Adagio Teas

Day 4 of the DIY Adagio calendar. I intentionally saved this for bedtime because the name makes it seem like it would be soothing. Unfortunately, it seems to actually be better suited to being a mid-morning tea soda, filling the gaps between cups of caffeinated tea. The dry leaf smells like sweet lemonade. The brew itself is conspicuously missing any tartness. What I have instead is a candy-like lemon sweetness and the barest whisper of lavender. There’s a thing about how a proper dry martini is made with gin and a glance at the vermouth bottle. That’s what this blend reminds me of – candy lemon with a glance at the lavender. This is drinkable, I can see where in the flavor portfolio it fits, but it just isn’t what I expected at all. And for what it is, it’s missing depth and complexity to make it great.

Day 3 of DIY Adagio advent. This is one of the better Adagio blends I’ve had, I think. The banana flavor is sweet but falls just short of being candy-like. I can’t quite place the nut here – maybe walnut? – but it’s definitely nutty. And honeybush is the perfect base for this. The overall effect is very “banana nut muffin.” I’d happily drink this again.

I placed a BF order with Adagio for some basic essentials. It came with so many samples that I was able to DIY a 12-day Adagio advent! Once I catch up on the first few, I’ll probably slot these in to alternate with the Tea Thoughts tea days. Day 1 is this blend. I accidentally oversteeped by 10 minutes and only had enough leaf for one cup, so this is probably not a reflection of how it’s optimally meant to taste. It’s not bad, though. Like peach gummy candy flavor on a woody rooibos base. Not amazing, but serviceable, and would probably be tasty iced.

ETA: The cup cooled before I could finish it, and I did not in fact find this pleasant as an iced tea. The flavors sort of separated? Like they blended decently when it was hot but once it cooled, they became discordant and the peach took on a more chemical-y quality, for lack of a better descriptor.

I didn’t hate this, even though it’s absolutely a strong toasted coconut. The white base worked well for me and I think I preferred having no fruit to try and compete with the coconut. I wouldn’t buy more but it wasn’t bad.

Adagio advent day 3

Adagio advent day 2

I expected something else given the ingredient list, but the cinnamon is the strongest flavor by far, and it’s more like hot cinnamon candy. Honestly, I’m not mad about it – I’ve wanted to find a tea like this without the rooibos base and here we are. Occasionally something else comes through – a hint of ginger, a bit of pepper – but it’s mostly cinnamon candy and I could see myself enjoying small cups of this as an occasional treat.

Adagio Advent Day 1

This one was fun and festive. Right after the brew it was stronger in mint and ginger with a general creaminess I wouldn’t have identified as chocolate (though the smell gave more mint cocoa). As it cooled I lost the ginger, but it became a clearer mint chocolate with an excellent balance. Both versions were tasty.

Some days you want a tea to wake you up, sometimes you want to be soothed. This is one of those teas I reach for when I’ve had a less than excellent day.

The tea tastes gentle. It’s the liquid version of a pastry from your childhood. If you tried the pastry itself today it would taste of nothing but sugar… but that memory…

The marzipan and cherry blend beautifully, layered on top of a smooth oolong. Not too astringent, no bitterness, and wonderfully fragrant, it holds its own even with the added notes.

I love to wrap myself around a warm cup and disappear from the world for a while. Nothing touches me with this tea as fuzzy memory armor. Uncomplicated taste, uncomplicated joy, simple sophistication.

10/10

I’ve been on hiatus for quite a while…again. And the holiday season is upon us, so things are about to get even busier. However, I have been sitting on quite a few new teas to try, so here’s hoping I can get some reviews posted.

This one immediately hit me with the scent of chocolate and hazelnut from the moment I opened the bag. The taste was a delightful combination of both – just the right amount without being overpowering or feeling like I’m drinking an actual mocha. Overall, this was an enjoyable blend.

Sipdown 70 – 2024

Much like most of the other unblended Adagio teas I’ve tried, this is just boring. Maybe slightly floral, but overall a touch muddled and blah tasting.

Single-serving portion from a tea friend.

This is fine, as I would expect. I like citrus, so the orange and lemon is nice enough. Definitely an essential oil sort of flavor, as there’s no tartness to this. The base is a generic Chinese sencha, with mostly hay and dry grass notes.

