Valentines

Teeny Tiny Tea Box round 2

Backlog

Ehh… this is a tea that I drank that’s halfway decent.

I love this tea.

Its rosy, flowery, chocolaty, with a hint of strawberry.

It has a good flavor, and is nice on its own. But I like to add some vanilla almond milk!

If you don’t like flowery or rose teas, this is not for you.

T&C TTB Tea #15 Backlog May 28

Sort of reminded me of H&S’s valentine’s tea, what with the roses and the chocolate, but the addition of the strawberry flavoring actually made me prefer this one.
I added milk to my cup and it was ok, but I certainly didn’t love it.

There was a chemical taste to it that was the very sort of thing that turned me so strongly against flavored teas when I was pregnant. I still don’t love it.

Would not buy!

I’ve put all my untried samples into two drawers in a small cabinet in my living room, and it’s so fun to reach into them and grab a sample at random. Thank you, starfevre, for so thoughtfully including this as a bonus in the package you sent me!

Actually, it’s good timing, because I’ve been toying with the possibility of creating my own blend on adagio’s website, but figured I was in way over my head a) because I know nothing about blending; and b) because I hadn’t tried a single adagio tea!

This tea is pretty much exactly what it purports to taste like. I would say, however, that even with milk and sugar added, the chocolate used here is certainly of the darker, almost but not quite bitter variety, and the strawberry makes a fleeting appearance at the end of the sip, but isn’t distinctly strawberry—it merely adds a slight tang. Because I’m not typically a fan of chocolate-covered strawberry-flavoured things, I can’t say that I’m a huge fan, but I found this tea to be an excellent Adagio introduction, and it was entirely pleasant and drinkable. It actually has me a little excited to try more of their teas at some point.

Thanks again, starfevre!
(speaking of starfevre, any news? I haven’t seen posts in a hwile)

Great Canadian TTB

After the success with Chocolate Chip, I decided to give this a try. However, this is more what I come to expect from Adagio blends. The base is strong and a touch astringent. The only other flavor powerful enough to compete is the rose. This is just not for me but thank you Jeweled Thumb for the chance to try it.

Yay for mystery swaps with Moraiwe!
I’m thinking I may have steeped this with too little water. I taste a nice tea base with something else, but I’m not sure what that something else is. Reading the ingredients, I see it has chocolate in it which I think is the something else, but I don’t get all the other fruity goodness that is listed. There is a little bit of bitterness on the sides of my tongue in part of the sip. Feeling a little eh on this one. On to try other teas!

Tea & Cards TTB

This is a delightful tea…in the bag it smells like chocolate-covered strawberries (without any of the cloying aspects) and once steeped it opens up into a hearty, solid (and damn good) black tea with background notes of strawberry – which taste delightfully authentic – and the barest hint of chocolate.

It’s smooth and slightly dry without being astringent and leaves you with a mildly dessert-esque after taste. It’s not a dessert tea by any means, but if you like your mornings with a hint of sweetness this could easily be a good match for you.

I had the most incredibly horrid weekend in a long long time. Resulting in being enormously busy and feeling unsafe and wanting to cry.

I brewed up a large pot of this this morning, and am on the third steep now. Nothing like tea and chocolate to help fortify you after bad things happen.

This tea is SWEET. The flavor is mostly chocolate with a berry twist and tiny bit of floral tossed in. It’s a great dessert tea but the intense sweetness keeps it from being stocked regularly for me. Helps me kill my chocolate cravings so I keep coming back to it.

This was quite yummy brewed with a pinch of dried stevia and a splash of vanilla soy milk. Much more subtle than Adagio’s description, but nonetheless delicious!