Adagio Custom Blends, Carolynne Keenan

No rating as this is one of my own.

I love how refreshing this is, especially in the afternoon! This is great over ice, but I enjoyed it hot today. I love that the mint balances the blackberry and vice versa!

No rating as this is one of mine. I love the blend of mint and blackberry – it’s one of my favorite iced, and today it’s helping me combat this evil cold/flu that I picked up somewhere. Yum! (for the tea, not the cold)

I’m enjoying a cuppa this to wind down today. No number rating as it is my blend. I do love this one iced; it’s a great medley of mint and blackberry. Yum! Refreshing!

I won’t rate this as Peachy Keen is one of my blends…but I do really enjoy the harmony of peach and vanilla goodness in this one. I taste an equal amount of both, so much that it reminds me of peach cobbler with ice cream, or peachy ice cream (which I can’t eat anyway). Wonderful!

Keen sent a bit of this to me and I am VERY grateful as I enjoyed it quite a bit!

The Mint-Combo is calming and refreshing but also mellower. The blackberry is right where it needs to be! Together the flavor ratios are in perfect harmony!

I really like this!

“Ms Keen” herself sent me some of this and it’s pretty good! There is a nice stereotypical-Adagio black tea base but there certainly IS a Candy Corn likeness, to it! It’s subtle but I appreciate that as I am not generally-speaking a fan of Candy Corn…but…I AM a fan of this flavored black tea! Thanks girl!

keenteathyme sent me a bit of her Adagio Blend…thanks so much!

I must say the Hazelnut is certainly in the fore-front on this one. I can’t really taste the chocolate or the vanilla but I can taste the creamy-texture so I will chalk that up to the vanilla…I do like this taste melted into the Honeybush base and it’s natural sweetness.

Satisfying cuppa!

KeenTeaThyme sent me a bit of her blend and it’s a goodie!

The spices are right were they need to be! They are strong but not overly so. At first I wasn’t really picking up too much of the apple but after the tea was exposed to room temp air for a while I started picking up those flavors towards the end of the sip on to the aftertaste. The Caramel notes are nice. They aren’t really a sugary-sweet caramel type taste but more of a thicker-creamier malt type caramel if that makes sense. I also picked up on a bit of smoke as well!

This is a nice tasting chai!

The flavor is subtle and I’m not sure the it works as a hot liquid, but it actually tastes like candy corn. What witchcraft is this?!

Backlogging (so, based almost entirely on my notes)

Experience buying from Keen Tea Thyme: < More later, but positive overall >

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: Smells awesome, with notes of tobacco and chocolate! Small and medium sized broken bits of tea leaves and a few other lighter colored bits.

Brewing guidelines: Brewed in my largest tea ball (I do most, if not all, flavored teas in a ball/basket, to help keep all of the pieces together) in my glass Bodum. 6 rounded tsp, 6 cups of water. Stevia added.(I thought this was a black tea/rooibos tea blend based on how it looked and smelled, so I went with boiling temperatures).
……….1st: Boiling (unwarmed pot), 3’
……….2nd: Boiling (warmed pot); 4’
……….3rd: Boiling (warmed pot); 6’

Color and aroma of tea liquor: mild chocolate-y and tobacco-y aroma; a dark, chocolate-brown color.

Flavor of tea liquor: Roasted, chocolate-y, with notes of tobacco.

Appearance and aroma of wet leaf: it looks like what I would call ‘medium-grade’ chopped leaf.

Value: reasonable on Adagio’s website for a flavored tea.

Overall: When I emailed the creator of this tea inquiring as to the base tea used in this flavored blend, she stated that the base was an oolong with a bit of Lapsang Souchong; I was surprised that there was not any rooibos in it, as to me, this tea has aromas and flavor notes very similar to my experience with brewing up rooibos. I am guessing the vanilla oolong is what gives it that tobacco-y taste (which is a good thing; I happen to love that tobacco-y smell and taste rooibos seems to have). In her response to my query her recommendations were to use a little cooler temp (195 F) than the temps had I already brewed it in, so I may have slightly scorched the leaves (but it didn’t taste like it to me). I’m not certain whether or not it tastes like toasted marshmallow, but overall, I enjoyed it’s unusually—and tasty—flavor (and it still had decent flavor even on the third steeping); I think the things I liked the most about this tea were the aromas: chocolate and tobacco!

I had this last night and I want to try it iced. It really reminded me of peach snapple

I received my package from Keenteathyme a while ago but do to school and such just have not been able to drink very much tea… But now that I am on break hopefully I will remedy that. This tea I was not sure I would be in the mood for hot. But I do like to taste all of my teas hot at least once. The smell was a peachy just like I thought it would be with a nice black tea smell as well.

Wow after the steep this tea smells so much like a juicy peach yum! I had to taste it and it tastes just like one as well with just a hint of vanilla to smooth out the tea. It makes for a great dessert tea or just when you are craving something sweet. (which for me is whenever I am done eating anything) :) I did sweeten it since I typically add a bit of rock sugar to all of my teas.This was a big hit for me and I wasn’t sure if I was in the mood at all of for it! I may have to try the last bit of this iced just to see how the flavors are in the iced version! Thanks so much Carolynne for a yummy tea!

Confession: this is the first honeybush I’ve ever had, which is pretty odd considering my sweet tooth makes me more suited to it than to rooibos. So I don’t know if it’s the honeybush or the combination of flavors that makes this blend great — but whichever it is, I approve. Slightly sweet but not dessert-y, this is a yummy and calming tea that really does make me want to curl up somewhere on a cool fall day.

This was a free sample with an order from Keen Tea Thyme — check out her teatra.de, by the by, there are a lot of yummy things there.

I generally don’t notice a very strong fruit flavor in Adagio’s teas, and this blend is no exception. Still, it’s a pleasant combination of vanilla and peach, and with a little something to sweeten it, it makes for a great dessert tea. I can’t see myself going out of my way to get more, but I’m glad I got to try it!

I really really didn’t need to buy more tea but when I saw some of the deals that Keenteathyme had I had to get some samples… This tea smells of apples when you open it up. I brewed it up and waited till I had finished my lunch before taking a sip and wow my first sip was straight creaminess. Yum yum yum. The second flavor I get is definitely a bit of apple and it is sweet. The last notes for me are just hints of spiciness that linger on the tongue. I typically don’t like my chai to be too spicy so this one fits the bill perfectly and it is so nice to drink in the fall! I am very impressed!