Adagio Custom Blends, Christa Y

Another tea from the swap with Will Work For Tea. I was VERY excited to try this one, the reviews are pretty well positive. Unfortunately something about this tea is not agreeing with me. I may try it with more sweetener or a heavier milk. Right now it only has a small amount of skim milk and a bit of agave.

MY LAST LEAVES!!! NOOO!

sniff I don’t have any more of this. Ah well.

I wanted Earl Grey too, so what I did this time is steep the JAM, and then I steeped a bag of TAZO Earl Grey.

This tea had lost most of the blackberry, but the vanilla mixed well with the undertone of the Bergamot.

Not much else to report, as I didn’t have a lot of leaves to steep so the flavour wasn’t strong. Wasn’t a bad tea, and I love this tea a lot anyhow. (If you look at earlier reviews.)

I’ve had two snow days from school, so I’m trying to clean out my tea chest. And then— BUY MORE TEA. Hopefully. Broke college student and tea buying doesn’t mix well.

You can always tell I enjoy a tea when I review it over and over. I’ll review bad teas, but since I won’t ever drink that tea again (usually) I don’t put out many reviews on it. (Which, all that makes sense, really, but some people will drink things more than once or re-visit things even if they didn’t like it before, and I usually don’t do that.)

Anyways, this tea, as some of you may know if you read my past reviews, started out REALLY bad for me, but once I found the perfect steeping method for it, it was truly phenomenal. If it were possible to bottle Heaven, I think this tea would be one of the ways you could do it. It has a taste that just makes me feel really good, almost like a high, but just a really pleasant, soft feeling, not anything rough or over the top. It’s a really great tea, people.

I will warn though, you HAVE to get the steeping right. Only use a medium amount of leaf, if you are using a regular mug, and 3 or 4 minutes is ENOUGH. No boiling water—it can be screaming hot, but not a direct boil. I let my kettle sit for at least two minutes before I pour it, maybe even more. Lots of sugar, and it can go with or without cream, but I drank it without this time and I prefer it with, personally.

I hope that if you try this tea, it works out for you, because it’s a really great tea!

This tea is creativity and inspiration and energy all in one cup. And I really didn’t like this tea at first, because I couldn’t get it to steep right. But now that I have it down, it is the most amazing cup, ever. I seriously love it so much. It just has a wonderful berry, creamy vanilla taste and it’s just delicious!

You owe it to yourself to buy this tea, and don’t panic if it doesn’t take good at all the first few tries you make it. Keep trying. 180-190 is the best steep time, maybe even slightly lower, and at least two things of sugar. Cream isn’t needed, but helps bring out the vanilla a lot. And once you find your pattern with this tea, DON’T CHANGE IT. This is a tea that needs a strict routine. It’s worth finding it, trust me. <3

This is an update note, as I drank this once today, but am now on my second cup. Yes, at 10 at night. THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE TEA, SECOND TO A REALLY GOOD EARL GREY. Maybe even higher than some Earl Grey, which is saying A LOT.

This tea is a bit of heaven in a cup. Just saying.

So, if you drink this tea and are not impressed, try using a lower temp (I’d say 205 or lower) and steeping it for only 3 or 4 minutes. Use two spoonfuls of sugar, and milk. And if you STILL don’t like it, I WILL TAKE IT, SERIOUSLY!!

About a year ago, I tried this tea, and hated it. Absolutely hated it. It was bitter, had no vanilla, cream, blackberry anything. I knew I had steeped it wrong, somehow some way. Now, after many cups of various teas later, I am educated on tea and how to make it, what makes it steep wrong, etc.

I made this in a teapot, let it freely float in the water, which was just under boiling, and steeped it for 3 minutes exactly. Then strained it in a teacup.

I am happy to say this is perfect. PERFECT.

There is the sweet, slightly sharp taste of blackberries, and the creamy taste of vanilla. The mouthfeel is a creamy and sweet, and I love this tea. I can’t describe it any more than amazing.

