Do you enjoy creamy molasses/caramel flavors against a deep black base? If you do, well, I’ve got just the thing for you (INCLUDING SPRINKLES): Adagio’s Birthday Tea.
If I were to liken it to something — and you guys know I BASICALLY ALWAYS DO — I’d say this is a caramel fudge treat you buy yourself on your way out of an amusement park. You’re sunburned. Your stomach is jumpy from soda and roller coasters. You are holding a prize you’ve won that’s made of oddly slick polyester and crumbly stuffing. Your clothing is still damp from that splash ride. Your hair is fluffing out from your head in a dizzy halo. This treat melts in your mouth and your hand as you try to remember where you parked the car. You wipe your hand off on your shorts and stride off in what you think is the right direction, friends in tow.
It wasn’t the right direction. Where on earth did you put that car, already?
You’ll find it eventually. In the meantime, you’re enjoying the sweetness in your mouth and the streaky, saturated sunset.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
A treat for any day of the year! A tasty blend of vanilla, cream, and a touch of caramel. The inclusion of rainbow sugar sprinkles adds a festive note and makes this tea perfect for celebrating your special day.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Red Suspenders. . .A Torchwood Blend from Adagio Teas. . .
Adagio Teas offers such a unique service for geeks/nerds like myself. Being a huge Doctor Who/Torchwood fan, I had to check out Adagio Teas Signature Blends to see if anybody had created a blend dedicated to Captain Jack Harkness. . .and was I ever pleased when I saw that someone had created such a blend.
Red Suspenders is a blend of Vanilla Green, Orange, Mocha Nut Mate, with Chocolate Chips as an added accent flavor. Right off the bat, this tea had a strong hazelnut chocolate flavor. Not being a huge hazelnut fan or really a big chocolate guru, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this tea, but thought this would be a great way to start my day off.
Since this is a tea made up of different tea blends, I stayed on the side of caution and brewed this tea with water prepped up at 190F and allowed to brew for three minutes and cool for two more. I took my first sip and wow, was I ever glad I decided to drink this first thing in the morning.
This tea delivers a solid sweet yet nutty flavor that really gets you moving. The vanilla green tea adds a sweet start, while the flavored black orange tea provides a malty touch. I can’t say I really was able to get much of the orange flavor. A well balanced nutty finish ends each sip which is eagerly provided by Adagio’s Mocha Nut Mate. Even though I can smell the chocolate aroma, I can’t say I really can pick up much of a chocolate taste. Another flavor that is hidden in this blend.
I brewed myself up another cup and enjoyed this round as a latte and I have to say that is where this tea shines. The frothed milk really gave this tea a touch of creaminess that really made my morning.
Being that this tea is one of Adagio’s Signature Blends, you really never know if this tea will be a hit or a miss. Being that this tea is one created in Captain Jack’s honor, I’m glad it was a total hit!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black/Green/Yerba Mate
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
Everyone loves a man in red suspenders- just take Captain Jack Harkness’ word. Now your tea can have red suspenders, too. Melty chocolate and orange meet vanilla in this blend- how could you resist?
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Whouffle From Adagio’s Signature Blends
Being a Whovian, I have a soft spot for anything Doctor Who related. Especially for any Doctor Who teas. I can’t get enough of them. So I just had to try this one.
This particular blend even screams out more to me since it isn’t an earl grey blend. Whouffle is a blend of almond and raspberry black teas mixed with vanilla oolong. There is also a generous dose of cinnamon thrown in. With Adagio Signature Blends, they can heavy with the black teas and taste muddy. This has to be one of the best ones I’ve ever had.
Think about a gorgeous dessert comprised of an almond crust topped with a lush raspberry filling with a drizzle of a cinnamon syrup. That is what this tea tastes like. All of the flavors are insanely smooth and bursting with flavor. I’m literally on my fourth infusion of the tea and although the flavors are weaker, this tea is still on point. I’ve even thrown in a shot of bourbon just to enjoy my evening even more.
