Adagio

This afternoon I brewed a pot of the loose leaf Zhejiang Lung Ching from Adagio. I love the texture of the dried Lung Ching (Long Jing) leaves. I even love the noise they make, as odd as that may sound.

The tea was good: golden with a slight hint of green. The dried leaves were very uniform in size and shape, but with a few smaller broken pieces. Overall this strikes me as a quite decent Long Jing. I tried the sachet version before but prefer brewing this tea loose in a tetsubin.

I tried the Adagio Long Jing a while back in the sachet format, but never brewed loose, so this is a new experience for me (and not a disqualification from the Brave New Rating challenge!).

The leaves are smaller with quite a few broken pieces. They are both shorter and narrower in width. The aroma of the dried tea is relatively strong and darker than for some of the other Long Jings I’ve tested of late.

The liquor is very pale, and because the flavor is also a bit flat, I am wondering whether I may have underleafed? I used 4 grams in 17 ounces of water at 76C for about two minutes. Perhaps I should have used 5 or 6 grams instead, but 4 grams is what I have been using with this size tetsubin with good results for other Long Jings. It will be interesting to see how the second infusion turns out. Perhaps I’ll use less water for that one.

(Blazing New Rating #50)

The Adagio Zhejiang Lung Chung sachet beats today’s competitor, Mighty Leaf Organic Dragonwell, but mainly it’s on a technicality: this seems more like Long Jing than that one does. I like them both, but I’m going to have compare the Mighty Leaf with the Wissotzky Timeless Green, memories of both the scent and the taste of which were evoked during this steep-off.

Both glasses brewed up pale greenish yellow, and the generously stoked sachets appear to contain about the same amount of tea. I’ll be reinfusing them later today for some decaffeinated green.

Today’s glass of Adagio Long Jing (which I guess is the same as Long Jing, which I now believe means Dragonwell!), prepared from a sachet, brewed up light peachy veering brown but also green (as odd as that may sound) and tasted very smooth and Long Jingy! This is a good tea.

I still have the small tin of loose leaf from my Master’s Collection, and I am now looking forward to brewing a few full pots.

second infusion: also good

I’m not sure whether I should be posting this note under Adagio or Zhejiang. I purchased it from Adagio as a part of the Master’s collection containing three different teas in two formats (so six tins), but it clearly came from Zhejiang. Maybe I’ll post it there, since others have written there…

On second thought, there is only one note there, and the packaging is completely different, so here goes. The version I prepared today is in the sachet. The leaves are wholly in tact and in serious abundance. Honestly, they appear to have packed this sachet to capacity, because upon infusion it was completely stuffed—like a plump green pillow! In fact, I worried a bit that the leaves might be stifled in this configuration, trapped like sardines in a can, unable to swim freely and actualize their full potential.

The brew of the first infusion was a light yellow color, a bit more golden than green, and the flavor was veering toward sencha. The scent, too, reminded me a bit of some senchas. This tea, however, is even cleaner and less vegetal. Very smooth and likeable, but not as good as the Lung Ching from Teavivre… I’ll try the loose leaf format and see whether my theory about leaf oppression has any basis in reality.

second infusion: with so many leaves crammed into the sachet, I felt that a follow-up infusion was obligatory, though I actually used the sachet because I was in a hurry and planning not to prepare and drink two cups before leaving.

The three-minute brew was weak with only very faint flavor, so I threw the bag back into the glass and pretty much forgot about it for a few minutes. Then the liquor was darker and more brown, and the flavor was more like hoji-cha than sencha. I’ll try again!

This is very light but pleasant tea. It’s like drinking a cloud from a cup, it has this fluffy taste to it. It’s very mellow and soothing.

sipdown!
I am really sad to be out of this one. It has always reminded me drinking a cookie. I liked this one because it was so uncomplicated. I can’t believe that it lasted so long in my cupboard. But I do plan on ordering this one again at some time in the future because it is (a) so tasty and (b) such a good deal. The tins on the 2012 zodiac set are so beautiful and the perfect size for keeping my art supplies in. The cost is so minimal for them too.

I really have to recommend this as one of my favorite teas from Adagio. It is very straightforward, the tin is beautiful, and you get a large quantity for a reasonable price. The base for this black tea is much more mellow than some of Adagio’s other flavored blacks. The hazelnut is the main flavor, followed by the black tea, and has hints of cream. Basic, but tasty!

So. Good. I think that this one is beguilingly simple; just notes of black tea and hazelnut. But that is why it is so great! It isn’t trying to be some crazy blend with 1,000 ingredients. It is simple and easily pleasing. Again, super awesome kudos for Adagio’s Zodiac line, which I seem to be the new spokesperson for.

Really wonderful tea. I had a cuppa this along with breakfast. It is actually very strong in the caffeine department. I strongly advise people who love black teas, cream, and nut notes to try this one out. It is a great deal and tastes wonderful.

A wonderful black tea. It tastes mainly of hazelnut, vanilla/cream, and baked goods. The base is not overwhelming, but plays a major part in the flavor of the tea. I still haven’t tried it with milk, but I bet it would be excellent.

This tea is simply awesome. I could smell it before I even opened my package! I was worried that it would taste boring because it’s a pretty simple premise: hazelnut and cream. But it is so good. I think that I’ve already used 1oz of the tin simply because I’m favoring it over the rest of my stock. I can’t believe that Adagio is selling these blends for only $9/4oz AND they come in a tin. The tin itself is also beautiful. It also has steeping instructions, description, and is going to be a nice tin to have around after I finish the tea.
As for the tea itself the cream is much more obvious than I thought it would be. It really balances this flavor out. It reminds me a bit of yellow cake. This tea is much less temperamental than the other black by Adagio that I’ve been drinking.
So overall I’d really suggest this out of the two new versions of the Zodiac blends that I’ve tried. I’m so impressed by the amount and quality of the tea that they give you for this that I’m planning on trying at least two others in the series. This tea is on my “must haves” for Adagio.