Featured & New Tasting Notes
I bought this at the same time as Eggnoggin’, and the two blends are polar opposites. Pumpkin Spice is as bad as Eggnoggin’ is good. I don’t really know why I dislike it so much, but it’s horrible. I have 90% of the box left and I plan to bring it to work and leave it anonymously in the drink cabinet.
This is the first time I’m trying this. I steeped it for just over 2 minutes with water just off the boil. I’m drinking it black/unsweetened and quite like it so far. It’s pretty astringent, which I find pleasant and invigorating. I can’t help but think that I’m also detecting some sweet, floral notes. Maybe at some point I’ll try it with some soy, but right now I don’t feel the need to.
Here’s an Oolong Blend I added to the Blends Section of the Adagio Site. The direct link is http://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/blend.html?blend=9297&SID=c8e6b56fbe338faf44d4543152596502
Smells like vanilla-nut Oolong. Coloring is quite dark for an oolong. The taste is certainly the vanilla oolong with more almond than I thought would be noticeable. The Grapefruit is barely there but does give it a hint of zing that makes you wonder.
This isn’t too bad if you are looking for something different and like oolongs.
This is quite the interesting experience. There’s an awesomely powerful nose on the loose leaf itself, dominating any other possible notes, and on the brewed tea as well. Both reek (in a good way) of the sweet and nutty hazelnut flavor.
The loose leaf is pretty small, lots of little pieces with great brownish and red colors. It yields a light golden liquor that is quite nice. I’ve never actually had honeybush before, just it’s cousin rooibos, but this had none of the bitterness or crushing earthiness of the rooibos. I’m not sure if it’s because of the honeybush or if the hazelnut is masking those tastes.
When it comes down to it, the flavor of the tea is so-so. I’d place it generously on the bland, flavorless side. However, that doesn’t fully dampen my feelings as I still enjoy the punch offered by the aroma. Since I’m not a fan of coffee but have always enjoyed the idea, the smell kinda reminds me of the fancy coffee treats they serve at Starbucks. So I feel all mature like I’m drinking a coffee drink. Is that a legit reason to enjoy a tea?
This is the only honeybush tea I’ve enjoyed and that coffee smell/feel is exactly why I like it!
I’m glad I’m not alone with the whole coffee smell thing. For some reason it makes me feel like less of an adult because I don’t like coffee, so it’s nice to fake it every once in a while :)
As someone who lived on coffee for a solid five or so years, and thus shakes and eye twitches and horrible headaches from the caffeine withdrawal when you go without it, you’re not missing out on much. It’s definitely an acquired taste, but even when I was drinking it black I never liked it to the extent that I like tea. [And just as a side note, Starbucks specializes in crazy crap in their coffee because they often burn the beans. Not that I’m saying it doesn’t make it taste good, because I’ll still drink an espresso truffle or a pumpkin spice latte from time to time, but their coffee is piss.] Coffee does have an air of maturity about it, but tea makes me feel fancy and zen.
End diatribe.
So uh…tea drinkers rule and coffee drinkers drool! [Don’t tell my friends I said that.] But a coffee-scented tea might be something I need to take a look at.
Zen I can do, I’d like to think of myself as rather zen-like. But maybe I’ll take “sophisticated” instead “fancy”.
I’m one of those former twitchy coffee-withdrawal people. I was so addicted, when I finally got off of it, I avoided it for 6 years – not just coffee but all caffeine. I’d maybe have a can of coke a year and that’s it. But then I discovered tea… enough caffeine to get me buzzed, but not enough to make me hurt if I miss a day. Perfect! Haha!
My only sources of caffeine have always been tea and chocolate, there’s nothing better in my opinion. :D
I’ve always wondered just how much the caffeine actually affects people. I don’t drink coffee, but I’ve never noticed a difference in my energy caused by caffeine from soda or tea or anything else really. I always find it interesting that so many people who have caffeine/coffee related problems have switched to tea (that’s why Jack, one of the other Steepster guys, switched to tea too).
The thing about caffeine for me, is that there are only two things that make my energy levels spike: coffee and energy drinks. [When I was working retail and it was a matter of survival, we’d down energy drinks like it was part of our job. It makes me shake a little involuntarily just thinking about it.] Otherwise, the difference it has in my energy levels isn’t really NOTICEABLE.
