Adagio Teas

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65
drank White Blueberry by Adagio Teas
911 tasting notes

I thought I’d be daring tonight and try another white tea. I did a shorter steep time than suggested because that’s just how I roll. (Yes, I’m a dork)

I don’t know if I would have gone with ‘blueberry’ on this. Maybe I just don’t have blueberries frequently enough – I’m more of a blackberry girl except for the rare muffin. But at the same time, not being beaten over the head with blueberry is a good thing in my world, so that’s a point in this tea’s favor.

It definitely has a sweet fruity flavor, but not too sweet. There’s maybe a little underlying something – not quite tart but just enough to give it a fuller flavor. The more I sip on this, the more I like that and this tea.

Yay! White teas aren’t anywhere near as horrid as I thought!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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95
drank Masala Chai by Adagio Teas
13 tasting notes

One of my favorite teas from Adagio. Great by itself or with a little sugar and milk. The cinnamon, cardamon, and ginger flavors make this tea really stand out. One tablespoon can give you 4 very good cups of tea. Recommended for anyone who likes flavorful black tea. :)

Preparation
6 min, 0 sec

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51
drank Honeybush Hazelnut by Adagio Teas
911 tasting notes

I’m generally not a fan of honeybush or roobois (tastes like cardboard), but this one is pretty okay. Can’t say it’ll ever be a favorite but of the honeybush I’ve tried, this is the best. It makes me think of a heavily doctored cup of coffee – in a good way.

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39
drank Valentines by Adagio Teas
911 tasting notes

This morning’s tea – I didn’t make it and the leaves sat in the pot for too long so it was a little bitter, but it was mixed with cream tea to make it smoother and I put some sugar and milk in to take away the bitter so it ended up pretty okay.

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100
drank Gyokuro by Adagio Teas
336 tasting notes

I love it, I love it, I love it and today it tastes particularly awesome!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 15 sec
Suzi

Still haven’t tried this one, but I hope to get around to it soon!

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100
drank Gyokuro by Adagio Teas
336 tasting notes

The color is slightly greenish and some of the tiny tea particles have escaped the strainer and I watch them twirling around my glass cup until they settle at the bottom.
This morning it tastes particularly grassy which I don’t mind at all.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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100
drank Gyokuro by Adagio Teas
336 tasting notes

I love the look of the leaves resembling dark green silky needles. The smell is very grassy and a bit off-putting. Some people, I recall, describing this tea as a broccoli water :) But I actually like the taste. It is grassy, vegetal not as sweet as Sencha.
Sometimes I think my body has a mind of its own and it says: “Give me more of this! I like it!”
Now, I’m talking to myself …. Sigh. Never mind, I’ll have some more tea.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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50
drank Apricot by Adagio Teas
1353 tasting notes

Another one bites the dust. Like with the blueberry, it’s a bit stronger than I would normally have made it because of the amount of leaves I had left.

I see I gave it a mediocre rating, and that sort of thing always surprises me with a fruit tea. Did I really mean that? I have learned to start trusting myself with this though. Sometimes I push the rating up, but most times it’s left alone.

It’s steeping now and the pot is standing with the lid off (because I’m lazy and I can’t be bothered to search for it) about an arm’s lenght away and I can smell apricot all the way over here.

Yes, I was right about the rating. Again. It tastes like apricots, yes. But it’s a sort of creamy kind of apricot flavour. It actually tastes like there’s milk in it and there isn’t. It’s the wrong sort of sweet. I could have wished for some freshness. So while it does have apricot flavour, fresh apricots don’t taste like this.

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50
drank Apricot by Adagio Teas
1353 tasting notes

Travelling Teabox planning in second stage now, as in taking addresses of participants and people (hopefully) signing up and stuff. So far this stuff is way easier to organise than I had imagined.

I’m making a pot of this here apricot tea because apricots are yummy and so by extension so should apricot tea be. I refuse to accept the rating I’ve already given it as truth. (And kindly don’t point out that peaches and pears are also yummy but just not in tea.) Secondly, I’m feeling like this sample has been kind of neglected. I can’t remember when the last time I had any of it was, and I’m frankly puzzled as to how there can only be about a fifth left of the sample tin. If I hardly ever drink this, then where did the rest go??? O.o

It tastes a bit watery… On the other hand I did just have dinner and it involved a lightly spicy sauce which may have affected my tastebuds somewhat. With my tongue in this state, it doesn’t even taste that apricotty. Looks like it won’t be today that I can shift the rating on this one. How sad. :(

Cofftea

2nd stage! Yay!

