Bookish Teas

A while ago I was contacted by someone from Adagio Teas, offering me a gift voucher to purchase some of their products and review them. Since they have a bunch of bookish-themed teas, I jumped at the chance! I purchased the following:




Lizzy Bennet (Pride & Prejudice) -- masala chai & blackberry & pu erh dante & raspberry leaves

Mr. Darcy (Pride & Prejudice) -- earl grey bravo & cream & chestnut & chocolate chips (of course I needed to get Lizzy & Darcy as a matching set!)


 
Mr. Jack Robinson (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries) -- Mambo, Peach & Masala Chai






Elixir of Life (Harry Potter) --  Strawberry, Vanilla, & Hazelnut



   

 Belle (Disney) -- caramel, summer rose, ceylon sonata, apricots






Eugene (Disney) -- hazelnut, chocolate chip, masala chai, cloves



 
Shieldmaiden (Lord of the Rings) -- white peony, caramel, & ginger (this was a gift for my sister, so it's the only one that I haven't tried myself)




I really liked the variety of bookish- and fandom-themed teas that Adagio offers! The artwork for some of the teas is also very attractive (*points up* like pretty much every tea that I selected).

Inspector Jack Robinson, relaxing with a mug of his signature blend

As for the teas themselves, I found that I need to brew them longer (for several minutes), use a larger amount of tea leaves, and smaller mugs than usual in order for them to be strong enough. (I am not a fan of weak tea!) Of the teas I tried, Mr. Jack Robinson and Belle stood out as having the most distinct flavours -- the Jack Robinson tea has an interesting pop of peach amongst the masala chai (different, but it works!), and the Belle tea -- while not my usual style -- has sweet caramel and floral rose flavours that come through very clearly.

The interesting combinations of flavours drew me to a lot of these teas; however, in some cases, the unique flavour added to the mix wasn't really detectable in the actual drinking of it. While I quite enjoyed the smoothness of the Mr. Darcy tea, the chestnut flavour was too subtle; the hazelnut flavour in the Elixir of Life was overpowered by the strawberry. Most of the teas, though (even the weaker ones), smelled delicious!

Overall, I'd say that these teas get points for creativity of flavour combinations (and how they connect to the corresponding character/fandom) and artwork, but in terms of strength of flavour, they are kind of hit-and-miss. I would check them out again, though, both to try out some different flavour combinations, and to collect some more super cute tea tins featuring my favourite characters!

I'd also be interested in creating my own custom blends on their website... maybe some more Jane Austen-themed ones?