Ceylon Sonata

I’m in a no-frills mood today. My husband had knee surgery on Monday, so I’m pretty much running dead on my feet. I need the warmth, the simplicity, the CAFFEINE to make it through the work day today. Then, family starts to come in…

Then I swap from teas to Bloody Marys.

Almost a sipdown on this one today — two cups worth left. This has been languishing in my desk drawer for a while, so I might take it home and finish it off this weekend. Then I can replace it with something new on monday. I always enjoy this one as an everyday black, but it’s definetly time to try something else!

I’d rather drink Adagio’s Irish Breakfast. I’m not sure what’s going on in this one but it seems like some thing is wrong. I find that “tea” taste with quite a bit of bitterness. I swear I’m tasting sour apple as well. There is a fair amount of astringency to it, more than I typically enjoy. The only other ceylon I’ve had seemed sweeter and more behaved. I’ll have to try ceylons out some time too. My to-drink list is getting longer every day.

Another sample comes to an end. I’m digging this more than usual this morning, I usually prefer Ceylons cold, and like to drink maltier blacks hot.

I’ve not been sleeping well lately, so I moved my bedroom furniture around and slept so perfectly last night. It’s funny how such a small change can make such a big difference.

I am so close to getting through all of my loose leaf teas! I’ve been putting them into tins and labeling them as I go, or tossing them into a swap bag if I’m not in love with them. I still have a huge box of teabags to get through, but I’m feeling more organized and like I can probably allow myself to start ordering new teas now at least.

This is one of the last few Adagio teas that I have in my cupboard to try. It’s kind of a plain little tea, and I guess that’s why I’ve not rated it up until this point. The tea smells fresh and lightly malty and sweet. The recommended steep time was between 3 and 5 minutes, and I’m glad I went with 3 minutes because it is a little bitter in the aftertaste. Adding milk and sweetener too away the bitterness, though. Overall, it’s just a very mellow-flavored tea. It’s not a bad tea by any means, but there’s nothing really jumping out to me about it. It is nice for the summer since it’s so light!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell fresh and lightly malty. Tea liquor aroma is lightly sweet.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium reddish brown color.
-Mellow and malty flavor and finish. Slightly bitter aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A delicate cup. Very mellow and sweet flavor.

Not really in a fancy tea mood today, so no-frills it is. I love this tea, it is a staple in my tea cabinet to fall back on when I can’t decide what tea to drink or don’t feel like having anything too extreme. It’s light and surprisingly wonderful.

Loved it – and that took some of us by surprise. Although we like Ceylon teas, I didn’t expect to like this one, this much! It’s light, but certainly makes an impact on the taste buds. Very refreshing, very thirst quenching – but what a wonderful way to quench it. It is a subtle tea, but very persuasive about being so.

We brewed this one a little longer than we usually brew our teas – we tend to go for shorter rather than longer. Our usual, preferred black tea brewing time is usually under 3 minutes. We also tested this at our standard 2 minutes 30 seconds for black tea and found all the flavors there. The 3 minutes plus only served to enhance them.

Dry, the leaves were long, tightly curled and thin. They had the dark, bright color that is expected from fresher teas. This Ceylon is a standard “regional” tea and is one of the basic examples of black tea.

Finally finished this one off! Today it made a nice, malty cup. A bit darker than the last one. Has a nice citrus zest to it. Like an orange peel or something . I like it but it’s not my favorite from Adagio. I probably won’t end up ordering this again just because it was nothing special to me and I think Adagio has a few teas that are better.

Came back from a walk at the beach feeling absolutely parched for a cup of tea. This tea is exactly what i was looking for – bright, refreshing and very thirst quenching.