Cash & Chris

More detailed notes to come soon, but this tea was everything I hoped it would be (and in a gorgeous tin to boot!) This is a keeper. Taking it iced to work tomorrow, pretty excited to give it a shot.

The bag says to steep for 1-2 minutes, but I did 4 anyway – the white tea and green tea I got in the same order ALSO say 1-2, so I think Lupicia might just include the same directions on all their teas. (Party foul.) I’ll try another cup at 2 minutes soon.

-Cash

One of my favorite teas from one of my favorite shops. I try to keep this one on hand, and particularly enjoy drinking a cup right before bed to finish my night. (Yes, I know this is a mate – caffeine does nothing for me..!)

It’s great right from the first step: big chunks of dried fruit (licorice and pineapple), gorgeous blue cornflower petals, and a fresh-looking bright green mate base exude a pleasantly spicy cinnamon apple scent. I definitely recommend putting this in a tin; the ingredients are very different sizes and you want a balanced scoop.

The steep releases more cinnamon apple scent, this time emphasizing the fruit. I love watching this tea steep, as the liquor very slowly and very gradually becomes its ready-to-drink pale gold.

Generally, I like my teas to have a very bold flavor. Rainforest Mate is unique because the sip initially tastes very watery, a notable tart sweetness creeping around the edges of your tongue and throat as it sits and finishing up with slight anise notes. It’s confusingly weak and bold at the same time, the latter definitely aided by heat; I’ve never iced this tea but having tried it nearly cooled I don’t particularly want to.

Writing this overdue tasting note, I’m realizing that I have plenty of flavored mates (nearly all of which I love) but have never tried the stuff plain. Any brand recommendations?
-Cash

Mild blueberry flavor, strong white flavor; exactly as ordered. Much better hot than when the tea’s cooled down a bit.

-Cash

Received this tea as part of a large shipment from Adagio, as we were ordering a kettle from the company and we figured we might as well get a bunch of their teas as well. I was curious to look up Adagio and find that their headquarters in Garfield NJ is only five blocks from my boyhood home.

I steeped the tea for four minutes at 200 degrees, somewhat high for a white tea. The tea in the bag had a sour and almost pickled smell, but I was pleased by the fresh and crisp flavors in the finished result. Given the scent of the dry tea I expected a more complex and bold taste, but instead the cucumber white is mellow, unassuming and simple. Generally I prefer stronger teas, but I loved this one; I understand that what is subtle to one person is weak to one person, but there is little cause for complaint in this tea.

-Chris

This tea smells like feet.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely a lot of chocolate and a little mint in there too. But the first thing I thought of shoving my nose into the little pouch of this I’ve got was a big pair of spent-the-day-walking-in-flip-flops gams. And it’s hard to get over a first impression like that. I’m not disgusted by feet like many people seem to be (in fact, I think they look kinda cool), but the smell of ’em is not what I expect when I open a foil bag of green tea.

Pouring some hot water over the leafy paws brings out the chocolate a lot more, but there’s still a distinct note of not-so-fresh feet. I’m not getting much mint from this scent, a notable feat given how dominating just a hint can be.

The liquor’s an unremarkable yellow color but a few minutes into the steep is beginning to let out some leafy green tea scent. Fortunately, that foot nonsense mostly vanishes when you get to tasting it, but it’s definitely still present – likely because it still smells that way. It’s all chocolate at first, a fake candy-coating sort of chocolate that isn’t as unpleasant as that description sounds. It leaves behind a mild freshness to remind you that there is, in fact, mint involved here, but there’s only the faintest flavor of green tea.

I’m liking this more as it cools down, and in fact raised my rating a bit as a result. This might be best iced – definitely gotta try it.

Still smells like feet, though.
-Cash

Yes! I ordered a good 18 samples of Adagio’s teas when we got our UtiliTEA kettle (which is fantastic – if only Steepster had equipment reviews!), having never tried that brand before and being enticed by the low price of admission, and thought just about every one I’ve tried so far was thoroughly boring, good but not great and that’s just unacceptable in a DavidsTea world. Every one of those were blacks and oolongs (the latter my favorite variety and therefore the lion’s share of the samples I ordered) until getting to the delicious vanilla green, and between that and this white cucumber I think my judgment of Adagio might be changing.

