Shanie O Maniac Send Message

Ok, full disclosure, the concept of a “secret” tea never even dawned on me the entire time I have been buying tea. Yet, here I am, with an Adagio blend which cannot be bought anywhere on the site, nor in any fashion ordered or requested. It seems that the only way to get it is to make an order with your birthday discount. At least, that is how I got it. They made no mention of it when I ordered, it wasn’t listed in my cart, yet when the package arrived, there it was in the box.

So I figured I’d review it because I don’t know how many people on here actually order from Adagio for their birthdays. Seeing as how I’m only the second note, apparently not a bunch.

This tea smells VERY sweet in the package. I think it’s supposed to be a type of Birthday Cake Flavored, so that’s to be expected. I brewed this western style (as always) at 212F/12oz/3min/2tsp.

Flavor is…Well that is DIFFERENT. It almost tastes like it wants to be sweet, but there just isn’t enough there to do so. I’m pretty certain this is meant to be drunk with sugar. So not one, but TWO splendas go in the cup. Ahhh, much better. There’s that birthday flavor. It has a bit of a weird combo. I’m getting the vanilla and creme, but the supposed caramel is coming off as a STRONG Raisin flavor for some reason. It’s a sweet raisin flavor, almost like if there were candied raisins. But it is definitely raisin. I don’t think it is supposed to taste like raisins. The aftersip even further intensifies into a further raisin flavor that lingers. It’s…odd. I really don’t know how to rate this. It doesn’t come off like the birthday cake it’s supposed to. It tastes like an iced raisin muffin. I still think I will recommend this, although technically that doesn’t help because you can’t willingly buy this tea. It’s not bad tea for sure. It’s just… not what I was expecting.

So when I bought my Bella Luna Blue, I considered getting some Earl Grey Bella Luna to go with it. Then I realize that it came in a 4oz tin, and I honestly had no idea if I liked Earl Grey or not. I had never had it before. So, instead, I got a sample of their Earl Grey Moonlight to try.

I really didn’t know what to think going into this. It smells pretty sweet in the package. Brewed it western, 2tsp/12oz/212F/3min.

Taste is…. wow. One of the reviews on here compared this to Fruity Pebbles. That is EXACTLY what this tastes like. Fruity Pebble Black Tea. I’m getting a creamy, vanilla flavor along with some orange. However, it doesn’t really go full on creamsicle. The black tea base is there, but in balance. In general, this is a very balanced tea. The citrus plays on my tongue and gives it a crisp, biting mouthfeel, without the flavor actually being tart. I’m just gonna say it – This is mighty tasty. I don’t know if this is typical for an Earl Grey, but if it is, I’m gonna have to drink a bunch more. Make It So!

Not gonna lie, I have wanted this tea ever since I started collecting tea. However, I was informed I would have to wait until 2020 to get some. WELL… I get an email from Adagio recently stating that it is in stock for the seasonal blue moon, and ya know I had to jump on that!

Smell in bag is pretty good. Getting a good lemony-sweet smell to it.
Brewed 5min/212F/3tsp/12?oz. I don’t honestly know the size of this mug. It’s my clear mug and I don’t usually use it, but I wanted the full effect.

Ok, for starters, this really does brew up BLUE! It looks like blue kool-aid. Unfortunately, at 5 minutes, the flavor is extremely weak. It’s like someone waved a mug of water past some blueberries and lemongrass, then added food coloring. It states 5-10 minutes on the package, I suppose I should have gone for 10. This is just gently scented water. Very little taste at all. I’m so disappointed. I won’t leave a number or recommendation as I did technically do the least brew time allotted so it’s likely my fault. But to anyone wanting to try this, go for at LEAST a ten minute brew. I will revisit this one later, I’m sure of it. I have a huge package, after all.

Well, confession time. I had signed up for a subscription to 52 teas specifically for the Game of Thrones box, only to find out that I didn’t enroll soon enough and I was scheduled to receive this month’s tea instead. So I waited for the general, free-for-all listing of the GoT tea. And I will admit, I’m glad I didn’t get the box. This was the only tea that really piqued my interest. I was hesitant in getting it though because I didn’t know how the blackberries would blend with the green tea. Well, I have to say, after reading the two reviews on here, I did something I never do, and splurged and bought a big bag WITHOUT ever having tried it.

So my experience is as follows. The smell in package is wonderful. SUUPER berry smell. I love it. I used my Brevelle to brew up the water. 12oz/175F/3oz/2min.