Last log. Got the water right, steeped 4 minutes again. It was much better. :-) I also added a bit of cream and let it cool just slightly. So, the flavors came out again and really were yummy. :-)

I decided I’d go ahead and do my tasting note, even though like I said before, I diluted it on accident. As it cooled, it got sweet enough for me to taste it enough to up the rating, and be able to give a decent review. (I’ll still put in another one tomorrow, after I taste it again, just to be doubly sure!)

Smell: Dry, in the bag. OH MY GOODNESS BLACKBERRIES! But creamy blackberries. And I think I could smell a hint of vanilla. It almost smelled like a blackberry dessert of some kind, cobbler or something. Either way, a good aroma. Steeping it was about the same, but more blackberry and less of everything else. Still yummy, and exciting!

Taste: At first, I couldn’t taste a lot, and it was a bit astringent, and had a sour mouthfeel (anything bitter leaves a sour aftertaste for me.) BUT—I could taste a hint of the blackberry as I swallowed, on the back of my tongue, and as it cooled and finally accepted the two packs of raw cane sugar I added, the blackberry came out, very smooth, really sweet, a bit tart (good tart) and the vanilla came out in a creamy note. When it finally got really cold, it sucked and tasted really bitter, but I don’t like any tea cold unless it is iced and mean to be iced, and this tea I don’t think is. It is VERY good, VERY yummy, I cannot WAIT to try cream in it, and it will make an EXCELLENT desssert tea, as well as a pick me up! Yay!

Unfortunately, I have yet to fully read and finish anything Jane Austen wrote. :( As I dig deeper into this tea, I need to go pull out some of my Austen novels to enjoy with it…

THANK YOU SO MUCH AZZRIAN!!

So I’m drinking this out of a mug, and I think I may have put a bit too much water for the amount of tea. I think I ended up steeping 1 tsp of tea in probably 10 oz of water instead of 8, so this tea is still good, but the flavor is diluted a bit, I think. That being said, I am going to wait on the tasting note. I like making sure I did not mess up. So far though, the taste is good, so I think it will be excellent!

Lame/sad sipdown story here…. I accidentally dumped this into an infuser with 52teas’ Pumpkin Chai, because I didn’t look first :( Because they are both blacks, there was no separating them, so I just dumped half the leaves in one infuser, and half into the other. Ending up with, of course, two mugs of pumpkin chai. :( Not how I wanted to say farewell to this tea, but what can you do?!

Still working on my baggie of this from Azzrian! I think I oversteeped a bit today, as it’s kind of astringent and there’s definitely some bitterness going on. Or, it could be because the tea travelled in my backpack a bit longer than it should have, and I know that at least once, I crushed some of it while grabbing for my phone or something else in the same pocket. Whoops. However, it’s still pretty tasty. I’m finding flavoured blacks that include caramel/vanilla/something along those lines, in addition to other flavours, are by far the best ones for me (although straight blacks like Laoshan and Butiki’s Mi Xian far surpass flavoured teas for me in terms of deliciousness and lack of astringency!)

Anyways, this is a pretty good cup! Trying to get caffeinated to go upstairs and grind some samples… need to work enough to deserve the reward of opening up and playing with my brand new just-delivered-today MacBook Pro! (Of course, the computer came literally ten minutes after I left the house this afternoon.) So excited! And 3 tea orders are en route as well… pretty stoked! My credit card is not super happy with me right now…

This seems to be one of my favourite reliable morning teas. I just love the blackberry and cream in this one, and will be sad to see it go…. which luckily won’t be for at least looks 4-5 more cups since Azzrian sent me oh so much of it!!

Unfortunately today it’s a bit off, but I’m 100% certain that’s because the water is hard here, and I didn’t steep it long enough (or the water wasn’t as hot as I thought). Pitfalls of being away from one’s home/office. It still smells amazing though :D I am in such a mood for cream and sugar right now; I would love to try it that way. It could only be spectacular.

Backlogging from yesterday morning. Oversteeped this (probably 5-6 mins) and no bitterness/astringency! Very impressed. So good.