With either one of those, I’d get hyper as well. With tea, it’s just like that feeling of wanting to go to sleep, but you can’t because you’re awake. I don’t feel ENERGIZED and I don’t feel like I want to go do something RIGHT NOW, I just feel…awake.
So, tea caffeine = not ready to go to bed. Coffee caffeine = LET’S DRIVE TO PARIS AND GET BERETS AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING AND HEY! WHAT’S THAT? HEY! WHY IS MY ARM MOVING? I mean, it’s not like that all the time, but it’s easier to get there than it should be. Especially if you’re not used to it. [“Regular” coffee, by the way, has a MUCH higher caffeine content than the more complicated drinks most places offer now.] And you can probably imagine what the crash is like. [Pretty devastating.]
Anyhow, it’s not healthy. And to reiterate, the caffeine headaches are malicious little buggers. They don’t take too long to show up and they’re not very forgiving. I mean, technically, you’re going through withdrawal. The headaches are number one reason why I decided it was time to kick coffee to the curb.
I’m pretty much with takgoti. If I have a cup of coffee (even just 8oz), my hands start to shake now. I usually have to have 12 – 16oz of a stout tea to get a hint of that reaction. Though I have done it to myself once or twice on sencha when I’m not really pausing between steeps and used a heavy hand with the leaf.
Coffee makes me chatty, bouncy and shaky. Tea usually makes me awake and aware. Soda, when I have it, tends to get me somewhere in between. Hyper, but not shaky.
I have never had an energy drink. They scare me.
@takgoti: I’m so with you. Caffeine withdrawal headaches: Worse. Headaches. Ever.
Based on the length of your tasting notes and comments, should I assume you’re always jacked-up on some form of a caffeine packed beverage? You guys are crazy…and I love it!
Oh, Jason, Jason, Jason. You have not seen me hyper, so I guess I can’t blame you for not knowing what my tea log would look like if I wrote in it whilst on a true caffeine high [incomprehensible]. The stuff I write on here is simply a result of my lack of a self-edit button [or, ironically, the time to actually sit and edit].
But I am glad that you are enjoying our insanity. It’s quite cathartic on my end.
Any insanity is takgoti’s fault. She’s a bad influence on me.
:D
Yes, it’s aaaallll Takgoti’s fault! ;p
Yeah, it’s true. I’m pretty awesome.
This discussion is heavily caffinated. I think I’m actually waking up now.
I’m not a huge rooibos fan but I LOVE this particular tea. It has sort of a creamy, vanilla/amaretto flavour to it and it makes my tastebuds squee in delight.
It’s filled with beautiful blue, red, and yellow flower petals, though I have no idea if they actually lend anything to the taste. It does make for a colourful, cheer-inducing tea to look at.
My reward for a lot of work and well under 8 hours of sleep for the past 5 or so days was a big saucepan of this.
It smells so spicy, yet sweet. It’s homey, yet exotic. It warms you up but tickles your taste buds ever so slightly. When it’s simmering in the pot, the aroma rises, sweeps out, and perfumes the entire room.
I’ve found that, once the milk has begun to froth and you shut the stove off, it gets better the longer you let it sit, but I often can’t wait longer than 10 minutes. The milk adds an almost malty quality to the scent. The tea itself is rich and creamy, with a hint of sweetness [I use two tablespoons of sugar] and a puff of heat from the spices. Unequivocally delicious. If teas were blankets, this one would be a chenille throw.
Usually, I make enough of this to stick some in the fridge and drink later, because this is equally good chilled. But today, I needed to consume every last drop. So I did.
Best reward ever.
There is nothing that feels as warming and loving as a pot of real chai made with milk and sugar instead of water. I’ve reboiled my spices and tea in more milk when I ran out and it worked great.
I’ve never had chai chilled – never even crossed my mind. Yet now I’m dying to try it with Adagio’s Thai Chai.
Yea, you made some chai!!! I totally agree that a good chai made the traditional way is like a chenille throw. I love my chai hot, but we did have some left over in the fridge too that was tasty chilled.
