The Jane Austen Mafia

If Jane Austen Mafia were a band I’d buy every song in their catalog, and I’d wear my band tee long after they sell out and go mainstream. That’s the kind of dedicated fan I’d be!

Jane Austen Mafia isn’t a band even though it is the best band name ever. Jane Austen Mafia is a tea. A pretty damn fantastically grand flavored black tea! Vanilla and blackberry combine with black tea for a marriage built on equality and true love worthy of a 19th century novel penned by an idealistic forward thinker.

This tea sample tasted particularly sweet because it was given to me with sacrifice in the spirit of true tea-friendship. Teawing sent me the very last bit of Jane Austen Mafia that he had left and it’s one of his favorite teas. Who other than a true gentleman would do such a thing? I owe him a huge debt of gratitude!

YUMMMY!!! I can’t wait to drink this while reading a Jane Austen novel. The blackberries and vanilla are taking center stage on this one. Hmmmm. Soooo good!!!

Another fab Valentine’s Day Present. So yummy!

Thanks to the awesome JoeCool (Nichole) for sending me some of this tribute to Jane Austen. I am in LOVE with this blend! I’m a nut for anything Jane Austen (well, maybe not the movie adaptations of some of her works), plus I go crazy for blackberry so this blend will always have a place in my heart – and in my cupboard!

I brewed this up longer than I should have the first time around, so I ended up with more blackberry than vanilla. (What a shame.) 2nd infusion/cup I carefully brewed for about four minutes and now the flavor is the perfect balance…although I still taste slightly more blackberry. Whatevs. It’s delish regardless. A must for blackberry fans. An essential for Jane Austen tea drinkers. This one rocks!

i feel tired and nervous and wrong. off and wrong and i want to go lay in bed and be sullen. i oversteeped this tea but the berries and vanilla are still there. thank you thank you. i want this tea to comfort me. but it might be too tall of an order on such an overcast and drizzly day.
(i think i’m just too hungry and tired and it’s making me feel wrong. i ran 14 miles this weekend,didn’t eat enough last night to fuel my tired muscles, and stayed up until 1:30am because i made lunches for the week and tried to paint our renovated bathroom too late. also i’m out of my protein powder.)

Thanks so much, Will Work For Tea, for including this in your tea reduction package! I definitely wanted to try this tea. (But I must admit I’m more of a Bronte fan than an Austen fan!)

I tried a cup of this a while ago, but I oversteeped it WAY too much and it ended up tasting like Pepto Bismal. So I definitely waited to try it again to give a much more fair review. I went for a two minute steep this time and it was MUCH better. It’s a good black tea base with a bit of a vanilly cream flavor. I’m not much of a fan of the blackberry leaves. I think that is what gives it the Pepto flavor, but if you don’t oversteep, it shouldn’t be much of a problem. It seems like it’s just blackberry leaves and not blackberry berries. But really this is a perfect blend if you’re trying to evoke nineteenth century literature! It seems to fit spot on.

Thanks Nichole!!!!!
Prior to infusion this smells really awesome! Almost fruity-bready cookie-like! YUM!
After infusing it’s more blackberry than before. Still very yummy smelling.

The taste is a strong black tea taste! And the blackberry flavor comes thru nicely, too! The Vanilla is in the background a little bit and I think the cream cuts back on the vanilla sweetness a little bit, too, but they all create a very interesting flavor.

I like this. I really like the strong black tea taste and the blackberry with the cream and vanilla make for a nice flavor.

As it cools I am tasting more of the cream than the vanilla.

The aftertaste is almost rose-like. Very creative cuppa!

My first cuppa The Mafia….. I had been wanting to give this tea a try, as did a friend over the border, so we worked out a swap. There is just something about the juxtapositon of Jane Austen and the Mafia that makes me wonder how Jane would have handled herself in the time of Al Capone…… This one just arrived today. I have to say, it is pretty good. The flavor blends do work, and it almost doesn’t need additions. I do normally sweeten a bit, and this one just tasted better with a touch of sweet. It is mostly blackberry with a light amount of vanilla, even though I could smell some cream in the dry tea. The tea base has a slight bitter edge, but just enough to add interest.

I really will enjoy finishing this one. (They did send a little more than I was expecting, so I have some to share.) However, after sampling at other tea companies, Adagio in general seems kind of average. I do so appreciate their variety, ease of ordering, and that they were my gateway into the vast world of tea.
ETA: I have shared all I can this round…..

Mmm, it’s morning, so time to start making my way through my black tea stash!

This tea I received from Azzrian, and I’m so excited to try it!

