Ceylon Sonata

I’d rather drink Adagio’s Irish Breakfast. I’m not sure what’s going on in this one but it seems like some thing is wrong. I find that “tea” taste with quite a bit of bitterness. I swear I’m tasting sour apple as well. There is a fair amount of astringency to it, more than I typically enjoy. The only other ceylon I’ve had seemed sweeter and more behaved. I’ll have to try ceylons out some time too. My to-drink list is getting longer every day.

Loved it – and that took some of us by surprise. Although we like Ceylon teas, I didn’t expect to like this one, this much! It’s light, but certainly makes an impact on the taste buds. Very refreshing, very thirst quenching – but what a wonderful way to quench it. It is a subtle tea, but very persuasive about being so.

We brewed this one a little longer than we usually brew our teas – we tend to go for shorter rather than longer. Our usual, preferred black tea brewing time is usually under 3 minutes. We also tested this at our standard 2 minutes 30 seconds for black tea and found all the flavors there. The 3 minutes plus only served to enhance them.

Dry, the leaves were long, tightly curled and thin. They had the dark, bright color that is expected from fresher teas. This Ceylon is a standard “regional” tea and is one of the basic examples of black tea.

While watching the future hubz play deamon souls I wanted one of the teas my sister got me for Christmas. The scent of the dry leaves is a bit floral but toasty. It’s warm and inviting. The tea smells pretty much the same but sweeter. The flavor is the backnote to all of adagio’s flavored teas. I can see why they use this for all their flavors. It’s sweet and mellow with that expected tea taste. I gotta sat I’m glad my sister got me the 4oz tin this is a no frills kind of tea. This will be great for those slow start days. :)

I love a traditional cuppa! whenever I want a more robust coffee like drink I tend to have Assam but in the afternoons I prefer a variety. I found this particular Ceylon tea quite crisp, not really astringent and a bit sweet and well rounded black tea. There is a bit of a fruity accents along with its traditional bold leafy taste, goes well plain and with cream and sugar! Good in the mornings and afternoons.

Oh Ceylon Sonata, I like you. I’m 4 for 4 in regards to liking all of my new teas from my last Adagio order. Of course, I haven’t opened my savory sampler yet.

Anyway, this tea is basic and simple in the best of ways. Strong and mellow with a nice aftertaste. Almost any flavor would blend well with this tea…which is why Adagio uses this tea as the base of all of their flavored teas. It’s a perfect no-frills everyday tea. It can meld with anyone’s drinking habits. Milk and sugar, straight up, with honey, etc. Ceylon Sonata can hold its own. In the summer I would love this iced with some of my peppermint blended in. YUM!

I bought a large bag of this after trying a sample back in the summer, but it’s languished in my cupboard every since. Finally dug it out yesterday, and tried a couple of cups again. I’d forgotten how much I used to enjoy this as an everyday black tea. It’s not too strong, although it’s strong enough to add milk to if I want to, and it has a citrus note to it that I really enjoy. Almost grapefruit-like. One to take to work this week, I think!

I love this tea. It is like Twinings Ceylon, only better. The sweet citrusy notes come out even stronger and tastier in this tea. It was not bitter and the astringency was not really noticeable (I guess I am used to it now). The best Ceylon I have tasted so far. I added cream and sugar, and the tea stood up very well. Close to perfection in a teacup!

Well I’m about to head over to a buddy’s house (got a handful of samples from Chicago Tea Garden, and I felt like sharing), and I also overnighted the Aladdin Infuser Mug. This thing is COOL. It looks sleek and I wanted to brew tea in it, but didn’t want to use my CTG tea yet. SOOOO I remembered I had this!

Do I smell a mild citrus tone? Or is this just a really bright tea? The tea infuser worked wonderfully, making a second infusion possible as soon as I finish this. Earlier I had the Apple Tea from Adagio, and I definitely taste the similarity. I think Ceylon is a better base for their flavored blacks more than Assam, due to the fact that it doesn’t pucker the back of your mouth as much. It does have a mild astringency, but oddly enough only right when I swallow. This makes me think of a morning tea, but nothing so particular as “Winter Morning” or “rainy morning”. It’s not powerful enough for such strong detail, but just light and good :)

So THIS is what they’re using for all the flavored black teas at Adagio. I knew it was Ceylon, but I didn’t know which blend. Anyway, this is a good, standard black tea. The leaves smell sweet and smoky, but the smokiness doesn’t really appear in the tea itself. But that’s alright, I’m not really a fan of smokiness anyway. It brews up a really pleasant shade of amber, and was a great way to start my day.

I’m pleasantly surprised by this! It’s simple yet satisfying and the perfect thing to relax with after being stuck inside working on a beautiful day.

A nice simple black. Perfect if you want it simple. No hints of sweet or floral or anything. Just straight up black tea. I’m not complaining-it was nice for a change. Great for a morning tea.

Stashdown #5! I got a sample of this from Caligatia. She’s very generous with her tea. A very good trait in a friend, if I do say so myself. Anyway, back to the tea.

Other people used light and delicate to describe this tea, and yeah, I can see that. For all that I like blends, sometimes a girl just needs a straight up single note tea that is what it is. It isn’t as smooth as the Yunnan Gold I had earlier, but is charming in its own, simple way. A solid tea when all you want is tea. I’m glad I had the opportunity to try it!

This was recommended to me as making a pot of iced tea since I am a big iced tea lover. I brewed the pot and of course had to make a small glass of iced tea immediately before putting it in the fridge and I must say that I really like this tea iced and it tastes so much better than the usual Lipton I used to make for Iced tea. Loving Adagio

Doing a bit of back-logging. This has been my go-to iced tea lately.

I love a good mug of Ceylon black tea, and waited to try this out on a rainy day… but the “Sonata” was not what I had hoped for. Perhaps the tea-meister was having a bad day when he blended this batch. Brisk? Oh-yeah, and how! But perhaps the sample bag was old, or ?? Tried two infusions, then made the rest into a pretty good iced tea. If you are looking for Lipton in a loose tea format, then this might be the one for you.

I recall /loving/ this when I first had it several years ago. Since then I’ve found new favourites, but I still love this one. I think it’s a very good “introduction” to looseleaf teas because Ceylon teas are so common that people are sort of familiar with their flavour. Being looseleaf makes it even better. Anywho… Sweet, ceylon scent, typical “bag” flavour but fuller and less astringent. Good all-around cuppa… I like mine with cookies. :)

A great morning tea, lighter then assam but still has enough bite to start your day. Refreshing and perfect with something sweet.

This is very cheerful tea — bright and brisk and perfect for mornings. I probably shouldn’t be drinking it at 7pm, but I have homework to do.

Smooth! I love it. I let it steep about 3.5 minutes as directed. I can also get a second steep out of it.

First Steep

Very little smell. Extremely unobtrusive, subtle bitter taste. A bitter aftertaste that lasts about a second (at most).

Relaxing. Unobtrusive. Good for when I want to focus on doing something else, and not about the taste of my tea. Almost too easy to drink.