This is really hitting the spot this morning. I still feel like I’m getting more of a blueberry than a blackberry flavour, but it’s still lovely. I think a touch of sweetener would make this better, but no sugar for me. Sigh.

Bumping the rating. This might end up being a tea I seek out in the future (once I finish off the giant bag from Azzrian, that is! :D Thanks again!)

ETA: Nom nom nom, steeped this a second time today, but used too much water; luckily I decided to brew some up fresh for my roommate as well, and steeped her teaball in my cup too :D Tasty tasty.

Mmm, it’s morning, so time to start making my way through my black tea stash!

This tea I received from Azzrian, and I’m so excited to try it!

The dry tea doesn’t smell like much; there’s a bit of vanilla aroma, perhaps, but that’s about it. Entirely different story steeped; it smells malty , sweet, and with a hint of blackberry. Yum!!

A pleasant surprise – this is pretty good! A malty blackberry (or blueberry, my palate can’t make up its mind!) tea with a bit of vanilla is what I’m getting. There is some astringency at the end of the sip, not likely caused by oversteeping, but I perhaps used a touch too much dry tea. It’s a bit annoying, but it’s not bitterness, so I can deal with it.

Overall, I’m pretty impressed, and I liked this one more than I expected to! If I drank black teas more frequently I would consider picking this one up, but as I don’t typically drink teas for their caffeine content, and often drink them in the evening, I don’t need more black teas than I already have!

Thanks so much for the sample, Azzrian! An unexpected treat :D

ETA: Second cup, also steeped for 3 minutes, is weak but also tasty. In the future I might use a smaller volume of water for the second infusion to concentrate the flavour a bit, but I do like it even a little dilute :)

I would like to thank Lady Tegan for sharing this splendid tea in a swap (I being a lowly scullery maid and all).
I’ve written before about picking blackberries in the Coast Range Mountains of Northern California in the Summer. Finding just the juiciest ripe ones but usually eating the best because they are too irresistible. Their unique flavor is mixed with sunshine and is truly magical. Have you ever seen anyone sad with a bowl of fresh berries? I’ve never heard of such a thing although I suppose it’s possible. Wondering what this wildly crazy named tea could taste like drew me in. Didn’t you wonder about it too? Mafia and Jane Austin in the name? Oh yeh!
I took the steep to the 4.5 min. Today, I’ve been washing curtains (96in. white, tall window curtains!) and I wanted no whimpy tea for me this afternoon. It’s 76 and warm outside which is lovely. I need tea now! My last blackberry tea was really pretty good from Teavana…the mojito…which my daughter agrees has a good blackberry flavor. By comparison, this blackberry tea is not as light and bright or fruity. There is almost a licorice finish that is NOT, understand me here, unpleasant. This may be due to it being a black tea and the Teavana was herbal which is going to color the flavor. This tea has tannin (a little bit) and a hint of bitterness (again just a bit). The vanilla flavor mixed with the blackberry is nice and restrained adding smoothness. This tea begs for sweetening and milk. Yes both. Miss Jane would serve it to guests with both on her tray wouldn’t she? Of course she would!
As for the Mafia. I guess, some people (maybe me when I’m washing curtains) would KILL for a cup of tea like this one (or hire someone to do it for me…like Tegan or Indigobloom or K S or Emilie or Ian! (oops not Ian he’s the Butler!)

I have become fond of green teas lately, even though I said I would begin my loose leaf tea journey with black teas. Maybe this is why I did not fall in love with this tea the way others have. Now don’t get me wrong, it is good, very good, but it lacks some of the complexity and of course earthiness I have come to love. I realize I should not compare apples to oranges here but I wanted to give a baseline for where I am coming from.
Now as for this tea. I do not find it to be shockingly good but it is very good. Flavors are well balanced, I get the blackberry, and the vanilla flavors but I found it to be a little dull even still.
I added some condensed milk to add to the creamy idea I had in mind before sipping it and it really woke this tea up for me.
The sweetened condensed milk really brought out all the strong points of this tea and even gave it a bit of depth and complexity.
For me however, in a perfect world, we need not add anything to our tea to get these feelings about a tea. I do not mind adding different types of sweeteners, milks, etc but if this was as good without sweetened condensed milk as it is with, I would rate it higher.
I do give props however for a good blackberry flavor that does not taste artificial!
This tea has a lovely aroma as well.

