Adagio Teas

Another winning Adagio sample packet! Prepared as directed, infusing all 3.2 g of material in 8 oz boiling spring water for 5 min. The aroma of the dry blend was pleasant, if powerful, but it softened considerably during steeping. I was skeptical here because there is no actual banana ingredient, only a flavoring. And I’m wary of cinnamon which often overwhelms.

But my fears were wasted and, as Steepster @Kaylee mentioned a few months ago, the banana flavoring was short of being candylike. In fact, my overall impression was of flaming, buttered Bananas Foster in a banana-nut bread context, which I adore. Kaylee couldn’t identify the nut, and neither could I except for having read of the chestnut flavoring ingredient— another dubious flavoring that turns out to work quite well. I was unaware of any cinnamon unless I tried to taste it. The sweetness was quite forward, and undoubtedly results from the honeybush and the dry apple pieces. Forward, but perfectly sweet in my opinion! I counted 14 small cubes of diced apple, and the resulting flavor was of baked apple dumpling, rather than sharp green apple (nor artificial flavor), which was warming, mouthwatering, and terrific. Steepster @Ashmanra reported some time ago about having liked the chocolate flavor (from the cocoa nib ingredient) in her sample packet, whereas my sample must not have gotten any nibs, since that element was undetectable. No matter, I do like chocolate with banana and/or apple, but this tisane was fine without. The marigold petals added no flavor, but imbued the liquor with golden color to brighten the amber honeybush tint.

A re-steep following the same parameters had a softer aroma, wherein the cinnamon was gently asserting itself. The banana was less impressive, but still notable, and the sweetness vastly reduced. Still no chocolate notes. Nevertheless, it was still an enjoyable echo of the original result, and a soft landing for the evening. I will include more of this in my upcoming Adagio order, and play around with combining the first and second steeps for an improved 2 cups of ‘tea’. It’s really now one of my favorite non-caffeine dessert drinks. I’ll rate it at 89 for now, and recommend.

One stone, two birds.
First, I remember, vaguely, a challenge to steep something having ten or more ingredients. Well this has a whole spice rack of ingredients!
Second, @ashmanra suggested I give green rooibos a try, since I liked honeybush, and one of the thirteen components here is green rooibos!

So I went digging thru my teas and found Samurai Maté, from Adagio. Now, I thought yerba maté was a South American beverage, whilst Samurai are from Japan, so it seemed dubious at first thought. But we’re well beyond the jet age, so why not‽ ‽ I ripped open the sample pouch and inhaled deeply… wow! I could smell so many things, and yet nothing dominated, not even the cinnamon! Even the empty pouch carries a terrific peppery fruit scent, reminiscent of Juicyfruit gum and warm spices. Really appealing to me. They’ve excluded clove and nutmeg, thereby deftly avoiding any echo of pumpkin spice.

I brewed as directed: the entire pouch (~3 g) in 8 oz. boiling spring water for a whopping ten minutes. A deeply golden liquor resulted, from which an aromatic battle erupted, with anise, ginger, orange, cardamom, cinnamon, and almond finishing in détente: all contributing, but none dominating. My nose couldn’t discern the lemongrass, maté, rooibos, mango or pineapple. It was quite an odorific result, but pleasing to me.

While sipping, my tongue first noted the sweetness of… ? Perhaps sweet from rooibos, or mango, or pineapple, or papaya or orange. And while I can convince myself that I could taste all of the flavors at play (other than maté and rooibos), I mostly found my attention swept away by by the clamorous roar of battle on my tongue and in my sinuses. And some caffeine came from the maté (as I learned many decades ago, drinking Celestial Seasonings’ Morning Thunder blend, before high school) so this makes a good wake up! beverage in multiple ways.

Yes, there is a lot going on in this tisane. And I like every bit of it! Perhaps overly raucous or jarring to some, I found it invigoratingly welcome after a string of somewhat boring teas. Often cinnamon overpowers in blends, but it was under control in the sample pouch I drank today. I’ll rate it an 88 and remember to order some more at my next opportunity. My only regret is that I could not clearly discern a flavor from the green rooibos. No matter, I’ve ordered some of that as a straight tisane to better evaluate its properties.