A vaguely unpleasant scent from the leaves set my expectations pretty low, but the vinegary notes vanished in hot water to make way for a very recognizable white tea scent. To be honest, if you had me smell the liquor without knowing what it was, I’d guess this was a plain Silver Needle – albeit an old one, but still pretty quality stuff. There’s a very pleasant vegetal edge that more than makes up for the discouraging nose from the leaves.

I normally steep white teas one or two minutes and no more. Adagio’s instructions on the types-of-tea leaflet you can expect to find in any shipment encourage you to steep theirs for as much as seven (!) minutes because the flavor needs that time to come out, which just sounds downright heretical to me. The cucumber white’s bag recommends a more modest 3-5 minutes, so I shook off the innate resistance to doing so and gave the infusion a solid four. Fortunately, that time didn’t end up making my cup bitter, and I’m intrigued to try a few different times with this tea.

In fact, the flavor is really, really good. I’m a big cucumber fan so I was expecting to at least like the tea despite how odd it sounds, but I found myself loving each sip more than the last. I’m not sure I would describe the flavor as cucumber in a blind taste test, but it definitely tastes crisp and vegetal on top of the fantastic mild earth tones that mark white tea. The liquor is more golden than most whites, likely due to the long steep.

My cup’s been cooling down as I sip it writing this review, as hot beverages are wont to do, and the scent and taste both are getting stronger and closer to the tea’s name. I still love each sip more than the last, as I mentioned in the opening of this review. Color me impressed; I’m excited to get to Adagio’s other whites shortly.
-Cash

About time – after being bored by nearly every sample I ordered, I finally enjoy one of Adagio’s teas! This still isn’t the delicious vanilla milkshake beverage I’m seeking, but this blend has a lot to offer.

The leaves are full and bright, with an unfortunately artificial vanilla scent laying over the grassy green notes. This vanilla scent sticks out even more when steeping, but fortunately loses some of that ‘vanilla extract’ edge the leaves had. The liquor ends up a pale golden tone that more resembles an oolong than the green I was expecting, but oolong is obviously the One True Tea (or Many True Teas, I suppose) so that’s not a complaint.

The flavor is downright great. It’s unfortunately still weaker than I’d like (which seems to be the Adagio story), but I’ll just use more leaves next time. It’s got a crisp mouthfeel and tastes exactly as its name implies; both the sweet creamy vanilla and grassy tea are present, starting more with the former and leaving the latter behind as it goes down. The flavor doesn’t stick around long, and I ended up drinking my first cup of it in a very short time as a result. I was pleased to find the vanilla flavor managed to taste more like a dessert than the bean I’ve learned to expect from vanilla teas without tasting artificial, despite the unfortunate scent of the leaves.

This one’s a winner, and is the first Adagio tea I’m likely to re-order. I expect it to be fantastic iced when I try that tomorrow.
-Cash

Though I normally like my flavored blacks to be more flavor and less tea, the mild strawberry flavor coming in at the end of this is pretty satisfying. Nothing special, but I was expecting a dessert tea and got a lovely afternoon blend instead. This might be great iced and I want to try that; I also want to try steeping it for less time, as some other reviewers have done.
-Cash

I’m on a quest to find a vanilla tea that I really enjoy. Vanilla is one of my favorite flavors in any instance where I can choose a flavor, always, and I want this to apply to tea as well. From DavidsTea to Tazo to Celestial Seasonings to Southern Season, no tea source seems to get the flavor I want across. Unfortunately, this isn’t The One, but it’s better than most.

The leaves smell mostly woodsy with a bit of a vanilla undertone – bean, not flavoring. They’re not much to look at or smell, and are a bit smaller in general than I like my teas to be. I’m running through a sampler box, though, so this may have more to do with my dipping out of a small bag than a properly sized one. Brewing it in my new ingenuiTEA pot, I don’t have much comment to make on the scent when steeping.

The liquor’s a pretty, dark amber, not unlike the peach oolong from the same sampler set. I strongly suspect they’re made of the same tea base. The flavor profile puts the fairly creamy vanilla up front with a woodsy aftertaste from the oolong, both weaker than I’m looking for. The flavor’s more spot on than any other vanilla tea I’ve tried – especially compared to the most recent contender, DavidsTea’s awful vanilla oolong offering – but still not the in-your-face sweet treat I’m seeking.
-Cash

My first experience with Adagio Teas.

