Thank you to my friend Joe for giving me this sample!

The aroma of the dry leaf is intense and intoxicating, an intense fragrance of marzipan or sweeet almond, like stinging your nose in a bottle of amaretto or almond extract. It's pretty much all flavoring; I can't discern any qualities of the underlying tea from the smell alone. The leaf looks unremarkable: twiggy, dark, and broken into relatively small pieces.

Interestingly, the brewed cup is much more balanced, and the flavoring seems subtle, with the underlying tea's flavor and aromatic qualities coming out more. The aroma of the brewed cup has woody and herbaceous notes, and a toasty quality that I am pretty sure comes from the tea itself, because it resembles the aromas of pure roasted oolongs.

Resteep was pleasant but slightly weaker, and a bit boring, even using a very long steep after a 3-minute first infusion.

Although this tea was very good, it also seems very overpriced. $7 for 2 ounces seems a bit of a crazy price when I can get fairly good oolongs for about half this price. The base tea here tasted like an inexpensive but good oolong, and the flavoring isn't adding that much value.

Is it just me, or does it seem like Adagio's prices have increased lately, a lot more than is the norm for specialty loose-leaf tea companies?

I enjoyed trying this tea, but would not buy it. People who like that marzipan/amaretto/sweet almond fragrance though might be more of a fan than I was though.

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