Bethany

See previous tasting notes for full review. I found this after doing some digging in my cabinet; my black tea stash is finally reaching pitiful status, so I sucked it up and made a SpecialTeas order last night:
Chocolate Cream with Cocoa Pieces 1/2OZ
Ceylon Nuwara Eliya OP 1/2OZ
Caramel with Caramel Pieces 1/2OZ
Peach with Peach Pieces 1/2OZ
Strawberry-Cream with Pieces 1/2OZ
Apricot with Apricot Pieces and Flowers 1/2OZ
Mango w/Pieces & Flowers 1/2OZ
Coconut with Coconut Pieces 1/2OZ
Sencha Fine 1/2OZ
China Fine Ti Kuan Yin Oolong 1/2OZ
China Keemun Imperial 1/2OZ
Nilgiri Tiger Hill OP (CL) 1/2OZ
Ceylon Pettiagalla FOP 1/2OZ
Kenya Tinderet TGFOP1 1/2OZ

Whew. I’ll have a lot to try. I’ve really liked the few blacks that I’ve tried from there, especially the flavored ones, so I’m excited!

Mmm mmm mmm. First big thunderstorms of the spring here, and I needed to brew up some warm, soothing tea. This completely fits the bill. Lots of licorice and sweetness.

Once again, I wish I could taste the honey in this tea. It appears that very few people can.

More coconutty than usual today. Very tasty. Love the combo of floral and fruity.

My black tea stash is depressing right now. I like this stuff, but I so miss some of my old standbys that I’ve recently run out of.

Yum! Peachy, juicy, and tasty.

Sadly, the last cup of a now apparently discontinued tea. Not getting the cocoa as much today. I think I’m going to have to make a SpecialTeas order today; my black tea stockpile is getting dangerously low. Looks like only about 10 or so half-full sample tins of Adagio blacks left. I’ve only tried a few of SpecialTeas’ blacks but I LOVE them, so I want to try more.

Yeah, my tea selections are boring today. I am so eyeing up that Samovar deal. Unfortunately for some reason, my work computer hates Samovar’s website; I get errors the second it loads up. So gotta wait til I get home.

I don’t know why this is tasting so good lately, but it is. Any recommendations for other good Keemuns?

Best part of sencha: knowing that great resteeps are yet to come.

This tea is so delicious, and hopefully will help me on my eternal quest to drink more greens. Light, sweet, buttery, and with an intoxicating pineapple aroma. I still have a small sample bag of their orange sencha that I need to try.

It would appear, based on my recent interest in this tea, that I quite like Keemuns. The smokiness and bakey-ness are really great.

Last of a tiny sample that I bought (apparently almost a year ago!) in the bulk bins at Whole Foods. As I said in my decades-old tasting note for this, this taste like a not-so-sweet creamsicle tempered by a bit of an undercurrent of jasmine. I really dig it. Mighty Leaf charges $12.95 for 2.2oz of this on their site, however, so if I can’t find it at Whole Foods again, I won’t be getting more.

Ever since I read Rishi’s description of this, which includes the phrase “raisin sugar,” that’s all I can think of when I drink this tea. Which works, because that’s exactly what this tastes like to me. Bumping the rating a bit.

Woohoo! Another sample done! My tea stash has gone down pretty dramatically in the last month or so. I still have a lot of small samples from the fine people of Steepster, but I’m running through Adagio sample tins – 9 done in the last month at last count. I might do another swap/giveaway of teas that need a good home in the next week or two.

Anyway, I liked this one overall, but I don’t think I’ll reorder. The caramel taste can be too synthetic and sugary at times.

I know Shanti is a love it or hate it tea, and I love it. The smokiness really shines through, with a slight hint of vegetal flavor. If you don’t like smoky teas, you won’t like this.

I know this is sacrilege, but.. I think I prefer this to SpecialTeas’ Almond Cookie. It all depends on what you’re looking for, I suppose. Almond Cookie is much sweeter and has a lot more of a cinnamon sugar than an almond taste to me. This, as I’ve said before, has more of a true, bitter almond taste that I prefer.

Making a pot of this for a long, fun day of lunching and shopping ahead! I love that this gives me my caffeine without being overwhelming.

I have a huge backlog of tea at work from when I was sick/have been so busy this week that I haven’t had time to drink tea at work, but I brought this in, anyway. Still love this stuff. Today looks a lot quieter so hopefully there’ll be some quality tea drinking time.

Nom nom nom.

Finished up the last of my sample this morning.

Remembered yesterday how much I loved this tea, so drinking again.

This tea and I have a love-hate relationship. I love it because it truly does taste like a caramel chew; even makes my teeth hurt sometimes it’s so sweet. I hate it because of that stupid Adagio Ceylon base. But today the love side is winning.

Mmmm, I love this tea. It’s so chocolatey and smoky and coffeey. Even though I hate coffee.

Once again this is starting off as very much like a Darjeeling to me, so let’s see if the honey notes come out toward the end of my cup..