I’ve never had honeybush (Cyclopia sp.) before, in any form. Despite being in the same botanical family, it differs from rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) which may account for another reviewer’s report here of not tasting rooibos.

Anyhow, my sample packet contained 2.9 g of material, which I steeped in its entirety, as directed in 8 oz. alpine spring water. The aroma of the dry material was very fragrantly fruity, almost perfumy. I could detect notes of apple bits, strawberry, and rose. The hot steeping vapors were perfumy as well, without the powdery sensation which was probably from the forest berry flavoring, but adding another element to the mix which I suspect to have been the honeybush. The taste was of mixed berries, strawberry, apple, and quite sweet (without added sweetener). I couldn’t really taste rose petals or raspberry leaves. There was no bitterness or sourness, or other obvious defects, though I wish the “natural flavoring” had been used with more restraint, as there was a pervading ‘artificial’ note in the concoction.

Overall I enjoyed the blend, and did not object to the honeybush as I do to rooibos. It’s nice to have a caffeine-free option for dessert or bedtime, without the cinnamon present as in other blends. I’ll give this a rating of 70, and it might have been higher if not for the artificial quality of the flavor.

Fujian Rain from Adagio Teas recent order. 3.1 g sample pouch in stainless steel infusion basket with 8 oz 190°F spring water for 30 sec. Dry leaf had light toasted aroma, which intensified during steeping. Tea flavor was of toasted rice, rock mineral, and a flash note of honey midway through the first steep. No astringency or bitterness, no defects, absolutely no fruit flavor or fragrance. Nondescript aftertaste and afterscent of toasted rice. Re-steep using same parameters, gave essentially the same result, except halfway through a vegetal flavor and aroma arose and the honey note persisted a bit longer. A little woodiness appeared and the toast flavor subsided a bit as I finished off the 2nd steep. A third steep used 195°F water and ran for 60 sec. By this time the leaves had fully expanded, and the toasted aroma diminished and became slightly floral. The liquor was just as amber in shade as prior steeps, but tasted more watery. Still never got any fruit or nut or chocolate or earthy or smokey or leafpile flavors. Just not much bang for the buck here and I won’t waste much more spring water on it. Fourth and final infusion used boiling water and steeped for 5 min., producing a cup that was as unexciting as the third, devoid of floral or honey or vegetal notes, and tasting more of toasted sawdust. Rating it a 65, just because it’s a bit more interesting than sipping hot water, and does have caffeine.

From a sample pouch. Brewed as directed, which was too long. But that aside, despite my love of piña coladas and coconut ceam pie, this is just… not to my taste. It must be like cilantro or cumin: you love it or hate it! I like cilantro, but not this tea. Sweetener did not help. Cooling did not help. Prayer did not help. Clearly many others here did like it though. All the Steepster reviews on this Adagio product are 10-16 yrs old and run the gamut— though nobody seems to have disliked it as much as I dislike it. Still, Adagio continues to offer this coconut tea, so someone must be buying it. I rate it as a 20, and want to brush my teeth, tongue, cheeks, and roof of my mouth. And then gargle with Listerine and bleach my teacup! I guess if you like Adagio’s flavored teas, give a sample packet of this a try before buying much of it. Glad I did.

I do like mango, despite the toxic rind and pesky seed inside. It adds a nice sweetness to my stir-frys, and mango powder (called amchur or amchoor in the specialty market) is a great addition to savory marinades and sauces. This Adagio sample pouch contained 3g of blended tea leaf, chunks of mango, and pungent flavoring. I steeped it all for 2 min. in 8oz. boiling alpine spring water. Nice aroma of mango bits and balanced in flavor, the sweet sensation went well with the Ceylon black base tea. Flavorwise, it was nicely enjoyable, and the lingering aftertaste carried both mango and light astringency from the black tea—yes, I would call it “brisk”! Not very complex but, while still groggy in the morning I don’t necessarily need complexity. The punch of mango aroma became more subdued as the tea cooled in my cup. No need at all to add sweetener to this tea, but don’t let my words stop you from sugaring it up! I bet it would be nice as an iced tea, too. Rating it as a 75 for being a simple pleasure.

