Bethany

I kind of want to reserve judgment on this, because I’m drinking it not long after a workout and I’m feeling a bit dehydrated, but.. for as slowly as I’m drinking it, it’s very tasty. I was expecting more of a cocoa taste, but this cup seems to be more spicy and sweet. That’s fine by me; I love anything with cardamom.

Thanks to JacquelineM for this sample! More to come.

Another good workhorse tea these last few weeks. I really love the prominent taste of orchid followed by the cool sensation of fresh coconut. Yum.

This has become the tea that I bring into work when I can’t think of anything else I want. It’s always satisfying.

So comforting and warm. This is far and away one of the best Adagio flavored blacks.

Another tin gone! Woohoo! I’ll be getting a bunch of samples in swaps this week (thanks, everyone!), but I haven’t made a tea purchase since mid-December, which is a big deal for me. This is a nice, soothing tea for Sunday night.

Today I’m going to use my brand spanking new gym membership for the first time, so I need a little kick to wake me up before I go.

The other big project for the day is planning my itinerary for my trip to Austin next weekend. Zhi Tea’s HQ is on my list (yay!) – anyone have any other places, tea or non-tea-related, to recommend?

Was a long night last night, so I’m feeling kind of zombiefied this morning, and I have to go out in the -15 wind chill to run a bunch of errands. So yeah, I needed this.

Split a pot of this with a friend tonight. Box is half gone, and I didn’t buy a backup. Tears.

I have to be in the mood for it, but when I am, I really like jasmine teas. This is a good basic one. May have oversteeped, though.

I was craving this tea today, though I’m still not entirely sold on it..

Stopped by my semi-regular Caribou Coffee this morning. I’ve tried their teas a few time and was NOT impressed; the Irish Breakfast and Jasmine were pretty dreadful. So I decided to go for something new today and it paid off. This was way, way better than the other teas of theirs that I’ve tried, and was actually pretty good in its own right. Not bitter at all, full of juicy sweetness, and not too tart like some mango teas I’ve tried. Kind of want to buy a box.

Also, both of our hot water dispensers are down at work, so I can’t make tea and it’s driving me nuts.

This scared the bejesus out of me when I opened the tin. A friend who summers in Maine got three of these Shaker teas for my birthday in August. I hadn’t opened them until now, because they were all herbals, which I don’t drink a ton of.

The leaves were packed very tightly in the tin, and were almost molded together and very dusty. I thought this might be completely expired or something, but I decided to forge ahead and make a pot.

This is actually really, really tasty. It has a very pure raspberry flavor that’s so refreshing after so many raspberry teas flavored with that chemical, catch-all berry flavor. And a great aftertaste of fresh raspberries.

I may go through this tin very quickly after not opening it for 6 months..

Nothing particularly mindblowing, but a very comforting tea.

Probably only a cup or two left of this. Sadness.

For anyone who’s interested in trades, I’m in the process of a major clean-out of my tea stash. I have these full or near-full Adagio 1oz tins that I’m looking to send to a good home:
Pumpkin Spice
Darjeeling #22
Yunnan Jig
White Cucumber
White Peony
Vanilla Oolong
Fujian Baroque
Lemongrass
White Tangerine

Also will give samples from anything from my Cupboard in a trade. Comment if you’re interested!

Not sure why, but I can taste more pu-erh in this today than I could before. The scent of the dry leaves it still to die for; I had planned to drink another black tea once I got to work, but I opened my bag and the smell of this screamed “drink me!” I like that the citrus is a bit more muted this time.

Looked out the window, saw the 3 inches of snow already on the ground, and the snow falling, and thought about the 7-9 inches to come.. and I needed tea before work. It’s pretty rare that I do that, for logistical reasons. I hate not being able to sit down and enjoy the tea, and I end up running around with it while I’m getting ready.

But I’m glad I did, because this is still super tasty and creamy and grenadine-y. And I was in a markedly good mood when I arrived at work. Coincedence?

Steeped this for a minute less than I did last time (6 minutes instead of 7), and I like this a lot more. It has more of a creamy vanilla taste to it, I guess from the coconut. The peppercorn is still there, but it’s not nearly as overwhelming with this steeping.

Polished off my sample. I’ve finished 3 Adagio samples inside of a week. I’m so proud of myself. Too bad I only have like 50 more.

I think I’ll reorder another sample size of this (once I’ve drunk down my stash a bit more). It’s really good, but I don’t drink it regularly.

This marks the last of my 1oz sample of Cashmere, which I’ve managed to keep around for about a year now. Sadness.

Cashmere is a take on Kashmiri chai, typically made with green tea, almonds, cinnamon, cardamom, and other spices. TeaNoir’s version is gunpowder green, almonds, cardamom, fennel, and cinnamon.

The most obvious flavor note (and scent) is almond, which is fine by me since I love anything almond. There’s just a hint of smokiness from the gunpowder, and the sip finishes off with a kick of cardamom followed by more sweetness from the almond. So good.

Again, if anyone can recommend a good, similar Kashmiri Chai, I’d be much obliged.

TeaNoir is an Etsy seller that has been MIA now for nearly a year. Their “tea mistress” has had a lot of medical problems, so she’s been delaying the reopening of her shop for several months now. As a result, I’ve been trying to ration the 1oz samples that I had and loved from her shop. I bought four about this time last year, and liked one and loved two.

Backwoods is one of the loved samples. This is a Yunnan black tea blended with maple flavor and walnuts. It is divine, especially for this time of year. The walnut taste is strong and prevalent; it reminds me a bit of Adagio’s Hazelnut, but not quite as sweet. The maple flavor comes in toward the end, and stays in the mouth with a rich, deep sweetness. It’s really, really good.

If anyone knows of a similar tea that could tide me over until TeaNoir reopens, I’d appreciate it! I still have about half of my 1oz sample left of this, but unfortunately I’m going to finish off the sample of my other favorite today.. review to come later.

Upping the rating a bit on this, because there are very, very few teas that I will revisit on a regular basis. So if I drink a tea as regularly as I drink this one, it must be pretty damn good.

A sample from the lovely Angrboda. I agree with her assessment. This is not overwhelmingly bad, but it doesn’t really stand out from the pack. It’s your typical kind of floral, kind of grassy oolong.

Forgot to log this this morning. Agree with other reviewers that this is bitter and it doesn’t taste like blackberries at all to me. Adagio’s flavored blacks don’t impress me much these days.

This tea will never not be delicious.