@Carolyn I can’t seem to make my chai any other way. I tried doing it raw once and all I could think about was how good it was with the other stuff. It’s the only tea for which I crave additives.
@Auggy Ooooh you should. It’s sooo good.
@LENA F. Yay indeed! I needed it. In fact, it might happen again before the week closes. I’m grumpy and I’ve got a lot of stuff that needs doing.
oh wow! I want some of this right now! i’m going to have to wait until later, though.
Thanks to Lena for the ‘krab’ tea!
3g/6oz/175/2:30 – Smelling this and thinking of sea food, I can totally see the crab comparison. Or maybe lobster tank – that sort of salt + crustacean smell? Something like that. The initial taste has that same flavor, too, but while I can see it, it’s probably not my first thought. My first thought is “oh, Chinese green”.
My description for a lot of the Chinese greens I’ve tried includes briny. This one gets it a tiny bit but as it cools but what really surprises me about this is that as it cools, instead of the brine taste getting stronger, there’s a delicate sweetness to it, especially in the tail, that shows up more. And that pretty much makes me love it because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a Chinese green. So woo hoo!
And thanks Lena!!!
I seem to have my innards back under control (fingers crossed) and I have also managed, it seems, to get rid of that godawful bad taste in my mouth. Good thing, that, because I’m sick and tired of peppermint infusion!
I’m sticking my neck out and trying some real tea. Hopefully I won’t regret it later.
This one was my first ever flavoured oolong (that I can remember), and it’s quickly become a favourite. It was lucky I found it because I was buying something else from the site at the time and just randomly started clicking around to see what else they had.
It smells absolutely divine and it tastes equally as lovely. I like it better and better every time I have some of it. It’s just what I need for a post-sick comfort tea.
Why did the leaf smell fruity when I opened it? Seriously fruity. That’s so weird. Tastes fine though. Maybe a little sweet. I wonder if it was sitting next to a flavored tea in the pantry – this is one that I just have a small sample of so it is in a plastic bag. Weirdness.
It’s good though. Because of the weird sweetness (which maybe is aftertase from my gum? Would Extra spearmint do that?) I’m getting a bit of a chocolate taste. It’s a tiny bit flatter in flavor than when I’m at home but that’s because I either use bottled water at work or nasty nasty tap water. I’ll choose flat tea over undrinkable nasty tea any day.
Well tea’s really good at absorbing oders so I’d guess that the gum or something similar might be the problem. The smell and taste I get from Yunnan is primarily smokey, while granted I don’t have a lot of experience with this type of tea your’s sounds pretty far off.
Hah! Yep, I think I had it next to a blackcurrant flavored tea, both in thin plastic sample bags. Oops! But the faint sweetness actually works with it so I’m going to mark that down for future reference but keep on truckin’.
A co-worker brought this back for me after a trip to the UK. I love strong black teas, and the UK bagged teas I’ve tried are always so much fuller than the miniscule US ones. A good, solid everyday blend. I have to be careful not to oversteep this one, but it can be saved with milk if I do.
This is an incredibly good tea, though I’m not really sure why. I steeped it for 4 minutes, per NMTeaCo’s website. The initial smell I got was classic barber shop, some kind of hard candy, and a little bit of old man cologne smell to it. Very strange.
Upon tasting it I found a pleasant light flavor, with hints of mandarin orange in there. It isn’t a dominating taste of orange, which is good, considering that it was encased in orange peel. Still tastes a little old man cologne-ish, but I guess that’s the aged pu erh at work, right? There’s a very light yellow tint to it as well, a bit different from most greens I have brewed in the past.
Overall I really do enjoy the subtle-ness of this tea, even if it has barber shop/cologney overtones to it. It has some kind of charm to it, that inspires me to drink it; weird. Definitely a tea to try, I’m going to give this guy a 90 Rating on the TeaCast scale. Just excellent!
This blend took a few months to grow on me.
I often buy Adagio’s blends on a whim. When I first tried this it was not what I was expecting, the vanilla flavor seemed far too strong, so I put it away & didn’t try it again until I ran out of my favorite oolong. Now I drink it at least twice a week. Sometimes you need to go into things without any expectations. Maybe my taste buds changed, but now I really enjoy the vanilla.
