Whole leaf loose tea lovers: quality English blends, sencha, oolong, puerh etc.

cshermen2000

https://www.adagio.uk.com

I've just started using these and I don't really know enough about good tea to comment but i really like it. Free delivery over £30 and although not a next day service I have always received it next day.

Only problem is I couldn't find many independent reviews on the company....

terra_ferma

cshermen2000 wrote: »

www.adagio.uk.com

I've just started using these and I don't really know enough about good tea to comment but i really like it. Free delivery over £30 and although not a next day service I have always received it next day.

Only problem is I couldn't find many independent reviews on the company....

It's a US company, here they talk about their tea
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=11667&p=138460#p138460
(this is a tea forum hosted by Adagio itself, although it's independent, so there could be a bias)

From what I remember from several threads in this forum, they say they are OK, but rather expensive and anything they sell can often be found cheaper and better quality somewhere else.
Having looked at their website, their prices are very expensive compared to some good retailers mentioned on this thread.
Personally I've not tried them because I don't think that in Europe and the UK in particular it makes sense to buy tea from the americans, who erm... are not famous for their knowledge/production of tea...

cshermen2000

Thanks for the link. I had seen the teachat forums, but as you say are hosted by adiago themselves, so biased.

Adiago have been out of stock of their Irish breakfast tea for ages and just had a look at the all about tea you mentioned above and they have the the Irish Breakfast in stock, and I love the adiago Christmas blend and all about tea has a winter one i'd like to try so will put in an order with them next week, so thanks for the update about all about tea being good.

I spent years drinking 10 and 12 cans of coca cola a day and just gave it up completely 3 months ago so experimenting with lots black of tea to keep my mind off the terrible cola cravings :-((

terra_ferma

cshermen2000 wrote: »

Thanks for the link. I had seen the teachat forums, but as you say are hosted by adiago themselves, so biased.

Adiago have been out of stock of their Irish breakfast tea for ages and just had a look at the all about tea you mentioned above and they have the the Irish Breakfast in stock, and I love the adiago Christmas blend and all about tea has a winter one i'd like to try so will put in an order with them next week, so thanks for the update about all about tea being good.

I spent years drinking 10 and 12 cans of coca cola a day and just gave it up completely 3 months ago so experimenting with lots black of tea to keep my mind off the terrible cola cravings :-((

Let me know how you get on with AAT, just to see if the problem I had with late delivery and lack of communication was just a one off.

I have to say wilkinsons is my new UK favourite, I found it by chance as they were serving their blends in a place I visited, and absolutely love the ones we tried.

that was a lot of coke :eek:

threemuttleys

Suki tea is lovely. I have an obsession with their Belfast brew and Apple Loves Mint

cshermen2000

terra_ferma wrote: »

Let me know how you get on with AAT, just to see if the problem I had with late delivery and lack of communication was just a one off.


that was a lot of coke :eek:

I yeah I'll let you know. I'll be putting the order in next Wednesday.

20 years ago I stopped drinking alcohol and smoking on the same day and never touched either again. The cravings after stopping both of those were nothing compared to the cola cravings. Getting better now but in the first few months there were times when i was close to tears I wanted it so badly. Evil stuff :(

cshermen2000

threemuttleys wrote: »

Suki tea is lovely. I have an obsession with their Belfast brew and Apple Loves Mint

Oohh I was looking at this too and am going to order their Irish Breakfast and Apple one too :)

terra_ferma

threemuttleys wrote: »

Suki tea is lovely. I have an obsession with their Belfast brew and Apple Loves Mint

Had a look at their prices, they are expensive.
Not as extortionate as others like canton tea company, but overpriced nonetheless.

Some UK tea retailers are " trendy & cool " and greatly overpriced (adagio, jing tea, canton tea co, suki etc). More about appearance/branding/marketing than substance.

IMHO these have got nothing to offer except nice websites, pretty packaging and cool gadgets. Their tea is the same you can get more cheaply from other sources.

Some proper tea merchants (all about tea, wilkinsons), offer good quality 'generic' teas (e.g. selling oolong without saying which one), are more about substance than appearance (simpler websites, less branding).

Directly from China: for tea connoisseurs, fantastic tea at reasonable prices, if you know what to buy. Great if you want to get hold of specific teas (e.g. find it on Canton Tea Co and buy it directly from Jing Tea Shop in Hong Kong...)

terra_ferma

I have to report back about Wilkinsons teas, I'm totally in love with them!
I was so lucky to find them through a tea house they supply (they are mainly wholesalers)

The choice is not huge, but what they have is excellent.
They have a selection of herbs, the ones I tried are really good quality, a little goes a long way. You can buy 25g samples for 80p-£1.

Their blends are fantastic, they best tea I've ever tasted. Russian Caravan and Royale are two very different teas, but equally good. :T The first is a blend of black tea and oolong, they also have a smokey version with a bit of lapsang souchong added.
The second is a very fine leaf tea, Ceylon and Assam (same teas used for Irish Breakfast blends), fantastic!

I'm going to be giving lots of tea as a present for xmas, looks good, tastes great. (all about tea samples also make good xmas presents, hoping their customer service is OK)

I've also learnt to stay away from Twinings, their teas are overpriced, but low quality, broken leaves and added flavourings instead of the real thing!

Wilkinsons have made me re-think the whole direction of my tea journey, much more English and less Chinese, I seem to prefer English blends (using Indian/Ceylon as well as Chinese teas) to single-estate Chinese teas. Ideally when I know more I'll be buying top quality teas and make my own blends!

cshermen2000

Hi all,

Well I placed orders with both Suki teas and All About Tea on Wednesday morning.

The Suki tea order was fine and arrived this morning. (Sat) I ordered their Belfast Brew and their citrus spice (their version of Christmas tea). I have to say I really am impressed with the quality of the tea, thanks Threemuttleys, GreenFairy and Little busy bee.

Terra_ferma All about tea were very fast. Theirs arrived yesterday (Fri) but I did get an E-Mail from them on Thursday saying that their Winter Tea was not in stock. I had ordered 125g of the winter tea and they offered to replace that with 500g of their autumn tea or put the winter one on back order. I chose to have the winter one put on back order. So just their Irish Breakfast arrived yesterday. It was very nice, but I really think the Suki tea was nicer this morning.

Also I'm stupid and put in this forum last week what I would be ordering and when I would be ordering it, so don't know how much that had to do with the speed of my order from both companies. I see that All About Tea have options for both first and second class delivery on their site. I chose first class. It was only a few pence more. Their is a contact Tel number on their website too. Right at the bottom of the page in the small fine print.

I had a look at the Wilkinsons website. Much too scary and advanced for me. I'll be sticking to Adagio and Suki in future I think.

For anyone who wants a good chai latte recipe I tried this one the other night and it was great http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chai-Tea-Latte I used coffee mate in place of the dairy creamer.

And for iced tea http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/perfecticedtea.htm


Thanks