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50
drank Apricot by Adagio Teas
1353 tasting notes

This seemed like an autumny sort of tea. It’s a clear, but cold day here in Denmark, I got out of work early and I currently have the coldest fingers south of the polar circle! I thought this was the closest thing I had to something that would fit the weather and season.

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50
drank Apricot by Adagio Teas
1353 tasting notes

I love apricots. But while this tea definitely smells and tastes like apricots, idk… It just reminds me of your average southern fruits sort of tea. Maybe the ones I’ve had have just been overwhelmingly apricot-y but no matter what, nothing about this tea really surprised me.

It’s a great tea, very delicious, just not one that really stands out to me. I’m not sure if it’s one I’ll purchase again or not. Maybe if the mood strikes me.

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29
drank Dragonwell by Adagio Teas
110 tasting notes

OK, I think I must be doing something wrong here. I got a sample of this tea from Adagio today. My first attempt at brewing came out tasting of hot water. I set my Utilitea kettle for green tea, and steeped for three minutes by timer. It tasted like bathwater. I threw that steep out, and steeped again, adding much more tea, about 3 tbsps total for a two cup pot. This was somewhat better, but the result was just mildly sweet, without much in the way of a distinctive flavor.

I suspect this is operator error – my only previous experiences with green tea have been of the premeasured bagged variety. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jillian

Well Dragonwell is supposed to have a sort of a delicate, subtle taste to it.

takgoti

I have this lying around but have yet to try it. I’ll get to it tomorrow and let you know if I notice anything different.

Cinoi

So I know comments were forever ago, but I had this Dragonwell this weekend, and you did nothing wrong, it tasted like hot water.

Cynthia Carter

Thanks, it’s nice to have that reinforcement.

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50
drank Blood Orange by Adagio Teas
161 tasting notes

Very sour and a little goes a LONG, LONG way. Blood Orange is great iced and pretty good hot. The color and smell is quite nice.

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40
drank Gunpowder by Adagio Teas
161 tasting notes

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60
drank Black Dragon Pearls by Adagio Teas
161 tasting notes

As a resident of TN, I have unlimited access to average tea/slightly above average tea at every restaurant I eat at. Even our Sonic and Subways have ok Southern Sweet tea if you don’t mind risking a diabetic sugar coma. I don’t think these Black Dragon Pearls are anything to write home about.

My office just received our complimentary flu shots this morning, so I brewed up a cup and had it on standby. Keep in mind that I’m a HUGE needle whimp, so I was looking forward to a hot cup of soothing goodness. It just didn’t come through for me like my Wuyi oolong probably would have.
Taste = C
Entertainment factor = A
Will comfort and get your back = D

takgoti

I don’t see this as being a huge comfort after being stuck with sharp pointy things, either, unfortunately.

Maybe if they let you watch the tea steep WHILST sticking the needle in you? Though if they were to do that I’d rather watch John Krasinski doing…I don’t know, ANYTHING.

Cofftea

Did you use too many/not enough pearls? I use 5 per 8oz water. Most black teas, other than chais oddly, upset my stomach but this one doesn’t.

LENA

takgoti – It was no comfort at all! Watching the pearls unfurl would have been alright. As it was, I just talked about my Great Dane and had a minor breakout of hives. Now, if we had a little TV playing reruns of The Office (also my computer’s wallpaper), I bet I wouldn’t have felt a thing. Eh, who am I kiddin’?

Cofftea – I used 3 pearls for my cup w/ infuser from Agagio’s site. I even made a second cup…it was a good amount of leaves from just 3 balls. Maybe 4 balls would have been better, I don’t know. I haven’t had a tea upset my stomach before…probably because of the amount of coffee I used to drink. I’m off coffee now. At least you can enjoy yummy chais. :)

Jillian

I haven’t tried this tea so this is just speculation, but I’d say the novelty of the tea is in the shape not the flavour.

Cofftea

You’re right Jillian, although you should never waste tea by steeping a tea you can’t stand to drink just to look at it.

Cynthia Carter

I agree with you about the quality of Southern ice tea – even the fast food joints down here (Panhandle FL) wouldn’t dare serve the yucky instant tea that seems to be the rule up North. Luzianne is still my favorite.

