hope estheim, adagio custom blends

Not long ago, I finally ventured into the world of making my own custom blends on Adagio. The process is extraordinarily simple (they're not lying when they call it easy peasy!)

It's literally just a manner of rummaging through menus to find what you want in your blend and selecting the percentage you want of each tea chosen. Of course, this isn't a promise that your creation tastes good. (Of the blends I've created only one has needed revamping, though) They have some helpful videos at the top of the page of you're stuck as well.

Adagio's Blend Creation Tool

I chose to start my blending adventure with a really divisive fandom -- Final Fantasy XIII. As a long-time Final Fantasy fan, I found the gameplay, pacing, and character development in XIII to be pretty extraordinary. I know there are plenty of folks that disagree with me, but to each their own! In any case, this is my own Hope Estheim blend that you can also pick up on Adagio here.

The blend is made of a mixture of Chamomile, White Blueberry and Green Rooibos with an accent of apple pieces. It is low in caffeine and, like all individual fandom blends, comes in either a 3oz or 5oz quantity.

The Hope Estheim label

Dry Leaf

Dry Leaf

The dry leaf is full of large chamomile flowers, and fuzzy leaves of white tea. There are chunks of apple and blueberries in here that tend to settle to the bottom of the package (which I, of course, forgot to shake before it's photo op). It smells like chamomile with just a touch of sweet blueberry.

Steeping

I used steeping parameters of 175 for 4 minutes, so as not to scald my white tea. I think you could creep it up to 180 or 185, but this produced a satisfying
flavorful cup and I'll probably keep it this way.

Hope Estheim brews up with a strong chamomile flavor, very honey-like and apple-y with elements of floral, and then a subtle blueberry backdrop. The rooibos doesn't seem to come through much in the flavor, but adds a bit of roundness to the cup.

Steeped up and served hot.

Chilled, this blend is more subtle on the chamomile and more potent with the blueberries. The liquor is a gorgeous golden color that reminds me a bit of sunshine.

Overall, I found this a very calming blend that works iced or hot. The flavors work together and the cup was harmonious. I could see this as a late afternoon cup as I'm tapering off of caffeine, or even earlier in the day once I'm already bright eyed and bushy tailed.

“Sometimes everything you know in the world turns out to be a lie. But at the end of the day the lie isn’t what matters, it’s what you do after you tell it. If you work hard enough you can make it true.” 

         -Hope Estheim

banana coconut, persimmon tree tea

Spring has sprung and as a result, I've been neglectful. Shame on me!

Ahh Rooibos. We meet again.

We're back today though with a brand spanking new review for Banana Coconut, which is an herbal/rooibos blend from Persimmon Tree Tea.

I hestitantly considered this one, because rooibos and I have something of a disagreement when it comes to my tastes and how it tastes. But banana coconut sounded really luxurious and tasty. Luckily, Persimmon Tree Tea has these darling sample packages at affordable prices.

I snipped a small opening in the bag, warily seeking any hint of over-rooibosing. I found none. There wasn't even a hint of it in the dry leaf. Instead I definitely caught chamomile and coconut. Not really much in the way of banana, though.

It was still banana-y smelling
enough for Monkey to pop
out and check it out

I brewed this up for 5 minutes at 205F and definitely started smelling the rooibos at the 3 minute mark. Uh oh.

The result? All that worrying for nothing. The chamomile and floral aspect is pretty overwhelming in this tea. Maybe too overwhelming. I get the slightest hint of banana and some toasty tasting coconut, but if I’m not looking for those flavors I complete miss them. It tastes like a pot of sweetened chamomile with a tiny banana aftertaste.

I wasn't ready to give up on this tea yet though! It's got to be called Banana Coconut for a reason, and not an elaborate ruse to drink a cup of chamomile, right?  So, I attempted to bring out the other flavors and beat back the chamomile by adding a drizzle of honey. Success! Banana then chamomile. Still losing a lot of the coconut and caramel to chamomile, but at least I taste banana in my banana tea.

Lovely color!

I also did a cold steep of this one, because I thought the flavor profile might lend itself well to that. I was also hoping that it would draw out some different flavors than the standard steep.

There were definitely some different highlights in the cold brew. I get caramel and a lightly toasted nuttiness (from a combination of rooibos and coconut, if I had to guess) with a really light, natural banana flavor. The chamomile is most certainly there, and still in the forefront even, it just makes sure it shares that spot this way.

This tea is preferable when cold steeped, because the flavors are more true to what banana coconut should taste like. The banana flavor is nice and natural and doesn't remind me of banana suckers or runts or candy and I appreciate that. I would have appreciated more of that natural banananess though.


Persimmon Tree Tea