3235 Tasting Notes
I think it was last night that we split this sample from the Communitea sample that came with my Adagio order, but it may have been the night before that. Yesterday was so busy that I have lost track.
I made a valerian tea for Ashman years ago when he was having issues with insomnia, but it had lots of licorice root and other herbs that somewhat masked the smell and taste. When I handed him this tea, he paused and then said, “This tea has a…..smell. A really strong….smell.”
“No, sir,” I told him. “This tea has a stank. There is nothing else to call it but a stank.”
In spite of the stank, it went down okay. It did have a kit of chamomile flavor that made it through the stank. As to whether it helped me sleep, I am not sure. I feel that my sleep was pretty much normal, although I have had some vivid dreams lately as it creeps toward time to get up.
I would not buy this for the taste or aroma, but if it really helped me sleep when I needed to, I would drink it.
This tea came in a handmade birthday card from gmathis! Many thanks!
My daughter happened to be off work on my birthday yesterday and we spent lots of time on the porch enjoying the gorgeous day until after lunch when I had to work. She was with me when I opened the mail, and we both had a good laugh when we saw the name of this tea.
I made it to go with breakfast today, and laughing turned into scheming. How soon can I order without feeling guilty about recent lack of sipdown progress? Because right away, this tea reminded me of some tea that I LOVED but I couldn’t pin it down at first.
Patient mindful sipping and rooting through tea memories came up with the way my first sip of Perseus ever hit at first, but Perseus has some bergamot in it. Could it be Magic from Gurman’s? Maybe. I loved (and reviewed) that one many times on here years ago and all those notes have disappeared into the Steepster void.
The bottom line is that this candy-fruity black tea was stunning with breakfast and needs to be on shelf one day.
I like several peach teas from Harney and Sons and while this tea is peachy there is something about it that has a general fruitiness less specific to peach that made it extra delicious to me.
Thank you, gmathis!
March Sipdown Challenge Prompt – Pi Day and Einstein’s Birthday
Superanna gave me this tea and said I could go ahead and unwrap it, but I decided to save it for my birthday and have it be my breakfast tea. This was purchased in Tokyo, I believe, so I had to add it to the data base. The Hawaii store doesn’t sell it.
Pi Day is my actual birthday, but I tip my cup to all of the March babies here, and there are so many of us!
As for the tea, the dry leaves unfurl to quite an impressive size on steeping. The steeped tea has a rich aroma, a lot of body, and a thick, creamy mouthfeel. Lightly steamed asparagus is the leading flavor note to me, and I love asparagus. This has a richness that I associate with the word umami, but I don’t know if I am using that correctly as this has none of the seaweed or briny notes you might find in some teas that carry that description.
Many thanks, Superanna, for a rare and delightful tea treat that I might never have been able to try without your trip to Japan!
This is my favorite thus far of the Adagio samples I received, and how neat is it that a custom blend was included in their Communitea subscritption?
I thought it would be a match for Lupicia’s Chocolate and Strawberry Puer, but it is different. Because there is also orange and hazelnut flavoring, as well as cream, the strawberry is less distinct in this one. This is chocolate with general fruitiness.
I was already a fan of Adagio Puerh Chorange so this one appealed to me. Resteeped well, too.
This tea was a sample with my Brigadoon Breakfast order.
The aroma of the dry blend was heavenly. I prepared myself for a super fruity treat on this warm and sunny spring day of outside yard work.
The steeped tea is quite different, though! Now it smells like cinnamon candy, the kind that is so strong that it tastes like clove. Because of the drastic change, I sweetened it and put it in the fridge to chill and drank it with lunch instead.
It wasn’t bad, but I am not a cinnamon candy fan, and I was so looking forward to the tropical fruit flavors I smelled in the dry blend. I am glad I got to try it, but I wouldn’t buy it for myself.
March Sipdown Prompt – your tea with the shortest name
Not a Sipdown but how can it be that I am opening the last pouch of many already? This is one of our favorite strawberry black teas. When it is gone, I may try Harney’s new strawberry black if it is back in stock.
When I ordered Brigadoon Breakfast, Adagio sent me a one week sample box from their Communi-tea subscription. You also get a one week membership in their Communitea group that drinks the same tea each day. Subscription boxes have thirty teas each. I was pretty excited to get this one week sample!
I was less excited with the first tea because of the type. I just don’t like red rooibos but I decided to give it a go anyway.
My sample had a couple of pieces of dried apple in it. The peach aroma was pretty subdued by the rooibos aroma. I have more success with flavored rooibos as a sweet iced tea so that is how I prepared this.
It resteeped well for a combination of the two steeps giving me a quart jar to which I added sugar and put in the fridge to chill.
Aroma and taste of the tea is heavy on the rooibos but the peach flavor is nice. Anyone who likes red rooibos would probably love this tea. I can get past the rooibos enough this way to drink it over the next couple of days.
March Sipdown Prompt – International Women’s Day
I chose a tea named for a woman for the prompt since I am all out of tea that I know for sure to be from a woman-owned company.
Many years ago when I first started drinking this, I looked up Catherine to learn about her, and I think she must have been a strong woman indeed with all she went through. I am thankful she brought tea with her when she sailed to England to marry.
This is a blend of black teas from China, and has lots of smoky Keemun notes. Love it. Enjoyed with lunch on the patio – a sandwich of homemade honey-nut chicken salad with Craisins for me, and half a peanut butter sandwich with a heartworm pill hidden in it for Sam the King of Dogs. No tea for Sam. Good pairing.
March Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a breakfast tea
I have been eagerly awaiting this tea. I broke my buying ban because I fell for the gimmick of releasing this tea only on Leap Day AND for the really good reviews I have seen, beginning with Nicole’s review on Sororitea Sisters blog.
It is everything the most favorable reviews said. It is Assam, Keemun, silver tips, and blue cornflower, but the main aroma of dry leaf and steeped tea is Assam. Since Assam can give me a stomach ache if it is too harsh, I gave this a three minute steep. It has all the strength of Assam but none of the stomach irritation. Think of it as a top notch Scottish or Irish Breakfast blend.
Since I had to wait for the post to bring it to try it, I was having it in the afternoon with Fortnum and Mason Florentine cookies and they were very nice together, but tomorrow morning it will definitely be my breakfast tea!
I am really glad I bought two bags, and almost wish I had bought three. And they sent an amazing sampler box of six or seven different loose leaf teas with it!
Sipdown
I really enjoyed all these hojicha blends from 3 Leaf Tea. This is the final packet and I actually had it twice today – once with an afternoon snack between lessons and again with supper.
I still have a large bag of hojicha powder from Den’s Tea and when that is gone I definitely want to keep a hojicha powder on hand, especially during cooler weather. These are awesome as a hot chocolate substitute.
This one has nice honey and light lemon flavor when made with water but the flavors are so light that they are hard to notice for me when made with milk. Some of the other flavors were a little stronger in the flavoring department. I would happily restock this or any of the flavors I bought from them, as well as the one from Den’s.
