Adagio Custom Blends

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Recent Tasting Notes

69

I think I mentioned it in another tasting note a week or so back, but I bought a bunch of Buffy The Vampire Slayer teas from Adagio as a treat for myself to enjoy/drive some motivation when watching BTVS in French – something I’m doing to help familiarize myself and bring my comprehension up with the language…

I own every season, but my first/second season are on downloaded discs and don’t have multiple languages so I started my rewatch with the third season since my disc copies of that one have French dubs with English subs. I’m fine with that – the first two seasons are the worst ones anyway. I’m only a few episodes in because I’ve been doing an episode a night when I get home from work – but it’s actually still really enjoyable, even in French. I hate the voice actor for Angel though – his voice is FAR too deep and it sounds like the voice actor is trying much too hard to be sexy…

As for the Angel tea!? Well, it’s fine. I don’t actually like Angel very much as a character in the first place, but I suppose the flavours that the blendor has selected feel appropriate. It’s like a chocolate covered strawberry profile, with a black and oolong mixed base. Seems to take inspiration for more of Angel’s romanticism and fact he’s Buffy’s main love interest. If I was blending an Angel tea, I think I’d play more off the balance of light and dark or “good and bad” that his character has; that’s more interesting to me. Something like a blend of white and black tea bases with white and dark chocolate chips and rose petal accents. Feels true to the character, would probably taste ok, and has decent symbolism.

The taste is mediocre – the strawberry is there but VERY light and the chocolate note leans a little artificial and waxy. Not bad tasting on the whole, but mediocre – as many of these fan blends often are. That’s fine; it’s more about the fun you have while drinking the tea! And this is a nice sipping tea while curled up – so average is just fine for the context.

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74

Cold Brew Sipdown (1118)!

Feels good to get another sample out of my cupboard, though this is one that I did enjoy having around for a non-fruity cold brewing option. I’m really happy that I realized so soon that cold brewing this blend was the sweet spot; if I had continued to drink it as a hot tea it would have been alright but definitely not nearly as enjoyable. It’s got some lovely vanilla fondant type notes that just work better for me chilled; somehow less doughy…

Flavors: Cake, Vanilla

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74

Cold Brew!

Sipped on this during the afternoon; I did add a generous splash of full fat cream to my brew after straining it, mostly on a whim. It resulted in a super thick mouthfeel and lush, velvety texture as well as a fatty vanilla/cream note. Really decadent/indulgent and a bit heavy and borderline too sweet but also delicious and a really nice use of this sample imo.

tea-sipper

WHAT I just had this tea yesterday. haha.

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74

Cold Brew!

This was my morning cold brew for the commute to work, and it was really nice. I’ve been thinking how I might use up this sample since it’s fine hot but nothing that I really crave and I remembered how amazing DT’s Birthday Cake had tasted cold brewed and I thought that there’d probably be significant overlap in the concept here…

It’s definitely a great use of the tea; the vanilla is very forward and creamy and quite smooth and rich without being sweet/sugary. Another win? Well, all the tannin/astringency that I was experiencing with the hot brews doesn’t come through at all, creating a much smoother and enjoyable brew overall.

Pretty sure this is how I’m going to finish off the leaf.

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74

Steeped up a cup of this one yesterday morning, and while the vanilla note was nice I thought the whole cup overall was fairly drying on the palate. Milk would have helped a lot but, as I just said in another tasting note, that’s not an option at work currently…

I need to stop bringing teas to work that require milk, is the main takeaway here.

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74

First cuppa of the day…

I recently placed an Adagio order; my breaking point was the Brigadoon blend since I was very curious about it, but I had been debating one for a while just to get a bunch of BTVS themed teas. I want to try to more actively improve my French comprehension, and one thing that’s been suggested to me by many people has been watching a TV show I have A LOT of familiarity with (Buffy…) with French captions or in French, and so I thought it would nice to have some Buffy blends to drink during my rewatch…

This was one of many free samples included in my order & I believe it was included because I have an upcoming birthday. By some miracle I actually haven’t tried this blend yet so I am actually kind of curious about it. In terms of hit/miss ratio with Adagio, I feel like I have way more misses than hits – but the few things I’ve found and loved I have realllyyyyy loved so it’s worth it for me to periodically keep trying new things (especially the fandom blends which are so fun).

