[Tea] Adagio - Golden Flower Oolong

Smell: floral

Taste: light, refreshing, honey  honeysuckle, floral. It smells more floral than it tastes. Once brewed, the floral notes are like an afterthought. It tastes creamy and slightly sweey and slightly floral. 

Verdict: I really love this tea! I liked it more than I thought I would. I normally don't go for floral teas, but this one only smells floral and isn't overpowering in the taste. 

Stars: 5/5 would buy again!

[Tea] Adagio - Masters Collection Ali Shan

Smell: floral, a bit sweet

Taste: semi sweet, light, refreshing, kinda floral, maybe clove-y? or cinnamon-y? Some kind of spice idk what to put a name with. 

Verdict: Quite tasty and refreshing. This is Matvei's favorite from the masters collection. Light, sorta sweet, slightly floral, just pleasant. 

Stars: 4/5

[Tea] Adagio - Genmai Cha

Smell: heavily of roasted rice, yum! Typical genmai cha smell! 

Taste: I was expecting a slightly sweeter taste when I first tried it. It tastes very much like roasted rice with a nice complex of green tea behind it. The tea is overpoweringly roasted rice flavor. Probably the most toasty I've had so far and leans towards the savory spectrum on genmai cha. 

Verdict: I would buy this again. I think I might have a slight preference for Harney's, but this was a good contender and a nice cozy cup tp drink. I'd probably consider it for a "staple". 

Stars: 4/5

[Tea] Tea Runners - Ancient Snow Sprout

Smell: wet grass, budding greens, faintly sweet. Smells similar to a white tea. 

Taste: it smells better than it tastes. Definitely tastes like a white tea. The aftertaste is more pleasant than the actual taste. Matvei thinks it tastes like if olive oil and roasty tea had a baby, that's what this would taste like. 

Verdict: i would not buy this again, but it smells super pleasant. 

Star: 1/5 

[Tea] Adagio - Almond Oolong

Smell: slightly almondy, kinda like an almond cookie. Smelled strange at first but reminded me of almond enough to guess that's what matvei brewed me.

Taste: It kinda tastes like what I'd imagine almonds strained eith water would taste like. Or homemade almond milk. Or even my breastmilk. There seems to be a slight spice flavor to it, too. 

[Tea] Adagio - Peach Black Tea

Smell: peachy, and kinda floral. 

Taste: strongly tastes of peach. I drank it when it was too hot and it tasted too strong and a little bitter. I waited for it to cool off and it tasted a lot better. I think it would be really tasty iced as opposed to hot. It has a lingering astringency kinda. The aftertaste is a nice gentle peach flavor. 

[Tea] Adagio - Earl Grey Moonlight

Taste: bergamot, creamy. Reminds me of a stronger version of the milk earl grey from 99 Ranch. Pleasant aftertaste that is a sweet muted flavor. Would probably be good with cream. 

[Tea] Adagio - Wu yi Ensemble

2:30 @ 190 F in teapot

Color: beautiful amber color 

Aroma: roasty, a hint of cinnamon

Taste: roasty and minerally. Almost a rocky taste to it. It isn't overpoweringly roasty, but enough to be pleasant. The aftertaste is wonderful. It has a hint of sweetness and cinnamon. There are a ton of layers to this tea which makes it very complex. I'm sure it would be great gong fu too! 

Verdict: I really loved this! It has the roasty, minerally taste I tend to love. I would for sure buy again - it isn't overpoweringly roasty like some of my oolongs. It has a nice balance of roasty and subtle sweetness.

Stars: 5/5

[Tea] Adagio - Chocolate Truffle

Ok, this one surprised me haha. I initially wanted to try the flavors sample box for something else and teased Matvei about the chocolate truffle flavor but... it really surprised me!

Color: beautiful dark reddish color.

Smell: deceptively sweet. Smells like candy. 

Taste: it doesn't taste like any truffle I've had, but you can definitely taste chocolate on there. It isn't overpoweringly sweet, but has just enough of a choco (maybe dark choco) flavor. Almost dark chocolatey with a light caramel taste, perhaps? 

It strangely makes my throat more dry after I drink it, though. A bit astringent afterwards. 

Verdict: I surprisingly really liked this one! What started out as a joke flavor to tease Matvei turned out to be a winner, imo! It was sweet but not overpoweringly sweet; a dark chocolate taste with maybe a dusting of caramel. I would buy this again and enjoy it. Very dessert-y tea.

Stars: 4/5

[Tea] Adagio - Milk Oolong

I love milk oolongs and I'm on a quest to find my favorite one. So during my sample box splurge, I asked Matvei to get me the milk oolong from Adagio and he did! 

Color: a mix between a dark and pale amber color.

Taste: It was bland as heck! It had none of the vibrant milky, buttery taste I've come to love from a milk oolong. The taste was there, but it was a muted taste. Like a whisper of a milk oolong. It was the La Croix of milk oolongs. 

Verdict: I wouldn't buy this again. I have other favorite milk oolongs and this doesn't even hold a candle to any of them. It was okay-ish I guess, but that's all the praise I can give it.

Stars: 2/5

[Tea] Smith Teamaker - Fez

We had an old tea bag we took from the Portland hotel we stayed at, so I decided to kill it off. 

Color: Pale yellow

Taste: It smells like a grassy green, so when I went to drink it, it was a disappointment. It tastes strongly of mint, but not as strong as my favorite Morrocan mint. I couldn't really taste any grassiness or greenness past that. 

Aftertaste: Not very pleasant, feels a bit heavy in my mouth and the mint makes me feel thirsty. Tastes a bit bitter. 

Verdict: It smells deceptively like some other green I'd want to drink but the taste falls short of the nice smell. If I had nothing else to drink I guess I would drink this. 

Stars: 2/5 

[Tea] Adagio - Gyokuro

We got a green tea sampler box from Adagio, one of them was Gyokuro (#7 in the sampler). 

Color: Pale yellow/green

Taste: Grassy, a little sweet (Matvei thinks it is weak for a gyokuro). I preferred it cold as opposed to hot. Matvei also thought he tasted apricot pits, a bit of bitterness. It is mild. Back of the tongue felt a little fresh, aftertaste is good. 

Verdict: Probably would not buy again if Matvei says there are stronger gyokuros out there. I thought it was fine but it didn't stand out. It was okay. 

Stars: 3/5 (Matvei 2/5) 

[Tea] Verdant Tea - 2018 Shi Feng Dragonwell

2018 Shi Feng Dragonwell

I'm not sure if I got the 1st or 2nd picking. Also, now that I recall, I can't remember if I bought 2018 or 2017. Matvei threw away the tea sample before I could get to it. 

Apparently this is a black tea and I never knew? I tried it once when Matvei and I started dating, but left the rest to enjoy brewed on my own (he brewed it for me the 1st time and I think I wanted to experiment with the second steep). I let him steep the second one for me because I was tired and breastfeeding, so c'est la vie. 

As a result, it was a little bit bitter (he steeped for 3 minutes; directions said 2-3 minutes). 

Taste: a little minerally, very slightly roasted, malty-ish, bread, maybe a little nutty? 

Aftertaste: pleasant, not too harsh, minerally; leaves a whiff of a malty flavor at the back of the tongue

Look: medium to dark brown

Smell: Roastier than it tastes

Verdict: Would I buy again? Maybe? I didn't anticipate this was a black tea. It wasn't bad, but I think expectations of its taste profile skewed my perception of it. It wasn't bad, by far, but it was just "okay". 

3/5 stars