Be open to new teas and new ideas along with things to do…
You never know what you'll like until you try it!
- Created By Sherr
Silver Needle Review
Image from Adagio.com.
This is the moment that I've been waiting for during my tasting of the White Tea Sampler. Silver Needle is the number two ranked white tea on Adagio.com and its overall user rating is a 4.4. Silver Needle is also one of the more expensive white teas out there for sale.
Scent:
I don't know what exactly silver needle is, but the scent is fantastic. It's quite flowery and has an earthy scent from it. I think that the aroma of this white tea is a tad bit stronger than the other white teas I tried, but it's not as potent as the surreal white cucumber of course, haha.
Taste:
I kinda like the taste of this tea. Like any other white tea, the flavor is there, but it's light and somewhat fragile. That's one of the main things I love about white teas. They're smooth, delicate, and subtle.
The only thing that I don't like about this tea is this weird aftertaste that I get. It's a lot more complex than any of the other white teas I've had, something slightly unexpected too, although this tea is highly regarded by many white tea connoisseurs.
I guess it's just that I don't like the way silver needle tastes, but I'm sure there's many who appreciate this complexity more than me. I don't want to drink a tea trying hard to decipher the flavors of what exactly it is that I'm tasting. Although, I believe in trying new things, I can't sit and ponder on this one all day especially if it doesn't feel right for me.
Overall:
The scent of this tea is just as great as any other white tea in the sampler pack, but I'm not used to the overall taste of this tea. I could probably have one cup of this tea and enjoy it, but I wouldn't be able to drink another one. The taste of Silver Needle has this complexity that I haven't seen in a white tea. I appreciate what it's doing, but it's not the cup of tea for me.
If you can appreciate this tea, good for you. I'm sticking to the White Peony, a cheaper alternative for me.
Score:
3.8 out of 5
You can buy Silver Needle from here:
http://www.adagio.com/white/silver_needle.html
Bearonica's Berry Zinger Review
Image from Adagio.com
I'm quite unfamiliar with earl grey and black teas. The only experience I had was of Divine Delectable by Moujan Z, but that was a blend of black and herbal tea. I've been so excited to review this blend, but this one has taken me two brews to get my real opinion on it.
Scent:
Now that I'm more familiar with earl grey and these berries, I have a better sense of where I am. The scent is something else. It smells like you put berries on top of a bergamot orange peel and poured some earl grey on it. This would be a great tea to wake-up to in the morning. I also get reminded of a medicine vibe thing. It could just be me, haha.
Taste:
Again, it has that strong earl grey thing going on. I can get a small hint of berry, probably because there was a small amount of forest berries in the teaspoon that I used. I like how this tea tastes when you first take consume it, but on the back, I think its where the earl grey kicks in. It leaves me with a strange citrus-like tart aftertaste. Maybe I'm just not used to earl grey teas, haha.
After tasting this, I can say that I can drink this tea for breakfast. It needs something. You could try this with some cream and sugar and see how it goes. Although cream and sugar = the devil for some tea drinkers out there.
Further Analysis:
Forrest Berries = Ceylon Tea and Summer Berries
Earl Grey = Earl Grey and Bergamot Orange
Cream = Cream flavored Ceylon Tea
So let's see… The berry component only makes 1/4th of this tea. Don't count the bergamot orange because that is what makes that citrus component to this tea that I'm getting. So essentially, this tea is more of a blend of ceylon and earl grey with a minor dash of forest berries and the oil of a bergamot orange.
Overall:
I think the reason why I'm slightly put off by this tea is because of the name. Sure, I love what Veronica Belmont does on her show, Tekzilla, but the name of this tea is slightly misleading. Sure, there's a forest berries component in this tea, but I think that's why this blend is called "Berry Zinger". Since they had to put the emphasis on the berry part of the name.
This should've been called Earl Ceylon/Citrus Zinger. The berries zing away and you're left alone with earl grey and cream, pondering if there will be more.
If you want more berries (like me), you might as well try the Berry Blast or if you want to remain drinking black tea, go for Divine Delectable by Moujan Z.
Score:
3.5 out of 5
You can buy Bearonica's Berry Zinger from here:
http://www.adagio.com/tekzilla/blend.html?blend=3813
White Peony Review
Image from Adagio.com
This is another white tea from the folks from Adagio.com. This is my third white tea from my white tea sampler kit. It is currently the 3rd highest rated white tea on Adagio.com and it has a user review average of 4.4.