Delicious! This is my kind of tea, very similar to my absolute favorite, Ikspiari Toy Box. Maybe I just really like pineapple teas? The different teas really do shine through and I would definitely keep this one as a staple in my cupboard!

I’ve never experienced sencha before. And I was a bit trepidatious to find it amongst the sample packets I recently received. So I followed Adagio’s instructions exactly, for western style: The full 3 gram packet in my stainless steel infusion basket with 8 oz 166°F alpine spring water, for 2 min. The dry leaf had the appearance of chopped grass clippings, so I didn’t expect much, despite the alluring nutty aroma with notes of fresh-cut hay. The aroma intensified nicely during steeping, and a bright, light green liquor was produced, with an almost golden glow to it. The flavor was somewhat reminiscent of a nice dragonwell I’ve had, but somehow richer, butterier, and with notes of both chestnut and Brazil nut. I really liked it and had to force myself to slow down, to enjoy it even more! There was no bitterness or sourness and only a touch of astringency. Really the best part was the wafting aromas in my sinuses, filling my palate with taste, and even notes of edamame. I want to say it was sweet, but really that part of my tongue disagreed: it simply lacked the bitter sourness that contrasts with sweet. There was some umami sensation, too, but not fishiness nor notes of seaweed. A single re-steep following the same parameters produced a bright yellow infusion with just a hint of green. The aroma and flavors were reduced and the butteriness was gone, but the tea was still enjoyable, without defects.. Yes, I like it and will continue exploring senchas. It’s hard to give a comparative rating, as it is my first sencha, but for satisfaction overall, I’ll rate as 81 and recommend. Thanks to Adagio for including it in the assortment!

Surprise, surprise! My sample pouch contained about 3g of leaf and one single visible cocoa nib. And it brewed up a strong cuppa, with a harsh vanilla and harsh chocolate odors. BUT those harsh odors subsided and the tea’s aroma became much more pleasant to sniff. The flavor was nice and caramelly, with just a tiny note of chocolate. The surprise was in the lingering aftertaste, where the base tea became quite noticeable and tasty, cradled in caramel and vanilla. Seemed like a good Ceylon nestled among the other flavors. As the tea cooled, it improved, losing almost all of the harshness and transforming into a good dessert tea. Once I read the comments by Steepster Shanie O Maniac, I spiked my remaining half cup with sugar, which completed the tea transformation into a real treat! If I were to receive more of this Tiger Eye tea in the future, I would hot-brew it to drive off the harshness, then sweeten it and serve iced for a fun liquid snack. Yes, I finished off this tea while watching Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger” music video. ;-) Rating this tea a 75.

I adore hazelnut chocolate bars. This tea was nothing like hazelnut chocolate bars. My main complaint was the chemical-tasting flavoring used in this tea. Any flavors or aromas from the base tea were imperceptible. (It claimed no chocolate, so no complaint there.) Plenty of other Steepster reviews liked it, though virtually all of them are from 9+ yr ago. So maybe something has changed. I’ll rate it at 20 and say no more.

Wow, while still cutting open the sample pouch of this looseleaf tea I was hit with a blast of raspberry! Quite reminiscent of the Chambord Liqueur on my shelf. I steeped all 2.75g of tea in 8oz boiling alpine spring water, as directed for two min. The aroma was steadily raspberry throughout, though the dark dark brown color of the soup was evidence of the potent Ceylon black tea leaves in the blend. The tea leaf contributed virtually nothing to the flavor other than a barely perceptible generic black tea taste. The rapberry-forward flavor was complemented by notes of wheat flour, tomato umami, mozzerella cheese, and pepperoni, obviously from the cold pizza that I was simultaneously breakfasting on. :-) This is a good tea for dessert after (or during) a nice meal, without worry that you’ll miss something delicate! For those who like strong semi-artificial raspberry flavors, I’ll recommend and rate this tea 70. Those preferring a refined or floral experience should shop for something else!