The dry tea doesn’t smell like much; there’s a bit of vanilla aroma, perhaps, but that’s about it. Entirely different story steeped; it smells malty , sweet, and with a hint of blackberry. Yum!!

A pleasant surprise – this is pretty good! A malty blackberry (or blueberry, my palate can’t make up its mind!) tea with a bit of vanilla is what I’m getting. There is some astringency at the end of the sip, not likely caused by oversteeping, but I perhaps used a touch too much dry tea. It’s a bit annoying, but it’s not bitterness, so I can deal with it.

Overall, I’m pretty impressed, and I liked this one more than I expected to! If I drank black teas more frequently I would consider picking this one up, but as I don’t typically drink teas for their caffeine content, and often drink them in the evening, I don’t need more black teas than I already have!

Thanks so much for the sample, Azzrian! An unexpected treat :D

ETA: Second cup, also steeped for 3 minutes, is weak but also tasty. In the future I might use a smaller volume of water for the second infusion to concentrate the flavour a bit, but I do like it even a little dilute :)

Had a pot of this last night with the beau and a friend (at the beau’s insistance, surprisingly). Wasn’t as wowed by it as I hoped to be (I think I somehow anticipated the blackberry flavour to taste like the blackberries that grow by my Dad’s) but it was definitely a unique tea experience, for my cupboard at least. Will do proper tasting note next time I try it!

Beware! This tea will give you an uncontrollable urge to read Little Women!

(Just kidding. Sorta. I’m itching to go blow dust off my copy right now.)

Thanks to SimplyJen, I have just been introduced to what could be one of my favorite fruit teas ever! I’m getting more of a blueberry scent and taste than blackberry, but the cream/vanilla punctuation makes this really outstanding.

Hoping I can muster up the self-control to ration enough of this to try a small batch chilled.

Tea #4 from the ’Here’s Hoping’ teabox.

First, I love the name of this tea. It makes me laugh, and it makes me want to read Sense and Sensibility (which, at times, also makes me laugh). Second, blackberry vanilla cream tea? Why yes, please. I think that would be lovely.

This is another tea with a strong black base tea. I find I really enjoy this in flavored teas. I want to be able to taste all of the flavors, but I want to feel like I’m drinking tea, too. Any edge that might have been in the tea is smoothed out by the cream flavor. On top of that is a mix of blackberry and vanilla. Neither flavor is super strong, but they are both present in such a way that it makes the tea easy to sip and enjoy. I don’t have to stop and “look” for the flavors. Everything is there and in balance.

This tea is going on my shopping list and will easily find a place on my pantry shelf. I can see this being a delicious iced tea this summer.

I realize I might be in the minority here. This particular blend did not make it into my home because I love, like or even really know much of the work Jane Austen has produced. I’m not a literary buff, let alone much of a novel-reader. Sadly, I just don’t have the attention span. I do love a good blend and if it combines vanilla, cream and some kind of fruit, I’m in!

Second tea of the day and I’m hoping for better results.

The leaf smells promising – My nose is quite happy with the blackberry and creaminess of vanilla. Yum! I already have plans to dirty up this blend, latte style.

Brewed up the regular black tea route (boiling, 3 minute steep), using 4 tsp. for 8oz. I know I used quite a bit of leaf, but I do plan on putting half and half and simple syrup in it. I did taste it pre additives. It’s quite bitter, but not in a spine-tingling way. The blackberry is less noticeable, but the creaminess is still there. I imagine I’d like this without the additions, but with less leaf.

Post additives, it’s decent. I lost some of the blackberry. It’s still there, but more subtle. The creamer and sweetener added to the creaminess of the tea. This version is really comforting.

Next time I’ll try this a little less dirty…

EDIT: As my latte cools, the blackberry is peeking out more! :D

I would like to thank Lady Tegan for sharing this splendid tea in a swap (I being a lowly scullery maid and all).
I’ve written before about picking blackberries in the Coast Range Mountains of Northern California in the Summer. Finding just the juiciest ripe ones but usually eating the best because they are too irresistible. Their unique flavor is mixed with sunshine and is truly magical. Have you ever seen anyone sad with a bowl of fresh berries? I’ve never heard of such a thing although I suppose it’s possible. Wondering what this wildly crazy named tea could taste like drew me in. Didn’t you wonder about it too? Mafia and Jane Austin in the name? Oh yeh!
I took the steep to the 4.5 min. Today, I’ve been washing curtains (96in. white, tall window curtains!) and I wanted no whimpy tea for me this afternoon. It’s 76 and warm outside which is lovely. I need tea now! My last blackberry tea was really pretty good from Teavana…the mojito…which my daughter agrees has a good blackberry flavor. By comparison, this blackberry tea is not as light and bright or fruity. There is almost a licorice finish that is NOT, understand me here, unpleasant. This may be due to it being a black tea and the Teavana was herbal which is going to color the flavor. This tea has tannin (a little bit) and a hint of bitterness (again just a bit). The vanilla flavor mixed with the blackberry is nice and restrained adding smoothness. This tea begs for sweetening and milk. Yes both. Miss Jane would serve it to guests with both on her tray wouldn’t she? Of course she would!
As for the Mafia. I guess, some people (maybe me when I’m washing curtains) would KILL for a cup of tea like this one (or hire someone to do it for me…like Tegan or Indigobloom or K S or Emilie or Ian! (oops not Ian he’s the Butler!)

