Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White Tea & Herbals
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
Blood orange tisane outshines white tangerine (20 percent) and lemon grass (20 percent) in this delicious, refreshing blend. Try it iced for a homage to summer, or drink it hot to reminisce on winter days.
A Carolynne Keenan Custom Blend.
Learn more about this custom blend here.
Find more Carolynne Keenan blends here.
Taster’s Review:
I steeped this tea at 190°F for 5 minutes and even with that short a steep time, the liquid looks super dark ruby red (like hibiscus) and the texture is thicker than I hoped for. Too much hibiscus in this!
So I decided to let it cool for a while and see how it would fair as an iced drink because as a hot tea, I found the hibiscus to be too overpowering for me to enjoy it. As the tea cools, I can pick up on some of the blood orange, tangerine and lemon-y notes from the lemongrass. The hibiscus enhances the tartness of these fruit flavors which is nice. I’m not usually a big fan of tart-y beverages but when it’s “lemonade” a bit of tart is OK.
I don’t taste a lot of white tea. This tastes more like a citrus-y punch than it does a tea. Which is OK I suppose but I’m more of a tea drinker than a citrus punch drinker.
Overall, this isn’t my favorite tea from Carolynne Keenan’s collection of custom tea blends with Adagio Teas. I think that if there was a little less hibiscus and more of the fruity flavors, this would be better. I would also prefer it if it tasted more like tea than like hibiscus. Then again, you know how I feel about hibiscus. Not a bad drink, just not my favorite.
Autumn Chai Custom Blend from Adagio Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
This blend combines candy apple tea with spiced apple chai and caramel tea for an autumn explosion! Add sugar for a Halloween treat too. I added a pinch of cinnamon black tea and this chai completely rocked! If you’ve got some cinnamon tea on hand, add it for an extra kick; or blend freshly ground cinnamon for an autumn adventure.
A Carolynne Keenan Custom Blend.
Learn more about this custom blend here.
Find more Carolynne Keenan blends here.
Taster’s Review:
As I was brewing this Autumn Chai Custom Blend (created by Carolynne Keenan) from Adagio Teas, I was surprised by the scent of apple! Yeah, it says in the description that there is Spiced Apple Chai in the blend, but, with the other ingredients, I didn’t expect the apple to offer such a prominent fragrance.
I could also smell notes of cinnamon, cloves and ginger, with the cinnamon being the most pronounced of those aromatic spices. The brewed tea smells strongly of spice with hints of apple in the background.
This is pretty good. As I’ve said more than once before, I’m not crazy about the black tea base that Adagio uses as it tends to come off tasting harsh. And even though the custom blends seem to be less harsh (and sometimes not very harsh at all), I’m getting some of that harshness here. Not as much as if I were drinking one of the single flavored teas from Adagio (as opposed to the custom blends), but, there is still some of that brash astringency to this cup.
Fortunately, that harsh note isn’t too aggressive, and I am enjoying the other flavors that this drink has to offer. The cinnamon and other spices are fairly well-balanced. The cinnamon is the strongest flavor, but it doesn’t overwhelm the other spices. I taste notes of ginger, clove and cardamom. Then I get a smooth, silky sweet note of caramel. Mmm! The apple comes through shortly after I notice the caramel. In the distance, I notice a bright note of orange.
Overall, it’s an enjoyable chai. Not my favorite, because even though the harshness isn’t terribly assertive, the fact that I’m detecting it means that I’d rather it not be there. And the orange … while it does perk up the cup a little bit, it seems a little out of place. It is certainly tasty though and something I’d be willing to drink again.
One Tart Queen of Hearts Custom Blend from Adagio Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
From the Wonderland series, this is One Tart Queen of Hearts! The flavor isn’t as tart as the name would lead you to believe. A fun medley of cherry green (40 percent), raspberry green (40 percent) and pomegranate green (20 percent) teas make up this ode to one of childhood’s favorite characters. If you don’t like too tart teas, try with sweetener (sugar or Splenda).
A Carolynne Keenan Custom Blend.
Learn more about this custom blend here.
Find more of Carolynne Keenan blends here.
Taster’s Review:
This is really tasty. Despite the name of the tea – One Tart Queen of Hearts – a custom blend from Adagio Teas as created by Carolynne Keenan, it isn’t as tart as I thought it would be. It is tart, but it’s not pucker-y or sour.
I’m learning that I prefer the green teas from Adagio versus the black teas, which tend to be just a bit on the harsh side. With this green tea blend, though, I’m not experiencing any of the usual brash taste that I get from many of Adagio’s black teas. This green tea base is light and slightly buttery and adds a hint of sweet, vegetal flavor to this fruity blend.
The fruit flavors come together in a very harmonious way. I taste mostly raspberry and cherry, with only hints of pomegranate, but, I like the way these three fruit notes unite. It’s a little more tart than sweet, however, I kind of expected that from the name of the blend, you know?
But it’s not TOO tart. I tend to have kind of a sensitive palate when it comes to tarty, sour flavors, and I don’t really care for teas (or anything, really) that are too tart. I’m talking that it’s so sour that I pucker when I take a sip. Not into that. I know that there are lots of people out there who dig on that, but I’m not one of them. So, I’m happy that while this blend created by Carolynne Keenan is tart, it’s not overwhelmingly so.
A really tasty blend. I’d definitely drink it again!
Autumn’s Walk Custom Blend from Adagio Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black Tea & Honeybush
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
A caffeine-free blend, Autumn’s Walk is the perfect companion on brisk fall and winter nights. Brew a cup of this decaf vanilla, honeybush hazelnut and honeybush chocolate tea and relax peacefully.
A Carolynne Keenan Custom Blend.
Learn more about this custom blend here.
Find more of Carolynne Keenan blends here.
Taster’s Review:
I was a little skeptical about this blend when I read the description. I’m not all that crazy about Adagio’s black teas, and while I don’t recall having tried any of their decaffeinated black tea bases, because my opinion is generally less favorable of decaffeinated teas versus the caffeinated, seeing that there was an Adagio decaffeinated black tea in this blend gave me a reason to be skeptical.
But, I’m actually enjoying this Autumn’s Walk Custom Blend from Adagio Teas – a custom creation by Adagio Teas’ customer Carolynne Keenan. It’s really quite tasty.
This blend is a combination of Adagio’s vanilla decaffeinated black tea, hazelnut honeybush and chocolate honeybush, and it’s a really clever blend, indeed! The black tea isn’t a strong flavor here at all, and given my past experiences with Adagio’s black tea they use for their flavored teas, the lack of black tea flavor here is an absolute PLUS. I do taste the vanilla though, and I like the way it melds with the chocolate and hazelnut, as well as the sweet, honey-like tones of the honeybush.
It is sweet, creamy, nutty and flavorful. I don’t taste a “funky decaffeinated tea” taste in this at all, in fact, if I hadn’t been aware that there is a decaffeinated black tea in this blend, I wouldn’t have known it by taste. A really pleasant cuppa!