Adagio Custom Blends, Cara McGee

When I bought this I was hoping that the apricot wasn’t going to get overwhelmed by the other teas in the blend, but the worrying was for not.

This tea is simply divine and the amount of apricot in it is perfect. It goes really well with the dark flavors of the mambo and toasted mate teas and I will be ordering this again.

Sipdown! And… disappointed. I drank this last Friday, but have literally zero memory of it, since I was at work. I have to assume that it was generally unremarkable because of that – I don’t really know what I was expecting (heat?)

Thanks (indirectly) to Jump62359 for the sample!

ETA: Wait!! Now I see it had lapsang, and I definitely remember at least steeping it – it was quite potent. The lapsang mustn’t have been too potent, as I drank it straight – so probably a decent tea. Wish I could time travel and think a bit more while sipping.

Haven’t had this in a while! I didn’t remember exactly what it was; it mostly tasted like a somewhat astringent cream earl grey. Didn’t really taste the blackberry at all, though it now has me craving that! Yum.

Sipdown! 78/365

I must have two separate samples of this one, since I apparently reviewed it 3 months ago, but the baggie I’m sipping down right now, I believe, was from a box that I hadn’t touched in years. Either way, it was good! Definite blackberry, and I think I could tell it was an earl grey (yes, ok, the flavours have waned a little here). Regardless, it was yummy. I’m feeling a craving for blackberry cream teas coming on, writing about this… might have to dip into my AQ2T blackberry… whatever that tea is. The yummy one. :D

I apparently liked this much more last time I drank it. Possibly an age thing, or perhaps I oversteeped. Hard to say. It really mostly tasted like an EG, maybe a teensy bit of cream, but it looks like there are a lot of flavours I missed this time around! It was also kind of astringent, which makes me think user error, not age. Oh well, it was still good (I may have added some cream and vanilla agave).

This tea is likely from Cavocorax , although I can’t be sure. Either way – it was quite an enjoyable little earl grey for an afternoon last week! Not particularly astringent, with some creaminess. I assume there’s likely a third ingredient as well (fruit?) but am unsure.

Nice to get to trying another one of these awesome fandom teas!

This is one of my favorite teas. The chocolate chai makes it sweet on it’s own while the hazelnut and Irish Breakfast make it strong.

A nice strong tea with a good flavor. Can’t taste the chocolate, but the mate really comes through.

I use a steep and go mug during the week, and this is a bit bitter for that.

Not sure if I oversteeped this or used too much, or it’s just that these dogs are really feral but it is a bit overpowering/bitey. Would still recommend, just go easy on the tea:water ratio

Another hit out of the park from Cara. What looks like a hodgepodge of flavors, reading the ingredient list makes me think of mixing a lot of “tea remnants” together to make a enough to brew, but turns out to be delicious.
I know Adagio likes to “ship” their custom fandom teas together, but it really does go well when paired with Cara’s Steve Rogers blend and a tea biscuit.

A pleasant tea, but more rooibis flavoured than I generally like.

A creamy pumpkin spicey sort.

Very coconutty – nice but you have to be in the mood for it.

Lovely strong assam!

Creamy chai-y goodness with an earl grey undertone. Smooth and silky and a little spicy.

Ah, Rory the Roman. I drank this earlier watching the end of DW series 5 and it was tasty as always. My version of this blend is the old one with sweet potato, and I really think that that’s the element that makes this tea so yummy. I’m sad that it got discontinued, because I’d likely keep this in stock if it were still a part of the blend. I didn’t review Amy or 11 when I drank them but I’m finished going through my DW sampler again now. I’ll give more detailed notes on those (and this) later but for now I’m concentrating on my Butiki stash.

Drank with milk and sugar.

Sipdown 74/391!! (I’m still on a no-buy, but VariaTEA very generously sent me a load of samples and it’s single-handedly destroyed my hopes of reaching 400 by the end of the month).

This was a very fitting final cup and a lovely way to part – for now, at least – with this tea. I drank my final cup from my Arthur Conan Doyle mug whilst watching the last episode of Sherlock series 4, and made sure I had plenty of time beforehand to make it properly for once. Either the base has gotten weaker over time or I’m getting more used to astringency and brisk teas, because I drank it without milk and had no inclination to add any. Either way it was really lovely. The Earl Grey bergamot note was much more present this time, and the cinnamon took more of a back seat but was still noticeable, and gave a lovely warmth which grew as I drank the cup. This tea fits John well, and I enjoyed it almost as much as I did the finale. I will most likely buy a bag of this in the future, too, even though Adagio have raised their prices on it by over 20% since the last time I bought it grumbles.

Upping my rating again, this time from 80.

Drinking this again because it’s SHERLOCK NIGHT! I think my second sample tin will be all gone this time next week, sadly. Perfect timing, though. This was weak tonight because I had to choose between a weak cup of tea and missing the start of Sherlock, and well, there aren’t many things I’d choose over tea, but Sherlock is one of them (especially when I’ve drank said tea many times before). I will make sure I brew it properly for the send-off, though. Cinnamon was actually surprisingly prominent and Sherlock was amazing.

Upping my rating from 73 because this tea consistently makes me happy.

I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed this tea! I’ve drank almost two full tins now and I could have sworn I’d written about it. When I first bought the Sherlock fandom sampler, the tin from this tea kept popping open, so I emailed Adagio and asked if it would be possible for them to send me an empty tin for me to transfer the tea into since I wanted to keep them after the teas had been drank. They were good enough to send me another full tin, and so I’ve had twice as much of this than any of the others in the set. Now that I’ve written that, I’m even more sure I wrote a tasting note on it before, because I swear I remember mentioning that story the last time, too… weird…

I’m almost done with this one now, and I have a feeling in a couple of weeks I’ll be completely out. I drank it on Sunday night watching the first episode of the new series of Sherlock (eep!) and again tonight rewatching it with my mam, who didn’t see it the first time. I’m going to miss the second and third episodes because I’ll be working – is watching TV a valid reason to take a night off? – but I’m sure I’ll drink it again when I finally get around to watching them. I can’t wait for the next episode!

Anyway, the tea! Good old reliable Watson. I love how much thought has been put into these teas, and this one I think fits John very well. I’ve drank it a variety of ways, but tonight had it with one sugar and a dash of milk. So comforting. It’s strong, but not too strong, with just a familiar hint of bergamot from the Earl Grey green. The cinnamon note comes through at the end of the sip, warming, comforting, and just a little bit different. Like a striped woolly jumper in a mug.