Christmas

I concur with most of my fellow tasters on this one. It looks and smells lovely as a dry tea. However, once the water steeps through it’s a bit flat (a good word for this flavor). It’s not awful and I won’t pitch it. I hate to waste anything (this has been said more than once in my tasting notes, perhaps I’m picking the wrong teas) so I’m drinking it and not suffering and a it of caffeine in the morning is never a bad thing, especially when it comes as hot tea on a cold winter morning.

August Sipdown Prompt – Strange Music Day

The music and the tea came from someone else!

This was a sample packet in the box from Nicole – many thanks! But there were TWO packets of this so I was able to make enough to have with Ashman for breakfast.
I decided strange music could be music you haven’t heard before or music that is strange. I didn’t want the algorithm to choose music for me and give me the same ol’ same ol’, so I assigned my daughter and her friend from Morocco the task of choosing a song for me. One if the comments called this “the Despacito of the Middle East”, and apparently it is an older song, perhaps from the late 1990’s?

https://youtu.be/J9PQ1dEJi0Y?si=YGnUCuFaalfXGETC

It is a very cool morning for August – only 59F – and we are celebrating this very unusual streak of cool morning weather by dining outside every time we can. We had bagels with cream cheese and cinnamon sugar so I thought this would be a good pairing.

This is a super typical Christmas tea along the lines of Constant Comment but it is milder. I am not a huge fan of clove but don’t mind it as long as it is not too prominent, and this one is in the right range for me. Clove lovers would want more.

Otherwise it is a typical black tea with cinnamon, orange, and clove that so many companies put out as their Christmas tea. It’s good for when you are in the mood for that, but this one is a bit mediocre. It doesn’t have any great attraction that would make me seek it over another brand.

Edited to add: Sent a message asking “what made you choose this particular song?” and the response was “because it is a song white people like.” Absolutely rolling in the floor laughing!

TeaTiff TTB #1

I haven’t had a chance to properly dig into the TTB until today, but I did pull a couple out to take to my dad’s house for Christmas…including this one, because how could I not???

It has that classic orange spice scent (like the classic Bigelow Constant Comment) but I found that the clove pretty much overwhelmed the orange flavor and any other spices in my cup. Not too enjoyable to drink, but it sure did smell good!

I’m amazed this doesn’t have a higher rating on here. Then again, if a tea is marketed as any kind of “fall-winter-holiday-xmas” type, there’s a great chance I’m going to adore it. This one was no exception – I thoroughly enjoy the blend of cinnamon, cardamom, clove, and whatever other spices are included. It might be 90 degrees here today but this tea brings me back to cool winds and fall scarves.

A massive backlog – found notes.

Drank this Christmas day for Christmas from Day 23 of Adagio Advent Calendar.

Disliked. A black tea with clove coming through overly strong. A late bah humbug.

A little bitter. Smells amazing, but taste doesn’t compare

This was very flavorful. The right amount of spicing in this black tea

Adventaggedon Day Twenty Two – 3/6

Well, I said I wanted more festive and Adagio’s advent went and said “You’ve got it!”. They’re really hitting hard with these last few teas. I mean, what’s more festive that Christmas itself!? How’re they gonna one up themselves tomorrow?

The tea itself was pretty nice though. A very clove forward blend of cinnamon, clove, and orange. Full bodied, brisk, and a bit tannic. It’s a flavour profile that I’ve tasted what feels like a million other places, but it’s one that I enjoy regardless of that fact – and it’s such a wintery combination. Plus, I love a good clove blend and not enough companies release them IMO. It was a solid cup!

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmfHdouubWR/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW9isc31JOE

Steep:
212°F
3 min
Metal Strainer

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: cardamon, cloves, cinnamon, citrus – christmas orange
Liquor: cloudy dark orange brown
Steeped Tea Smell: bakey, citrus, earl grey-ish
Flavor: bakey, citrus, astringent, cloves, cinnamon
Aftertaste: astringent

Re-Steep:
lighter, less cloudy
mostly the spices, a little astringency

Rating: 3/4 leaves

Leaf system:
1=Bleh! not again if it were free
2=Acceptable, if it were free or there were limited other tea options
3=I might purchase this tea from time to time, or select it while out
4=A staple in our cupboard from now on, I will purchase and keep purchasing

YouTube
opening the calendar – https://youtu.be/-pHHYvcSbks
first steep – https://youtu.be/xeVDH3KuSTs
resteep – https://youtu.be/nGwORPQjQyI

TikTok
opening the calendar – https://www.tiktok.com/circuitswan/video/7160794778181930283 first steep - https://www.tiktok.com/circuitswan/video/7160764512419826990
resteep – https://www.tiktok.com/@circuitswan/video/7160800937232125227

Blog Post – https://amazonv.blogspot.com/2022/10/adagio-teas-loose-leaf-black-tea.html

Twitter – https://twitter.com/CircuitSwan/status/1587205660571488257

Statement of Sponsorship or Advertisement:
I received this product for free in return for writing a review.

Disclaimer:
All my reviews are as unbiased as possible, whether I buy or receive free product. I accept no other compensation other than free product.

Sample from a TTB. This tastes mostly like clove and a rather boring, slightly harsh black tea. It lacks nuance and really isn’t that tasty, even with milk. We dipped gingerbread cookies in it, like I used to do with tea when I was a kid, and that made it more fun. I don’t plan on drinking this again.