Bottles, Blends, and Brews Adagio blends

[jenkinsm]

I just ordered one of each of their signature blends, found at www.adagio.com/bbb , and I will be posting reviews of them once they arrive. I was recently turned on to loose leaf teas by BBB and I can not wait to try out their blends, they all sound so delicious. If anyone gets them before I get mine feel free to post your reviews here, would be nice for Dana and Zack to have all the reviews in one place, so they can use them for their show.

[radzack]

I just ordered one of each of their signature blends, found at www.adagio.com/bbb , and I will be posting reviews of them once they arrive. I was recently turned on to loose leaf teas by BBB and I can not wait to try out their blends, they all sound so delicious. If anyone gets them before I get mine feel free to post your reviews here, would be nice for Dana and Zack to have all the reviews in one place, so they can use them for their show.

If you have any questions on proper steeping, etc, don't hesitate to ask.

[jenkinsm]

Thanks, from the look of the teas on the website the "Yarr! booTEA" and "Pomazing" are black teas which would call for 212° for 5 minutes, but the "this is berry delicious" seems to mix flavored and herbal teas, while the "teaREX" mixes herbal and green teas. Would it be best to steep the "this is berry delicious" at 212° for 5 minutes? I don't even know what to do for the "teaREX", I don't want to steep the green tea too long or at too high a temperature but I don't know is 180° for 3 minutes would bring out the flavors of the blood orange and wild strawberry. Any advice would be great.

[radzack]

I would recommend steeping yarr and pomazing 3-4 minutes with a heaping teaspoon. You don't want the fruit taste to be bitter.

TeaREX is abit odd. I would steep 4 minutes. Green won't be crazy, and you'll get the flavors of the herbal teas.

Berry delicious is great 4 minutes as well. All teas with a heaping teaspoon.

:)

[jenkinsm]

Thanks for the advice, I can't wait to get these and try them out. I will use your recommendations and if I come across something that works better I will mention it in my review.

[jenkinsm]

OK here are my reviews of the teas that I have tried so far:

This is berry delicious:
Steeped for 4 minutes at 212°. I used a heaping 1.5 tsp for 1.5 cups of water. It had a nice golden color to it after steeping. The first sip I took did not blow me away, it was sweet and fruity but the flavors were very subtle and I could not distinguish any of the individual flavors. It was very tasty but next time I might try to steep it a bit longer to bring out more of the flavors. Was not bitter or astringent at all.

Yarr! booTEA:
Steeped for 4 minutes at 212°. I used a heaping 1.5 tsp for 1.5 cups of water. This one had a dark gold color after steeping. The flavors are very unique but all go well with each other. There is a distinct sweet taste mixed with the spices and the lime comes through at the end and lingers a little on the aftertaste, but it it not overwhelming and does not stick around too long. It actually makes you want to go back and take another sip. I did not taste much of the rum flavor but I might also try steeping this one longer to bring out the rum flavor more. Overall it is a good mix of flavors one might not think to put together.

teaREX:
Steeped for 4 minutes at 180°. I used a heaping 1.5 tsp for 1.5 cups of water. This tea was interesting in that it had a yellowish color after steeping but there was a lot of red at the bottom of the ingenuiTEA, then after it all mixed in the cup the color is a sort of dark orange color (at least in my mug, which isn't white). The flavors in this one are outstanding. It is fruity yet there are subtle hints of spices, there is not an overwhelming sense of fruitiness either. I actually didn't have time to finish my cup so I left it covered for 3 hours and after I came back and finished it (at room temperature) the fruitiness was more pronounced and yet the spices were still evident. This would probably make a great iced tea but I have not yet tried it. It is also great for multiple infusions, I am currently drinking a second infusion from the same leaves as earlier and there is less spiciness but the fruit is still tasty. I would like to experiment with steeping times because this is such an eclectic mix of teas. Steeping for less time will probably result in more of the green tea taste because the fruits will not be as strong but steeping longer might bring out more of the spices. It is certainly a good tea to experiment with to find your own favorite flavors in it.

That is all I have had a chance to try so far, I will try the Pomazing when I can have some caffeine in me and I will try the other teas with different steeping times and write about my results. I will also try the teaREX iced and I would like to eventually try all the teas iced to see how they taste. Finally I will post pictures of all the teas so you can see what they look like in the container and the colors they produce from steeping.

[radzack]

very thorough. Glad you took the time to go through the flavors. We worked hard on those blends :)

[airmcmonky]

Great review of the TEArex. I did a review as well and I also thought it would make a good iced tea. I haven't tried it yet either. Let us know how it is if you do.

[jenkinsm]

Hopefully I can write up the Pomazing and iced teaREX reviews some time before I am glued to the Super Bowl.

Go Steelers!

[jenkinsm]

Pomazing: Steeped at 212° for 4 minutes. Used 1.5 tsp for 1.5 cups water. The tea had a dark gold, almost brown color to it after steeping. It tasted very good, there was a light sweetness and a fruity taste but it was not too fruity. I liked this one a lot as a flavored tea, it is definitely not mostly fruit like some of the other blends. For some reason it was slightly astringent at the end of the cup, maybe it steeped too long but I don't know for sure without trying it again. It was only at the end though most of the cup was fine. Overall this is a good tea and since I love pomegranate it is one I will keep drinking.

Iced teaREX: This time I steeped it for 3 minutes at 180° then let it cool in a plastic jug until room temperature, then refrigerated it. The tea is very cool, crisp, and refreshing. It would be excellent on a hot summer day when you want something cool and sweet but not sugary like sweet tea. The fruitiness was light and you could still taste the spices a little but nothing was overwhelming.
I also tried the hot tea after this steeping time/temp but since it was only a small sample from the bottom of the ingenuiTEA that is where all the flavor was concentrated and it is not an accurate representation of a cup of that tea. However it was still delicious, making me think I should try steeping it longer to extract more fruit flavor next time. I made a second batch from the same leaves and took a taste sample from the top of that and there was almost no flavor at all, confirming my suspicion that the flavors were concentrated in the bottom.

Berry delicious: This time I steeped for 3 minutes at 212° and what a difference it made. For one it came out brown, also the tea was much more present this time and the fruit was more subtle. It is nice to have a tea like this where you can play around with the time and temperature to get it how you like, it makes the tea blend very versatile and should appeal to many types of tea drinkers. I will continue to experiment with this tea while it lasts.

[danana]

Very thorough. :)