Adagio Custom Blends, Cara McGee

How have I not written a review of this yet?! I got this awhile ago and I’ve pretty much enjoyed it, but I often put it off for other blends. I was thinking about why it barely misses the mark for me and I realized is that it is a little sharp. This is likely due to the blend being mostly comprised of the Irish Breakfast and chai tea blends. I think that to really have a well balanced cup this should be taken with milk or should have another creamy tea mixed in with it. I think that the jammy side of it is really great and I find myself drinking this the most when I’ve woken up too early and I want to let off some steam. I find this closer to a unflavored black than many of the other blends and flavored teas that I’ve tried. I would suggest this to someone who wanted a tea where the flavoring blended into a more dominant background black tea. A really great blend!

Thanks to my friend Aisha for swapping me some of this tea!

Today is one of those days where the thunderstorm’s been building all day long, and now it’s a bit darker than it should be at 4:30 pm, and the air is cool and damp, and it smells like rain. I’m so excited. I love rain and thunder and lightning.

The leaf of this smells like buttered, movie theater popcorn. It’s great. It’s mostly green leaves, and they’re flat and hard-edged and sort of artichoke colored, and then there are some twisty black leaves in there as well.

I steeped according to my general Adagio green parameters – 180, 2 minutes.

Okay.

The smell is still sort of caramelly, but the flavor is first buttery green tea (green tea + caramel?) and then vanilla. I taste a tiny bit of the pu’erh in the background, but it’s not enough to overwhelm the flavors.

If I had tried this tea before placing my last Adagio order (it should get here on Wednesday, hopefully!) I’d definitely have added some of this. It’s creamy and mellow without tasting too artificial.

How have I not done a note on this? I’ve had it at least 3 other times, silly me. This was sent to me by the lovely Michelle.

So, right in the middle of a move to our new apartment. It’s got a lovely balcony that goes all along the back of the place and I can’t wait to get a nice outdoor couch so I can have lovely tea out there in the morning. It’s also got these lovely built in glass shelves as you enter the kitchen and I’ve already told the fiancé that that is for my tea, and when I’m done he can have whatever space is left. ;) His hobbies are not food related so I should be safe. Stopped at my parents house right now while I wait a few days to get the keys and of course my tea came with me. Top priority!

I do love this tea. It’s such a nice blend of spicy and sweet flavors (see description of “spicy and jammy”). They mingle perfectly, love the berry notes and hint of vanilla. The chai is not too strong so nothing needs to be added to make it drinkable (again, I have trouble with masala chai like teas). Will definitely have to add honey to the next cup and see how it does, also maybe steeping a bit longer for the herbals in there. I would definite get more of this.

It took me a while to like this tea, but now I come to love its taste. I drink it almost everyday when I wake up.

Ah, my favorite. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this one. Cara McGee knows her stuff.

Thanks to Kiaharii for this! It got here a wee bit late, but safe and sound, and due to my mistake, not hers! :)

I worked a 13 hour day yesterday because one of our cashiers called out, and I’m the best cashier in the store. (And I’m not bragging – all of my managers and every competent – read adult – employee in the store have told me this. I’m the only one apart from Liz, our Customer Service Lead who’s allowed to train newbies)

Came home exhausted, spent the rest of the night curled up on the couch cradling a cup of tea and sobbing about all the things I was supposed to do but couldn’t.

And then I was in work today to buy school supplies, and my boss talks me into working today too. It’s the height of Back to School and the cashier they had scheduled is painfully slow at the best of times, never mind during BTS. So after she got me in, she actually texted him and said not to bother coming in because she’s got me.

I’m gonna miss this store.

But there are holes worn in my working shoes and I can feel my arches collapsing where I stand.

So I was very excited to come hone and see this on the table.

I went for the TARDIS because I’ve heard fantastic things about it and also I wanted a fruity something tonight, not anything serious.

It’s good. The ratio of the blackberry to the black tea is good, although there’s a little too much bergamot for me. It’s not me steeping it wrong, since I steeped it at 2 minutes with 180deg water (the latter part by accident). No milk or sugar, but I don’t think this should need it. I didn’t taste much of the vanilla and found myself wishing that it was an EGC base instead of a straight EG.

Still, it’s really good. The blackberry is just right. A satisfying cuppa after work!

Thanks to Kiaharii for letting me try out some of the fandom teas on Adagio. I want to love anything named TARDIS, but I was worried about this tea. I’ve never had a good experience with Adagio Earls. I decided to try this cold first, as I felt that might mellow out the bergamot a bit. I forgot about it and went out to the movies with my family. I ended up letting it go a little too long.