I do think, for a Birthday Cake flavoured tea, that there are so few sprinkles actually in the dry leaf that it almost would have been better to just not include them at all. I know they’re supposed to be fun and tie in the concept, but the sparsity is just sort of sad…

Flavour wise, I wouldn’t say I’m impressed but I do think it’s good. Basically a simple creamy vanilla flavour with a well balanced sweetness. The base tea tastes really straight forward; just like a maltier " breakfast tea" type canvas for the flavouring in the blend. I actually prefer it to be a little more straight forward/simple for this type of blend that is basically just executing one straight forward flavour. Initially it felt a little drying, but as it’s good down that astringency has mellow a lot and the flavour feels smoother and more consistent. It’s not a bad vanilla at all.

Would I seek this out over other vanilla/cake themed blends? No, not at all – it’s not special in any regard. However, if I wanted that type of simple cake or vanilla profile in my tea rotation I certainly wouldn’t turn my nose up at this one either. It’s got that daily drinker type quality to it where the fact it doesn’t feel special might actually be a good thing because it’s the vanilla profile you feel guilt free about when you reach for it often.

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So I’ve wanted to try this for a while now. I kept putting it in Adagio carts but never pulling the trigger.

So finally I have it.

Naturally, I added a couple splenda’s to this. It’s supposed to be butterbeer, after all! Sadly, it tastes almost exactly like the Adagio butterscotch tea. Like, spot on for that other blend. I almost want to brew up both side by side and compare. And it’s weird because the butterscotch tea is just that – butterscotch tea. This one is caramel, cream, and vanilla tea. But then I suppose that’s more or less the flavor profile breakdown of butterscotch, isn’t it?

Now, don’t get me wrong. This is tasty. I almost want to try it as a latte. But for as hyped up as this was in my mind, for it to be this one-note is a bit of a letdown. If I wanted straight butterscotch tea, I’d buy that instead.

The tin is stylish though.

Flavors: Butterscotch

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 45 sec

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61

‘Samurai’ Traveling Teabox – Tea #1
Thanks so much for the teabox starter, SkySamurai!  I’m trying the teas now on it’s first stop.  Signups still open in the forums!  Such rarities here, and some tea shops I’ve never even heard of.  That’s always good.  On to the first tea…I usually like Adagio blends, and this one sounds like a divine combination, but overall the flavor is mostly flat to me.  Hardly any chocolate or caramel or hazelnut or vanilla… I mean, those flavors in theory sound amazing, but maybe they all cancelled each other out and I’m really only tasting roasted yerba mate.  What a shame.  It’s certainly BROWN in color anyway.  Chewbacca brown.  I think it’s Chewbacca on the tin?  I don’t know (shh.. I only saw the first three Star Wars movies.) 
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoon for a full mug // 7 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

‘Samurai’ Traveling Teabox – Tea #2
I’ll write #2 here because technically a hot chocolate shouldn’t be listed on Steepster.  It’s Sipology’s Candy Orange Hot Chocolate.   It sounded odd until I realized it is supposed to be one of those chocolate oranges.  I’m a fan of those chocolate oranges.  Yum.  The hot chocolate itself is smooth and rich without being too sugary.  Just how I like it.  I was tasting hints of what should be orange.  Hints but what was there was accurate to chocolate orange.  It’s good!  I definitely didn’t use how much they suggested on the package (to keep the sugar in check).  About a spoon and a half of mix for a mug of milk.  Never heard of this shop before. rating would be 93

Shanie O Maniac

Seeing as how it’s called “Bowcaster Brown” and the Bowcaster is the traditional weapon of Kashyyyk (the Wookiee homeworld), I’m going to say it is probably Chewbacca on the tin.

