Review and Give-Away: Adagio Tea Sets

 Golden Monkey

Today, we continue The Adagio Trilogy. Reflecting on what has past, I feel sad that this is coming to an end; one wonders how Francis Ford-Coppola felt after The Godfather Part III.

Incidentally, I don't really like those films. I know many of you will be shocked, and perhaps even take offence, but I can't help you. People regularly slate Pretty Woman and I have to deal with it.

Today's tea, I confess, was selected by yours truly as a sample because of its name. I adore it; tell me you don't feel the same.

I was initially thinking that the 'Golden Monkey' may have been harvested by long-fingered primates, like those oolong teas you sometimes read about, but apparently all that stuff is poppycock. Shame. I rather like the idea.

This is a black tea from China, and has a great scent. I get a definite cocoa fragrance, and whereas I personally wouldn't add milk to it, I can see that it would taste great with a little added.

The liquor (had to get that word in one of these posts somewhere!) is a deep, rusty brown, and tastes good and strong. A small mug of this in the afternoon has made a fantastic pick me up over the last three days and I suspect it will do the same tomorrow as well.

I wanted just to point out (since I forgot to in my last posts) another great feature of Adagio's website: the cost per cup information. I doubt many people can visualise what 85g of Golden Monkey tea looks like. Thanks to the clear pricing, you can easily see that it would make 38 cups, at a cost of 32 pence each. That might sound treaty, but there are so many teas to choose from that I think most people would find something unique and to their taste without too much fuss. The Earl Grey Bravo, for example, is only 11 pence a cup. When you think about how much you pay for teas in chain coffee stores, it's actually quite shocking. Treat yourself at home instead, I say.

Adagio are kindly giving away 5 starter sets comprising of 4 teas (details below), a glass mug and an ingenuiTEA teapot to 5 lucky readers. The teas that are up for grabs are:

Black: Earl Grey Bravo, Assam Melody, Mango, Chocolate

Green: Citron Green, Dragonwell, Apricot Green, Jasmine Yin Hao

Herbal: Fruit Medley, Yerba Mate, Rooibos Vanilla, Lemon Grass

Oolong: Ti Kuan Yin, Wuyi Ensemble, Ooooh Darjeeling, Peach Oolong

White: White Blueberry, Silver Needle, White Peach, White Tropics

If you do the maths, you can see this is a serious haul, equal to £50 per set. For your chance to win, here's what you need to do:

• Leave a comment on this post letting me know which tea you'd most like to try and why. Don't think you need to write an essay. This is just fun! I like silly answers just as much as serious ones.
• If you prefer, leave the comment on the Delicious Delicious Delicious Facebook Page. You can like us as well! That's fine too.
• Comments will close at midnight on Monday 5 November 2012. Winners will be selected at random shortly after. 
• Open to all people, everywhere.
• Email entries not accepted. Nor are multiple entries. But you can ask friends or colleagues to enter on your behalf if you like.