Let’s talk tea…
As I’m sure you’re all aware of by now – ‘cos seriously I harp on about it enough – I am NOT a tea drinker. Never have been and I’m convinced I never will be. Sure I’ve dabbled with the odd ginger, or peppermint every now and again, and not long ago I tried a strawberry chocolate tea which is probably the closest I’ve even been to maybe, just maybe liking it. But I’ll be honest, it doesn’t really do much for me.
When Adagio Tea contacted me asking me if I wanted to try their teas, I decided to set them a challenge – to find a tea that not only would I profess to like, but one that I liked so much I would end up drinking on a regular basis.
They make a lot of teas, and I mean a LOT – from white and black teas, to green and oolong, through to herbal, chai, flavoured and decaf – so the chances of me hating every single one of them has got to be slim, right?
To make it easier I’ve split the teas up into their relevant categories and listed their ingredients as well as a few of my tasting notes. Have a read and see how I got on…
Adagio Black Teas
Summer Rose
Ingredients – black tea, rose petals, rose flavouring.
Way too strong for me. I generally love rose flavoured stuff, but nope this was just way too bitter for me.
Hazelnut
Ingredients – black tea, natural hazelnut flavouring.
OK so I’m guessing that black tea isn’t really for me, but credit where credit’s due this smells nice and the hazelnut flavour does help disguise that distinctive tea smell. After a few sips I do actually quite like the after taste of this – more so than when I’m actually drinking it. In a strange way, it somehow tastes a bit like coffee, so I’m sitting on the fence with this one. I quite like it, but I’m not completely convinced.
Spiced Apple Chai
Ingredients – black tea, cinnamon bark, ginger root, cardamom, orange peel, apple pieces, natural apple flavouring, natural cinnamon flavouring.
Woah, woah, woah too spicy for little old me. Again the black tea taste I don’t like creeps through, but more than anything else it felt like I was drinking chilli water – so spicy hot!
Earl Grey Moonlight
Ingredients – black tea, orange peel, blue cornflowers, natural vanilla flavouring, natural bergamot flavouring, natural crème flavouring.
Unusual smell to this one, which I can’t quite place, but it’s not necessarily a bad smell. The beautiful blue of the cornflowers looks gorgeous popping through the tea blend and I’m keeping everything crossed that this in the one I like, ‘cos it just looks so pretty. It has a creamy taste, not unpleasant, quite nice really. I reckon it’ll be a grower.
Decaf Peach
Ingredients – decaf Ceylon tea, natural peach flavouring, marigold flowers, apple pieces, apricots.
Harmless enough, but certainly didn’t ooo me or ahh me. If you’d have forced me to drink it I wouldn’t have complained… and I reckon that’s probably progress!
Adagio White Tea
White Blueberry
Ingredients – white tea, blueberries, natural blueberry flavouring.
All I could taste with this one was tea, in fact as soon as I smelt it I just knew I wouldn’t like it. This one only needs 3-5 minutes steeping time, compared to the 7-10 minutes for some of the others, so it was obvious the flavour was going to be subtle, but no this is a big fat no from me – tastes too much like tea!
Adagio Oolong Tea
Peach Oolong
Ingredients – oolong tea, natural peach flavouring, apple pieces, marigold flowers, apricots.
I’ll be honest, I couldn’t really taste the peach in this. However, it was a really light and refreshing drink, that I didn’t find offensive and I reckon I probably could have finished the whole cup off. Hey that’s a huge step forwards for me, we’re taking that as a positive.
Adagio Herbal Teas
Pina Colada
Ingredients – rose hips, hibiscus, apple pieces, dried coconut, pineapple flavouring, pineapple pieces, coconut flavouring.
Right first up, a pina colada tea… I mean come on if there’s any tea that’s gonna turn me then surely, SURELY it’s one that’s based o n a cocktail!?! It smells super coconutty like you would expect a pina colada to, although I’ll admit the colour confuses me a bit as I associate pina colada with a milky yellow colour and this is a deep rich red. The taste is really strong and quite bitter, almost sour. Not for me at all, which is a bit gutting really.