The leaves were disappointingly fine-cut, but that may be the fact that I’m drinking from one of their 5-cup samples rather than a bigger bag. The ingredients list apricot amongst the usual and expected suspects, and that comes through strongly in the powerful scent of the leaves. It’s very reminiscent of Revolution Tea’s Dragon Eye Oolong, actually, which shouldn’t be surprising given they’re made of similar stock. These leaves smell a lot better and/or stronger than Revolution’s, but look to be of equivalent quality.

The liquor is a gorgeous dark amber, no surprises from a brownish oolong like this. The scent from the leaves is still coming through in full blast, but unfortunately that strength didn’t stick around for the taste; a slight hint of peach and woody tea are all that distinguish it from the hot water in which it’s steeped. It might be better with a bit more honey to flesh out the flavor a bit – I used my typical half-teaspoon.

I probably wouldn’t be so disappointed by the flavor if the leaves hadn’t set the bar so high with their scent. Not a bad tea by any means, but when I want a flavor of this sort I’m sticking to the aforementioned Dragon Eye Oolong.
-Cash

A boring, overly lemony flavor hot turns into a fantastic treat when you put some honey in it and pour it over ice. This is a summery blend I’m glad I tried, but not something I’m likely to keep around at all times.. the lemon flavor just comes through a bit too much.
-Cash

This came as a free sample with an order of some 52teas iced teas.

The tea itself smells like straight cocoa nibs, and honestly looks like it too – I’m not sure why I was expecting to see all three Neapolitan colors, but I was vaguely (and irrationally) disappointed not to. Threw it in the ingenuitea and poured boiling water over it and the tea released a deliciously sweet scent. Not overpowering by any means, but definitely noticeable.

The liquor was as dark as expected from the leaves, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the tea doesn’t taste as purely chocolate as the appearance had me expecting. In fact, all three flavors are distinctly present! This is an impressive blend just for that; now, flavor wizardry aside, I can’t say I’d order a bag of this on its own. But it’s really cool to be able to detect all three parts separately and equally.

I’d like to see this company try a spumoni, maybe.
-Cash

Tasty, but I’m disappointed by how weak the flavor is. This seems to be a common story with me and rooibos.
-Cash

This is my first experience with both milk oolong and DAVIDsTEA, and I’m very very happy with both. The shipping from DAVIDsTEA was fast and free, and the teas came packaged in appealing foil pouches describing the contents and providing steeping instructions. The inclusion of a free tin with every 100g purchase is a wonderful bonus, and I expect I’ll have more than my fair share of DAVIDsTEA tins laying around soon!

Not knowing at all what to expect from a milk oolong, I was mildly surprised at its nondescript appearance and absolutely blown away by the smell – this may as well be a stick of butter in a bag! The leaves are rolled up and dark green, and light! The 25g bag I purchased seems like it’ll last me a fair while.

The butter smell yields a bit to an earthy, herbal scent in the steep, and is nearly gone by the time I’m putting the cup to my lips. The flavor sticks around though! This is all cream, honestly one of the smoothest teas I’ve been able to try, with just the right amount of grassy aftertaste to remind me I am, in fact, drinking something made from a plant. The liquor is a perfect golden yellow, classic oolong appearance. Upon multiple steepings, the grassy flavor becomes more prominent, which is not a bad thing in the least.

This tea impressed me with the novelty, but wasn’t gimmicky enough that I felt iffy about finishing the bag. I have heard tale of a coconut-flavored milk oolong, and that sounds like an absolute dream. I’d purchase this again.
-Cash

No notes yet.

My mother loves A Southern Season, so anytime they’re running a sale – like the store-wide one that just ended – I can look forward to being mailed at least a half pound of new teas. This is one of a variety of fruit teas I was sent this time, including the Blood Orange Chocolate Rooibos that’s become a new favorite.