Sorry, I lived in a Star Wars party house for 2 years. I had this stuff drilled into my head.

tea-sipper

Yeah, I do not know these things. :D

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65

TTB #28

Unfortunately, I’m not really getting cream or vanilla notes from this tea…it’s just coming across as a pretty average breakfast blend. Maybe I need to add some actual cream to pull out those flavors?

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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83

SIPDOWN!

Ok, so, here’s the thing. This tea grew on me since my initial review. It grew on me hard. So much that I found myself craving it for weeks before I would finally give in and have a session.

Then it came down to this. Just enough for one last session. Knowing full well that I can’t just order more of this at will, I saved it for a special occasion. I didn’t know what special occasion it was, but I have been longing for this for two months now but never allowed myself to indulge.

Well, guess what. It is January 15th, 2020 – My personal hero and namesake’s 50th birthday. (That’s right, Shane McMahon turns 50 today). So guess what. It’s getting drunk!

It’s everything I remembered it being, and more. I know that when I first wrote the review, I commented on a strong raisin flavor. Well, I’m happy to say, that by now, the odd raisin flavor has been replaced by the flavor of Vanilla, Cream, and a touch of Caramel. It really tastes like birthday cake. The sprinkles, sadly, seem to have long disappeared from the mix, but it doesn’t matter – they only affect the first steeping anyway. I am drinking this in honor of Shane, celebrating his birthday, but still sad that I know this will be the last of this until June.

Perhaps some of you can suggest a good replacement Birthday Cake tea for me? It’s an odd tea flavor, I know, but the harder and harder my blood sugar gets to manage (yes, I’ve been having problems lately) the harder I go for the dessert teas for my sweets fix. So hit me up in the comments and let me know where I can find something similar. I’d appreciate it greatly. THANKS IN ADVANCE!

Flavors: Cream, Sweet, Vanilla

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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83

Ok, full disclosure, the concept of a “secret” tea never even dawned on me the entire time I have been buying tea. Yet, here I am, with an Adagio blend which cannot be bought anywhere on the site, nor in any fashion ordered or requested. It seems that the only way to get it is to make an order with your birthday discount. At least, that is how I got it. They made no mention of it when I ordered, it wasn’t listed in my cart, yet when the package arrived, there it was in the box.

So I figured I’d review it because I don’t know how many people on here actually order from Adagio for their birthdays. Seeing as how I’m only the second note, apparently not a bunch.

This tea smells VERY sweet in the package. I think it’s supposed to be a type of Birthday Cake Flavored, so that’s to be expected. I brewed this western style (as always) at 212F/12oz/3min/2tsp.

Flavor is…Well that is DIFFERENT. It almost tastes like it wants to be sweet, but there just isn’t enough there to do so. I’m pretty certain this is meant to be drunk with sugar. So not one, but TWO splendas go in the cup. Ahhh, much better. There’s that birthday flavor. It has a bit of a weird combo. I’m getting the vanilla and creme, but the supposed caramel is coming off as a STRONG Raisin flavor for some reason. It’s a sweet raisin flavor, almost like if there were candied raisins. But it is definitely raisin. I don’t think it is supposed to taste like raisins. The aftersip even further intensifies into a further raisin flavor that lingers. It’s…odd. I really don’t know how to rate this. It doesn’t come off like the birthday cake it’s supposed to. It tastes like an iced raisin muffin. I still think I will recommend this, although technically that doesn’t help because you can’t willingly buy this tea. It’s not bad tea for sure. It’s just… not what I was expecting.

Flavors: Cream, Raisins, Vanilla

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
derk

Happy Birthday!

Roswell Strange

Happy Birthday!! :)

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100

This is a great wintertime tea. It’s very sweet and chocolately. You can definitely taste the caramel in it. But I also think the pu erh rounds it out very nicely. Will definitely keep it stocked in my cupboard

Flavors: Caramel, Chocolate, Earth

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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92

Just an update on this one.

