Candy Apple

I JUST got my Adagio Shipment MINUTES ago! Is it sad that I get THIS jazzed about tea, seriously!? Do I have a problem? :) Anyhow…Candy Apple. It’s Black Tea with Caramel and Apple scents. After steeping it’s scent morphs to something that seems a little bark-like but just a little, not overbearing. The longer it steeps the longer the bark smell…loose leaf-wise NOT actual liquid…thankfully. The After Steep Scent of the liquid is a medium black tea smell. I can taste a caramelly-type taste but it seems like it’s interrupted but something else and I cannot figure out what…but it’s not apple. Just like “Gotta Have More Cowbell” it’s “Gotta Have More Apple”. It’s okay but I was hoping for more apple or a different type taste. It’s not bad, just not really what I was thinking it would taste like, I guess.

Yes! Of all the free holiday samples they could have given me, this was the one I wanted the most. I love apple flavor in all its incarnations.

Now, I like the packaging, but who decided to make the steeping instructions darker red on a red background? I can barely read it. And the pyramid bag is convenient, but no string? I had to pick it up out of the water by a corner, which was probably not very safe. I guess they assume I have a spoon.

Anyway, this is a pretty good candy apple tea. Like others have said, I don’t taste the cinnamon at all, just apple and caramel. Which is fine, I like it. It’s like a step up from Tazo’s Organic Apple Red, which I know is a rooibos, but they taste almost identical. My only complaint is that the caramel apple flavor could be a little stronger. I find that after 5 minutes, which is what’s recommended, the ceylon gets a bit overwhelming. But if I had a chance, I would definitely sample this again.

I received this with my most recent order from Adagio (last week). I kept forgetting it at work. This worked in my favor this morning as I wanted something different and not something we had in the shop. First off i wish there was some kind of a string on the pyramid bag (didn’t have anything to fish the bag out with at work…fingers were not a good idea).

Dry the tea smells of apples and caramel. The scent of both gets stronger as the tea steeped too. So I was excited…this was going to be good! Well, until it wasn’t. Instead I’m getting a strange mix of the apple, cinnamon (didn’t get that until I tasted the tea) and caramel. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t good either. I think what it needs is a tad more apple and caramel flavoring and less cinnamon. Bummer.

Same story here, got this as a sample with an order from Adagio (I think my tea of the month club, actually). I forgot my tea mug at work yesterday and wasn’t feeling ambitious enough to make tea and find a different mug this morning so I figured I’d just dip into my bag stash in my desk. I used the keurig in my office to get hot water but I have no idea what temperature it reaches. Plopped the bag in and wha? There’s no string?!? Um, ok, that’ll be interesting in about 5 minutes.

5 minutes, one stirer, and a few scalded fingers later I tried the tea and there’s something off about it. I did add some sugar substitute, generic, from Target, which can sometimes give my tea a different flavor (I find splenda or another natural one works best) but I’m not sure that’s it. I get just a tiny hint of apple and then this other flavor. It kinda makes my face mess up for a second after swallowing but I keep drinking it so take it for what you will.

Like others, I received this tea as a free sample with my recent Adagio order. This tea is pretty average. I can’t taste much cinnamon, which I’m thankful for. I agree with others that cinnamon is not something found on a candy apple.

So, what do I taste? Mostly black tea and caramel. I’m not getting hardly any apple at all. In fact, I think any apple in this is wishful thinking on my part. There’s no bitterness I could find, but I did add a little skim milk.

It’s not a bad tea, but there’s something off about it. It’s either the black tea base or the heavy, cloyingly sweet, caramel flavor. It was nice to try, but it’s not something I would crave or buy.

I just don’t get candy apple from this blend. Specifically, the apple is lacking. I can taste something sweet, like maple or caramel. It’s a heavy, sticky sort of sugar layered over black tea. But never apple. I wonder if milk would enhance the flavor and bring out the latent fruitiness?

I got a sample bag of this in my most recent tea order. I wasn’t sure I’d like something so flavored, but then I loved it! The smell was great, the taste was fun, and I found myself wishing for more. Very clever, Adagio… very clever.

I don’t quite get candy apple when I smell this tea dry. Somehow, it’s not quite sweet or candy-like, and it has an almost bitter, spicy undertone. I’d like to think it’s the cinnamon, but I’m not sure. There are identifiable apple pieces, however, which is encouraging.

So far, though, this tea doesn’t quite match up to Tea Palace’s Jewelled Apple, which is by far my favourite candy apple flavoured tea. Even dry, the smell of that is an absolute knockout. Still, on to the tasting.

Brewed, some of the sweetness I was expecting does start to develop. Unfortunately, though, the black tea base completely overwhelms it. I can detect a slight apple-spice flavour, but it’s neither strong nor prominent. As with most of Adagio’s holiday teas, I feel the base is wrong for the flavour. It’s just too much, and has a slightly bitter aftertaste I don’t care for in this context.

I still feel that this is a pleasant enough tea. The candy apple flavour isn’t strong enough for my liking, though, and so in this respect it loses some of its appeal. Great idea in theory, uninspiring in practice.

It was almost too cool to have the door open like I did last night, but it really enhanced the feeling of autumn. This is not a tea you can drink when it feels like summer, that’s for sure. It’s a strong tea, kind of like spiced caramel apples, but made properly. Not too much caramel, not enough that it makes you feel sick. I absolutely love this tea, and I see myself drinking it far too often this autumn.

My friend purchased Adagio’s “Holiday Sampler” not too long ago and let me try each flavor. I was pretty excited about trying this one and I have to admit had my own ideas what it should taste like. I mean, it should taste like a Candy Apple, right? Mostly apple and a sugary sweet-maybe cherry background flavor? Not at all. I barely got a taste of apple and a strong cinnamon pungency overwhelmed it. Cinnamon has nothing to do with Candle Apples! It’s that nasty cinnamon that smells like those Christmas Reefs you smell during the Holidays. Apples don’t always have to be pared with Cinnamon.
I was very disappointed.

Okay, I only steeped this for 2 minutes, there’s no way I over steeped, but it’s bitter and tastes a bit like apple pucker in a not so good way. Will try this again, but so far, not a fan.

Edited to add: Thanks for sending it my way, brandy3392! I’m gonna give it another go….tomorrow LOL

My least favorite of the holiday sampler pack.

Dry, the leaves smell sweet, a little bit like caramel. Brewed, the liquor has a weird artificial smell that I could not identify as apple. But one of my housemates correctly guessed it was apple so I could just be bad at picking out that scent. Whatever it was, that translated into the taste of the tea. No apple, just an odd sweetness.

I got the holiday sample tins for Christmas, and, good lord, this is the only one that I can’t enjoy.
The scent is just so…artificial smelling. I brewed one cup, attempted to overlook the smell, and then just tossed it; I got through one sip that I don’t even recall tasting because the tea reeked of what smelt like Dollar Tree perfume. I’m going to assume it tastes as chemically as it smells, yuck.

It’s a seriously weird tasting black tea, and i don’t really taste apple.
It’s strong in a lot of categories such as Taste, Smell, Caffeine.

I can still taste this one in my innards even though my humans have rinsed me out repeatedly. Something about that candy apple flavor… http://bit.ly/77VPCz

Black tea with apple and carmel pieces. This smells like black tea with abit of carmel. I steeped this up. There was just not enough carmel and apple taste.