Much better on a second steeping of about 4 minutes. Great blend!

Great for when I want that fruity fix! I steeped it for an herbal, though, which was too long for the amount of ceylon black apricot in this blend. Will go shorter next time.

If Jane Austen Mafia were a band I’d buy every song in their catalog, and I’d wear my band tee long after they sell out and go mainstream. That’s the kind of dedicated fan I’d be!

Jane Austen Mafia isn’t a band even though it is the best band name ever. Jane Austen Mafia is a tea. A pretty damn fantastically grand flavored black tea! Vanilla and blackberry combine with black tea for a marriage built on equality and true love worthy of a 19th century novel penned by an idealistic forward thinker.

This tea sample tasted particularly sweet because it was given to me with sacrifice in the spirit of true tea-friendship. Teawing sent me the very last bit of Jane Austen Mafia that he had left and it’s one of his favorite teas. Who other than a true gentleman would do such a thing? I owe him a huge debt of gratitude!

Did things a little differently today and got more the result I’ve been expecting. I steeped this for only 2 minutes and ate a chocolate hazelnut straw at the same time. Let me tell you, that was a good plan. At least, it was until I looked at the nutritional information for the choco-hazel straws. That was a downer.

Anyway, none of the bitterness I remember experiencing with this tea. The base tea is still very mild and unassuming (but bolder than previously noted) and it still isn’t as rich or creamy as I would like, but it is significantly more satisfying. I think a shorter steep is good for the cheap black base, but hurts the blackberry and vanilla tastes. Darn!

Finally trying this again. Dry smell is scrumptious, steeped I initially get standard black tea smell, albeit (artifically) sweetened. Upon closer inspection, there is a definite creamy berry sort of aroma, almost reminiscent of a french vanilla cappuchino. The black tea smell is a little disconcerting, not of the best quality. I’m positive I didn’t oversteep it, but it almost gives off that aroma. Looking at the leaves, they are very small and broken up, so I’m assuming that is the source of the ‘bitter’ smell. Hopefully, I am over-analyzing things.

The liquor is very dark and a little ominous. Lets dive in! First sips are (unfortunately) skewed by the onions from my lunch. Onion taste aside, there is a lingering sweet berry taste after the sip, but I get some of that bitter black tea at the front. It blends well with the vanilla to cover it up, I don’t really get a straight up bitter taste, but it definitely lacks the complexity and taste of some of my favourite black teas. This is one tea that only deteriorates as it cools, I prefer to drink it while hot before the bitterness becomes strong.

I definitely enjoy this but sadly have not been wowed like everyone else. I think that with a better base, this tea could really shine but at the moment it is held back by my impressions of the lower quality black tea. I’ve never had another Adagio tea before so I don’t know what they’ve used in this or what they use in general. I took a peek on the site but I didn’t see anything about the tea base. Anywho, this continues to be good but not stellar in my books and it makes me a little sad.

Had a pot of this last night with the beau and a friend (at the beau’s insistance, surprisingly). Wasn’t as wowed by it as I hoped to be (I think I somehow anticipated the blackberry flavour to taste like the blackberries that grow by my Dad’s) but it was definitely a unique tea experience, for my cupboard at least. Will do proper tasting note next time I try it!

It’s a very smooth black tea, especially for Adagio (I’ve always found their tea to be a bit bitter and drying). The blackberry taste is definitely present. I don’t know if I would be able to identify it as blackberry, but it blends with the black tea base very well. The vanilla is detectable in the smoothness of the sip. I can’t really taste it otherwise. There is a tiny bit of astringency which adds a nice tartness to the blackberry note. I wonder what a little splash of milk will do to the flavors. Overall, a very fun tea! I might be popping this in my shopping cart in my next Adagio order. Thank you so much, SimplyJenW for a sample.