I did end up getting a 3oz bag more of this. It is still one of my go-to dessert teas. I’m drinking it now as a latte and it hasn’t let me down yet. I’ve cut back how often I drink it though. Instead of three to five times a week it’s more like once every other week. I just have so much other tea to drink now. I know I beatdown Adagio on my last review. I just wanted to write this to say, not everything from there is horrible. This is still one of my favorites. It’s simple and sweet. Chocolate and mint. Nothing too fancy, but oh so delish! Anyway, thought I would post this just to try and grant some measure of redemption to Adagio.

Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Mint, Spearmint

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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92

Sipdown Number 6!

Oh am I sad to see this one go. But don’t get me wrong, next month, after payday, there will be more. I’m honestly contemplating the 5oz tin because I just need to drink this every day. Same basic recipe applies, almond milk (unsweetened vanilla) plus two splendas. BOOM! Andes Candy. This is a new favorite thing. I have managed to drink down the entire sample in about a week, and that includes getting at least one resteep per sitting. I think I’m going to have to greatly up the rating on this, even though it needs to be “Latte-ed” to get the full effect. I will make an exception because once made into a sweetened latte, it’s just SO DARN GOOD. Farewell for now, Skele-Gro. We shall meet again soon.

Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Spearmint

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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92

After the Lapsang debacle, I needed something to cleanse my palate. So Skele-grow it is. I bought this because they claimed it tasted like candy. Made western style at 212F for 4 minutes (recommended instructions). First sip was okay. It was definitely minty but more dark chocolate, which I am not so much a fan of. So I tried it with two splendas and a bit of almond milk. Wow! What a difference! It IS like drinking candy. Very sweet minty chocolate candy mind you, which may not be for everyone. But still tastes like an Andes Candy. This may be one of my new favorite dessert teas. It’s very lovely. If you want to try a tea that tastes like mint chocolate candy, go for this one. But just remember you need to add sweetener to it to get the most from this blend.

Flavors: Chocolate, Mint

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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65

Tastes warm and bitter, then sweet when the sprinkles hit your tongue. Unknown recommended steep time – steeped 2-3 minutes. Not much flavor until the sprinkles kick in. Has an interesting smell: berry-ish and sweet. Additional ingredient: Snowbud. Tried 10.2018.

Flavors: Berry, Floral, Sweet

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 9 OZ / 266 ML

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10

Strong candle smell. Steeped for 2 minutes – tea flavor was too strong and candle-y. Tried 10.2018.

Flavors: Caramel, Perfume

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 9 OZ / 266 ML

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50

Steeped 2 min – recommended steep time not provided on tea tin. Tastes OK but nothing remarkable. Floral and light. Tried 10.2018

Flavors: Floral

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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1

Tastes spicy in a bad way. Bitter. Tried 10.2018

Flavors: Bitter, Spicy

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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1

Steeped 3 min. Tastes very bitter. Very faint almond and cherry flavors, but the bitterness over-powers it. Could maybe improve with less steeping time, but not good enough to try it again. Tried 10.2018

Flavors: Almond, Bitter, Cherry

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 9 OZ / 266 ML

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60
drank Luke by Adagio Custom Blends
100 tasting notes

Fairly plain tasting tea. The only richness came from the hint of vanilla. The orange really didn’t come in to play. Steep time not posted on tea tin. Tried 10.2018

Flavors: Vanilla

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 9 OZ / 266 ML

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62

Aria is sweet and spicy and really doesn’t need any sweetening (if you don’t oversteep). I love the warm cinnamon and cardamom flavors accented with the ginger. The coconut, orange and lemon grass help keep this blend from becoming overwhelming, cooling and brightening this tea.

Flavors: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Coconut, Ginger, Lemongrass, Orange

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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55

Hmmmm…not what I was hoping for as I entered in this tea’s information to the database. It’s not a BAD tea, but I’m not really picking up on much more than the standard black tea, other than a hint of chocolate and some bergamot as well. Not bad, but not as good as some of the other Kingsman teas from Adagio.

Flavors: Bergamot, Chocolate

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML

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