Chi-Town Anglophile Send Message

This tea should be called “Red Fruits Punch”—to be served sweetened and chilled!
If one adds a bunch of sugar (or whatever one’s preferred sweetener is) and CHILLS this for a few hours, it is a delightful cold beverage. The flavor profile is completely different than when it’s merely cooled to room temp, UNsweetened.
It’s still hard to tell exactly what it IS—perhaps that’s why they kept it as Mango Melange—but it’s cold and tasty. I’ve revised my opinion to Recommended.

This is the third of four teas in Adagio Teas’ Summer Teas Sampler. A couple days ago I reviewed The Secret Garden Organic Mango Green Tea—the first tea I truly liked from the Secret Garden Organic gift box. I’d already opened this 3 oz packet of Mango Melange, and liked the fragrance. But boy, are they different teas!
Like the other four Secret Garden teas I’d tried, the Organic Mango Green was simply green tea and natural flavors. It smelled and tasted like mango (also a little apricot and peach)—but it actually tasted fruity, nicely so.
Adagio Teas’ Mango Melange should be instead be called “Hibiscus and Rose Hip Melange”. Tho the smell within the packet itself has a slight perfumy whiff of hair pomade—just in the packet!—it’s mostly pleasantly sour. I found myself wondering how it would taste to have the packet be cold-brewed (no pun intended!) in some lager beer. There are some Northern Europeans who enjoy the juxtaposition of fruit and beer, and I think the flavors in this ‘melange’ would work with that.
Why? Because it’s lightly sour! Between the hibiscus, rosehip skins and dried fruit pieces, which are edible, none particularly taste like the mango this is supposed to be based on.
Once I added some sugar, though, there was more mango-y essence.
This has the bright red color of hibiscus, which is always eye-catching. Maybe after straining out the fruit, one could make some kind of mocktail out of this. It’s got possibilities. But even cooled, I found this tea more like a project one could make something out of, rather than a drink I’d want by itself.
I will neither “yea” or “nay” this. [>>CHANGED BY MY SECOND REVIEW OF THIS.] Mango Melange is more likable than the Key Lime Herbal, also in Adagio’s Summer Teas Sampler, but it’s still not an immediate hit which should have been included in a Summer Sampler. Maybe Adagio should come up with a more accurately titled “Teas Not For The Faint of Heart”, or “Not Your Usual Summer Teas” sampler. Then they could let this and Key Lime Herbal find their proper audience, while those of us who think more of Mai Tais and Fuzzy Navels can enjoy more predictable flavors of summer.

Twinings was the first Earl Grey tea I ever had; I fell in love with it. Now that I’m older and have to worry about my caffeine consumption throughout the day, I go to Twinings Earl Grey Decaffeinated. As other tasters have already noted, one can let this steep, even forget about it—and it’s still smooth, not bitter. I don’t have a lot to add, save to say I prefer it to the Bigelow Earl Grey Decaf. That one tends to knock one out with over-flavoring. This, the Twinings, is more subtle, and blends better with wanting to rest!

This is the fifth (of eight) teas from a big fancy tin gifted to me of The Secret Garden Organic Tea Collection. Ten teabags apiece of each type are in this metal “tome” tin. The problem with the ones I’ve reviewed to date is too little tea in each teabag, and no actual dried fruit, just “natural flavor”. The previous flavors I’ve tried have disappointed, due to insufficient flavor.
I didn’t care for the scent of the bags before I brewed this tea. There was an off note of dill, strangely enough, which didn’t harmonize with the fruit aroma at all.
Since the previous flavors seemed watery even when I doubled up the teabags used, this time I used three bags in my 16 oz teapot, with a 7-1/2 minute steeping. Success!
I am glad to report that this Organic Mango Green Tea is not only pleasantly fruity, but has natural sweetness. There’s a little perfumy quality, a bit like apricot and peach, but the mango is there, and it’s nice. Whatever odd note of dill (or whatever that scent was) in the teabags before brewing, they were not there once the tea was made. It makes me happy to recommend this tea.

This is the seventh/ last tea sample (July 29) in their “Week of July 27th” which Adagio sent with my order a month ago. Being a neophyte regarding oolongs and other varietal teas (I hope I’m using the phraseology correctly), I don’t yet have the proper vocabulary to go into depth of description here.
This is mild, yet stands on its own two feet. So it’s nicely between green and black teas. I taste a toasty quality, as in genmai cha, but of course there’s no toasted rice in this cup. It’s a clean, clear mouthful, that’s a flavor I wouldn’t mind drinking all day.
When I saw the leaves of different colors I was impressed. I like the fact Adagio points out this has low caffeine. It feels good, I feel good, after drinking this tea. Well worth looking into and learning more about! Yes, I definitely recommend this tea!