When you open the bag, the scent of orange that comes out is very, very strong (as citrus scents are wont to be), leaving no room for a tea scent whatsoever. The oolong is so dark as to be colorless, and has a disappointing amount of stems to it but fortunately doesn’t overdo it with the sparse bits of dried orange peel. Still, it is a pleasant enough scent – not being a big fan of most orange teas, I was surprised to find myself excited for this cup.

The liquor is a dark yellow bordering on orange, which is unsurprising given the leaves’ color. It doesn’t release much scent when steeping, and you’ve got to dip your nose into the cup to get a faint earthy whiff. The taste is unexpected but very pleasant. That strong orange nose to the raw tea shuts up and lets the mild, earthy tea take the stage. I generally like a stronger, fuller cup than this provides but the experience was tasty enough all-around that I would definitely consider this as a regular morning tea.

Don’t be tricked by the scent expecting strong orange flavor here, but if you’re a scented oolong fan this is a great mild option.
-Cash

No notes yet.

Looking for a new fruity oolong to add to my collection, I happened to be by my local Teavana and thought I’d take a peak. I’m a huge fan of tropical flavors, and the description of this one sounds right up my alley.

The tea is nothing special to look at or smell; a plain-looking rolled oolong with bits of pale dried fruit. The scent is not very tropical and honestly leaves something to be desired – though I don’t agree with Chris’ description of it as “Christmassy,” I believe that speaks to how little it reminds one of island life.

Steeping, it releases a LOT more sweet fruit smell, and the deep golden liquor it leaves behind is a fantastic example of a flavored oolong done right. The first and last taste on your tongue is subtle, smooth earth, topped off with just enough papaya flavor to earn its name. I can’t detect much presence of the other fruits visible in the tea, but they’re most definitely responsible for the sweet steeping scent. I would like a bit more tang out of a tropical tea. More pineapple would certainly be welcomed.

Putting my expectations based on the name and ingredients aside, this tea impresses me more than most of Teavana’s tepid fruit infusions. I’d buy this again.
-Cash

This (unfortunately discontinued, but Teavana sells a suspiciously similar variety I’ll have to try..) wonderfully sweet tea has to be one of the most heavenly scents I’ve ever smelled. The tea itself is gorgeous to look at, with bits of red cinnamon and white almond slivers amongst a generous amount of black tea.. honestly, I could just leave this tea in a bowl on my table to look at and smell and be happy without bothering to taste it.

A tad bland on its own, a teaspoon of honey and a dollop of milk (almond milk in particular does the trick!) makes this tea live up to its look and scent. There is little tea flavor to be found here, the creamy vanilla flavor of the cinnamon and almond completely dominating both the nose and the taste, but that’s not a bad thing at all for a dessert tea. I’d prefer this to a real almond cookie, honestly. It’s particularly good on a snowy winter night but I find myself making a cup of this once a week even in the middle of our humid DC summers.
-Cash

A strong, thick brew with a wonderful blood orange scent. The chocolate flavor is somewhat lost under the blandly creamy rooibos, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it leaves a lot of room for the fresh, juicy blood orange to shine. The liquor is the embodiment of “red tea,” looking exactly the way its name should.

Far more satisfying than the other blood orange rooibos I’ve been able to try (from Spice & Tea Exchange.) I expect this to be fantastic over ice, and hope a little sweetener may bring out the chocolate notes.
-Cash

I found this to be a very boring chai, more spicy than flavorful. I like my chai complex, and the short ingredient list and overly-spicy scent to the loose tea didn’t get me excited for the decidedly lackluster cup I ended up having. Even with generous helpings of milk and honey, little flavor or aroma came through but pure spicy cinnamon and cardamom.
-Cash

This tea’s got a strong vanilla (bean, not the sweet flavoring) scent to it that comes through well enough in the taste of the liquor, but the black tea base is weak and I found myself disappointed with every cup after smelling the loose tea to get myself excited. Okay, but not something I’d purchase again.
-Cash

Nothing special to speak of hot – though it does fill the room with a very pleasant strawberry aroma – but ice this and mix it with some strawberry simple syrup and you’ve got a fantastic summer treat. I keep this one on hand constantly.
-Cash

This can be had for about $4 per 100 bags at the local CVS on occasion, so I typically make Southern-style sweet iced tea from it. I’d never dream of drinking it hot – it’s not particularly bad, but it is exceedingly bland.
-Cash