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Ok here goes another Chai. I didn’t previously like the combo of Lemongrass and Coconut, so we shall see how this turns out.
Brewed into a latte, it’s very subtle and restrained. The spice is strong enough that I like it and it isn’t completely obliterated by the milk. However it isn’t overpowering either. I’m getting cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and all of the good warming spices. The Coconut and Lemongrass are not nearly as pronounced in this so it isn’t as jarring. I actually like this. It’s really good. There’s a little bit of mouth tingle from the spices. All in all, much better than the thai chai I believe.

This tea was included in a sampler that I got for free from Adagio for ordering over 49 dollars. That being said, anything that says “Skinny” in the title has my interest (I’m attempting to lose weight), so here goes.
The smell in the bag smells very strongly of custard. I’m guessing that’s the “Natural Creme Brulee Flavor” that it contains. That sugary custard aroma smells lovely so lets see how it translates into the brew.
Western style as usual, 3Min, Boiling Water (Which is what it calls for despite there supposedly being both green and oolong in it.)
Smell while brewing is a mild buttered popcorn scent. It almost makes me wonder if the oolong they used is a milk oolong, but I doubt it. It smells nothing like the dry leaf, unless you make the connection that there is dairy in both custard and butter.

Taste is… actually really good. I’m getting the ginger and honey notes, along with a buttery flavor and some cinnamon. This is really hard to judge at my level of tasting experience. There’s just so many competing flavors I can’t pick them all out. It’s very tasty, don’t get me wrong, and I almost want to make a latte out of it to really bring out the natural sweetness. But that complexity is almost too much. Think “Jack of all trades, Master of none”. All those different ingredients lead to a cup with 101 flavors, but almost none really stick out. It’s the “Mutt” of tea. Still decently tasty though.

Note: It says to not overdo it on this tea or (to un-euphemism them) you may get the runs. I’m guessing that some of the herbs may cause that as this is technically a wellness tea. So I doubt I will resteep this. No clue how it is supposed to help you lose weight, but if it works, great. If not, it’s decently enough flavored that I will finish the sample but probably not buy more.

This is my first experience with Silver Needle, and once more it is Adagio. I do have some Jasmine Silver Needle on its way from YS but that hasn’t arrived yet.
Anyway, Western style, 3 mins 180F. Smell in cup is of warm buttery croissants and faint floral aroma. Taste is… rather nice. The buttery notes I smell only subtly translate over into taste. I’m getting a more grass/floral flavor to it in its place. I swear I taste melon, is that weird? The aftersip is more of that dry grass flavor with the floral and melon. As it cools I’m getting a very mild wood flavor. Overall I would say this is a win for me. The complex flavors, while noticeable, are not overpowering. It’s a nice soothing calming flavor. Good for the end of the day when you want to unwind.

So this is my second of Adagio’s Jasmine Greens. I already reviewed and finished the other so we shall see how this one pans out.
Western Style. I got distracted and steeped it a bit too long (about 3:30-3:45) but the water was 195F.
I can definitely taste the oversteeping. The Jasmine isn’t nearly as overpowering as the other one I tried, so that is a plus. However, with the oversteep, it is ever so slightly bitter. I can taste the green tea more in this one, so those vegetal flavors are totally there. The bottom of the cup where some of the flavor settled was super bitter, but again, oversteep so that is probably why. I will try this one again fresh later and pay more attention so I can get an accurate bead on it. But for now, what I am getting from this one is I think it is better than the Yin Hao (I think that was what it was called). Not as super-jasmine, and a better blend of flavors.