Drinkable, but not something I would order. I’m definitely a bit of a green tea snob these days ha ha.

Sipdown! (1 | 144)

So this was a random sample that I picked up at some point, maybe when I ordered Nightmare Before Christmas teas for fall? Speaking of which, because this has lapsang and hazelnut, it actually does remind me a bit of the This Is Halloween blend.

It’s nicely balanced, the smoke isn’t overwhelming and neither is the somewhat creamy hazelnut flavor. However, I wish I tasted more of the other things. I get cinnamon and maybe a hint of clove, but definitely not anise, and the orange is extremely subtle – mostly I get a hint of zest in the finish. And because of that, I prefer This Is Halloween. That one has apple, which I think helps bridge the gap and tie everything together. If this had a stronger orange flavor, I think I would like it at a lot. But as-is, it feels like it’s missing something to me.

I understand that there’s a massive cult following with this tea due to its appearance every Leap Year. I’ve been sitting on my sample for a long time from the second to last order received from Adagio (I had a few ounces ordered amongst the lost/last order, and Adagio never made it right…I’ve since parted ways after having lost $100 of tea + awards.) Maybe it’s the sample or me, but the tea is okay. It has all the components of a good breakfast tea, but without the 3oz, I’ll never know if it was the uneven portion from the sample or the tea itself.

Sip Down/Backlog

I thought that this was going to be much stronger than the mug offered. The dry material was quite spice heavy; unfortunately, the flavor fell short. I left my tea bag in the cup the second time around and it still didn’t give out much flavor…Light spices and no hint of the honeybush.

Loose black tea. Kind of taste like their Keemun Concerto and Yunnan Sourcing’s Premium Grade AA Jin Jun Mei, not surprising for a Fujian black tea. Malty sweetness but one noted. No bitterness, tartness, or astringency.

I got this from the portions sampler and I feel at this price point you might want to look at other brands first.

sold for $14/ 2oz

https://www.adagio.com/black/golden_monkey.html

I love a green oolong, but this is just not good. Smells like raw pumpkin. Tastes like stale old seaweed. Very dusty/old tasting.

Slightly floral. Slight muscatel flavor. A bit muddy and an unidentifiable mix of flavors. A touch astringent.

Loose black tea. Dry leaves have a minty smell, the tea turned out pretty floral even though it’s not as sweet as I wish. I wouldn’t say it taste malty. A little astringent after a while, but definitely not bad at all.

Currently it is out of stock and mine came from the portions sampler. I don’t know how much the price is for this.

https://www.adagio.com/black/assam_melody.html

Loose black tea. This tea reminds me of Yunnan Sourcing’s Jinjunmei sampler somehow. Dry leaves smell like spicy chocolate, the tea came out malty when I was expecting a wine like profile. This taste similar to YS’s Premium Grade AA Jin Jun Mei but a tad less malty. The wet leaves have a similar burnt smell too but not as potent.

I don’t hate this tea, but it’s weird how much this tastes like a souchong.

sold for $10/ 2oz

https://www.adagio.com/black/keemun_concerto.html

Loose oolong tea. Dry leaves smelled like dried carrots, the brewed tea smells like a standard bai hao oolong. First sip did not have muscat flavor, I left the grandpa style brew on the table to vacum the house and had another sip afterwards, the tea then tasted like a bai hao. The tea tastes like a very standard bai hao with a tiny bit of astringency.

Very odd that this didn’t immediately taste like a bai hao, never happened to other bai haos I own. It did deliver on flavors though.

sold for $14/1.5 oz

https://www.adagio.com/oolong/formosa_fancy.html

Loose black tea. Dry leaves contains visible gold hair, smell of chili chocolate. The taste….it’s like a muted puer tea. A bit of cocoa, light astringency, a bit of wood rose afterwards, it doesn’t have a lot of other flavors and it’s lacking in sweetness. Leaves are pretty broken. I’ve had tea bags that tasted better than this.

It’s not expensive so I’m not extremely upset, I bought the Black teas of China sample pack but this can be bought separately.

sold for $9/2oz

https://www.adagio.com/black/yunnan_jig.html

Sipdown 63 – 2024

Meh. This was fine. Inoffensive, but forgettable.

Sipdown 60- – 2024

Chocolate covered raisin. Really easy to drink.