Adagio is one of those unique companies that you can easily forget about and then rediscover later.
While I had originally passed off Adagio as just another run of the mill tea stores like Teavana but with this most recent sample I searched around their website to discover I was wrong.
Adagio is a unique beast of a store. This tea comes from a special section of their website called Masters by Adagio Teas.
They feature the tea, no tisanes, from Master tea farmers from China, India, Taiwan, and Japan.
This unique tea comes from farmer Yang Ai Fang in China. Though Tieguanyin is traditionally processed as an oolong tea, Yang Ai Fang decided to try something different.
It resulted in a unique brew with a golden honey liquor color. The wet leaves have a musty, stone fruit aroma.
This no astringency tea has flavors of slight chocolate undertones with somewhat floral and fruity overtones.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Master Teas by Adagio Teas
Description
Tie Guan Yin, often translated as Iron Goddess of Mercy or Iron Buddha, is a variety of Chinese oolong tea. However, this version takes the classic Tie Kuan Yin leaves and processes them in a black tea style. This unique combination culminates in the velvet savory texture of black tea with the unique floral charm of traditional Tie Guan Yin tea. When brewed, this intriguing handcrafted tea has a reddish-brown liquor that hints towards dark chocolate and a whispery licorice finish. A Masters Teas favorite!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jungpana Tippy Musk Black Tea/Udyan Tea – Skysamurai-
Jungpana Tippy Musk Black is a cross between full leaf and CTC. Meaning all have been cut but not all have been cut to be small like many do for tea bags. This one unfortunately isn’t listed on their website.
This does, however, give me insight into what their teas are like. No dry leaf aroma but the luscious scent emanating from the wet leaf more then makes up for it.
So earthy!
A wonderful mix of forest floor, wet wood, and musty mahogany. The flavor is also wonderfully earthy with with no astringency. It has a clean mouth feel and smooth finish. If you haven’t yet been to the Udyan website go head over there and give it a look.
They have many teas waiting to be discovered.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Udyan Tea
Description
This tea is no longer available on the site but click below for more offerings.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Caramel Brownie/T2 – Super Starling –
I grabbed this bad boy in a T2Tea shop in a bougie bit of Boston. One sniff and I was smitten. It smells like fudge. I added it to my pile. (My husband generously and diplomatically did not comment this pile’s financial end-sum.)
The tea itself, upon brewing, becomes a nice cloudy light brown and still smells great. That’s exciting. I let the anticipation build.
T2Tea promises that the brew is “so mouthwatering it rivals Mum’s homemade brownies!” I mean, how charming is that? “Mum”? They’re Australian.
All right. Time to try it.
Oh my! The caramel! The chocolate! It DOES taste like my Mom (not “mum”) might have made it. It’s warm, gooey, and moist (it’s a hot liquid, so obviously). It’s smooth. It’s basically, yes, hot chocolate; the insides of a cookie; or one of those brownies you stab and the goo comes out.
My American Mom makes her brownies from a box, but let’s not knock the box. There are food scientists calibrating that box. Those are good, brave, hardworking people with focus groups and academic credentials. They uncringingly use the word “mouthfeel”.
They do a great job, and so does T2. Nice work, guys. I like this one!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: T2
Description
A baker’s blend of rich chocolate and gooey caramel – so mouthwatering it rivals Mum’s homemade brownies!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jin Jun Mei/Tealyra -CuppaGeek-
I’ve recently found that I’m getting more and more into straight teas. I’ve tried a few flavored teas to recently but I just felt that pull to pull out my gaiwan and experiment. I’ve found myself eager to sit down and spend the time to enjoy the tea sip by sip in smaller quantities and this tea is a beautiful example of why.
Not too long ago, I brewed this tea up in the traditional western fashion- teapot, few scoops of tea with water prepped at a bit below boiling, steeped for a few minutes, poured into my tea cup and enjoyed. While the tea was tasty with soft chocolate notes , I wanted to see how the flavor would change if brewed with gong fu style.
