This was a free sample from my last Adagio order – but it was hand selected by me! I picked it because I was a more elevated flavour concept that I would typically expect to see from Adagio. Rightfully so or not, I associate Adagio’s permanent tea collection with more straight forward flavours that execute one primary element (ex. coconut, blueberry, peach) and not blends with layers of flavour. So, I was curious to see how they would approach this concept!
The dry leaf smells really good and intriguing – my assumption was that this would probably be mostly blackberry with the TINIEST hint of sage, because sage can be such an intense and polarizing flavour. However, there is a sizable amount of visible sage in the dry leaf and it’s noticably present in the aroma. The blackberry is stronger on nose alone – very sweet and almost soda pop “syrupy” blackberry – but it’s not as strong as I’d expected…
Steeped up, an interesting thing happened! The primary flavour note actually became the sage – very thick and herbaceous, and all throughout the sip. I’m quite pleasantly surprised with how strong it became/how present it is in the cup. With most tea blends that incorporate herbs I always seem to be commenting on how I wish more of those flavours were present, and this is the perfect amount of sage in my opinion. The sweetness of the blackberry that I was getting in the dry aroma is much softer too; the blackberry is noticeable but secondary to the sage by a fair bit and a lot more naturally sweet over a soda/candy kind of sweetness. I like how it combos with the sage, and appreciate the needed sweetness is provides to the cup composition without making this a “sweet tea”.
The oolong base is fine – I don’t love or hate Adagio’s oolong base. It’s pretty average in terms of body with a slight roasty element. It’s a good canvas for “deeper” flavours because of the blanket body it provides, but I think it would be a bit unremarkable if it weren’t being mixed with flavours.
Overall, though, this was very nice! It was a pleasant surprise, and one of the better teas I’ve had from Adagio!