Each sip of this tea has you wanting for more. This tea is sweet, smooth, and full of flavors. A wonderful substitute for any leftover Halloween candy that you might still be snacking on.
Whouffle will be a tea that I start buying in the big boy size from now on. And I would encourage everyone to do the same- even if you are a Doctor Who fan or not.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Oolong/Black Tea Blend
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
Light, sweet, and fluffy, with crisp raspberry jam. Souffles and jammy dodgers for the sweetest, fluffiest OTP ever. Carry this tea with you on your first journey through time and space, and you will miraculously never spill a drop!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Halloween Caramel Apple from Woodie Barnes-McWhirter, An Adagio Signature Blend
It’s Halloween! Time for all the things to go bump in the night come out and play. I’ve always been a huge Halloween fan and love all the scary movies and scary television themed shows. My kiddos and I are especially fond of Halloween Wars on Food Network. We love watching the pumpkin carvers and bakers create amazing spooky scenes.
So the other night while we were watching our Halloween shows, I brewed up a tea pot of this lovely brew. I’m quite a fan of Adagio Signature Blends. Ever once in a while you do end up with a heavy handed blend, but for the most part, they are pretty good and are fun.
This particular blend of different black teas- Candy Apple, Caramel, and Vanilla. Brewed up and allowed to steep for a few minutes, this tea delivers on that sweetness you would expect from a tea named Halloween Caramel Apple.
The caramel and vanilla flavors are what come across the most with that candy apple flavor following behind. The black tea base is a bit heavy but topped off with a bit of cream, that heaviness really mellows out. I almost wish the apple flavoring was a bit stronger but with the dessert like notes, it still works.
A great tea for the spooky night and one we will be brewing up again. I think this time we will top the tea with some whip cream and some pumpkin sprinkles to add a bit of flair to the tea. That would be a treat!
This tea is enough of a sweet that it should keep me out of the kids’ candy buckets this Halloween. At least let’s hope so!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
Its not Halloween…until you taste a caramel apple. This blend consist of Candy Apple (Caramel and Apple) with more Caramel and some Vanilla black teas.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Happily Headless (Custom Blend) from Adagio Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/Green
Where to Buy: Adagio
Tea Description:
You’ll lose your head over your loyalty to this kingly brew!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
WARNING: POTENTIAL GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS
(But really this is season one so if you’re not aware of this you might be living under a rock…)
I have to say, I’m quite happy I watched enough GoT to understand the character reference here! I’ve really only seen the first two seasons and part of the third. I think the ingredients picked out by this blender are pretty well thought out too; though I do think there might just be a bit more “Fire” than “Ice” – although to be fair there certainly are a lot of very visable candy cane pieces in the dry leaf. Aun-Juli Riddle is a pretty good blender; in particular her Doctor Who blends tend to be pretty good and well thought out.
This is essentially a Chai, though an unconventional one, so I wasn’t the most excited about this blend because I’m not a Chai fan myself, but it came out pretty tasty! The clove is easily the strongest flavour here, and since that’s the one ‘conventional’ Chai spice that I personally feel you can never have too much of that works very well in my favor.
The rest of the flavour is pretty nice too; there’s an even dispersal of ginger, cardamom and cinnamon with just the faintest little touch of smoke from the Lapsang. It’s not enough smoke for people who are fearful of Lapsang to be worried about, though. The candy cane isn’t as strong as I expected given how much I could see in the leaf and the fact that this is inspired by Ned Stark which obviously ties into the whole “Winter Is Coming”/Ice thing. It is present, but subtly so and it’s more acting as a sweetener than really contributing any strong mint flavour. The finish is a little bit peppery, with maybe a touch too much cardamom.
Overall I think this is better than most Adagio fan blends though; they tend to get pretty muddled because blenders pick out ingredients that are either too similar so there’s no contrast or playing off one another or they pick ingredients that fit the ‘character’ but clash with one another/don’t compliment each flavour. This kind of avoids that for the most part, while still being fairly thoughtful.
I definitely wanted more “ice” – but maybe it’s poetic irony that the “fire” was the most dominant thing…
