Adagio Fresh Arrivals Tasting

[Proinsias]

I should probably chip in that the names of most of these teas would put me off an initial purchase without recommendation.

I'd be far more likely to buy some '2008 Hand Rolled Yunnan Black' with a little story explaining it's a good quality traditional yunnan leaf processed with an unusual hand rolling method than I would some 'Yunnan Noir'. The noir bit just sounds like trying to make Yunnan black sound fancier, which I suspect is the idea - dian hong works better for me as I'd rather buy Chinese tea from the US or UK with a Chinese or English name as opposed to a French one. If the story said it had been processed in France or something like that I'd be all ears.

I appreciate that I may be a little to the right of the average customer base.

[Geekgirl]

Thanks very much! Mine arrived today, and I shared the Yunnan Noir with my breakfast meeting this morning. It went over VERY well. We really liked how smooth it was for such a dark tea. Also a couple of people noted hints of grain, maybe barley? Anyways, big hit, thanks!

[Victoria]

I liked the Yunnan Noir very much too, but I'm having a hard time describing it or pulling out any notes. I'd like to post about it in the black tea forum but all I have is "it tastes really good".

There is a light cinnamon finish, right? And it is similar to Yunnan gold but less peppery.

[olivierco]

The parcel arrived yesterday. Thanks a lot xine!

I have just had Keemun Rhapsody. As Proinsias pointed out, the name is kind of confusing. I guess I would have preferred something like Keemun mao feng.

I brewed it 2g 100-120ml 3min (4, 5 and 7 for the subsequent steeps). Nice smooth keemun taste, not as rich as my favorite Keemun from Palais des Thés but Keemun Rhapsody costs 50% less and is a very good choice.

[Pentox]

Tried the emerald needle and the yunnan noir over the weekend, the emerald needle reminded me a lot of a meng ding huang ya. I brewed it a bit strong / long for my tastes, but it has that nice mellow feel to it. The yunnan noir had a nice strong punch to it. The flavor reminded me of a yunnan gold (for rather obvious reasons). I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything special.

[Geekgirl]

Just had the White Symphony, WOW! this is an excellent tea. I'm not a big fan of Bai Mu Dan, it always seems just a bit harsh to me, and with a little bit too much "dried flower" taste, like licking the bottom of a potpourri bowl after all the smell is gone.

But this is so gentle, but still very flavorful. I brewed it English style, 2.5 minutes at about 180. 3g/12oz, then 4 minutes for a second infusion. An excellent white tea. Thank you so much Adagio for including it!

[Space Samurai]

While we are on the subject, I'm going to second what Proinsias said, though I too am not your target market.

These black teas are great. Thanks so much.

[Sydney]

I have only had the Emerald Needles so far, but found it to be a really quite good green tea. I'm not sayin' it handily spanks first flush long jing, but I will likely have it again at the office this morning.

[hop_goblin]

I dont know about you guys but I sure as heck enjoyed the Fujian Baroque. It is my favorite of the bunch. Layered deep chocolate, and coffee notes without the heaviness of some black teas. Great stuff

[Victoria]

My fave was the Yunnan Noir.

[Chip]

Easy! My fave has been the White Symphony, it is complex, fruity, and better than the vast majority of Bai Mudan I have tried. I keep resteeping over and over, never seems to die.

I have enjoyed each of the samples, tbh. I am surprised how much I enjoyed some of the blacks. Even the Yunnan Noir appealed to me and I do not like Yunnan blacks generally.

Well done Adagio.

[Victoria]

Oh yeah ... and White Symphony. LOL

I was only thinking of the blacks!

[Sydney]

I've also tried the White Symphony now, and actually followed the on-the-tin directions in a preheated kyusu with the top off. It was really good.

[olivierco]

Yunnan Noir in my cup this afternoon

I brewed it 2g 100-120ml 3min (3min30, 4 and 5 for the subsequent steeps and I sure could have got some more).
Complex/rich taste with keemun notes. My first impression is that it is a good tea to start the day.

[Proinsias]

I'll have to second hop's thoughts on the Fujian Baroque, an onslaught of strong, dark chocolate and wonderfully thick. It's my favourite of the lot, but none of the lot are available on the Adagio Europe site

The white symphony was decent bai mu dan but it's not a tea I have a great passion for anyway. It's unassuming and lasts forever, as good bai mu dan generally does, but it's not made me think any more highly of the genre. I've been brewing it in a 60ml gaiwan, as I've done with all the teas, but I think the rest of the tin will be saved for the few occasions when I chuck leaves in a large pot and leave them there - from the gaiwan brewing it confirms my thoughts that this tea is even pretty decent when neglected and hugely overbrewed.

Keemun rhapsody: I love keemun tea. I love this tea. It's not the best keemun I've had, which tends to be far more uniform in colour and smaller in leaf, but it's still good solid keemun and even passes the smoke on the water test. I've only had this twice so far, both times in the gaiwan, I'll probably have more of an opinion on it when it makes its way downstairs to the main teabase amd meets the keemun yixing.

The golden spring I'm undecided about, I've got an unopened bag of yunann gold and once I've cracked that open I'll probably have something to say about the golden spring, it's been a while since I've had buddy, red tea from yunnan.