I’ve been pretty picky towards Adagio naming its teas lately and this isn’t an exception.
Why would they call it Emerald Needle? It has drab brown appearance,at least my sample does. It smells brown – woody and spicy. And finally it tastes brown – dry and almost with coffee-like bitterness. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. This truly is Brown Needle, the name maybe not so poetic of course but very descriptive of what you get.
On the other note I have a weird relationship with this tea, it started with something close to hatred (brown aspect contributing a lot to this fact) and now by the end of the sample it has migrated to the I-quite-like-it stage. The taste is really unique and grows on you.
I’m very close to repurchasing so I’m giving it 70 for now. I usually repurchase only the teas that score 75 and higher in my rating system and this one is almost there.
P.S. Adagio renamed this tea into Green Needle recently.
