Adagio Custom Blends, Bran Mydwynter

Another sample tin I picked up just because I hadn’t tried it, and a lot of the other blends in this series are very good.

This is definitely better than Sandy Claws, and actually a bit similar in that it also has a chocolate mint vibe. But here, there’s no strawberry, and there’s a mocha-flavored yerba mate, so it ends up tasting like a peppermint mocha. Fairly well-balanced between coffee, chocolate, and peppermint. I could do without the chocolate chips, which always leave that gross oil slick on top of my mug.

It’s a bit like a lesser (IMO) version of my favorite Winter Cabin from Old Barrel. If I didn’t love that one so much, I would maybe consider reordering this. Alas, it simply cannot compare! :P

Picked up a sample of this one and Scary Christmas, as they were the only two from the Nightmare Before Christmas fandom set that I hadn’t tried yet. They’re both chocolate teas, which is why I left them out of my initial sampling, not being a fan of chocolate flavoring.

This tastes less weird than it sounds. It’s a mix of chocolate mint rooibos, strawberry black tea, and hazelnut berry puerh. I’m not generally a big fan of mint with berries, especially in tea, where the mint is generally much stronger than it would be in, say, a fruit salad with a bit of mint added in. But this is mostly chocolate to me, like a Tootsie Roll with a bit of mint in it. I do get a touch of the strawberry, but mostly it’s fake chocolate and mint.

Fine, but not my preference.

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The last one from my Nightmare Before Christmas fandom blends!

Another chocolate tea that I was surprised to enjoy. This is a mix of puerh and black tea with chocolate, caramel, and spice. It ends up tasting a bit like a Mexican hot chocolate to me, although without the chili. The spice is probably the strongest flavor, but I wouldn’t call it “strong” per se. And then the chocolate is there adding richness and sweetness, and there’s a hint of caramel as well. I like the mix of black tea and puerh, there’s a nice, deep, earthy quality, but I do feel like it would be too much if it was all puerh.

Happy to say I enjoyed almost all of these teas, even the chocolate ones. My faves were Town Meeting and This is Halloween, but all of them were good. There are a couple that are out of stock that I want to try, so will have to review them at a later date!

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Been nursing a mug of this all day and just now getting around to writing a note… Way too much work happening today, ha ha.

This was one of my favorites from this series! Nice balance of smoky, savory lapsang with rich hazelnut and a touch of spice. Couldn’t possibly be more autumnal if it tried! The smoke is very present but not overwhelming, and it just makes for a surprisingly tasty combo with the almost creamy hazelnut flavoring. I think the spice and hint of apple helps bridge the gap a little, too.

Very nice, and one that I would consider ordering.

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This was nice, one of my favorites from the bunch. Tastes like gingerbread, heavy on the molasses, plus then there’s extra dried ginger which gives it a spicy kick. And since this is the last cup, with all the extra ginger bits at the bottom, it’s even spicier ha ha! I don’t taste the chestnut or vanilla outright, but I feel like those sweet and rich flavors are probably contributing to the cookie-esque quality of the gingerbread.

I already have some other gingerbread teas I love, but this one is very nice also. Especially for a slightly spicier take on gingerbread!

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This one was pretty nice. It’s a mix of Foxtrot (chamomile & mint tisane with vanilla), peppermint, and a decaf vanilla black tea. Plus then there are cute little candy cane pieces!

As you might expect, it has a soft peppermint and vanilla flavor with some mellow herbal notes. I actually like the combination of the more herbaceous peppermint with the sweeter candy cane, and also the gentle pollen notes of the chamomile make it very soothing as an evening tea.

Not sure I would order more of it, since I already have some other candy cane and similar teas. I do like that this one is caffeine-free though. We’ll see!

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This one is fine. It’s a green chai with hojicha, and supposedly vanilla. I do taste a little bit of the hojicha toastiness, but mostly it’s just the same “spice flavoring” as every other blend, but this time on a green base. I don’t notice any vanilla to speak of.

Meh!

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This was nice enough. Honestly I was surprised to not taste much vanilla? Two of the three teas here are vanilla-flavored, so not sure how that happened. Mostly it tastes like their Honeybush Pumpkin Chai, but with a slightly more realistic spice flavor due to the extra spices in the mix. The ginger in particular stands out.

Tasty enough, but not a favorite. Not sure what’s “latte” about it, unless that just means they expect you to prepare it as a latte.

