Tea!

[clockworktomato]

Ok, all you people talking about Adagio Teas?

*looks sweetly at alceria and soaring_phoenix*....

Quit it! :D

I have an entire kitchen cupboard filled with tea, yet all this talk about these awesome teas makes me want to buy some! Evil!

*whispers* (So, ah, if one were to, say, be bad get some tea as a gift, yeah, that's it! A gift to oneself -- what would you,

Comments

[alceria]

I've aquired a slight tea obsession lately and have sampled a fair amount of the adagio stuff. Everything I've tried so far has been good, but beware of the really high quality green teas, they are very spinachy - apparently that's a sign that it's high quality, but still, I don't like spinach to begin with, so drinking a cup of it isn't that appealing. The green pekoe is mild enough that I don't mind the slight spinachy taste though. Even though a lot of studies are indicating that white and black teas are just as beneficial health-wise, for some reason I feel like green tea is the most healthy though I have done no research to prove it. So that's why I'm drinking the green stuff. :) The reviews on the site are plentiful (they encourage you to do reviews by giving you a coupon for each you do) and they are pretty truthful. They give you a pretty good indication of what is popular all around and which are an aquired taste. Also the sampler packs are pretty cheap, and the individual samples are $2-$4, so it's not to painful to your pocketbook to experiment. Incidentally, everything comes packaged really nicely. The sampler sizes come in little tins that are useful for holding other things once you finish them - I plan to use some for some spices I bought that came in a bag rather than a little bottle. The larger sized stuff comes in tin canisters. They are a little more wimpy looking in person than they appear in the pictures online, but still, they are nice and re-useable containers. If you elect to refill your order rather than get a new tin you also get a small discount. A few things come in heavy brown bags, but I'm not sure why some stuff comes in tins and some doesn't. I really wish they sold the tins seperately so you could get them for the teas that don't come in it, and for other uses as they are pretty cute and functional.

The chamomile is really really good, and I also like the peppermint a lot too. I recently got a sampler of lemon and it underwhelmed me a bit, but the reviews indicated that it might not be their best offering, but I wanted to try it anyway. I just sent a flavored sampler to my friend but the dork keeps forgetting to take his ingenuiTEA pot to work where he wants to use it. So I don't have a report on that yet. :)

The other green tea I like surprisingly is the genmai cha which has bits of popcorn and rice in it. It sounds weird, and it is, but it's got this interesting flavor that I find myself craving once in awhile. It's not an everyday tea for me, but it's good when you want something different.

The ingenuiTEA pot is freaking fantastic though. I highly suggest getting the Clarity Cup, which is a good match for it. It also makes it easier to avoid overfilling your cup when it's clear. I love the ingenuiTEA because it's the only loose tea filtering device that really removes every particle of loose tea. It also gives the tea a lot of room to steep, which apparently is better than using a small tea strainer. And I have to admit, there is just something fun about using it. :)

I also can send you a $5 coupon, but they will only let you use it once, so if the other person already sent you one, nevermind.

[clockworktomato]

Wow, two votes on the ingenuiTEA -- this must be a cool pot!

And I'll admit -- the cute little tins are part of what's swaying me to want tea, too. It's like a bonus -- I get good tea AND this awesome little storage container?! *is a dork*

I'm very picky about green teas, so I'll definitely take your advice on those and probably skip those in my first order. The flavor of them is so delicate that it's easy for me to detect tastes in green teas that I dislike -- I generally have to get one that's blended with another flavor or I find I like matcha powder for green tea.

*makes note of flavored sampler* Awesome!

And they seem to be very generous with coupons! That's the quickest way to get me hooked on something -- "oh, I have this coupon and I can't waste it!"

Thank you so much! I should be working, except that I have...no work to do...so tea shopping I go! :D

[alceria]

Sadly it's one introductory coupon per person, I tried using a second coupon I had mailed to another one of my addresses, but it didn't work. If you *do* decide to get the ingenuiTEA (and you should) and you opt for the diggnation giftset (adagio.com/diggnation) I think you get 5% off your order as well. That is the set I first ordered, it comes with three green teas and the chamomile.

As for being sensitive with the green teas, remember that these are loose teas so it's very easy to just throw a little in with one of the flavored ones you buy. A lot of people do that. If they have different steep times you can just throw the first one in, wait until there's 3 minutes left and throw the green tea in. I'm adding small amounts of spinach city sencha overture to my other teas in order to use it up.

Definitely get the teapot, you of all people will appreciate it, trust me! You can also microwave water in it so it's good for the office. And it's dishwasher safe. And once again, I recommend the matching cup for the sake of aesthetics and fun.

[vayacondia]

I LURVE the apricot and peppermint flavors. I have a tangerine white, but I haven't tried it yet. And I LOVE the little tins too. I wish I could have some extra - like Penzey's Spices sells their little bottles empty.