried Lapsang Souchong nor any blends made with it, but I read plenty about it’s smokiness and told my father that I will have to get him some. It’s not a tea I ever would have considered getting for myself as I knew it wouldn’t suit me.

So fortunate it was that I happened to get a Lapsang blend in a swap. I opened the bag, smelled it and thought “yep, this has Papa written all over it!” I took it over to my parents house this evening and told my father that I found the tea for him. And guess what? No surprise, he LOVED it. He even asked if there was more before he finished the cup that I gave him. I also poured small sample cups for my mother, little sister, and myself (because I can’t officially say that I don’t like it unless I try it). It was one awful smelly cup of blech to me and my mother wasn’t too tickled either. As for my little sister, her story is special too. She’s been sampling several teas that I bring over there and not once ever has she not liked one. Every tea is equally good in her book and I was determined to find something she didn’t like. Finally did. She didn’t even finish her sample, but gave it to Papa.

I was interested in this tea by the description, but also a bit hesitant. It is just that, interesting. The ginger and lemon verbena are more aggressive than I personally would have made them. It makes for a really interesting tea. I wouldn’t say I like or dislike it. The chocolate notes are very, very subtle. The base on this one seems more stable than other Adagio flavored blacks. When you smell this in the bag it instantly reminds me of chocolate orange. It is actually a very calming tea; perhaps the lemon verbena? I’ve never had it before.