180 Tasting Notes
Yum, a pleasant cup from Adagio. Overall, I haven’t had much luck with Adagio’s black teas. But it’s rainy and cold out, so I thought I’d dip into my sample pouches and try the warming taste of caramel. The dry leaf smell is awesome; like thick caramel sauce prepared on a stovetop.
I oversteeped this one by a minute or so (I got distracted by a coworker – don’t they know this is my afternoon tea time?!), so a tiny bit of bitterness presented itself, but not enough to overwhelm the cup. First sip: whoa, tastes kind of like maple syrup. Sweet and rich. (A coworker even quipped, “smells like maple syrup in here” as she walked by, so I guess I’m not the only one who caught the similarity.) Subsequent sips taste more like caramel. Not the cheap, candybar-filling caramel, but “real” caramel – slightly burnt, dark, and very rich.
Just for fun, I added a tiny bit of sea salt to the last few sips… and it was great! (I’ve found myself salting my tea a lot lately. Apparently, I’m on some sort of a salt kick.) It was like drinking a wonderful salted caramel candy.
Sipdown! Hmm, it looks like this tea is on here twice – once with the ampersand and once as “green AND fruity.” Oh well…
This makes such a delicious cold brew. Seriously, it’s awesome. It’s definitely fruity, very tropical, and sweet on it’s own. Wonderfully refreshing & among the best cold brewed teas I’ve had.
Smells just like maple syrup when steeped. This is a good caffeine-free alternative when I’m craving a maple tea. But – based purely on maple taste alone – I prefer the Maple Pecan Oolong from Butiki, as I think the flavor is stronger there.
That said, this is still quite yummy. It tastes pretty much exactly as one would suspect: like a rooibus tea mixed with maple syrup.
Preparation
So this was actually pretty good. I had a mug of it at someone else’s house, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. There was something in there that gave it a wine-like quality; definitely reminded me a little bit of sangria – it had a dense mouthfeel and was almost alcoholic tasting.
It’s not something I would buy on my own, but I wouldn’t turn down another cup if I was offered it.
Sipdown: This is by far my favorite of the Della Terra sampler set I ordered. And probably the only one I would re-order. It’s been my go-to late afternoon brew as of late; now that it’s gone, I’ll have to start switching it up.
I have Thai takeout and DVD date night planned for tonight (cannot begin to tell you how psyched I am to spend a lazy night in right now), so I decided to cold-brew some of this to have with dinner. It’s in the fridge now, and I shall update after trying it!
But of course I’m impatient; so as I was prepping the cold brew, I decided to make a hot cup for myself to enjoy right away. It was yummy – subtly spicy and tart from the ginger and lemongrass with a very creamy sweetness from the coconut. The base white tea makes the end result a very light, refreshing cup of creamy coconut goodness. Can’t wait to see how the cold brew turns out!
Preparation
I really like this one! I think it might just be my favorite from Adagio. I was digging through the tea packets I have here at the office looking for something that felt spring-like enough to compliment the warm breeze coming in the window on this beautiful spring day.
But, since my taste is always geared toward spicy, dark, autumnal flavors (caramel always reigns supreme in my book!) there wasn’t much to choose from. But this one, with it’s Thai-inspired coconut and refreshing lemongrass flavors, fit the bill. I tore open the bag with visions of Thai beaches roaring through my head (why, oh why aren’t I rich enough to spend my vacation in Phuket?), but upon opening it, I was walloped with the not-so-springtime smell of cardamom and cinnamon. But I could also pick out coconut and there were ample pieces of lemongrass, so all hope was not lost!
(That’s a really drawn-out way of saying, “I got caught up by the ‘Thai’ part of the name and completely missed the word ‘chai.’”) But man, I’m glad I pushed on even after my mini let-down because this tastes awesome. It’s spicy, with a good amount of heat from the ginger and cinnamon waking up at the back of your throat. The coconut adds a touch of creamy sweetness and makes it a real warm weather tea. And the clean, crisp taste of the lemongrass ties it all together in a totally unexpected, yet awesome, way.
This is just like drinking Thai food! It’s spicy, clean-tasting and a little sweet – all the flavors that I crave when I hit my favorite restaurant. It’s so wonderful that it’s making me crave fresh rolls with peanut sauce and tofu panang curry. Oh, and basil fried rice. Yes, definitely basil fried rice. Yum. Now all I can think about is getting takeout on the way home. Argh, curse your spicy goodness, Thai Chai!
Sipdown Finished this one off by using it for iced tea. Spring randomly popped-up out of nowhere today, and it’s currently 25 degrees warmer than it was yesterday! Not that I’m complaining since it’s April and all, but seriously unexpected. So I just had to have a nice cold glass of iced tea.
Steeped all that I had left of this (about 3tsp) in 7oz of near-boiling water for 4min, then poured over ice. The result? Much better than it is hot. When iced, that sickly sweetness isn’t as noticeable and it mellows out to a pleasantly sweet, peachy honeybush. Still has a weird syrupy quality that I can’t place – I’ve tried unflavored honeybush now, so I know that’s not it – but it’s not too bad.
See earlier post for tasting notes when served hot.