Taste is… WONDERFUL. Yowey Wowey is that good. So yumtastic. Ok, there is a bit of tartness, due to the berries. BUT, in that same flavor space is also a definite note of sweetness. So they balance each other out. All that layered over a very good background dragonwell, and you’ve got yourself a winner! I could drink this all day. For the record, I know I usually put a Single Splenda in my 52teas blends. Not this time, this one is perfect as is. I’d be afraid of messing up the balance. There is a hint of bitterness towards the bottom of the cup, but that’s probably just due to sediment. All in all, a wonderful tea that I will likely cry when it eventually sipsdown. Good Job!

Ok, just a small update on this one… last night I started a session of this, and got really tired before I had steeped it out. Unfortunately, my tea caddy was in the car and I wasn’t about to go and get it at 4 am. So instead, I brewed the tea out and stuck it in iced tea cups (I have two) in the fridge. So this is a review of the tea as iced tea. If you wondered why the steeping paramenters are weird, it’s because I’m reviewing the third steep of this tea session.

Wow, it tastes even more like ginger cola this way. That ginger is definitely prominent, and the cola is very noticeable. I added two splendas to this to give it some jazz and it really brings out the flavor. In fact, the “tea” part of this is barely recognizable. It just tastes like uncarbonated soda. I like that. Seeing as how I really can’t have actual ginger cola, this is a great method for replicating it that I will have to remember. Perhaps I can find a jug around somewhere and brew up an entire pitcher. It would probably take all that I have left though to do that and I don’t like that concept at all, so I doubt I will. But in the meantime, iceing the last cup worth of a session seems like a good plan. I will have to try that from now on. Very tasty.

Ok, full disclosure. This tea was given to me as a free sample from ECT. Here is my honest review.

I was initially concerned upon opening the tea. The loose leaf had a strange smell to it, but I attributed it to my not being familiar with Ceylon Black tea. So I brewed it at the following parameters. 2.5 tsp for 16 oz water, boiling temp for 4:30 minutes.

Taste is… well it is certainly tea. I’m getting metallic undertones, but the base flavor is decent. I’m getting hints of cherries, tannin flavor, sweet potato, roasted notes, and something I can’t put my finger on. The more I drink it the more I like it. As it cools down, the metallic undertones are fading and it’s taking on a bold yet somewhat mellow flavor. Strong black tea flavor in this one. Hmm, overall, I would likely drink this again when I wanted a change from my traditional golden tips. It’s not bad. It’s not the best tea ever either, but not bad. I would rate it a solid B.

Just an update on this one.

I did end up getting a 3oz bag more of this. It is still one of my go-to dessert teas. I’m drinking it now as a latte and it hasn’t let me down yet. I’ve cut back how often I drink it though. Instead of three to five times a week it’s more like once every other week. I just have so much other tea to drink now. I know I beatdown Adagio on my last review. I just wanted to write this to say, not everything from there is horrible. This is still one of my favorites. It’s simple and sweet. Chocolate and mint. Nothing too fancy, but oh so delish! Anyway, thought I would post this just to try and grant some measure of redemption to Adagio.

Well, I wasn’t sure if I had reviewed this one before. Apparently I had. However, I reviewed it before I got my YS order. Now that I have tried good quality silver needle, I feel I need to re-evaluate this. No, it’s not awful, but the difference in quality between Adagio and quality tea is so noticeable. Yunnan Sourcing’s Jasmine Silver Needle is everything I said about this tea, with the tastiness ramped up to ELEVEN. It really isn’t fair to go back to this after drinking that for two months, but now that I have… this tea just doesn’t stack up. It’s like looking at those WWE Replica belts (bear with me here). Adagio is the standard “Replica version”. YS is the “Ultimate Version”. Sure, they have similarities, and they have much of the same flavor. But when you really look at it in the light, YS just glitters and sparkles more. It’s the different between a belt decorated with cut Cubic Zirconia and one with gem shaped PLASTIC. In the end, you get the same base effect. But the quality and detail is just incompatible.

I guess what I’m trying to say in general is, Adagio charges a bunch for this stuff. You can get much better elsewhere, likely for less. Don’t dumb down your tea experience. Go for quality!

I don’t think I’ve even had this one before let alone reviewed it. So here we go
I’m not gonna lie, this stuff smells great in bag. I’m getting a sweet raisin smell with black tea background.
Brewed 4min at 212F, 2 tsp to 16 oz water
Taste plain is… Hmm, that actually isn’t bad at all. I’m getting that raisin and fig flavor to it along with the black tea base. I am going to try to put my usual 52 teas single splenda in it to see how that effects it. MMMMM, now the raisin/fig is sweet and really There. It’s kinda drowning out the black tea flavor now. I’m also getting a bit of what I think might be black currant? Hard to say. I’m eating dinner with this (Mac and cheese w/ chicken) and it’s kinda skewing it. Overall, I would recommend this tea. If they ever re-blend it, go try some. It’s pretty tasty.