It’s still good though, woo! I was right about the bergamot getting mellowed out. I can taste each of the flavors: the Earl, the tart blueberry and the sweet creamy vanilla. I wish the blueberry taste was a little stronger, but that seems to be a problem I have with most blueberry teas, so that’s probably just me. I have enough to try this hot, so I’ll give it a chance

In the tin the earl grey overpowers pretty much everything, but brewed is another story. The earl grey is a more toned down, which is lovely because while I like early grey I do want to taste the other flavors in the blend. My sense of smells is still a little off (allergies yay!) and that can mess with taste well. The cinnamon isn’t particularly strong, but I think I can tell it’s in there, provides a nice little hint of spice. Really lovely blend overall, smooth taste, good everyday tea.

Noms. I steeped a cup of this this morning, only to forget it as I was running out of the door. At least I forgot it in favor of my phone, ID and keys, as my dorm has a physical lock this year and not a keypad.

So I came home and made another cup. It’s kind of a standard, solid black tea, only the cinnamon in it gives it something new! That’s the best part of it. I don’t often find cinnamon in teas other than in chais, and usually they’re too spicy for me to enjoy without a lot of milk. But this is very well-balanced.

And I’m kind of dipping Nilla wafers into it, so that’s fun too.

I’m taking advantage of the fact that my roommate is in class to write my essay on Yeats – I’m SO excited to be starting my creative writing class off with some of the best Yeats (or at least some of my favorites), only I fangirl a bit too much over him. I was having trouble not squealing last night. He’s just SO GOOD. And Irish lit is one of my specialties. But oh my goodness. Good tea, good poet, happy Shell.

Kind of like a breakfast tea for someone who doesn’t like breakfast teas. My issue with most of them is that they’re labelled the same sort of generic “Indian Black Blend” and there really isn’t anything special to them.

I’m partial to Irish Breakfasts, probably because the first time I really started drinking any sort of tea regularly was on my trip to Ireland in the spring of 2012. It was incredible. I learned SO much. I’m going back one day, I will, I will.

So I like that this is in there! And the chai gives it just a bit of cinnamony kick – I’m able to drink it without milk, and it’s not overwhelmingly strong, maybe because the berry gives it a little bit of sweetness. This is the first time I’m trying it with milk and sugar, and it reminds me a bit of a sassy breakfast tea. Now I see why my friend Jackie likes it so much!

Drinking Loki while watching Thor. :)
I love this tea, and though it’s fantastic when iced I really love it hot. Yum yum. Definitely keep this well stocked.

Oh yeah. That’s nice. The ice prince, iced of course! Dark and minty. Mmm. I don’t know what else to say except that when this gets back in stock I am ordering more. Can’t wait to play around with it some more, maybe try it with some honey.

This is lovely! I had totally missed the fact that it had jasmine flavored rooibos in it. I’ve only had jasmine scented/flavored tea, and I didn’t really like it. However the jasmine is nice and subtle, and doesn’t overpower the blend. Same goes for the mint. Actually everything in this tea is lovely together. This is a really great blend and Cara did an A+ job with the percentages of all the ingredients.

Smoke and spice and everything Sherlock. :)
This is fantastic. My first taste of lapsang souchong ever, and though it’s blended I feel like I’ve passed some sort of tea milestone. :P

Love, love, love this. Think a light masala chai over a campfire, there you have it. A bit spicey and smokey with a nice standard black tea flavor thrown in. I was worried that lapsang souchong was going to be too smokey, but it’s really interesting how it comes across in the tea. Who would have thought that a campfire would be tasty! I’ve had a puerh that has a smokiness that leans towards tobacco, but this is totally different. My future-MIL didn’t like it, too much smoke for her. But wow, I love it!

Drank straight, no milk or sugar. I figure this is the way Sherlock would have it (they never have milk anyway). While this seems perfect for a winter’s day, even on a summer morning it’s delicious. This gets a check in the “restock” box.

Added a bit of milk and sugar this time. I think it helps tone down the bergamot a bit which is quiet strong for me. It’s good, that said I don’t think I’ll be buying this one again. Just too much Earl Grey for me.

Mmmm. Dry this smells like a blueberry muffin and if you sniff a little deeper, earl grey. Brews to a really lovely red. I’d tell you what it smells like steeped but my nose is a little stuffy and whatever the scent is will not come through!

The taste is interesting. In some sips I get a ton of early grey, others the blackberry (that comes over more as a blueberry) dominates. The vanilla is more of an aftertaste on the back of my tongue. I added a bit of stevia to sweeten it up a tad. Definitely going to try this in latte form!

I love the deliciously floral fragrance in the bag which translates beautifully into the flavor of the tea once steeped. The guanabana slips in smoothly on the back of your tongue towards the end of the sip creating a magical flavor with the lavender earl grey & jasmine rooibos. Perfect representation of whimsical Luna Lovegood.

When you open the bag you get a huge whiff of spearmint above all else, but as the tea steeps the jasmine and gunpowder come forward. The gunpowder is noticeable though subtle in the resulting tea, but gives a beautiful smoky undertone to the spearmint & jasmine. Definitely something I will drink a LOT of :)