Another new tea for me from Adagio, part of a complimentary weekly assortment box that came with my recent order! 2.7g looseleaf, in a sample pouch, I steeped it all in 8oz alpine spring water at 195 °F for 2.5 min, as directed. The resulting pale yellow liquor had a decent, if soft, floral aroma and tasted of a stale Long Jing (dragonwell). Pretty weak in my opinion, though others might say “delicate”. I won’t look this proverbial gift horse too closely in the mouth, but am not going to waste my spring water on a re-steep. Why does Adagio’s website say this was produced five years ago, in 2020? I’ll rate it as 65.

Day 12 of DIY Adagio advent calendar, which means I’m finally done with this calendar! Not the finest note to end on, unfortunately. The peach is very “peach gummy candy” rather than “fresh fruit” or even “juice/nectar.” The base is earthy and hearty, but that doesn’t really mesh well with the candy note. DavidsTea’s Peaches & Cream oolong isn’t a perfect comparison, because this blend doesn’t purport to have a creamy element. Still, I think part of why that blend works better than this one is that the base tea is lighter and more floral than this one, which is a better match to the fruity note. Luckily, this was just a sample, so the definition of low stakes.

Day 11 of DIY Adagio advent calendar (yes, I’m still working on finishing some of my advent calendars!). Tragically, my variable temperature kettle seems to have kicked the bucket. I ended up heating water in a pot on the stove and ladling it into my mug, because the weather is chilly and obviously I can’t go a few days without hot tea!

This brewed up decent! It’s got that mineral and roasty note typical of a TGY. There’s a very strong marine note, like a seaweed broth, which seems unusual for a TGY. It’s not bad, necessarily, just not entirely what I’d expect for this type of tea.

Another sample packet from Adagio, containing 3.5 g of rolled leaves that look exactly like Adagio’s picture of it. I steeped the whole 3.5g as directed, in 8 oz 180°F alpine spring water for 5 min, in a stainless infusion basket, after which the leaves were partly unfurled and the soup was tinted light yellow-green. There was a pleasing delicate, floral aroma. The tea tasted sweet, grassy, vegetal, distinctly floral without being powdery with notes of butter, and I even got a quick note of green bean as someone else mentioned! A pleasant aftertaste of orchidy floralness remained, and the first infusion vanished quickly.

For the re-steep, I took the water to 190°F and again steeped for 5 min., by which point the olive green leaves had fully unfurled, revealing many large, intact single leaves and a few leaf/bud sets and a couple stems. The liquor was medium yellow-green with a substantially vegetal aroma that was lightly floral. Overall, although this second infusion was nice to savor, it was more generically vegetal and buttery, though floral notes still filled my sinuses in the long finish of each mouthful. In the final, cool dregs, the butteriness was more pronounced.

For the third infusion (re-steep) I took the water to 200°F, and again steeped for 5 min. Mild vegetal aroma. Soft buttery vegetal flavor in the golden yellow tea, with barely detectable floral notes. This infusion was satisfying as well, but definitively more subtle in its taste. I won’t push for a 4th infusion. Overall, I find no fault or defects, and will rate as 80, and recommend as a nice now-and-then cuppa.