Well what do you know? My first added tea!
40 Winks wasn’t anywhere on the site so I had to add it. Believe me I looked. Nowhere to be found. Anyway this is one of Adagio’s wellness blends. It’s supposed to promote sleep. We shall see…
Upon cracking the package, I get a strong pungent aroma. I’m guessing that’s the valerian root. It’s listed as the first ingredient so it must be prevalent. I’m also getting an aroma of chamomile and mint, which are also both ingredients. So onto steeping.
Western Style, 212F, 5Min.
Upon drinking the first thing I notice is that the pungent valerian aroma doesn’t fully translate over. It’s definitely there, but the tea is still palatable. There’s a slight tingling sensation in the mouth that I suppose would be the mint? I can totally taste the chamomile as well. Grassy notes are apparent as well. They become more and more noticeable as tea cools. Surprisingly no sweetener is needed in this one, although some people may wish to put a bit of honey in it for medicinal value. I can’t really have honey anymore so I am grateful it does not need any sweetener to drink. I don’t know if this will put me to sleep or not (I have weird sleep patterns) but it is certainly soothing. I would totally recommend this for a last-cup-of-the-night kind of tea. It’s flavor is nothing to write home about, but it’s not horrible and who knows maybe it will help you sleep.

So this is a supposed desert tea I was really looking forward to. They say it has chocolate and caramel flavorings along with black tea. So we shall see.
Brewed western style as usual, 212F, 3min.
My first thought about drinking this is “I thought this was supposed to be sweet???”. The natural flavor of this tea is quite bitter, like dark dark cacoa and caramel that has no natural sweetness to it. That second part is weird to me because I always thought Caramel was basically cooked sugar. So no, this tea is really kinda bad in its natural state.

You know what that means… LATTE TIME.

So after adding the almond milk and two splendas, the darkest cacoa and bitter caramel flavors suddenly turned into “Candy bar”. Frankly that’s what I wanted in the first place, as this is supposed to be a dessert tea. I drank two steeps worth of this in latte form and have decided that, if you can stand making a sweetened latte, go for it. But once again, I find that so many Adagio teas just do NOT taste right unless you add either milk or sweetener to them. I really wish they could get their act together on their flavored blends because the potential is there. They just keep falling flat.

So this is my first experience with any type of Wuyi. Smells good in bag, lets see how it tastes. Western prep, 3min at 195F.

Totally getting that famous mineral flavor, followed by a mild earthy and strangely peppery? flavor. I don’t know what that flavor is. It reminds me of black pepper, but there’s no pepper recorded on any previous tasting notes. It’s bitey in my mouth and leaves it tingling. About a minute or two after sipping, the remaining after flavor changes to and stays as a massive grape flavor. I have no idea where or how that happened, but suddenly my mouth is full of grapes. As it’s cooling I’m getting a mild wood flavor, but still plenty of that rock taste. Overall I do like this. It’s not my all time favorite, but it is a totally acceptable tea. I would gladly drink this again.

Well, durning funeral trip, I discovered I like citrus green. This is one of my attempts to find the perfect green tea with citrus.
Sadly, this isn’t it. Maybe I just didn’t steep long enough. I went for 2 minutes with 180F water. The flavor isn’t as strong as I would like. It’s a mild citrus green and I like a very flavorful one. The perfect citrus green would be strong but not overwhelming. This is way too mild for my tastes. It does have a good citrus green flavor. I can taste the orange zest and the slight vegetal of the green. It just isn’t as pronounced a flavor as I like.

After the Lapsang debacle, I needed something to cleanse my palate. So Skele-grow it is. I bought this because they claimed it tasted like candy. Made western style at 212F for 4 minutes (recommended instructions). First sip was okay. It was definitely minty but more dark chocolate, which I am not so much a fan of. So I tried it with two splendas and a bit of almond milk. Wow! What a difference! It IS like drinking candy. Very sweet minty chocolate candy mind you, which may not be for everyone. But still tastes like an Andes Candy. This may be one of my new favorite dessert teas. It’s very lovely. If you want to try a tea that tastes like mint chocolate candy, go for this one. But just remember you need to add sweetener to it to get the most from this blend.

Oh wow. This was a free sample from Adagio Teas. They basically said if I like golden monkey I would like this.

Boy were they wrong.

It’s a very complex cup, I’ll give them that. Woodsy, Smokey, Mushrooms, Earthy… But that smoked flavor and I are not getting along. Between that and the heavy mushroom flavor it’s like drinking burnt portabella mushrooms. This is getting dumped. Sorry Adagio.