From the Small Big TTB
WOW there is soo much tea stuffed in that little box. Because half the samples were wrapped in foil that actually forced me to actually go through the entire box to find things. I ended up sticking labels on the outside of the foils for easier access, but it’s actually a pretty smart idea, it forced me to look at what I was looking at instead of just wandering through the box randomly or skimming just the top of the box.
Mango green. Sadly it seems after a few months on Steepster I’ve developed this view of Adagio in my head that isn’t entirely complimentary. The least of the offenses I’ve heard them cited for was under-flavoring and entirely artificial tasting additives. Well this tea didn’t entirely dispel those ideas, but the result wasn’t as bad as I had feared either.
I was distracted and boiled water. I think I had intended to make a black tea but for some unknown reason went with this instead. Surprisingly the results didn’t taste burnt at all. So ~210*F for 1.5min, then into a happy little thermos. I told you I was distracted. Usually the thermos is pretty leak proof… but not so when the lid isn’t properly secured. Hot water all down my leg. Ouch. Surprisingly I didn’t lose that much tea, but I decided that hot water wasn’t my friend this morning. I had some cold tea from the fridge and came back to this later.
So it’s a mild green with milder mango flavoring. Honestly I could barely smell the mango, and I pretty much didn’t taste it at all. The tea was still hot, so it’s not like its composition changed all that much in the time I left it in the thermos. That being said, it’s so entirely average that I would be hard pressed to call offensive. It has no WOW factor, and lacks even enough interest to consider it as a good daily drinker (for me). I might offer it to a child or someone that doesn’t like strong teas.