I love peaches and I enjoy a peachy earl grey tea from elsewhere, so I was optimistic as I steeped-up this sample packet, as directed by Adagio. I re-steeped once, for a second cup. The dry tea had a strong peach scent, which the hot water intensified as a blast of peachy-vanilla fragrance. But it wasn’t an honest peach scent, having an artificial and chemical tinge to it. As I began sipping, I feared I’d never taste the base oolong, which was clearly heavily oxidised as in the main description on Adagio’s website (and contrary to Adagio’s claim in the Q&A section that it is mildly oxidised). As I continued to sip, the artificial notes (which were limited to the aroma) dissipated, and I began to enjoy the lingering aftertaste of roasted peach. It appeared that the vanilla scent had been completely driven off with the steam of the initial steep. I enjoyed the tea more as it cooled in my cup. The final cold dregs gave me a mouthful of woody flavor, not bad, but surprising. The second steep had a much tamer fragrance, and from the first sip I found it to be superior to the first infusion. Well into the second cup the floral flavors of the oolong arose and I got the idea that they were merging with the artificial peach to create a sensation of woodiness, which may also account for comments by other Steepsters here. Thankfully, the base oolong was not overpowering, and the roasted peach flavor persisted in the cup and in my mouth long after the tea was gone. Toward the end of the second steeping I realized that the apple bits present were contributing a sweetness that I’d not noticed previously. There were no major defects, no sour notes,nor bitterness (nor scent of marigold flower). So overall I did enjoy the blend, despite the initial chemical blast, and am glad to have tried it. Just not enough to consider buying it again. I’ll rate it as a 70.

Who knows what’s in Adagio’s teas?
The website waxes poetic about the tingly ginger in this, but there is no mention of ginger as an actual ingredient in the website ingredient listing. So I was ready to accept it was part of the “natural spice flavor”, until I saw that the sample packet does include ginger as an explicit ingredient!

I drink a lot of Pu-erh teas, both sheng and shou, usually straight but sometimes with orange/tangerine. And I like black tea with spice blends, so I was optimistic when this arrived in the week’s sampler box from Adagio. Steeped as directed, with two additional re-steeps. Goodness sakes, the pungent cinnamon overwhelmed everything! I could not detect any notes from pu-erh, nothing of orange, nothing of anise, but yes, there was a faint tingle of ginger. (I didn’t expect to taste safflower.) Even in the third steeping, whilst the cinnamon was muted, so was everything else. It was just a weaker cup of cinnamon. Although I could see bits of orange and maybe ginger, I’m going to chalk the imbalance up to stratification in the bulk spice, giving my packet too much cinnamon and too little puer, especially since other reviewers did detect those flavors. I suspect Adagio is using Chinese cinnamon, Cinnamomum cassia here, whereas true Ceylon cinnamon, C. verum is much softer and would be a superior ingredient (Also, C. cassia is 20 times more pungent and contains 13 times more of the toxin coumarin). If you choose to buy this blend, I suggest you buy loose material and re-mix it well before taking a portion to your cup/pot. Since I can only evaluate what I received, I will not recommend this, and consider it imbalanced and give it a rating of only 25.

Who knows what’s in Adagio’s teas?
I do love the flavor of orange! But I almost didn’t taste this because I read the ingredients on the sample packet I received last week: “rooibos tea, orange, natural orange flavor.” I dislike rooibos immensely. Then I looked at their website and there was no mention of rooibos: “Ingredients: Blended With Orange, Hibiscus, Rose Hips, Rose Hips & Natural Orange Flavor.” Suddenly hibiscus appears along with rose hips (twice if you don’t expect an Oxford comma, otherwise rose hip flavor too). Since I do like hibiscus and rose hips, I opened the packet and did not see any rooibos among the 3g of contents. So I steeped up a cup, according to directions. Smelled good, and the infusion started out blue, then became deep purple after 10 min of steeping. Tasted bitter and only slightly orange, with no hint of rose hip other than bitterness. Added sugar helped, but it needed more orange IMO. Thankfully, there was no rooibos. It seems to have been a misprint on the packet. I note that Adagio offers three types of blood orange product, one especially for iced tea, and one with “spice” added to the name, and this was neither of those— just plain Blood Orange. I’ll give it a 60 rating because it was not balanced to my taste, but recommend it to those who love hibiscus and rose hip.

Day 10 of DIY (mostly) Adagio advent calendar. Technically this is Selefina, but since that’s just Adagio’s spice division I think of it as being from the same company. I’ve played around with this a couple of different ways. As a straight tisane, it’s earthy and peppery, with a ginger-like bite at the end of the sip. A dash of honey rounded out the flavor nicely.

