Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green, Black
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
In the lair, a dragon dreams sweet, sweet dreams of glittering treasure, ponies, and those who lurk. And destruction. This warm and spicy brew is full of musical depth and fire.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The other day I walked in my living room to see my boyfriend had the second Hobbit on TV. . .again. . for the 10th time. . and I of course had to watch right along with him. My 9 year old son came in a little after and he was also drawn in to the movie. He had never seen it before so it was fun to enlighten him on all things Hobbit related. His eyes lit up when Smaug came on the screen and was rooting for the dragon to destroy the merry band of traveling warriors. Yep. . he is totally my kid.
While we were watching the movie, I remembered that I had this blend and hadn’t tried it yet. This one was created as a Fandom blend for the Hobbit. Honestly, I am not a fan of the Adagio teas on their own, but I do really enjoy them when they are in the Signature Blends.
This one is a interesting and different blend. Green Chai, Assam Melody, and Cinnamon (black favored tea). Not flavors I would have paired together. It smells very much like a cinnamon cake. When brewed up, it tastes like a buttered up sweet potato with cinnamon on it and a tart like finish. Maybe even some sort of sweet potato pie.
It is a unique flavor. That is for sure. I did overleaf it after I checked out some other reviews about this blend on Steepster. A lot of the other reviews said it was bland and “meh”. If I hadn’t dumped in about 1 1/2 tsps more I can see that being the case. I did brew this up at work with my coffee pot water spout and then dumped the tea into ice for a iced green chai. Maybe if I messed with the steeping parameters more I could bring more flavors out. As it is, the cinnamon and spices don’t over take the tea like some chai blends I have had before. It is a very subtle and enjoyable chai blend with a rich buttery sweet potato finish.
Organic Tea from Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Description:
As you can imagine, organic tea cultivation is time consuming and requires careful attention. Over the last 10 years we have worked closely with selected organic tea gardens where careful crop husbandry and leaf quality is at the heart of everything they do. Our selected blend delivers a classic smooth flavour with a golden colour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
After having tried several of Rington’s Premium English Teas offerings, I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed a few and there have been a few that I wasn’t too crazy about. And then there are some that I was kind of just ‘meh’ about. That is to say that while I didn’t dislike the tea, it wasn’t something that had me jumping out of my seat with excitement either.
This Organic Tea from Rington’s falls into the latter category. I don’t dislike it, but it’s not got me all giddy with joy either. I’m feeling just sort of ‘meh’ about this tea.
It’s got a rich flavor: earthy and robust. It has notes of leather and fruit. The finish is moderately astringent. Not overly so, but I notice that the dryness from the astringency seems to build as I continue to sip. On the down side, I can also taste the paper from the teabag. Not my favorite flavor profile.
The tea isn’t ‘bad’ or unpleasant. It’s just sort of boring. It tastes like a bag of tea fannings which is essentially what it is. The problem is, I’m not wild about a bag of fannings and generally, when I drink a bagged tea, I’m looking for something that doesn’t taste like a bagged tea. I want something that convinces me to think twice about bagged teas – but this one isn’t doing that. This is the kind of bagged tea that makes me feel like a tea snob because it makes me realize just how inferior a bagged tea can be.
Traditional Black Tea from Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Description:
Our Traditional Blend contains some of the best teas produced from around the world, selected predominantly from our long standing relationships with family businesses in East Africa and India. Our expert tea blenders taste and choose each individual tea that goes into the blend, ensuring you always receive that unique, refreshing and lasting flavour that makes Ringtons Traditional our most popular blend.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Of the different teas that I’ve tried thus far from Rington’s Premium English Teas, I think that this Traditional Black Tea blend might be my favorite. Yes, it’s a bagged tea. Yes, I prefer loose leaf over bagged varieties. But occasionally, I’ll find a bagged tea that’s decent. Sure, I’d still rather drink loose leaf, but when I do find a bagged tea that’s worthwhile, I’m going to say so.
And after having tried the one loose leaf offering from Rington’s the other day, I must admit that I’m finding this one – a bagged tea – more enjoyable than their loose leaf variety.
Why?
Because this tea is smoother. It is richer and more rounded. There’s less astringency. Put simply, I’m finding this variety from Rington’s to be more satisfying than their loose leaf blend. Now, if this Traditional blend were offered loose leaf, I’d be one very happy sipper!
The sip starts out sweet. I taste delicate notes of honeyed caramel. The tea has a robust character – it has a nice, satisfying round flavor. A little earthy, a little flowery, and a little fruity. It’s very smooth with no bitterness and very little astringency. Very, very little astringency – as in virtually none. I like that.
This tea tastes great hot and it also tastes really good as it cools. I had finished about half the cup and then I needed to step away and came back to a cold cup of tea – and it still tasted really great. It doesn’t need any additives to taste good – it just does.
It’s one of those types of tea that you want to keep on hand when you just want a no-fuss cup of tea.
We Want To Take Over 52Teas – We Need YOUR Help!
Please check out our Kickstarter Campaign here!
I’m back to tell you a little more about this campaign – why? Well, because we need YOUR support!
This campaign is about something that’s near and dear to my heart – something that I’m very passionate about: Tea! If you’ve been reading my reviews for any length of time, you’re probably well aware of the fact that I love 52Teas.
I love the idea behind it! I love the plan to make a brand new tea flavor every week: 52 teas a year. That’s just awesome. For someone who is creative – the idea is like Christmas morning! Which flavor to create next?
It allows that kind of freedom. It allows me to create some amazing tea flavors that you won’t find anywhere else. Some of the flavors that I’ve got ‘steeping’ in my brain are: Watermelon Mint Limeade, Mango Sticky Rice Custard Genmaicha and Lemon Cheesecake Bar Houjicha. That’s not even the tip of the iceberg!
We’ll also be reblending some of the classic 52Teas favorites like Maple Cheesecake TieGuanYin and Graveyard Mist!
I’ll also be bringing back some of my classic blends from when I ran LiberTEAS. Teas like Sweet Caramel O’Mine and Masterpiece Chai.
And now that I’m teaming up with my daughter, Amethyst, I know that we have the tools that we need to make this venture a success. With her business sense and my creativity, I’m confident that we’ll be creating some amazing teas that you’ll LOVE!
So please, if you haven’t yet contributed to our campaign – please click here now and help this mother/daughter team make this project happen!
Thank you!
Pure Peppermint Herbal Tisane from Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Description:
An exciting and invigorating herbal infusion of pure peppermint leaves to revitalize and refresh. Peppermint has been shown to aid digestion.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Pure Peppermint Herbal Tisane from Rington’s Premium English Teas is really bright and fresh tasting! I know that I’ve been down on bagged teas quite a bit lately but this particular bagged tea is quite enjoyable. The flavor is really strong and has the cool, crisp flavor that I expect from a good quality peppermint tisane.
Very minty – as you might expect it to be. It IS pure peppermint, after all! It has a zesty, slightly peppery bite to it and my mouth feels minty fresh after I drink it.
I like to keep peppermint on hand because I find it to be a soothing tea to drink after I’ve had something spicy. (I eat a lot of spicy stuff!) It helps to settle the tummy and it’s ideal when my daughter has a stomach ache.
A really nice pure peppermint.