I have become fond of green teas lately, even though I said I would begin my loose leaf tea journey with black teas. Maybe this is why I did not fall in love with this tea the way others have. Now don’t get me wrong, it is good, very good, but it lacks some of the complexity and of course earthiness I have come to love. I realize I should not compare apples to oranges here but I wanted to give a baseline for where I am coming from.
Now as for this tea. I do not find it to be shockingly good but it is very good. Flavors are well balanced, I get the blackberry, and the vanilla flavors but I found it to be a little dull even still.
I added some condensed milk to add to the creamy idea I had in mind before sipping it and it really woke this tea up for me.
The sweetened condensed milk really brought out all the strong points of this tea and even gave it a bit of depth and complexity.
For me however, in a perfect world, we need not add anything to our tea to get these feelings about a tea. I do not mind adding different types of sweeteners, milks, etc but if this was as good without sweetened condensed milk as it is with, I would rate it higher.
I do give props however for a good blackberry flavor that does not taste artificial!
This tea has a lovely aroma as well.

Vanilla with a sweet background of blackberry, mmm mmm good. This ode-to-Jane Austen tea seems to fancy drinking in the perfumed shade of an overgrown blackberry bush — while seated at a tea-table, of course, so you don’t muss your elaborate frock coat or embroidered empire-waist gown.

I’m immensely proud of this blend (although not prejudiced, or so I hope), as it was I who made it. I blame the education system for making my brain all literary. I also blame the tea system for making my taste buds all blendy.

And now, two thusly tea-inspired haiku:

Vanilla, my love,
and blackberries too; how sweet!
Word up, Regency!

Are you strolling fields
and strapped for cash? Drink this, then
wed for (wealthy) love.

Another tea from the swap with Will Work For Tea. I was VERY excited to try this one, the reviews are pretty well positive. Unfortunately something about this tea is not agreeing with me. I may try it with more sweetener or a heavier milk. Right now it only has a small amount of skim milk and a bit of agave.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea to try.

Normally, I enjoy the Adagio custom blends because they somehow manage to divert the attention of the really harsh black base that Adagio uses. However, that isn’t working with this blend. I taste subtle hints of blackberry and creamy vanilla, but mostly what I’m tasting is that black tea – it is harsh. It tastes brassy and course.

I apologize sincerely to the creator of this blend. I won’t be rating it numerically, because I don’t want to hurt any feelings. But, I can’t even finish the cup.

Thank you SimplyJenW for swapping with me…

The dry tea has an almost syrup-like scent to it. It’s sweet, yet the black tea scent is grounding. 205/1.5 min.

Now I can smell the blackberries. The taste is really nice. The flavors meld together and taste like a blackberry custard tea. It’s definitely a black tea, mildly astringent, but with a richness that combines so well with the fruitiness of the tea. The vanilla is present, but fortunately it’s not the super sweet faux vanilla that haunts many a blend. Instead, it seems almost creamy in this one. (In taste, not in mouthfeel.) It’s really nice and makes a terrific wake up tea.

Thanks, SimplyJenW, for a delightful swap!

THANK YOU SO MUCH AZZRIAN!!

So I’m drinking this out of a mug, and I think I may have put a bit too much water for the amount of tea. I think I ended up steeping 1 tsp of tea in probably 10 oz of water instead of 8, so this tea is still good, but the flavor is diluted a bit, I think. That being said, I am going to wait on the tasting note. I like making sure I did not mess up. So far though, the taste is good, so I think it will be excellent!

The dry leaf smells good. Once it is brewed, it seems to lose a much of its fruity aroma and smells much more like black tea. I think I may have steeped to long, it is a little bitter. Or this might just be strong black base I have heard of. Not going to rate until I have a chance to steep at a different temp and time and when I have regular milk instead of vanilla coffee creamer. See full review at http://akoalateablog.teatra.de/2012/03/01/10-the-jane-austen-mafia-by-adagio/