This is the fourth of eight teas gifted to me from a beloved niece. The Secret Garden Organic Tea Collection features 10 tea bags each of 8 different types of tea, There are six different flavored green teas, and two different black teas. I’ve already reviewed the Organic Orange Spice black tea; this review is for the Organic Earl Grey black tea. (I’ll review the remaining four green teas anon.)
I had already used 3 of the 10 teabags in mixed Earl Grey pots, so with the 7 bags left, I simply put them all in my 57 oz teapot where usually I only used 6 teabags. Normally that would impart more flavor; I had hoped that using another teabag would do just that. Unfortunately, this tea was still weak and watery, even after an 8 minute steeping time. There is nothing positively remarkable about this tea; it’s not a bad Earl Grey, per se—there just isn’t enough of it per teabag.
Since I truly love the person who gifted me this collection—and I know she did so imagining this selection would be as nice as the beautiful tome-like tin it came in—I will not “not recommend” it. I’m just sorry that The Secret Garden people put so much more time and money into their beautiful packaging than the teas contained therein.

Here’s the second (of four) samples in Adagio Teas’ Summer Teas pack. Quite an unusual tea to review! When I opened the packet, I got a whiff of the citrusy, acidic profile similar to key lime pie, but with an edgy note of dry mustard! Here’s a flavor note that should be added to that list: “Cosmetic”. It reminds me of whatever face powder is scented with. As someone who worked for a company which would occasionally test different fragrances to see how they would be perceived in products, smelling this tea before brewing reminded me of flavor test strips. Maybe that’s where “key lime pie flavor” came from.
My husband who has anosmia, liked this tea. “I can taste something!” But that’s not a criterion we’re looking for.
To be blunt, this is one weird tea. It doesn’t taste natural to me, nor does it taste like key lime. It has a tart, acidic profile similar to key lime, to be sure. But it falls short of being identifiable as such. I’m trying to think of something positive to say, but all I can say is, at least we finished the packet!

This (Aug. 1) entry from Adagio Teas “Week of July 27” box of samples is unsurprisingly somewhat more robust than the Apricot Green sample (Aug. 2) in the same gift box. I taste-tested the Apricot Green first, since I wanted the milder tea to hit my palate first.
This one being the black tea, even though decaffeinated, had a stronger tea flavor right from the start. Adagio uses the same “other” ingredients in both blends: apple pieces, natural apricot flavor, apricots, and marigold flowers. Yet this black tea is quite gentle; the lack of caffeine renders it a not-so-different version of the green.
Adding a bit of sugar to this tea does not result in a “oh! there’s TEA in here too, not just the apricots” feeling that happened when adding sugar to the green tea. Because the black tea had more of a presence from the beginning than the green tea does, all the sugar did was to sweeten it (duh).
When I sniffed the first-opened packets of tea, I actually liked this one better; the black tea gave it more odoriferous effect. The Apricot Green smelled more like being in the fruit section at the grocery. Yet in the drinking, I actually preferred the green.
Both are very nice cups of tea. But even though I usually live for decafs, since I’m affected by the caffeine, and usually prefer the flavor depth of black teas—I have to give the edge here to the Apricot Green.
I won’t “Not recommend” this tea, since I did like it. Just not enough to push it into an outright “Yes”.

Another Adagio Teas little bag from the “Week of 7/27” sampler box (Aug.2). Since a black tea Decaf Apricot was also sent (Aug. 1), I decided to “compare and contrast”, as my elementary teachers used to ask for in book reports.
This is a green tea, so it’s unsurprisingly much gentler on the palate. It’s a light, lovely vegetal apricot tea, almost buttery. Very pleasant.
That’s before adding a bit of sugar to see how the flavor changes. Oddly enough, while the green grocer aura of the apricot is still mild, the flavor of the green tea is advanced by the sugar. There’s a very nice after-taste of apricot in the mouth. Quite a gentle little tea.

I ordered Adagio Teas’ "Summer Teas " 4-sample pack because it was in the 90s for a week and a half. Feeling as if summer was going to linger longer than usual, “Watermelon Cooler” seemed like a good choice. It was!
It is! This cooler is a light, tasty tisane which tastes like summer. The directions read, “Steeping: 1 teaspoon per cup / 5-10 mins @ 212 F / 100 C”. There were 23 grams in the packet. I made 2/3rd of it first in 50 oz of hot water, let it steep for a little over an hour.
As it cooled, all the little dehydrated apple cubes were at the top of the pot, where I strained them out—then ate them. (Why waste them? Quite tasty from their steeping, too!) But even after all that steeping time, the tea itself was on the weak side.
I drained off some of the finished tea into a smaller teapot, which went into the refrigerator.
I boiled some more water, threw the last third of the packet into the original teapot, then poured in 25 ounces of boiling water. To make sure this batch would be stronger, I added the previously steeped tea leaves & (what was left of the) fruit, plus maybe 10 ounces of the first batch of tea. (The last of the first batch which wouldn’t fit in the pot going in the fridge.)
Not unsurprisingly, the tea has a much greater depth of flavor. I can taste berries, more sweetness, more of the watermelon flavor, and a slight rose petal hint, which I hadn’t before.
Next time I would make the entire 23 gram (0.8 ounce) packet, let it steep for at least an hour, then strain and refrigerate it. I’ve found any time I’ve had to make a delicately flavored tisane it ALWAYS takes more time and literal concentration of the ingredients to bring out more flavor. This is a tasty, summery drink that’s worth the work. Enjoy!