Name: Currant (flavored black tea)
Brand: Adagio Teas
Type: Black tea, flavored
Form: Loose leaf
Cost: $2 for a sample tin, $6 for 4 oz, quantity discounts available
Review: The basis of this tea is a fairly broken ceylon, to which currant flavoring and some sort of dry leaf (possibly strawberry leaves?) has been added. The nose is not overpowering or particularly rich, though I don’t detect much tea in it either. I caught a slight vanilla note as well.
I initially had difficulties preparing this tea: The recommendation was to steep at 212F for 5 minutes. I prepared the tea in my ingenuiTEA with two tsp of dry leaf, as is my usual ratio. Much to my annoyance, the tea was bitter and disagreeable, so much so that I had to toss the whole batch out.
I tried preparing the tea again, but reducing the steep time to 3 minutes. No dice. Still bitter and disagreeable, and I was starting to become very cross indeed.
I was considering abandoning the project and just giving the stuff a thumbs-down review, but I was rather craving currant-flavored tea by this point. So I brought the water temperature down to 195F, and steeped for 2.5 minutes.
Third time’s the charm and all that.
Now, I am not going to tell you that this tea knocked my socks off, because it didn’t. The mahogany-colored liquor is still a bit rough: Slight bitterness and more than a hint of astringency. On the other hand, the flavoring is restrained, non-perfumy, and the (again, rather ordinary) black tea can certainly be tasted.
I tried this both hot and iced with my lunch, and found it to be non-interfering and the iced version to be quite refreshing (add a squeeze of fresh lemon) . I paired it hot with some milk chocolate, which proved to be inspired: The sweet chocolate brought out the fruit notes of the tea, and its astringency deftly cleared my palate.
Incidentally, the second infusion was nearly as strong as the first.
Recommendation: This tea gets bitter easily. Take the water temperature down to 195F or so, and steep for 2.5 minutes. The flavor is subtle, so if you want something stronger, consider Ocean of Tea’s Black Currant or Teavana’s Six Summits Oolong.
Food Paring: The subtle berry flavor makes this a good match for most foods. Delicious iced. Excellent match for milk chocolate.
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