27 Tasting Notes

85
drank Ceylon Sonata by Adagio Teas
27 tasting notes

Dry, the leaves smell citrus and grapefruit-y with a little sweet malty. I try to not oversteep black teas, since I’m sensitive to the bitterness that develops. This had none of it. I’m not too sure how to recommend it, since it doesn’t have a lot of complexity to ponder. A little bit of citrus, malt and fruit in the taste and aroma. I’m a simple girl. I have a fondness for simple, drama-free things. And that’s what I’m getting from it. I can see mixing this with other flavors (which I suppose is what Adagio does).

This initial order (#teanewbie) from Adagio was to help me weed thru some of the WIDE variety of tea styles, so I can find the families I enjoy. So I’m glad I tried this, since now I want to try more Ceylons.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 16 OZ / 480 ML

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90
drank Fujian Rain by Adagio Teas
27 tasting notes

I’m new (today!) to oolongs. Mainly I’m getting a toasted rice [edit: as I tasted more oolongs, that flavor diminished on my palette). It’s got some sweetness to it, maybe even a little roasted nuts. Way at the end of the lingering flavor, I could see describing it as a rocky taste. It’s not vegetable flavored, it’s not woody or fruity or malty or flowery… so yeah, a tiny little spice and a tiny little rocky among the toasted rice.

Since the color was halfway between raw cashews and raw hazlenuts, I had a handful of nuts. This really opened up my tongue to tasting the mineral right away when sipping. And it’s not something I’m enjoying right off. But, I could see developing a palette for it. I think the flavors are just too new to me, and I’m spending too much time thinking about it.

Edit: Like most oolongs, once I doubled the tea quantity and shortened the initial steep, I started enjoying it A LOT more. I ordered a huge bag of this. For the price (about 8 cents per gram) I found it to be an affordable investment. I’ve bumped up the rating too, based on a few factors. (1) ease of dealing with company, fast shipments, rewards through website (2) aroma and flavors (not too smoky) last multiple steeps. Right now I prefer a greener tie-guan-yin, but I like this one too. Not transcendent, but I enjoy it. So I’m giving it a high rating for my own enjoyment and overall experience with the tea.

Edit #2: Oh man, there’s some figgy/raisin fruit notes at the end of this first steep today, hits me right in the spot in the back of the top of your mouth where sweet-tarts stimulate… I must have brewed it JUST right. Boiled water in electric kettle, wait 1 min, slowly pour over leaves in infuser mug (two heaping perfect scoops for 12 oz water mug). Wait 2 minutes. Since I don’t always get this flavor, I guess the tea is a bit temperamental to coax. But wow.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 0 sec 6 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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75
drank Assam Melody by Adagio Teas
27 tasting notes

Dry leaves smell like blueberries, dry moss, and an herb store. Once brewed, the color is a bit like an orange oak finished wood. Smells in the grain and malt region. What I like about it is it doesn’t have biting bitterness. I taste some malty, some sweet. Astringency that leaves my mouth watering after I’ve finished the swallow. Lingering hints of caramelized fruit (banana or yam maybe?) maybe along with that bit of bitter astringency. But really, the bitterness is subtle. I like it better than their Assam Harmony. Basically, this tastes like a nice, enjoyable Earl Grey, without the bergamot… which I suppose is what a nice Earl Grey is.

The smell of the dry leaves reminded me of a high quality tobacco shop I walked into in Bath, England, just down the street from Bath Abbey and the Ancient Roman baths. So I popped over to a cigar aficionado website. Black tea aroma has a lot in common with cigar store aroma, to me. Certainly different things come out stronger in the tea. It may also be that I had a lot of tea when in Bath, so I’m just relating the two in my brain.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 15 sec 4 g 16 OZ / 480 ML

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75
drank Dancong Aria by Adagio Teas
27 tasting notes

I’m snowed in this February Sunday due to a snowpocalyse in the Great Lakes. No worries, since I have lots of unopened tea samples waiting for me to try. I’m new to loose leaf teas, and today I’m trying my first loose oolong. The dry leaves smell like apricots, sugar and floral. Almost like you’re walking into a produce store that has also has fruit pies baking. They smell like my blender after I’ve made a frozen fruit smoothie.

First infusion: The color almost perfectly matches my ripe organic bananas. Smells like sugar snap peas tossed with honey and sesame seed oil. Tastes more warm and a bit dry earthier or grainier than the dry leaves smell. It tastes like honey added to the breeze coming off a farm where they grow grain and almonds. My pot makes 3 small cups, so after the first cup, I paired the next two with a breakfast of hot buttered bread and a curious tabby cat companion. The sweet bread and butter let the floral and fruit come out better for me. As it cooled, there came a bit more bitterness, but nothing I found disagreeable.

