Cranberry

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

This is surprisingly good. The black tea base is not harsh or bitter or course like I have often experienced in Adagio’s black tea blends. It actually tastes smooth, although there is a fair amount of astringency at the finish. The cranberry is a light note, sweet with a touch of tart but not that typical TART of a cranberry. The tartness arrives later, in the aftertaste, but it is still not an overtly tart taste.

Very pleasant.

This was FAR better than I expected it to be! The cranberry wasn’t overpowering, but it was present. It smells great. I’m looking forward to more!

I’m the first one to try this, eh!? Well, here goes! The aroma is perfect (if you like flavored black tea). It’s the great black tea scent with hints of cranberry goodness! It looks like a typical black tea when infused. The taste is a little bitter – but then again – many cranberry things are bitter, right!? It’s pretty good for a cranberry tea, I suppose. PLUS I was in need of more flavored black teas in my stash so it serves a purpose or two.

This is the last tea I’ve yet to try from my Adagio Holiday Cheer sampler. In theory, I love the idea of this tea. It’s so simple, and yet so brilliant. A classic idea for a christmas tea sampler. In practice, I already suspect it’s going to be a let down. I can’t really smell cranberry — only the faintest whiff — but I can smell that dark bitterness I detected when trying Pumpkin Spice the other day. Already, I’m thinking this isn’t going to end well. Still, onwards. Into the water it goes, with the hope that I might be wrong.

4 minutes and a splash of milk later, I’m not wrong. I can still only smell the very faintest hint of cranberry. I can also smell something very bitter lurking fairly near the surface, and even to smell I don’t like it. I’ve heard it said, but I can’t believe that the base tea is Adagio’s Ceylon Sonata. I like Ceylon Sonata. I even have a big bag of it sitting in my stash, and it doesn’t taste or smell anything like this creature. I’m not saying it’s not in there, but if it is it must be cut with something else. This THING, whatever it is, is probably what I don’t like. I imagine it makes it cheaper to blend, but it also ruins what could be a perfectly good tea. There needs to be more flavouring, though. There’s just nowhere near enough cranberry in this for it to really deserve the name. If only all of these teas could be like Chestnut — the shining star of this sampler — I’d be a very, very happy woman. Alas, it’s apparently not to be.

So, finally, after all my ramblings, it’s just cool enough to taste. It’s tolerable enough, but it’s really no more than an everyday blended black, and not a fabulous one at that. There’s a tantalizing hint of flavour, but it only serves to signal what was not to be. Still, never mind. I can always dream of chestnuts.

I’m sort of neutral on this tea right now. On one hand, I don’t feel the need to drown it in milk and sugar, so I guess that means I’m growing more accustomed to blacks, but on the other hand I’d still rather have a nice cup of white peach in the morning.

Overall this isn’t bad. After reading some of the reviews for the holiday teas my mom got me for Christmas, I was really reluctant to try them. Especially this particular tea. Not quite sure what I was expecting from this, but it was a decent cup. Not amazing, not awful. Pleasant, even. I’ll have to give it a try mixed with some True Blueberry.

I have to say I’m kind of surprised by all the reviews saying that the cranberry flavour in this is faint because it comes across to me STRONGLY, especially in the aftertaste where I wish it wouldn’t linger so long and get sour on my tongue.

There’s the slightest hint of astringency to this and it does have quite a bit of the tartness you would expect of a cranberry tea. I don’t drink this very often because of the strong flavour, have to be in the mood for it, so consequently I have quite a bit of this left even though Thanksgiving is quite a bit behind us by now, it being February.

I’m not normally a fan of cranberries, but I enjoyed this tea much more than I thought I would, especially with the dried cranberries. The tea has a good cranberry aroma, with a hint of tartness and with the slight sweetness that comes with dried cranberries. It held up excellently with milk and sugar.

This is good, but it’s not as full of cranberry tartness as I would prefer. If I didn’t know any better, I would just call it a “berry” tea. It has a hint of sweetness, and a hint of tartness. I know this is a holiday tea, but it’s good for any time of year.

This Little Yellow Teapot is all aglow, and so are my humans, after tasting this tea. See the full review of the free sample here: http://lyt-tea-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/review-adagios-cranberry-black-tea.html

I love this one. Too bad it’s only available for the holidays.

2009-11-24 4:30 pm
Preparation notes: Teavana’s Easy Tea Steeper with a dash of splenda

I figured out one reason that I dislike using the tea steeper – it’s much larger than my mug and when draining I can’t see how full my mug is to know if I need to pull the steeper off.

For this mug of tea I could have added more water (and probably should have, it’s pretty strong), but it’s guesswork. Perhaps I’ll just bring in a larger mug from home.

The leaves smell like cranberry, but the tea doesn’t. There’s a hint of fruit, but it’s not really identifable as cranberry to me. Maybe I just made the tea too strong so the tea flavor is overwhelming the cranberry flavor?

Not impressed. Teavana’s cranberry actually tastes like cranberry.

I thought this would be a delightful tea for fall and the holidays. It is. I’m not a HUGE fan of cranberry; if you are, this will probably be even better to you. The flavoring is rather mild, which was good for me. It’s a lovely color and a nice scent. I think it may be good mixed with some spirits as it reminds me of a cosmo. :)

Like Adagio’s candy cane tea, the delicious scents of cranberry fills the room once you open the canister and once you start steeping.

The taste is very fruity and sweet, with a slight tartness.

The black tea and fruit have blended well to give a very soft brew with a deep red tint.

I am very surprised with this tea, as I did not expect to like it as much as I have.

The first time I had this I thought it was ah… so, so. Which was a disappointment because cranberries are one of my favorite things, ever. But every additional time I’ve made this tea, I’ve liked it better. I suspect the tin will be gone by next Christmas, so I hope they keep up the tradition and make it again so I can restock. The aroma is fantastic – I get cranberries, warmth and just a hint of honey. The taste is a bit weak for me, I generally prefer a strong, black tea, but I like it enough to crave it in the evenings.

This is one of the flavoured teas Adagio puts out that actually tastes like what it claims to be. Good with a lot of sugar, not necessarily milk. I got it as a part of a holiday sampler and it’s one I intend to keep buying on its own.

I don’t like cranberry. But there the tea was, staring at me accusingly, the only untried flavour in Adagio’s holiday sampler. I felt guilty, so I tried it. Expecting to pucker my mouth and crinkle my nose with displeasure, I was shocked when I returned to my mug for one sip after another. It’s actually a very nice tea!

There is one thing, though, and it’s that the cranberry is extremely subtle. It’s a very, very, very slightly fruity black tea, and that’s probably why I like it. If you actually like cranberry tea/flavour, I think you may be disappointed by this one.