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This one surprised me a bit. It has chocolate flavoring in it, which I am generally not a fan of. However, I enjoyed this one and it does remind me of some sort of caramelly candy bar. I think it’s probably because there’s much more caramel flavoring than there is chocolate, and there are also cocoa nibs. The other interesting thing is this also has an apple black tea mixed in, which gives a hint of fruity candy.

I think it perfectly embodies the concept, tastes just like some amalgamation of candy that I would expect to get while trick or treating. I don’t think I’ll go out and order a bag, but it’s a fun tea and I wouldn’t mind having some around for Halloween next year as well. :)

#OctoberTeas2024 Day 1 – “Chai/Spice”

Doing a fun tea challenge on Instagram for October, so I figured I might as well post the teas here as well! (it’s by @talesnteacups if anyone else is interested in playing along)

Ended up ordering a bag of this one (along with This is Halloween and Trick or Treat) last month as a fun fall tea purchase. I also want Man’s Best Ghost but figured that’s more holiday vibes with the candy canes, so I’ll wait on it.

Anyway, enough rambling (lmao). This is such a nice, cozy tea for autumn. Primarily a gingery chai, but then the sweet apple and rich chestnut add a bit of something special that takes it in a dessert-ier direction. I do wish I tasted the hojicha, but I think it does help lighten the body a bit, which is nice for sipping it neat.

Not an amazing tea by any stretch, but perfect for the season. Also highly recommend Town Meeting in the same series for a similar but more gingerbread-y flavor.

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I quite like this one – the apple chai and chestnut make for a cozy and somewhat desserty combination. I seem to have gotten rather a lot of ginger in this last cup, I guess the pieces might have fallen to the bottom a bit because I don’t remember Spiced Apple Chai being quite so gingery. There’s something slightly gingerbready about it, I guess from the chestnut black tea mixed with the spices of the apple chai. But I still taste some apple as well, so perhaps some kind of gingerbread bar with apple jam layered in. Sadly I don’t taste hojicha.

I don’t know if I would go out and order a big bag of this, but I would consider picking up some more next fall. Although it is a bit close to some other gingerbread teas I already have…

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So I ordered a whole bunch of these Nightmare Before Christmas fandom teas from Adagio, because a friend (Marjorie AKA knittingopera) had recommended one of them in one of her empties videos. Of course, somehow that translated into me ordering almost all of them that were available. Funny how that works… :P

I’ve kind of been saving them, but I figured since it’s mid-October now, I should probably get to work on sipping through the little tins. This one is a blend of pumpkin spice black tea, coconut black tea, and vanilla oolong. It smells wonderful dry, like a sort of pumpkin spice and eggnog combo. But I don’t find that it translates very well to the actual flavor, there’s not a lot of creaminess going on and I don’t really get vanilla. The coconut is almost a touch soapy? Not sure if the shreds are old or if it’s just coming off that way.

So mostly I get mediocre black tea with a touch of spice and a bit of soapy coconut. Definitely a far cry from the amazing dry scent. Oh well, coconut teas are never my favorite anyway so I can’t be too upset ha ha.

Happy Halloween Steepster friends!

Hope everyone had a great day and lots of fun themed teas! This is one of several Halloween teas I steeped up this past week while enjoying some Halloween themed movie nights. I love the smokiness in this blend from the lapsang, but paired with that hint of sweet almond and the pleasant spice undertones. It’s not a flavour combination I would generally associate with Halloween but it’s delicious all the same.

Sipped on a mug of this one last week while watching Nightmare Before Christmas, which was the perfect combination of tea and Halloween classic movies! I loved the combination of Lapsang and the assorted spices a lot more than I thought I would – it was toasty and smoky but the sweetness of the apple and warming cinnamon notes also made it feel really cozy on top of that full bodied/intense flavour. Really enjoyable; I think in general Adagio’s Lapsang just works SO WELL in these fandom blends!

Yup, this is smoky. I’m not getting any hazelnut or apple. Just smokeeeeee ( and maybe a little bit of cinnamon/cloves). But mostly BBQ smoke.

This is SMOKY. The combination of the lapsang and blend of spices makes it very much a BBQ experience. I actually like it, I just chose the wrong time to drink it (it’s 100degrees outside). This will be excellent when it’s chilly out.

Yup….still not loving this one. Going in the swap pile. It’s like a cinnamon apple candle. Nothing special, unfortunately.

Not loving this one. I taste apple and cinnamon, but it’s pretty thin tasting…and I’m getting a rooibos note even though there isn’t any rooibos on the ingredient list. I wish the hojicha and chestnut were more present, and I can’t taste either.