Scent:
This tea's scent is very subtle. I think it's a lot more subtle than the snowbud white tea. I could only get a very small hint of that white peony aroma going on. It's nice, gentle, and not too upfront.
Flavor:
I expected the flavor to match the scent of this tea. Boy, was I wrong. This is the second time I've tried this tea and I remember how much I loved it on my first try. This has a lot more flavor than the snowbud. I managed to get a hint of sweetness from this tea that I hardly felt in the snowbud.
There's just something about this tea that pulls me in a lot more than the previous white teas I reviewed When you take a good sip, you notice that there is a decent amount of flavor there, but it's not too overwhelming (bitter or tart) or too withdrawn from your tastebuds. This white tea has the right amount for me to keep me interested towards the point of loving it.
Overall:
This tea would be a great afternoon or evening tea. It's really soothing and relaxing. It impresses me with what it has. It doesn't try too hard nor does it lack any confidence. This tea is true to itself and is a seriously good white tea for anyone to try. It's a cheaper alternative to the silver needle, which is the tea I'm going to review next.
Although I wished that the scent was a bit stronger, it's a white tea afterall, what do you expect?
Score:
4.5 out of 5
You can buy White Peony tea from here:
http://www.adagio.com/white/white_peony.html
Fruit Medley/Fruit Sangria Review (Second Go!)
So I got my Utilitea Kettle and I decided to taste this one again. Proper water temperatures and infusing times are IMPORTANT for proper brewing!
Image from Aadagio.com
Color: I infused the tea for about 7 minutes and I can say it's more of a reddish color. It was pink on my first brew… probably because I understeeped it last time. I think I let it sit for only about five minutes instead of the full seven..
Scent: It's almost as if the fruit has been spiced up especially with the warmness after infusing with proper boiling water. It's like a mix of delicious fruit and you decided to put mix some spices in as well. I get that feeling after smelling it. I kinda like it!
Tasting: I've finally learned how to properly brew tea with the proper temperature (With the help of my new Utilitea Kettle). I must say that this tea is not as tart as I expected when properly brewed at a boiling temperature.
I can see the tartness of this tea strengthening as the temperature lowers, that or the stronger flavors left in the infuser fell towards the bottom. This tea is very good when it's been brewed properly.
When I take a huge sip, there's a huge encircling "medley" of all these fruits going on. I hardly see the tartness (Or can I say bitterness) as I encountered before in my first brew. It's not as evident as last time.
At the backend of this tea, I can taste a really good hint of natural sweetness. There is no sugar added in this one, I can tell you. It's like the sugarless icing on a good sugarless fruit cake. It's good!
Overall: I can see people being turned off by the tartness of this tea, but if done right, you may enjoy this tea overlooking that fact. I'm proud to say that I've changed my mind about this tea. The fruit component tastes good and you will definitely get that hint of sweetness. There's still some tart-iness to it, but it doesn't kill the tea for me this time.
There is no caffeine in this tea, which makes it killer for kids and people who only want decaffeinated beverages. It's a really really good alternative to all the artificial fruit drinks out there loaded with unnecessary sugar (Unless you want to try this tea iced!). Appreciate the power of real fruits, not the sugar-loaded artificial extracts.
Score:
4.3 out of 5.
Coming Soon
Hello ya'll. This will be just a little update coming from me about tea reviews and most likely tea accessory reviews coming soon. I'm really thinking about making video reviews because Adagio.com recently started to have their own tea guy (I think he said he was from Revision3) review teas on Adagio TeaV. I thought he did an okay job. It's still a relatively new podcast by Adagio and I'd like to see improvements on the long run.
So anyways, I got a bunch of teas coming in either on Tuesday or Wednesday. However, I'm going to return to reviewing teas when I get my Adagio Utilitea Kettle because I want to get the absolute perfect temperature for my teas to enhance my tasting experience (I'm so excited, haha). But before that happens, I'll review the Adagio Personalitea teapot that I had for close to three weeks and these tea infusers or "tea bags" to put in your loose teas.
So here's what I'll review in the future:
Paper Filters (Teaware)
PersonaliTEA (Teaware)
White Peony (White)
Silver Needle (White)
Masala Chai (Flavor)
White Peach (White)
Apricot Green (Green)
Peppermint (Herbal)
Bearonica's Berry Zinger (Blend)
Look forward to that, haha. I'm definitely going to be making a huge set of purchases from each tea type until I find what I really like. However, there will always be new blends to try out, so I might just be spending my lifetime on Adagio teas, haha. The Birthday Tea sounds amazing.