Peach Bellini
Ingredients – apple pieces, orange peel, peach flavouring, strawberries, rose petals, mango pieces, apricots, papaya flavouring.
Another cocktail flavoured tea, would this one fare any better? Smells absolutely amazing and like all the other blends I love how you can actually see what’s in it. The problem is that one of my biggest bugbears with tea is that more often than not it always always smells way better than it tastes. This was nice enough, better than some but I’ll stick with a real peach bellini.
Berry Blast
Ingredients – rose hips, hibiscus flowers, cranberries, natural forest berries flavouring, blueberries.
The smell of this one is like walking into a sweet shop, it is SO sweet and delicious. I tried the iced tea version of this the other day and really, really liked it, so fingers crossed. I am desperate for it to taste like it smells, but no, when it’s hot it is sharp and vinegary (apologies, I am clearly no tea connoisseur that’s for sure). It’s a no for hot Berry Blast but it is a massive YES for Iced Berry Blast. Seriously, it was so good! Light, refreshing ADN it tasted as is smelt – the perfect summer drink.
Blood Orange
Ingredients – orange peel, hibiscus, rose hips, natural orange flavouring.
Again, this smells AMAZING, but I’m wary about getting my hopes up. OK so this one I can kinda handle – it’s a bit like hot orange squash (again apologies for my absolute lack of class). It does still have a sharpness to it, but because it’s blood orange you kind of expect it to be sharp and therefore it’s less of a shock when it is. I could definitely handle drinking this in the winter, or around the bonfire. This one’s high on my list of acceptable tea.
Honeybush Pumpkin Chai
Ingredients – honeybush tea, cinnamon bark, cardamom, ginger root, cocoa nibs, natural pumpkin spice flavouring, safflower.
Dare I say it but this one’s actually quite nice. I love the warming cinnamon and spice taste it has and the smell is literally like autumn in a mug. So far this is my winner.
Adagio Green Teas
Raspberry Green
Ingredients – green tea, natural raspberry flavouring, raspberry leaves, raspberries, rose petals.
Raspberry leaf tea reminds me of when I was pregnant with my first (obviously you don’t bother to do those kinds of things with your second!) as apparently it helps bring on labour. Not exactly the best memories of it, but for the purpose of a fair trial I’ll give it a go. It smells nice, but then hey don’t they all!?! It’s not as bad as I remember it, in fact I could get used to it… with time.
Jasmine Phoenix Pearls
These little pearls are just gorgeous and as you add they hot water they gradually start to unfurl into tiny leaves. The floral scent is just gorgeous and I love the whole idea of the Japanese tea ceremony thing that I associate with jasmine tea. The first little sip tastes strange, but it has a nice after taste and I reckon I could gradually get myself to like this one. I will persevere purely for the fact it is just so pretty and smells lush.
Gunpowder
I’m not a fan of green tea and I mean come on, the clue’s in the name right!?! I’m already predicting this is going to be way too hardcore for me. These are little tiny pellets that you steep for 2 minutes – that goes to show how powerful they are. Bizarrely, it smelt like seaweed and to me, well I’m not going to mince my words, it tasted rank. Yuck!
So in conclusion I’ve decided that if I’m being completely and utterly honest hot tea just doesn’t do it for me. Sure the Honeybush Pumpkin Chai, Jasmine Phoenix Pearls and Blood Orange could be enough to possibly persuade this non-tea drinking ruffian to occasionally partake in a bit of tea sipping debauchery, but for me it is ALL about the iced tea.
Having never tried iced tea before, I was amazed at just how different it can taste to it’s hot counterpart and with all this lovely hot weather we’ve been having it will definitely be featuring on my drinks list throughout the summer.
Adagio Teas you’ve taken me on an epic tea journey and whilst I was hoping there might be one that would tantalise my tastebuds, sadly this girl is still for the tea turning.
*products gifted for review