Received a loose-leaf sample of this last week from Adagio. Appearance, taste and fragrance indistinguishable from “Jasmine Dragon Pearls” sold by Tealyra. Plenty of reviews on the Adagio product here to inform you, and I rate it a 75 (just like the Tealyra product).

My major complaint is Adagios inadequate labeling on the packaged tea— specifically the ingredient listing. I have uploaded a photo of the foil packet, which lists “ Ingredients: jasmine phoenix pearls”. That is not a legal ingredient list! Green tea is not included as an ingredient! Jasmine is not present, only the infused floral volatiles. Phoenix is a mythological creature, not an ingredient! Pearls are a marine product, and are not in this blend. Ingredient lists should be technically precise, complete, and accurate! People depend on this information, and I do believe it is a legal requirement. Adagio could be more accurate here. What they are showing on their product is IMO insufficient.. The website lists green tea as the only ingredient, which is incomplete because the jasmine volatiles are not shown. And I question whether the website is the proper place for the ingredient list.

My secondary complaint is the photograph on Adagios website which shows the pearls, along with what appears to be dried jasmine flowers or petals. There were no jasmine flowers or petals either mixed with or inside the pearls of my sample. I have attached a photograph of my steeped leaves, clearly showing their size, beautiful green color, and the absence of any jasmine petals. While it conveys the concept of a floral component, the photograph on their website could be misleading.

First of all, this tea is badly named. It is NOT a post-fermented heicha dark tea such as Liubao (as distinct from Pu’erh) bearing tiny “golden flowers” of the fermentation microbe (Aspergillus cristatus, formerly Eurotium cristatum) that many might expect, especially if exploring probiotic teas. Adagio should re-name it. That said, I did read reviews here and knew to expect an oolong before ordering.
Sadly, I must concur with reviewer amandastory516’s evaluation. My sample pack (received a few days ago) tasted of old, stale green tea that had lost 95% of its character. There was some promising aroma during the steep (per Adagio’s directions) and a nice green color, but the taste from the first infusion was okay, if weak and devoid of the many flavors promised. The second infusion had a slight bitterness and cardboard flavor that would have been terrible except for being so washed out. I did not attempt further infusions, would not recommend, and will not buy again this product. I’ll rate it a 40, not even as satisfying as the generic Té negro teabags I bought at a supermarket in Mexico.

Jammy, malty, sweet and aromatic, my experience with Adagios Irish Breakfast blend was delightful! I brewed the full sample pouch just as directed, in 10 oz boiling water for 2 min. Because the leaf was pretty finely chopped (2-3 mm bits), it brewed up fast, but surprisingly free of tannin or astringency! Adagio hit a home run with this one, which I’ll rate as 90 and definitely recommend and buy again.

Just received this sampler pouch. Brewed as directed, in 10 oz boiling water for 2-1/2 min. Loved the orange and bergamot aroma of the dry leaf, which was pretty finely chopped (2-3 mm) except for a 1 cm square chunk of orange peel. While brewing (only one steeping) the pungency of the aroma was pronounced, and the resulting liquor was a bit on the strong side, both with regard to the tea component (good) and the bergamot flavoring (too strong). Overall I felt the tea could have used more— and fresher— orange, and less bergamot, which had a harsh chemical note to it. I detected astringency, too, which is expected, but I was surprised by the numbing sensation on my tongue! The Ceylon tea component was either overwhelmed by bergamot flavoring, or nondescript to my buds. If I try this again, I would reduce the leaf amount and reduce the steep to 60-90 sec. I can’t recommend nor condemn this product. Will rate it as 65.

TTB 2025 – I am usually a fan of coconut teas, but not this one. I brewed my first cup at 195° per the instructions. I agree with Kaylee that the base is too coarse. It overpowered the coconut and was astringent. I ended up dumping half of my first cup. I decided to give it a second chance and brewed at 155° on the second steep. The base tea was less harsh but still astringent. I got more coconut flavor in the taste, at least.