14 Tasting Notes
I was expecting earl grey with a lavender flourish. What I got was a terrible cup of over-syrup’d coffee. I do not know why, but the ingredients here were more than lavender, black tea, and bergamot oil.
What was even worse was I bought this for my (at the time) girlfriend, who had previously mentioned she enjoyed a lavender earl grey from World Tea Company. I also accidentally overnight-ed it, doubling the cost of the tea.
Adagio has always been hit or miss. Some of their teas are excellent, and some are absolutely no good.
Any suggestions on a decent earl grey lavender?
Preparation
Sweetest Green tea I’ve ever tasted, and the longest tea leaves I’ve seen from any retailer. The leaves are gently rippled from the press, resembling zebra stripes and lying beautifully flat. A truly two-leaf, one bud tea. Using three pairings per every eight ounces, I brewed this for two minutes at 170 degrees Fahrenheit two consecutive times. A fruity note, with a mild vegetal undertone accompanied a mostly sweet flavour. The tea leaves are supple and green after brewing twice, and the colour of the brew is a faint yellowish green. Two ounces of the tea gets you a large amount of tea, as this is extremely light and voluminous. I’m estimating, that with the given suggestion of three leaf pairings per 8 oz, that each box has well over one hundred servings.
Preparation
I must be brewing it wrong, i find little to no taste to the tea.
How are you brewing it? I believe I used my standard green tea parameters on this one: 170F, 1’, using about a cup of water for every one tsp of tea. It may be finicky, in that anything over 185F may scorch it. I’m not certain, but I may have also brewed the first steeping for two minutes (as he notes in his review).
This is quite possibly the best green tea I have ever tasted. I hope you can coax it into giving you some of the gifts it has given me!
I will try again. i don’t think i was using enough tea.
I actually blended two one minute brews together, by simply re-infusing the tea after removing the leaves. Unfortunately, we’ve discontinued this gem. If you can find it, it’s 75% off.
Smooth, is the first word that came to my mind. The leaves were a silverish grey, with a little bit of a lustre. This tea was unusual in that I can give it a mouthfeel; a creamy texture, likely a derivative of the smooth taste. If I didn’t brew the tea myself, i’d have sworn that someone had put some milk into the tea. This is a tea I will return to again and again.
Preparation
I appreciated your comments on the ‘teavana’ thread….I agree also that WWII played a key role in eroding tea culture by adding a stigma to the influence of growing Asian cultural influence to the tea practice…the dominance of ‘European/English’ tea culture is still a predominate feature and it also created limitations to our understanding of tea…but I do agree, history is an important element in any tea understanding and without it we lose out on many levels of awareness in our appreciation
The leaf appearance is jet black, with a high gloss, a sign of a very high grade Hao ya Keemun. I see very little twig debris here. The leaves were whole, and even in size, and the leaves appeared to a light brownish red after brewing. A wonderfully toasty nose, fruity notes and a subtle, playful pine smell. The tea itself is a reddish brown, very bright and luster-y. This tea was very full bodied, with a complex taste incorporating a bit of a fruity, smokey, sweet flavour. I store mine in a wooden container, which gives the tea a woody aftertaste.
if you havent had a chance to try the organic version from Tao of Tea I recommend it…also I could send you a sample of a version of this that we make at Staufs that is just earl grey and organic lavender…just send me a message
Hi xhado123,
Reading your post I couldn’t help it but to recommend Earl Grey Lavender from The Tea Company. If you’re interested in a sample only just write them saying you’re a critic and they’ll send you some, they’re really friendly. https://www.theteacompany.com
I also enjoyed reading your experience about working at Teavana. Thanks for sharing this!