Turmeric Bliss

Adagio CommuniTEA – April 2nd, 2023

This smelled really good in the packet, a nice mix of turmeric and golden fruits.

However, it tastes really bland to me. I only used 8 ounces of water because there wasn’t a lot in the packet and it’s quite fruit-heavy. Even still, it tastes weak. I can taste turmeric and a little of the ginger and black pepper. There’s a hint of artificial tropical fruitiness, along with a hint of orange. Something is giving it a somewhat soapy aftertaste, I assume it must be the flavoring since I don’t see another possible source.

Not a winner for me.

Sipdown 56

An okay blend. A bit of a fruity/citrus thing going on. A bit of cinnamon. I can’t taste any of the turmeric. Meh.

Obviously not that pure tumeric taste but pretty good, but needs a generous sized tsp/cup ratio to pull through. Would buy 3oz again for regular stock, unless I had the tumeric+ginger combo from Vahdam, which is so much nicer without any fruit added to the tumeric.

Today has been one of those “my GI tract is trying to kill me” days, and my ginger offerings have been (mostly) exhausted (I at least used up all my bulk ginger from the co-op in San Francisco, and it’ll be a long time coming before I can go back there… I could only find the powdered kind at my local grocery and that just is not what I want, meh).

I thought turmeric might be the next best thing, especially since most turm blends include ginger. And I’ve had this sampler forever. I’m used to turm blends being spicy but this appears to be more apple than anything looking at the dry contents. The brewed tea is a sharp marigold color and smells like a more earthy sort of apple spice tea. The flavor is actually pretty nice; I am a spice wuss and have had turm teas that knocked my socks off, that I could only drink with ample amounts of milk to cut the spice, but this is a mild, sweet tea. Honestly, I’d have a hard time telling it is a turm/ginger tea at all; the main spice note I’m getting is cinnamon, not ginger. The base is heavily apple, and I’m getting a strong stonefruit note too (it has mango flavoring apparently, and lately my palate has been reading mango flavor more as peach/apricot). So I’m getting a sort of apple/peach cinnamon tea, with a sort of earthy, rooty touch to the flavor toward the finish. A little warming toward the back of the tongue, but not spicy. It’s fine overall, but I doubt there is anything special about it compared to any of the other turm teas that seem to be making the rounds these days… of course, I haven’t tried very many either, so I may not be the best judge of that statement.

This was surprisingly weak/flat/watery to me. I mean, for a blend with Turmeric & Lemonade I just expected a lot more body and warmth/heat. Though, the subtle little pop of orange/mango flavour was nice. One way or the other (turmeric or fruit) there just needed to be more.

This tea tastes mostly like apple, which was actually a relief since I’ve had a more accurate turmeric tea in the past that was pretty unpleasant. I’m not a huge fan of apple teas, but this one did taste pretty good. I wouldn’t order this again, and I’m not even sure why I ordered it in the first place. I’ll refrain from rating this tea since I’m not its intended audience.

10min steep because I was in the middle of rearranging my tea cabinet when I decided this was my brew of choice, but it’s still within the recommended allotment, so it’s all good.

It’s beautiful in the bag – big chunks of apple, golden threads of marigold leaves – and it steeps to an enticing gold that smells of citrus and warmth. Each sip is softly fruity with a heat that trails along just at the end (the pepper I’d assume); as the tea cools it becomes more prominently citrusy without losing the heat.

My only complaint with this is that the flavour isn’t exactly robust. I think I was more in the mood for a heavier mouthfeel or more lingering aftertaste for my first cup of the day, so I’ll have to try this again as an evening brew.

…

Second steep and I think I’ve figured out what it was needing! I added about 1/4 tsp of ground ginger to the basket and gave it a solid 15 min @ 212 – the fruit flavours have dropped back a bit, but there’s earthiness from the turmeric and pepper that slides into a heavy, lingering ginger aftertaste.

I’d give the mix + ginger a solid 84, but stand by my rating for the unaltered version.

Cinnamon is the first thing I get, followed by an herbal orange fruitiness. A little mango? And it’s not in the taste, but there’s a warm earthiness in the scent that must be the turmeric. It would be great in the cooler months too because of the cinnamon and ginger with a trace of pepper in the background (it lingers on the tongue). A warming fruity tea! Weird but good!