Second infusion: Paler in color. It’s closer to champagne. Everything’s a bit subtler in smell and taste except the grainy and vegetable tastes, which are coming out a bit more for me. There’s also maybe some lavender or a flowery flavor I didn’t taste before. A sweet, honey flavor still lingers for at least a minute along with some of that flower petal, vegetable and grain. Still lots of subtle hints and ghosts of flavors long after I’ve finished a sip. I even got a bit of that coolness you get from a mint if you let the flavors stay in your mouth for a few minutes after drinking. It stayed sweet with a hint of fruit in my mouth.

I’ve been trending towards seeking citrus in my tea (or adding lemon to ones that don’t have any citrus). I’m surprised I like this so much when it has no citrus flavors I can find, yet I have no urge to add lemon or experiment with this. I like it just how it is. It tastes like a late summer day walking at the park, where the grasses are flowering and drying out but there’s still wildflower blowing in the breeze, and the apples are just beginning to get fleshy on the trees.

Being newer to loose teas, it’s hard for me to know if this is representative of oolong. It’s certainly 3x better than any of the tea bags of oolong I have sampled. If someone likes tea, I’d certainly recommend they try it, since it has a few layers to it and a flavor that lasts in your mouth long after you’ve finished your sip. If you like white tea, but want to try something less delicate, you’d probably enjoy this.

Flavors: Floral, Honey, Nuts

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 16 OZ / 480 ML

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80
drank Silver Needle by Adagio Teas
27 tasting notes

First infusion: There’s a little artichoke smell to it among the floral. Taste-wise, I love it. I taste a little floral, a little fruit and a little sweet. Tiny ghost of hay maybe. Refreshing, and warm. Leaves a moist sensation that has a sweetness and coolness to it on the tongue after you’ve swallowed the sip. I’m still new to loose tea, but I enjoy this cup a lot. I’m trying to enjoy teas without added flavorings or sweetener, and for a white tea this one has enough layers to enjoy unadulterated.

Second infusion: Can’t find the fruit smell anymore. Still a little floral and maybe more of the honeysuckle now. Just it’s very subtle. As it cooled off, there’s still artichoke-y and grass-y in the finish. That cooling/moist tongue sensation is still there.

This tea makes me happy I stopped smoking and stopped eating foods with a lot of added artificial flavors and salt. Every sip has different notes to it as the temperature changes. It hits different nerves in my nose and tongue each sip. Cooled off, I don’t think I’d like this iced on it’s own. It’s just too much like mildly caffeinated spinach water once it’s cold.

EDIT: finished my sample packet today. After all the oolongs I’ve been sampling lately, this sure tastes like grass in comparison. Tiny hints of nutty, floral and sweet. But I steeped it 2 minutes longer this time. I personally prefer the shorter steep, I think.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 8 OZ / 240 ML

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40
drank Assam Harmony by Adagio Teas
27 tasting notes

Being newer to loose teas, I’ve been trying different black teas trying to find one I like. This one doesn’t have the bitter aftertaste I find in some blacks I’ve tried, but there also isn’t much to describe in it, to me. A little hint of caramel and malt, maybe. But there’s also an elusive flavor at the end that I find in most blacks, which I don’t find appealing, myself (something kinda like a ghost flavor of toasted cigarettes). My teapot makes two cups, so I put some fresh lemon in the second cup, which helps sometimes. But in this case, it made it completely unenjoyable. Not the tea’s fault though. I’m gonna make some iced right now, I think it’d be great (though kinda pricy for an iced tea…) Tried it again on another day with milk (but steeped it 5 min to hopefully bring out some “boldness”). I still cannot find much to enjoy.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 16 OZ / 480 ML

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80
drank Fruit Sangria by Adagio Teas
27 tasting notes

I’m new to loose teas and herbals. They were selling this in the tea kettle area of my local Meijer grocery store, so I thought I’d give it a try. In the least if I didn’t like it hot, I could make iced out of it, right? It smells like crystal light when you open the can.

Smells fruitier at first than it tastes. After it cooled a moment, it was very fruity and to me, needed no sweetener. Probably too sweet for me to drink hot every day as-is. It’s not that it’s syrupy or artificial tasting, exactly. It doesn’t in particular TASTE too sour to me. But it has that tongue burn, like sour patch kids candy does. I’ll probably try a little less of the blend next time.

Flavors: Apple, Hibiscus, Lemon, Orange, Raspberry, Tart

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 240 ML

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Bio

New to loose leaf tea and infusions.

Beer snob. Love to drink coffee, but there’s so much politics surrounding the coffee pots at my office, I just wanted my life calm and drama free. Tea and infusions are opening doors of flavor and serenity in my life. I like to create my own food recipes and such, so experimenting in tea was an obvious move once I got into it.

I’ll just put this right here in my profile: many black teas have an odd taste to me. I can only describe it as that they have the aftertaste like someone broke up a cigarette — including the bleached paper wrapper and plastic filter — and poured hot water over it and forced me to drink it on a dare.

Location

Michigan

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