Adagio Teas

I liked this more than I expected based on my experience with Adagio’s oolongs. The roast is on the lighter side for a Wuyi, so it’s a little more floral and fruity than I’m used to Wuyi oolongs being. There’s also a sweet cinnamon note and some dark chocolate. I enjoyed this sample, but I wouldn’t buy it because there’s a lot of high quality Wuyi oolong out there for a similar price.

Wow… I think this may actually be one of the most universally-hated teas on Steepster. I’m not sure I’ve seen so many yellow/red ratings EVER, let alone a combined score of 49 (with 7 pages of reviews!)

Anyways, I don’t think I hated it as much as most people on here, but I did struggle mightily to identify anything resembling pumpkin spice. There was a certain flavour to it, which I had difficulty identifying; I eventually settled on it being a spice mix heavy on the ginger, but I’m not convinced I’m correct. It was also somewhat astringent, but I’ll blame myself there, as I should have remembered that Adagio black bases are notoriously finicky. I have a few more bags of this (in the most adorable tin) – someone presumably offloaded this on me as it was not their favourite. I guess we’ll see how it fares the next time around!

Sipdown! (5 | 15)

This was actually from my swap with Kawaii433, but it was such a generously sized “sample” that I’m counting it as a full sipdown.

I will say, this one is quite good for an Adagio tea. I guess I must have a higher tolerance for subpar oolong than I do for black tea…

The oolong itself has a comforting autumn leaf flavor, and it reminds me more of a roasted green tea than it does an oxidized oolong. The peach flavoring is restrained but still has a nice sweet presence.

Overall, yummier than expected. Kawaii also sent the grapefruit version, so I’ll be working on that one next!

A light tea with an earthy, malty, and slightly peppery flavor. Not the most interesting Yunnan black tea I’ve had, but not bad either.

I’m back.
I’ve been suffering from crippling depression lately, so much so that I went almost a week and only had one cup of tea. Well, a change of scenery (I’m at the parents house again) and I seem to be doing better. So I decided to try something new this morning.
Adagio Orange is another one of it’s black tea fruit blends. The smell in the bag is SUUUPER orange. I know it won’t translate over into taste though, it never does with these.
Brewed western style, boiling water, 3:30 Minutes.
Taste is… well it’s better than I was expecting. I can taste orange in the sip, but it is unfortunately a background note. I really wish it was more prominent, as what I do taste of the orange is sweet, not tart. But mostly it’s just an ok black tea with a hint of orange. It’s sad, the smell in the bag is always so promising with these. Heck, even the brewed cup smells more of orange than it actually tastes. That’s not to say it’s bad. I don’t know if it is because I haven’t really had tea in a week, but I am enjoying it. It’s decent. I probably wouldn’t reorder it though. I’m sure there are better orange blends out there that I just haven’t found yet.

Sample from VariaTEA! I have this idea that somehow i’ll finish all the samples i have from variatea this month…but i don’t really expect to see that happen. Working from home lots is helping, but i still think there are too many of them. lol

I have mostly misses with Adagio, largely because of their black tea bases. This one is no exception to that. it’s not a BAD tea, but i find that whatever base tea it is that they usually use, makes all their teas taste too similar and not at all what i want. This was largely a cup of cinnamon black to me, with maybe a hint of something else (now that i’m looking at ingredients, it’s probably the caramel). Again, not a bad tea and if you like adagio teas this might really work for you. but for me? I prefer other flavoured tea companies.

This is another one from Adagio’s Earl Grey sampler that I thought I wouldn’t like. I was glad to be proven wrong. The Earl Grey flavor was milder with this one, which I think is the right decision for a green tea. It was very balanced, a nicely flavored green tea.

Quickie Nighttime Sipdown #6 (I believe)

This time, it’s Adagio’s Spiced Apple Chai. Now, I didn’t write a tasting note the previous time I had this, and according to the steeping instructions you need 2 tsp per servings which means I only got two sessions out of the sample I bought.
Smell in bag is definitely what it says on tin. Getting those spices along with apples. I can actually see the spices as well as the apples, so that is a plus.
Prepped Western Style, 5 min steep with Boiling water. As per chai rules, added almond milk and two splendas afterwards.
Taste is… not too shabby. The Cinnamon, naturally is prominent. However, I can actually taste some cloves in there as well. Plus the apple. The apple is also coming in clearly.
There’s enough spices and complexity that the almond milk doesn’t completely wipe them out. The apple, while clearly there, is unfortunately a background note it seems like. I can taste it in the back of my mouth and throat, but not really on the tongue. If that sounds weird, it kinda is. I mean it’s good, and I do like it, I just sort of feel “eh” about it. Not the worst by far, but not the best. It is better than that Stash Chai Spice I last reviewed, so I suppose I can rate this one a B. I doubt I will order this one again, as there are chais out there I like better. But if you are looking for something with this flavor profile then you might want to give this a chance. Like I said- Good, but not Great.

This does NOT taste like a pecan turtle…

I knew as soon as I smelled the dry leaf that this tea would taste quite sad. I mean, it literally just smells like rooibos. Steeped, there’s maybe a hint of chocolate and a little bit of chicory but the profile is REALLY bland and the last thing that I was describe it as is “rich” or sweet/decadent. This might have been the most disappointing thing from this cluster of teas for me, as the concept is really tasty sounding – but the delivery just isn’t there.

So generic. Ginger greater than Lemon, but not by much.

