TrulyObscure - article - domicilia - Teas: New - Hot - Cool?

Adagio. Jones. They’ve decided to jump on the bottled tea bandwagon! How do they shape up, and how do they compare against Gypsy bagged teas?

Our latest tea roundup begins with Jones- not the name you might think of for tea. They recently released several organic flavors: peach red tea, strawberry white, mandarin orange green. And we thought they’d live up to the excellent Jones standards of soda and juices- but unfortunately, they did not. Odd, more astringent and almost artificial, each tasted a bit stale. The strawberry was the best, but the purity and subtle flavors of white tea were not really present. About $2 a bottle.

Second, Adagio is best known for some neat tea gadgets and excellent, fresh loose leaf tea. They don’t yet have a distributor here in Hawaii, but were nice enough to send us some samples. They call them Anteadotes, and they are unsweetened and with no preservatives. Black, green, white, and jasmine are all on offer, and the jasmine stood with some of the best we’ve tried, of any kind, even the fresh stuff available only in China. Also about $2 a bottle.

Finally, we found some brew at home teas that give our previous favorites a run for their money! Gypsy Tea doesn’t have the variety of flavors that some other companies provide- but what they do provide is top-of-the-line. Organic, fair trade, attractively packaged and sweetened naturally with stevia (shhh, they can’t claim it’s a sweetener because of FDA rules, but trust us), with flavors like Passionate Peach (black tea with ginger and peach) and Ambrosia White Plum (with a touch of strawberry and rose). They smell great- and these are of the perfumed variety, great for late nights and rainy days. ~$6 for 22 bags.