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This smells overwhelming like cherry cough drops so I didn’t have high hopes for it going in. I tried it both hot and iced thinking I might like it one way over the other, but really I thought this was a bit gross. Part of the problem is that I just can’t get past the smell. I really did try, but who wants tea that smells like cough drops? It tastes more like sour cherries when cold, but I still get the cough drop taste to it. Hot it was like drinking warmed up cough syrup, so not at all what I was hoping for.

I’ll probably mix the last of this sample with some China breakfast tea and see if what happens during a cold steep. The China breakfast that I have is really strong so I hope i just end up with a hint of sour cherry when I’m done.

ok, wow… i was not expecting to need to dump this one out, but it was extremely bitter. The kind of bitter that no amount of sugar or additional water is going to cure.

I really think there is a packaging mistake here. My package states 1 tablespoon for 4-5 minutes and the website states 1 teaspoon for 3-5 minutes. I went with 1 tablespoon for 4 minutes @ 210 degrees.

I should have followed my gut when I saw the 1 tablespoon and reduced it, but no, i forged on ahead and followed the instructions on the package. Keep this in mind if you’ve got this one and I’ll post a real tasting note once I hear back from Utopia. I sent them an email to see what the directions are suppose to be.

Update:
Utopia responded quickly to help me out with my problem, there was indeed a mistake on my package. I see many orders in my future, I love it when companies have such awesome customer service, Jason emailed me at 8:20pm (well after normal business hours).

When you first open the package it smells overwhelmingly like almond extract, which for me isn’t a bad thing, I use almond extract in most of my baking because I really love it. This does taste like almond cookies and it amazes me that you can blend a tea to taste so closely to the Chinese almond cookies I love. This was exactly what I needed yesterday to help curb my sweet tooth, it really hit the spot.

Hot this was a little bitter, but that dissipated once the tea cooled. This is a tea you’ll want to keep an eye on because if you over steep it it will get really bitter fast. If you find yourself with a bitter cup of this tea just add a little water, toss it in the fridge to cool, add a hint of sugar and it mellows right out. I wasn’t paying attention to my timer last night and let one of my cups go for nearly 8 minutes. Whoops! I ended up drinking my over steeped cup with breakfast and it turned out just fine with the adjustments.

I really liked this one cold with a hint of sugar I think that the sugar made the flavors pop just a little bit more. This is another one that won’t be an every day drinker, but will go great with Chinese food or for an after dinner treat. I’ve been trying to cut back on sugar so dessert teas are a great way for me to get a little something sweet without all the sugar of an actual dessert.

Now I can’t wait to try some more teas from Utopia. Good thing they sent me samples with my order because I’m officially cut off from ordering any more tea this month.

I’m on a berry kick this week I guess, yesterday it was raspberry today blueberry. I wasn’t disappointed with this tea at all like I was yesterday’s and I’m glad, I can only take so many tea failures in a row. I was worried to start out with because the scent is overwhelming when you open the package, but this had a very nice subtle blueberry flavor that goes well with the white tea base. It’s perfect for when I want just a hint of something in my tea without an overwhelming fruit flavor. I find that many companies overwhelm their white teas with fruit flavor and that isn’t what I’m looking for at all, I enjoy white tea and want to be able to taste it. I was kind of surprised not to have any real blueberries in the package since they’re listed in the ingredients. I’m nearly through my sample pack and I assumed they had just fallen to the bottom because they were heavier, but no, I have no blueberries at all.

This is another tea that I think would be great iced, but I’ve enjoyed it hot so much I have yet to get that far.

When I first discovered Rishi several years back this was the first tea that I tried and if I’m out and about and want some tea this is often my choice (most of our coffee shops sell Rishi since they’re local). This certainly isn’t your grocery store EG, this one is bold and hits you in the face with the smell alone and I absolutely love it. I am a huge EG fan and this is probably one of my favorites, it’s one of the few teas that you will almost always find in my massive tea cabinet. There aren’t many teas that get that distinction, I like variety to much.

I do find that when I prepare this that I tend to keep towards the lower side of the suggested time (3 rather than 5 minutes), otherwise this tea tends to get quite strong. I’m all for a strong cup of tea, but with many Rishi varieties they tend to edge towards over strong if I’m not careful.

If you find this one isn’t to your liking try adding a splash of milk, it really mellows out the flavor and makes for an even tastier tea.

This was a little more tart than I was expecting and I attribute a lot of that to the hibiscus. You can really taste the hibiscus in this and just a hint of raspberry. I was a little let down by the lack of raspberry flavor, since it is in the name I expected more, but overall this wasn’t bad at all. This was good hot, but even better iced with a hint of sugar to bring out the fruit flavors. I think this will make a nice refreshing summer time drink, but I don’t think I could drink this one every day.

I didn’t even bother with a resteep since my initial steep was 10 minutes. I also used 1 heaping tablespoon per 16oz rather than the suggested 2 teaspoons. I find that with many Adagio teas, especially the fruit blends, I need just a bit more loose tea and a longer steep time to get the flavor that I want.

This is one of four teas in the black tea berries sampler pack, I hope they get better because this was pretty disappointing. I drank my first cup hot and it was really bitter, this dissipated a little as the tea cooled. I tasted more raspberry than strawberry, but it was artificial tasting and not at all what I was expecting. I liked this cold better, my second cup lost some of the bitterness, but still left me feeling pretty meh. A little sweetener would probably help, but I try very hard to avoid sweetening my tea.

This could quite possibly be my new favorite peppermint tea. That really surprised me because I’m not a huge fan of rooibos. The taste of this is overwhelmingly peppermint on the first steep, but the second I get more of the rooibos coming through. I thought the second steep was a little weak so I mixed the two together and I think that it is about perfect for me.

I used a bagged version of this and it just dawned on me that I used one bag to 16oz of water rather than 8oz [see what happens when your sick, you just don’t pay attention to details]. I really think this might have been overpowering if I had done it correctly, my first steep was incredibly strong even with the extra water. Still, this was really yummy and made my sore throat feel a million times better.