Not a profile that I enjoy personally, and there’s nothing about this to separate it from the other lemongrass/ginger teas that practically every other North American tea vendor seems to offer. At this point, I think carrying something like this sort of just becomes a “statement piece” sort of tea. And I know there are people out there who DO enjoy this profile – but I’m not one of them…

Latte Sipdown (602)!

So, I was definitely correct in my assumption that this would be much better as a latte! I did find that it still wasn’t quite as rich and banana flavour dominant as the dry leaf smelled, but at least in latte form it didn’t taste bland. I got a fair bit of the woody and nutty honeybush, and the overall mug was really quite creamy/silky with a very velvety smooth mouthfeel. The banana was present, and worked enough with the base for me to clearly get the “banana nut” profile/titular flavour – a little on the sweet banana runt end of the flavour spectrum, but I think in banana nut bread that’s the profile that you’re ultimately aiming for anyway. So it all worked!

So do I recommend this tea straight up? No. However, I do think it’s worth drinking in latte form!

The dry leaf of this tea smells amazing! It’s a very sweet “banana runt” tyle of banana, but mixed with the natural nuttyness of the honeybush base and the addition of cinnamon and cocoa I thought that it was surprisingly accurate to the smell of banana bread and I was PUMPED to try it…

The steeped taste definitely isn’t as magical, but it’s not bad either. The strongest note is the honeybush itself – and I know that taste is a turnoff for some, but I actually quite enjoy the honeybush that Adagio uses in its blends – like my all time favourite from the, The Woman. Still, I wish that the banana would have come through as richly (or even half as richly) as what was present in the dry nose. Touch of cinnamon was nice though.

I think this has promise – but this cup wasn’t a winner.

This was surprisingly weak/flat/watery to me. I mean, for a blend with Turmeric & Lemonade I just expected a lot more body and warmth/heat. Though, the subtle little pop of orange/mango flavour was nice. One way or the other (turmeric or fruit) there just needed to be more.

Wow that’s a lot of cinnamon!

The intense and borderline sickly sweet cinnamon here is undercut by the other spices in the blend, namely the clove but also ginger/cardamom. I can see the appeal; it’s flavourful and the hint of cocoa is a nice addition. However, I found it cloyingly sweet in the finish and wasn’t super into how robust the cinnamon notes were.

Was this one of the Teavana ‘dupes’ that Adagio pumped out right after Teavana closed? I can’t remember…

This was ok; same sort of sweet and more candied peach notes as the Peach Oolong. Definitely a little apple heavy in terms of flavour though (there’s A LOT of filler apple in this blend), and has a bit of a sour fruit undertone? Nothing particularly bad about it – but just reads as somewhat forgettable and generic to me. Maybe would be good iced.

Sipdown (903)!

A free sample in my last order – the same portioned out/single serve style sample as the freebie from my previous Buffy themed tea haul. I wish that they would have selected a difference sample; I’m honestly getting kind of sick of this tea even though it’s not really a bad tea…

Sipdown (835)…

This was a one portion sized sample from my last Adagio order. I’ve had this tea a handful of times in the past, and I think it’s pretty alright. I find the peach flavour really nice; on the sweeter side and especially in the dry leaves it smells VERY “Fuzzy Peaches” although the steeped taste is a little more muted and not very tangy/sour. The oolong base itself is unimpressive to me, but thankfully it’s mild and it lets the peach do most of the talking.

Sipdown (608)!

Finishing this one off as a cold brew – and it’s ok but a little bit weird. I’m enjoying the peach flavour, but I think the element that feels a little bit off to me is actually how it’s working along with the oolong base. The base is pretty buttery, with a toasty/nutty element and some floral notes as well. I’m not totally sure what the base actually is but it’s feeling very much like a light roast Shui Xian to me, and I just kind of feel like those flavours don’t pair SUPER harmoniously with the peach. Maybe if it was a more natural peach, but it’s more of a sweet/juicy “Fuzzy Peaches Candy” type of peach note…

Oh well.

Hot cuppa.

A bit of that same “side of your tongue” sourness that I observed the last time that I drank this tea – but a decent enough peach flavour and if I really mentally tuned out that sourness almost blended together into the peach in a way that just seemed to create a tart, sour peach flavour…

I still hold that, while this is not AMAZING, it’s one of the better flavoured teas that I’ve tried from Adagio.

This is simple, but fairly nice.

I don’t love the oolong base. I think, based on this cluster of tastings, that I’m just not into Adagio’s oolong bases in general but I digress. The peach is bright, sweet, and juicy and while on the candy side of peach as a flavour it’s still pretty pleasant.

Probably my favourite thing from the cluster of tastings?

Time to “power review” some Adagio blends…

This starts off nice enough with a sweet and slightly creamy maple in the top note; but quickly transitions to a very sour oolong taste (the kind that comes with not so great roasted oolong) that is really sharps/digs into the sides of your mouth and leaves an unpleasant finish. Also, not sure what cinnamon has to do with a “maple creme” profile but it felt kind of weird mixed in…

I bought a sampler of this nine years ago from Adagio, and honestly forgot about it in the back of my cabinet. I discovered it earlier this month, and surprisingly it is still a decent cup. The jasmine flavor is still very strong, which is good because I’m sure the tea itself is well past its prime. I tried an improvised gongfu (teacup and saucer for a gaiwan) for the first time with this today with. Trying to practice the technique with this before trying it with better teas.

This Christmas tea tries to do what chai teas do, but not as well. Not my favorite, and I haven’t been drinking it much at all. But for a sick day, when I can’t smell or taste well enough to appreciate the good teas, this will do.

I tried this at a friend’s house today. Delicious, smooth, and the tiniest bit smokey. This is a tea I would like in my collection someday.