Now when I do gong fu, I do a modified version that works with not only my crazy busy job but my house in a whole. I don’t get too deep into measuring and making sure everything is on point. I 100% should because I’ve over leafed and under leafed on more occasions than I would like to admit, but in the same- I have a very go go go 8-5 and after work so I have just decided to pour and go. Eventually I’ll get to the point where I measure out the night before so I’m all prepared for the next day. Please forgive me that I don’t have all of the measurements to how exactly I steeped up this ditty.
Using my gaiwan, I popped in some leaf and water at 200F. Gave the leaves a quick rinse and quickly added in more water to go about my first infusion.
-First infusion: Delicious toffee notes with a small hint of chocolate and no astringency and a hint of malt. At this point, we are talking dessert tea here. Really lovely and nice. Can not get enough and the brew was gone in no time.
-Second infusion: Still those same delicious toffee notes but the chocolate touches are becoming a bit stronger.
-Third Infusion: Toffee notes are pretty distant now and the chocolate notes have also subsided a bit with the malt touches and a new astringency coming in.
-Fourth Infusion: The astringency is really the power player at this point and I’m thinking about taking the leaves to make a cold brew. Not a huge fan of super astringent teas and the brew is taking a turn in that direction.
Now, I was working the whole time I enjoyed this tea so probably if I would have timed the steeps, etc- the tea would have probably lasted for more infusions to my liking. All in all, love the adventure this tea took me on. I’m a big fan of this black tea anyway so I was excited to try a more intimidate way to enjoy the tea.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tealyra
Description
|
Jin Jun Mei (Beautiful Golden Eyebrow in Mandarin) is a famous Chinese tea known for its deep auburn golden hue and delicate slender leaves, like a beautiful women’s eyebrow. It is one of the most beloved Chinese teas, grown and produced in Fujian province. In the springtime, the two small leaves are plucked from the stem and allowed to fully oxidize; this full oxidation gives Jin Jun Mei its deep and malty aromatic profile. Jin Jun Mei is made of slim black and gold tips, covered in a delicate golden fuzz. Once steeped, it has a smooth body and well rounded mouth-feel; its taste is sweet, honey-like, malty, velvety smooth and has hints of vanilla. Jin Jun Mei is best enjoyed straight, and try multiple steeping it multiple times! |
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Black Thai Tropical/Tiesta Tea- Ashmanra-
Black Thai Tropical was very different from what I expected! Since it comes from the Energizer line I was expecting a cup of deeply colored, strong black tea with some fruit flavors, but when I opened the pouch I saw mostly dried fruit pieces – big ones! – with bits of black tea clinging to them. It was extremely aromatic and I could have sworn I smelled lime but it isn’t listed in the ingredients.
This steeped up to a medium golden color, looking more like a fruit infusion than a black tea. I tried it both hot and plain, and iced with sugar, so let’s start with hot.
I felt no need for sugar in this. It is quite “citrus fruity” with the papaya and mango giving a very different vibe than most fruit teas that seem to rely heavily on apple and hibiscus with spices like cinnamon and clove. This is a bright, refreshing change from that. I don’t feel like I am drinking a cup of black tea. The fruit is center stage. With as little black tea as I see in the pouch, I wonder how much caffeine is actually in this. I don’t mind, as I don’t seek out caffeine and if I have too much of it in the afternoon I will be up all night!
I tried it as iced sweet tea because it is ridiculously hot and humid where I live and we guzzle
tons of iced tea here. I grew up on super sweet Southern iced black tea, and I am loving icing all different kinds now. I have pulled back the amount of sugar considerably from what we made when I was growing up.
I think I liked this best as an iced tea. The aroma is amazing! The fruit flavor is really citrusy and bright, and the papaya and mango make it more unique than most of the fruit blends I run into. It was fantastically refreshing and also went very well with a meal.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tiesta Tea
Description
This tropical trio combines the power of black tea with the bursting flavors of pineapple and mango to create a force strong enough to take down any to-do list. You’ve got exotic places to go, people to see, and the world at your fingertips; this Energizer blend is the one to get you there.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
