Peach Oolong

Smells amazing, tastes less so.

Another questionably old tea, this one is from a swap or TTB so I have no clue how old this one is. But it is at least over a year old, so take this with a grain of salt.

The dry leaf smells like buttered popcorn to me, though brewed up it smells like an apricoty, peachy jam. It definitely seems to have lost flavor due to age. Nothing tastes bad, but instead of distinct flavors I’m just getting a vague fruity sweet flavor

Out of the oolongs that adagio has that I have bought this has been the best thus far. I really like the dark oolong taste paired up with the peach notes in this tea. Brews dark, taste strong, smells great.

Overboard TTB

This is quite tasty. It is my first experience with Adagio Teas. The peach flavor is quite good, very prominent. While I suspect the tea base is a second tier oolong it is very good. That is not to say second tier teas aren’t good, they are excellent. I notice with most flavored teas they use a tea that is a step below the best with the possible exception of Whispering Pines and such.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min.

I don’t understand how other people don’t seem to get peach from this… for me, it’s bright and juicy, especially with a pinch of sugar added! I’ve been really into simple teas recently with only one or two added flavours, and though the Formosa doesn’t come through as strongly as I’d like, the peach note is sweet and clear. It’s excellent cold brewed, too, but today I’m drinking it hot. There’s no astringency even though I steeped it at boiling, which always worries me even though it’s the recommendation on the bag. Yeah, this just does it for me. I can’t wait to pick up more, I have a feeling this will be a staple in my cupboard once I get it down to a manageable size. I might be biased though because I just love peach.

Sipdown 187/397

The package on this one says 212 degrees for 3-5 minutes. But my Breville has 195 for oolong. I first tried this per the Breville. 195 and steeped for 5 minutes. Very faint peach flavor. I added the rock sugar and it really brought the flavor out more. Still faith peach. I then did another pot per Adagios instructions. 212 again for 5 minutes. Much better! I added the rock sugar again. And then I liked this tea. It didn’t rock my world but if I had this in my cupboard I would drink it. I don’t think I would go out of my way to purchase it again. I did however learn a lesson- I will trust the blenders directions.

I’ve had this twice so far. The first time I did it gong fu style and the peach flavor stayed nice and strong steep after steep. The second time I did it Western style and the flavor was pretty much done after the first steep. Good to know! You really couldn’t taste any oolong, just peach. Won’t be buying this because I seem myself quickly drifting away from flavored tea…

Steeped 3 times.

This tea smells quite juicy when dry. Brewed, the scent dissipated a bit, as well as the flavor. Enjoying it as a second steep now because my office is so cold.

Thanks for the sample Nattie!

Okay, so I finally get around to this – this is from my swap with Kat_Maria, who spoiled me insanely. I mean, I can’t even. No. She sent me EVERY TEA IN THE WORLD. And so much stuff for Project Green and Project Jasmine and Project Peach, I don’t even know how to thank her, except offer to be her European tea dealer for life.

This is a bag – the dry tea smells lovely, and it reminds me of Lupicia’s discontinued Apricot Houji, but with a much rounder, sweeter finish. I was a little surprised to see the suggested steeping time was 5 minutes, with boiling water – I’m used to fairly green oolongs that steep 2 minutes or less. I assume that gives that this is a blacker oolong than what I’m used to, and both in scent and taste this does come off very black to me.

I’m so grateful to Kat_Maria for including this – I have very little experience with Adagio and have been considering placing an order. This sounded like a given Anna tea, but after being presented with the opportunity to sample this beforehand, I won’t include it in my order. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a very good blackish oolong, and the balance of the peach and the tea is very well executed. The peach (a fairly soft, apricoty peach) is present throughout the sip and lingers nicely. And yet, it’s just too black to be oolongy enough for me.

If it were only greener.

[From my swap with Kat_Maria, Rome, March 2014.]