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60
drank Black Dragon Pearls by Adagio Teas
161 tasting notes

I don’t know about this one. Watching the pearls unfold and seperate was pretty cool. I think the hand rolled teas are awesome to look at but they always seem to smell musty and sharp to me. Tastes like regular black tea with a VERY subtle cocoa-musty aftertaste. I used 3 pearls for this cup. Just kind of, “ehh”.

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50
drank Yunnan Gold by Adagio Teas
161 tasting notes

Still on the fence with this one. I’m trying to like it. The leaves (dry and wet) smell better than the liquor itself. This tea is a little on the expensive side to be on the fence. Glad I just bought a sample.

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50
drank Yunnan Gold by Adagio Teas
161 tasting notes

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80
drank Hojicha by Adagio Teas
784 tasting notes

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80
drank Hojicha by Adagio Teas
784 tasting notes

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80
drank Hojicha by Adagio Teas
784 tasting notes

For some reason, I loved this when I first got it, but am getting sick of it.

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80
drank Hojicha by Adagio Teas
784 tasting notes

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17
drank Chocolate Chai by Adagio Teas
236 tasting notes

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17
drank Chocolate Chai by Adagio Teas
236 tasting notes

It’s an average chai, nothing special. I prefer the chais from Upton Teas.

One problem I’ve had with all of Adagio’s flavored teas has been that I get a splitting headache after drinking them. I didn’t want to blame the tea, but so far this has happened every single time I’ve tried an Adagio flavored tea and not at all with their non-flavored teas. (It also hasn’t happened with the Golden Moon or Upton Teas flavored blends.) I tried a number of them on my Chicago trip but didn’t log them because I didn’t want to be unfair to the tea. However it seems that I am probably sensitive to the base they use for their flavors. So, I will not be trying any other flavored teas from Adagio.

takgoti

Wow, what a bummer. I wonder what it is that they put in there? Perhaps you could write and ask them just for informative purposes?

Carolyn

I probably could ask them but I don’t know that they would know the answer. Typically flavors are alchemy. They’re deep, dark secrets cooked up in flavor labs which do not need to reveal this information and typically don’t.

I’ve been a vegetarian for about 35 years and have learned over time what is likely possible to learn and what is likely not possible. Flavors are typically not possible to find out much about (but they’re usually not made with animal ingredients, either).

takgoti

I kind of figured they might not… Oh well. As much as I like tea, I don’t know that there are any for which I would be willing to withstand a headache. Maybe I’m a wuss. Or maybe headaches just suck a big one.

Auggy

Wow, that’s not fun at all! I wonder what they have in them that gives you a headache… too bad there’s no real way to find out.

pinkShaya

I’ve never heard of anything like that! But its good to know. That’s what happens to me when I have anything caffeinated. I’ve always assumed the flavored teas are based on plain black tea so I’ve never tried them.

Carolyn

@pinkShaya: The flavored teas are based on plain black tea. It actually looks like a CTC Ceylon tea. The flavoring is added to that. So if you get headaches from caffeine, you’ll definitely get headaches from the caffeinated versions of the flavored teas. You might be able to tolerate the decaf versions, though.

takgoti

@pinkShaya Disclaimer: I’ve never tried this myself, so if you WANT to test the waters you might want to do it on a day when you’ve got nothing important to do and medication or whatever you use handy. However, I’ve heard from a couple of different sources that if you steep a black tea for around 45 seconds and then toss that out it gets rid of a pretty big portion of the caffeine. I also found this as well, and they explain it in a little more detail: http://is.gd/4w69w

Might be helpful?

Carolyn

@takgoti: Just found this info on Facts and Myths about Caffeine in Tea: http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html

He says the short steep to remove caffeine is a myth and that it takes at least five minutes to remove a significant amount of caffeine from tea.

(There is a lot of other good info on caffeine in tea in this article/blog post as well.)

takgoti

Oh wow! Super interesting stuff. Bookmarked that. Thanks for the link.

Cofftea

I’d email them, the person doing the live chat for Q & A probably wouldn’t know, but if you email them, your ? can be forwarded to a person who might. The worst that’ll happen is they’ll say they don’t know. But if you don’t ask, there’s a 100% chance you’ll never find out. Have you tried their straight ceylon? Does it happen w/ their vanilla rooibos chai and bengal green chai as well? What about their spiced green (which is basically a chai type tea)?

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